[ { "id": 211429, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1988", "page_number": 145, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "121\n\nwhen my mother was living, he visited her now and then to bring her a piece of pastry or to help her with the yard and other chores. He wanted the younger generation to know the Chinese language and so worked tirelessly in establishing a Chinese language school in Makaha where he lived for many years.\n\nA summary of George's descendants: Claudia was married to George Murphy but they are now divorced. They had two children, David and Michael. Calvin, married to Barbara has three children: Jennifer, Jason and Jeffrey. Kwock Wah, married to Mona Lew, has five children: Paula, Donna, Marcha, David and Jonathan. Lorna has been married several times and has six children: Lawrence, Paul, Yolanda, Twila-dawn, Keith and Robin.\n\nAunt Yim was a good-looking woman, short and plump. When she visited us in Shekki in 1919, I accompanied her back to her home in the village via sedan-chair in order to meet Father's relatives and to have a look at his native village. On the way I saw Father's elderly teacher on the roadside. He did not strike me as a person who could have been so stern with my father. As I was nursing an infected toe and he was practicing herbal medicine, Aunt Yim sent her maid to him for a prescription and he gave me some pearl dust that proved effective. As a Chinese woman living in those days, Aunt Yim had little education, little social life, and little opportunity to enjoy the relationship of a husband who had to seek his livelihood far away in the United States. As the oldest in a large family, she held the respect of all her brothers and sisters who catered to her every wish.\n\nAfter several years of mental deterioration and nursing home care, George died on 2 November 1985.\n\nSecond Paternal Aunt Leong\n\nSecond Paternal Aunt was my father's favourite sister, and it was upon receiving word of her death that he made up his mind to take that ill-fated trip in 1919 to see the rest of his siblings. I understand she was a kind and caring sister to him. From a single photograph we have of her, Aunt Leong resembled Father in looks, having a rather angular face with somewhat prominent cheek bones. In theory, she had", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211431, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1988", "page_number": 147, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "123 joined him. They now reside in San Francisco in the home of their youngest daughter, Lorraine Me Gum L, married to Henry Wong.\n\nSuk Nam joined his father in Reno in 1921, and after his graduation from the University of Nevada, he returned to China, and married Adeline Jong #t. He worked for a bank in Canton until 1955, when he brought his wife, three daughters and one son with him to Chicago. After about 10 years he moved to San Francisco where he and his wife died in 1979 within months of each other.\n\nSuk Chiu had never been to the United States. He had remained in China, married Leong Shee 1, now deceased, and fathered two sons and two daughters. One of his daughters, married, is presently living in California.\n\nAll the Auyoung grand-children are doing well and most of them are now in the United States.\n\nIn 1919 when I accompanied Aunt Yim from Shekki to her home, she asked her servant to take me to Ma Tse Village to visit Aunt Auyoung. I remember walking past several villages on the way, and noticing, with great interest, a huge rock on the wayside with several huge footprints on it. I was told that they were those of the Thunder God. Aunt Auyoung and her youngest son were living with Uncle Auyoung's mother, who was busy spinning flax into thread. It was so fascinating to me that she gave me some of the thread to take home. Aunt Auyoung also accompanied me to Father's birthplace, where we visited my three widowed great aunts and the families of Cousin Gut Kau 175k and Cousin Fai Kauk, whose homes adjoined Grandfather's.\n\nAunt Auyoung was a slight-built lady, who seemed easy-going and calm, feet unbound. I regret that this was our only meeting.\n\nMy Mother's Family the Jongs*\n\nGrandfather Jong came to Hawaii in 1878 under the name of Jong Sun Lup, but he was generally known as Jong Hoon. He had a\n\n* See Table 2.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211432, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1988", "page_number": 148, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "124\n\nTable 2: Genealogy of the Jong Family\n\nJong Sun Lup m. (1) Chang (Violet's grandparents)\n\n(2) widow\n\nTin Yau (Uncle) m. Wong (Aunt)\n\n*Annie, *Mary, *Helen, *Alice, Reuben,\n\nAaron, *Esther, *Amy, *Ella, Raymond\n\n*Jong Hung (Violet's mother) m. Chan\n\nTin Suk (son, Ging Heen)\n\n*Ah Fook\n\n*Ah Look\n\n(Chun Moy) m. Heu (bond servant)\n\n(step-daughter) m. Pong (4 daughters, 4 sons)\n\nSister (Seventh Paternal Aunt)\n\n-Sister m. Chang\n\nChang Gum Chin m. Chew L-Sunny Hung Sun Chang -(son)\n\nthree-year contract with a sugar plantation on Maui and was assigned the task of chopping down ironwood trees. He was born in the ancestral home at the South Gate of the City of Shekki, District of Heong Shan, in Kwangtung Province. Because there is no certificate giving his birth date, there is some question as to whether he was born in 1847 or 1854. There were four brothers sharing the family home, but one of them had already died by the time Grandfather emigrated to Hawaii. Mother could not recall how many sisters he had. One of them was known as Seventh Paternal Aunt, who had a fondness for gossip. Another sister was married to a native of How Tow, surnamed Chang, by whom she had two sons. One of the sons, Chang Gum Chin, married the sister of Leong Chew, and came to Hawaii without his family. He went into the dry goods business with Chang Yee, Chang Kwai, Leong Chew, Chun Kam Chow, and others. He was very close to my grandparents, who would often turn to him for assistance. After he returned to China, he sent one of his sons, Sunny Hung Sun Chang, to Honolulu under the guardianship of Leong Chew.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211433, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1988", "page_number": 149, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "125\n\nOne of Grandfather's ancestors was a petty official, a position which afforded him an opportunity to grant favours and to receive gifts of appreciation in return. The gifts included an eye agate, a cockroach of black jade, and a woman of white jade which were handed down as heirlooms in the family. Uncle Jong Tin Yau was given the cockroach, but it could not be located after his death. Uncle Jong Tin Suk inherited the eye agate. Mother was given the piece of white jade—a carved reclining female figure with bound feet, undraped except for an apron. Her head rests on a block pillow and in her hands is a palm fan. Mother was the 5th or 6th generation to own it.\n\nWhile working in Sam Heong, a suburb of Shekki, Grandfather met and married Grandmother, who was surnamed Chang. Little is known of her background, although she did confide in Mother that she had been married previously. I do not know whether she was widowed or she had merely deserted her first husband. In any event, it was reported that she had had children. Re-marriage for women was not acceptable, especially in cases where the men had been bachelors. This might have been the source of conflict between Grandmother and Grandfather's family.\n\nA son, Tin Yau Kišlí, was born to them on 17 August 1878. According to Mother, he was nine years older than she. When he was seven, Grandmother brought him to join Grandfather in Hawaii. She had to pawn her jewellery to pay for the passage. When they arrived in Honolulu on the 15th day of the 8th month, the day of the Moon Festival, she learned that Grandfather had already left for China. Having fulfilled his contract, he was now ready to repair his ancestral home and to bring his wife and child back to Honolulu. Because it took sailboats several months to cross the Pacific in those days, communication between him and Grandmother had been inadequate. As a result, Grandmother had to live in the home of a friend, Lau Tim, to await Grandfather's return.\n\nUpon arrival at Shekki, Grandfather was greeted with tales of Grandmother's infidelity. More likely than not the source of this gossip had been Seventh Aunt. It took Grandfather some time to get over his anger, but eventually he returned to Honolulu, and two more children were born to my grandparents. My mother, Jong Hung, was born on 23 April 1887, in a small community known as Jow Tim Yard HJ,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211434, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1988", "page_number": 150, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "126\n\nlocated off Nuuanu Avenue near the waterfront. A third child, a son, was born three years later. As the Chinese in those days rarely registered the births of their children, especially when they were girls, there are no official records of these births. When Mother was about two years old, the family moved to a larger community known as Wai Jook Yard #1, bordered by Nuuanu Avenue and Pauahi Street, probably named after Ching Wai Jook who operated a store on Nuuanu Avenue. The site became known as 'The Children's Playground' later.\n\nIt was at that time that Grandfather started a shoe-making business, but this was not successful because he had to rely on hired workers.\n\nWhen Mother was three, my grandparents made a trip to Shekki, taking Mother and the infant, but leaving Tin Yau in care of Cousin Chang Gum Chin. It was on this trip that Grandmother bought a young bond servant girl, Chang Chun Moy. After Grandfather left by himself for Honolulu, the infant died unexpectedly. Grandmother, alarmed that she would also lose Mother, again pawned her jewellery and returned with Mother to Hawaii, bringing with them Chun Moy. This was in 1891.\n\nGrandfather insisted on having a business of his own, even if it were as small a venture as just selling peanuts. He did not, however, succeed in any of his undertakings, including a restaurant, a dry goods store, and a farm in Moiliili. He tried selling baby chickens and ducks to local farmers, buying the eggs and hatching them in an incubator heated by charcoal. The eggs that did not hatch were fed to the family, then considered good for one's health. Because of much bickering among the workers, he gave that up. His final attempt at being an independent businessman was to buy ready-made 'dim sum', luncheon pieces, and have Uncle peddle them to native Hawaiians. At that time Uncle was a student at St. Louis School, and Mother was in the 4th grade. The average profit of 25 cents a day had supported the family on two meals a day. Finally, with a saving of $10, enough to buy ingredients and fuel, Grandfather hired a cook to make their own luncheon pieces. The cooking was done in an area in the back of the house, and Grandmother, who was suffering from severe headaches at that time, would sit on the back stairs to watch and to supervise. Uncle had to continue peddling even during school days and learned to speak Hawaiian.\n\nPage 150\n\nPage 151", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211437, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1988", "page_number": 153, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "129\n\nwhen she became very ill, she married the girl to Uncle, thinking that she could be a companion for Mother, who at that time was 14. Aunt Jong's version was that Lum Gin had wanted to marry my Mother, but Grandmother would not consent to it. Regardless of the reason, her two nephews became angry and left without repaying their indenture and the family relationship was severed. Lum Gin later married and settled in Hecia where he had a small country store, but the strain continued. In 1901, Uncle married Wong Fung. On 16 March 1903, my Mother, then not quite 16 years old, was married to my Father.\n\nFarm life was rough. The adults had to work hard and diligently, but rice farming did not prove profitable. There seemed to be constant worries if it was not the unpredictable weather, it was the depressed price of rice. To add to the family's problems, Grandmother's illness became more serious. A herbalist tried unsuccessfully to 'burst' a growth in her abdomen which he had diagnosed as a 'turtle'. There was much bleeding and intense pain. She probably was suffering from cancer. It was during her terminal days that I fell off the porch of the farm house onto broken glass, and sustained a cut on the top of my head, a scar I bear to this day. Grandmother died on 5 December 1907. Although I was only two at that time, one incident during the wake stands out in my memory, Mother and Aunt sitting on the floor in front of the bier, joss sticks smoking and flickering candles burning, as Uncle poured wine into tiny cups and ordered us four girls to empty the cups and kowtow before the coffin. Because we giggled during the ceremony, Uncle gave each of us a hard rap on the head with his knuckle. Grandmother was buried on the farm. Her remains were exhumed about 10 years later, stored temporarily at our Broad Road home until they were taken to China by Cousin Gum Chin for final burial.\n\nIt was not until my paternal Grandfather Chan, who was a partner in the Iwilei Rice Mill, offered to mill the grain and sell the rice in California at a better price, that Grandfather Jong was able to realize a profit. With savings of about 1,000 dollars, he returned to Shekki in 1909 when he was 55 years old. I remember being with Mother to see him off at the pier, which was located opposite the Oahu Railroad Depot not far from our Iwilei home, and observing tears in her eyes as we stood beside the s. s. Manchuria. The next year Grandfather married a widow with a young daughter, who was later to become the wife of Pong Fai,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211438, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1988", "page_number": 154, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "130\n\nand settled in a new home at the East Gate of Shekki. A son, Tin Suk, was born a year later, followed by two daughters, Ah Fook and Ah Look. When all three children came down with a serious illness, only Tin Suk survived.\n\nI treasure a vignette of Grandfather beside a horse tied to a tree behind our Iwilei home, ready to leave for Kaneohe, and another one of him sitting on a chair and asking me to press my face against the stub of his whiskers. I pushed his face away, but Ruth did not resist. He told Mother that he liked my 'spirit', a trait she considered as stubbornness, and tried to subdue by applying the rod generously.\n\nIt is hard to understand why Grandfather did not leave any money to Uncle when he left Hawaii. This meant years of hardship for Uncle and his family. Everyone had to share in the numerous tasks. The children had many chores: cutting grass to feed the pigs, beating kerosene cans to frighten flocks of birds which came to dine on ripening grain, pasting bags out of newspaper to protect melons from destructive insects, helping with the threshing of grain and bagging of the paddy, and on and on. Aunt's work was endless. In addition to child-bearing, she shared in the planting and harvesting of both rice and vegetables, chopped guava trees which were in great abundance on the hillside for firewood, cooked three meals every day, and saw to the needs of the children. Although Annie, the oldest child, was not a boy, she had to help in ploughing the fields at an early age, and had little opportunity to attend school.\n\nOne crop of rice a year was general, but some years Uncle managed two plantings. Vegetables were also grown: cucumber, bitter melon, mustard cabbage, napa, bak choy, water chestnut, watercress. At harvest time, as well as during the planting season, itinerant workers had to be hired. It was men against weather. They transferred the rice seedlings into the watery mud fields, inserting a few stalks at a time in neat, straight rows. When the grain ripened, the rice stalks were cut with sickles and laid row on row in neat piles for bundling. Sheaves of grain, balanced on each end of a long pole, were carried on the shoulder to the threshing ground, which was a large concrete area with a stake in the centre. A horse tied to it would be driven round and round to stomp the grain from the stalks, which were then pitch-forked away into a mountain-high pile that served as a play area for the children.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211440, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1988", "page_number": 156, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "132\n\n-\n\nAnna,\n\nshe took along the children of good friends with her as well Bessie, Clara, Dora and Laura Chung, and Alice Ping Lam. In spite of the primitive surroundings, it was a treat for city children to enjoy the freedom of the outdoors. How nostalgic is the smell of sweet ripening rice in the fields. The memory of early morning breakfasts of steaming rice, hot tasty dishes and strong tea. The smell of smoking guava wood under the big wok! The feel of crispy rice from the bottom of the wok! The clear, cool, invigorating mountain air! The soft dawn suddenly bright from the glow of the rising sun seen through the wide, paneless windows of the large kitchen where we ate! And the never satisfied appetites for anything edible around the farm! We did not have a care.\n\nBetween chores we would wander into the dense guava bushes growing wild in the uncultivated areas, and would pick, taste, discard or eat only the sweetest fruits. The white-seeded ones were the best. There were mangoes and bananas, all for the picking. We got our vitamins the joyful way. Or we would wade in the deep cold stream or in the drained rice fields to catch snails, opelu and catfish that were left in the puddles after the harvest. While the older children kept an eye on the younger ones, without supervision from the busy adults, we always found something to occupy our time and were never bored.\n\nUncle decided to make a change in 1916. He moved to a small leasehold, located off Lilipuna Road not far from Kamehameha Highway, owned by Joseph Whittle, a sign painter. The neighbours were John William Grote and Henry Cobb-Adams. The former was the postmaster and the latter the tax collector in Kaneohe. Uncle increased the amount of vegetables he produced and replaced the buggy with a large horse-drawn wagon to take his produce to the Honolulu market. When the lease expired in 1918, he moved to a property owned by the widow of William Henry, who had been a gaoler at the Oahu Prison. This farm was on the Maikai side of Kamehameha Highway, separated from the Cobb-Adams property by a narrow stream. Aunt had a green thumb and from selected seeds sent by Step-Grandmother from Shekki, she was able to raise high quality vegetables that brought a good price and profit.\n\nAs business increased, Uncle invested in a Reo truck and started the first truck farming business in that community, acting as agent for other farmers on a commission basis. Although Cousin Mary learned to drive", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211443, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1988", "page_number": 159, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "135\n\nwas approached by a wealthy Honolulu merchant to be an opium agent in Kaneohe, he declined. He was a man of principle and honour; money could not tempt his integrity even when the going was rough. He was generous and a good provider. The family never lacked for food or snacks. After the children had had their dinner, Uncle would sit alone at the table, enjoying a peaceful interlude and slowly sipped a bowlful of Ng Ca Pei wine between mouthfuls of food. He seemed particularly fond of roast pork and could be heard chomping on the crisp skin. After dinner he would drink strong tea from a huge coffee-pot.\n\nIn contrast, Aunt, a short and plump woman, was easy-going and good-tempered. She seldom found it necessary to scold and discipline her children. She was a good cook and is especially remembered for her stuffed bitter melon and duck sautéed with pineapple slices. For Chinese New Year she would always send us a huge mochi pudding, about a foot in diameter and four to five inches thick. She would pound mochi rice in a large stone mortar with a huge stump of guava wood and use the flour for the pudding, which required a whole day of steaming. The mortar, a cow's horn that Uncle blew to summon the workers from the field at meal time, and a round whetstone operated by a foot pedal, were three pieces of equipment which fascinated me.\n\nUncle and Aunt retired to a life of peace and security, in a home free of encumbrances and with enough savings to be independent and to leave some to their children. Unfortunately, Aunt met an early death from a heart attack on 30 November 1941, at the age of 57. Uncle, on the other hand, lived to the ripe old age of 84, when he died from a stroke in 1962.\n\nGrandfather suffered from rectal bleeding and intense pain before he died. The date of his death is not known to me. Uncle used to send money to him regularly and continued to support Step-Grandmother after Grandfather's death. I met her for the first time in 1919 when Mother took Dora and me to the sick bedside of Father, who had been welcomed by Step-Grandmother into her house. She was then widowed, living alone with her son, Tin Suk, then about seven years old. Her daughter, Mrs. Pong, had already been married but frequently spent a few weeks visiting her. A good and enduring relationship developed between us and these family members during the six months we stayed in Shekki. Step-Grandmother extended herself in making us comfortable and in cooking\n\n!", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211444, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1988", "page_number": 160, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "136\n\nenticing, wholesome meals to nurture Father back to health. Communication with her was interrupted by the Second World War and after 1949, and it was during these intervening years that she died, followed later by the death of Uncle Tin Suk, from injuries he had suffered falling down a well. Ging Heen, the only offspring of Uncle Tin Suk, is also now deceased. The details regarding his wife and children are not known to us.\n\nUncle Pong sent for Aunt Pong and their first child in 1922, and they lived with us temporarily until they bought a home on Lusitana Street. They sold this home in 1932, during the Depression, in order that Aunt Pong and the eight children could manage life easier in Shekki. They left the same time Mother, Dora and I did, on the Empress of Japan. Later, before the Second World War began, Aunt Pong sent the children back to Honolulu, two by two. Left with two of them, she was not able to return until the end of the war. The family settled in the neighbourhood store operated by Uncle Pong at the corner of Kaukini and Fort Streets, on property owned by us. This property was later condemned by the city to enlarge Kawananakoa School. Uncle Pong died from diabetes and Aunt Pong from cancer.\n\nThe Pong children are:\n\nHelen Wai Hing married Long Wa Lui\n\nViolet Wai Lin married Mun Git Chan\n\nElla Wai King married Joseph Loui\n\nErnest Dung Sun married Wai Quon Yee\n\nHerbert Cheong Fat married Dimmie Kam\n\nLily Wai Chiu married Stanley Chang\n\nClaron Ah Hoon married Pacita Tan\n\nRichard Kwock Hung married Kwei Fong Miu\n\nMy Jong grandparents and their children are all gone now. My Mother's health began to deteriorate following a bout of shingles and she passed away on 20 November 1974, after being incapacitated for about a month as a result of a stroke. Although I still feel the loss of those I love, I am comforted by, and hold on to, the many memories that are intertwined with their caring, nurturing, and warmth.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211457, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1988", "page_number": 173, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "149\n\nUpon receiving word of the unexpected death of Second Paternal Aunt, Father decided to take a trip to China to see his remaining brothers and sisters. Passage by boat after the First World War was difficult to secure, but reluctant to change his schedule and to inconvenience the bank, he accepted steerage accommodation and left in April 1919 on the Shinyo Maru. Before the ship arrived in Japan some ten days later, he had seen 19 passengers die from influenza and he had himself fallen ill. He debarked in Japan to seek medical care, but as he had difficulty communicating with the Japanese doctor, he proceeded to Shanghai so that Second Paternal Uncle could take care of him. The weather in Shanghai proved to be too cold, so he decided to go to Hong Kong to stay with First Paternal Uncle. There a doctor Koch diagnosed Father as suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis. When his fingers began to swell, relatives believed the sulphur content of the water in Hong Kong was not beneficial and arranged to move him to my maternal grandfather's home in Shekki, occupied then by his widow and son. It was then that Father sent for Mother. With the help of C. K. Ai, Mother was able to obtain passage, again steerage, on the S. S. Nanking for herself, Dora, and me. Ruth and Helen were left in the care of the Ais. It must have been difficult for them, especially for Helen, to be separated from Mother under such stressful circumstances.\n\nOn shipboard we were one of three families in a large cabin, sharing one bath. There was much noise and activity in and outside of this cabin, but we kept much to ourselves because Mother was very much worried about Father and left Dora, who cried a good deal, probably from seasickness, to my care. One day Mother suffered such severe gastric pain that she thought she would die and gave me instructions as to what to do. The ship's doctor was able to ease her pain. It was a frightening experience and the trip was a traumatic one for all three of us. Years later, Dr. Samuel Yee found that Mother had had a healed perforated gastric ulcer and I wondered if it had occurred then.\n\nSince we were total strangers in a different world, First Paternal Uncle thoughtfully accompanied us from Hong Kong to join Father in Shekki. We travelled over the ocean and up river to our destination on a crowded junk or \"doo\", to be greeted joyfully by Father. Chinese herbs and good food, however, had not been able to restore Father to good health. So my parents decided to return to Honolulu, hoping that a stay at the Leahi", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211469, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1988", "page_number": 185, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "161\n\nfaith, the Lam Toy's and Lam Quan's, who became our life-long friends. By this time Chinese women were freer to visit with each other, and Mrs. Lam Quan taught Mother how to sew Western style dresses for us children, to bake cakes, to make delicious ice cream (which was a great treat in those days), and to use Western medicine. When Mr. and Mrs. Ai took a trip to China in 1913, their son, Samuel, would often play with me or Helen. One afternoon while he, Mung Yee Yap and I were playing ball, the family dog, tied to a mango tree, bit Samuel repeatedly when he tried to retrieve a stray ball. I stood immobilized and horrified by his screams. He happened to be wearing clothes his friend had loaned him when his head became wet while playing in a stream, and the unfamiliar scent must have provoked the dog. Fortunately his sister Bessie, who happened to come to the front door, rescued him. It was also traumatic to hear Samuel's scream while he was being treated on the back porch by Dr. Francis Wong-Leong.\n\nAmong Mother's non-Christian friends was the first Mrs. Siu Kit who lived in a small lane behind the Dutro's. She had come from China with her oldest child to join Mr. Siu, who ran a butcher shop at the corner of King and Aala Streets. She bore five more children, but the youngest died of whooping cough before he was even a month old. After the death of this infant, Mrs. Siu seemed to have no will to live, and, again, pregnant, became very ill, possibly from influenza. She died in 1919, insisting to the end that Mr. Siu had taken in a concubine in his village. There was no foundation to her accusations, because only after her death did he go to Japan, where he met and married a young girl from the village selected by his family to be his second wife. This second Mrs. Siu also became our life-long friend, who looked upon Mother as a surrogate parent and was always generous and thoughtful. She found the care of five undisciplined stepchildren and seven of her own a difficult responsibility. When the exchange rate was very favourable, Mr. Siu retired to Shekki with his whole family but gradually sent his children, two or three at a time, back to Honolulu. He died during the Japanese occupation of China. Mrs. Siu returned to Honolulu after the Second World War to live with her daughter, Siu Ying Chun, and died in 1985 while on an extended visit in California.\n\nThis was a worry-free and happy period of my life in spite of the fact that occasionally I had a stormy time with Mother, who did not spare", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211475, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1988", "page_number": 191, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "167\n\ngrades, graduating in June, 1932. In August of that year, she and mother accompanied me to China. Because Aunt Pong felt she could manage better in Shekki with the money from the sale of their home, she and the children left Honolulu on the Empress of Japan as we did. Uncle Pong remained in Honolulu. This was during the Depression when the exchange rate was favourable for United States currency.\n\nDora enrolled in the True Light Middle School, where I had accepted a teaching position, but when she found her inadequate knowledge of Chinese quite frustrating, she left after the first semester for Hong Kong, where Mother was living in First Paternal Uncle's Kennedy Road home. There she was tutored in Chinese by a Chinese teacher. In July, 1933, after a short visit to Shanghai and Hangchow, Mother and Dora returned to Honolulu on the President Hoover, to welcome Mother's first grandchild, Edmund Tong.\n\nFor the next three years, Dora studied at McKinley High School and after her graduation in June, 1936, she matriculated at the University of Hawaii, and received a B.A. degree in liberal arts. Then she went to the University of Chicago to do postgraduate social work. At the International House where she resided, she met Tso-chien Shen, a Vice-consul from China, and married him on 19 September, 1941. He was a native of Pi Hu Chen, Li Shui County, Chekiang Province, and a graduate of the University of Peking. An article, \"What Chinese Exclusion Really Means\" by him was published in 1942 by the China Institute in America. Dora soon became pregnant and became so ill that she could not finish her last quarter of study to earn a Master's degree. Their sons, both born in Chicago, are:\n\nEugene Tsu-wang I, born 7/5/42\n\nGilbert Tsu-shang I, born 2/3/46\n\nIn 1946 when Tso-chien was promoted to Second Secretary of the Chinese Legation in Manila, he had to leave his family behind, because his salary was too low. After 1949, Tso-chien started a chicken farm, with Paul Sim as his financial backer. However, in 1950 when he was found to be suffering from cancer, he sent for Dora, but by this time he was already in a terminal stage. Whereupon Dora returned to Mother's home and arranged to have him flown to Honolulu in December 1950", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211485, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1988", "page_number": 201, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "177\n\nof the most tragic periods of my life. The students were bright and eager to learn. They were tolerant of my inadequate command of Chinese and were helpful in teaching me a more refined use of the language. Among them was Sally Sun, the adopted daughter of Sun Yat-sen. She followed me to Honolulu and lived with us while she attended the University of Hawaii until she left after her freshman year for Pomona College. To this day I am in touch with many of my former students.\n\nI was glad for the opportunity to meet many relatives, some for the second time, and to know them better. I felt welcomed in the homes of First Paternal Uncle and Cousin Toby. The former lived in a traditional compound on the bank of a small river in the Lai Chee Wan district\n\nin Canton, an area where the elite of the old regime resided. He also maintained a home on Kennedy Road, in Wanchai, Hong Kong, a sturdy building of British design. About once a month, on pay day, I would invite Bertha Young, Sarah Mao, and Miriam Simpson, teachers at True Light, to spend a weekend at Uncle's Kennedy Road home. This gave us a chance to savour foreign food, perhaps to see an American film, or to attend a tea-dance at the Hong Kong Hotel.\n\nCousin Toby and his wife Louise lived in the Tung Shan I section of Canton where many westernized Chinese congregated. Staying with them on occasions was a pleasant change. Sometimes I would go with them to the Euro-American Club for a night of dancing.\n\nBecause my salary was only 120 Mex. dollars a month (about 20 U.S. dollars), I could not see as much of China as I would have liked. I was able to visit Father's birthplace and our Chan relatives a second time, and to pay respects to the graves of my grandparents and great grandparents during the Ching Ming Festival. I also paid a short visit to the home of my maternal grandmother in Shekki where we had lived in 1919, and to the new home of Aunt Pong nearby. In the summer of 1934, with Bertha Pang, Tiu Kei and Suk Kei Chan, and Ethel Au, I set out to see Peking by rail from Shanghai. I found Peking a charming old city and was thrilled to visit the Great Wall and the Imperial City and other attractions, so rich in history. People here seemed more refined, more cultivated; even the salesmen were very polite. On the way back, we stopped at several well-known places. We met and were joined at times by Daniel Yee, William Leong, Deborah Kau and Elizabeth Ching.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 } ]