[ { "id": 204543, "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-1963", "page_number": 24, "title": "RAS-1963", "content_text": "PROTESTANT CEMETERY IN MACAO\n\n19\n\nCochin China, Siam, and who died in Macao while en route to Japan in an attempt to open that country to American trade.\n\nTo the south of Crockett is Ljungstedt, a Swedish merchant, a philanthropist, an educationalist, and a Knight of Wasa, and alongside him are three small humble altar-tombs of the three children of an American girl, Caroline Shillaber of Danvers, Massachusetts, who married an English doctor, Thomas Richardson Colledge in Macao in 1833. After their return to England in 1838/39, Dr. Colledge practised his profession in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, for about forty years, and both he and his wife are buried in the churchyard of the small village of Shurdington just outside Cheltenham. Their tombstone supplied us with the Christian names of one of their children buried in Macao whose memorial does not give the child's name, for it merely refers to \"the infant son of\" Dr. and Mrs. Colledge. The name was Lancelot Dent, the head of a famous merchant house here in those days.\n\nOne cannot mention Mrs. Colledge without referring also to her school friend Harriet Low. She came out to Macao in 1829 as a companion to her aunt. Her uncle was William Henry Low, head of the American firm of Russell & Co. Together they all three left Macao to return to the States in 1834, but the uncle died in Cape Town while on the journey home. Harriet, fortunately for us, kept a diary from the day she left Massachusetts, and it gives us most valuable information of the community life in Macao in the early thirties, as well as of many of the individual members of the community itself.\n\nAlong the eastern wall near the north-east corner of the Lower Terrace is the grave of another Boston merchant, Captain Nathaniel Kinsman. His wife too was a diarist, but whereas Harriet looked at everything through the sparkling and bewitching eyes of a gaiety-loving girl of twenty-one, Rebecca Kinsman viewed the life amongst the members of this predominantly masculine society from the viewpoint of a married middle-aged Quakeress.\n\nYet a third feminine writer to whom we also owe much was the widow of Dr. Robert Morrison. She wrote a biography of her husband which was published in two volumes, and although it necessarily deals mainly with the Morrison family, it nevertheless gives much information too about their contemporaries in Macao.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1963.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/4m90m091v", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205339, "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-1967", "page_number": 101, "title": "RAS-1967", "content_text": "94\n\nJAMES HAYES\n\npersons exercising a similar authority in the course of the century, but I have not yet learned who they were.\n\nCHAN FU-SHING (c.1800-60)\n\nChan Fu-shing (c.1800-60) was a Cantonese from the village of Sha Lo Wan on North Lantau. He was the eldest of three sons who were brought there by their mother at the beginning of the nineteenth century from Sai Heung not far from the District City of Nam Tau (about eighteen miles away by sea). The mother was presumably a widow. Why she came to Sha Lo Wan is not known -- perhaps a married aunt or sister lived there but when they did arrive it is more than likely that the family had no land of their own because of the circumstances of their coming and the fact that the oldest village clans claim a depth of settlement that indicates arrival in the 17th century.\n\nFamily tradition has it that the boy was put to work in a grocery store in the market town of Tai O six miles away. Being able and diligent he made himself indispensable to his employer and eventually became a partner in the business. By this means he obtained the small capital that was essential for speculation. He appears to have used this money to make loans to village people either at the customary high rates of interest -- documents show that 50% per annum was common -- or in return for mortgages of land. He was also able to buy land when the opportunity offered and gradually built up an estate for himself and his descendants. It was not a large one. By the time of the British lease the Chan family, all descended from himself or his brothers, owned 19 acres in and around Sha Lo Wan. Most, if not all of this property, must have come from Chan Fu-shing. It is interesting that almost half these fields were placed in common ownership in two ancestral trusts with one or more managers. This ensured that the land would not be divided into small segments every succeeding generation, and would not be at the mercy of a spendthrift or gambler. By way of an aside, it is, in my experience, unusual -- on Lantau -- for so high a proportion of land to be preserved in this way and this prescience must have been exercised by Chan Fu-shing. The Chans' ancestral hall, used as a village school for almost a century, was also due to Fu-shing and his money.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1967.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/0c488p70g", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 205859, "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-1969", "page_number": 165, "title": "RAS-1969", "content_text": "NOTES AND QUERIES \n\n159 \n\nthe poorest class each man owns one or more houses. Besides those used for habitation some of these houses are used for keeping cattle or storage of grass etc...... Some are ancestral and joss temples which are for worshipping purposes, and most of these were left by their ancestors, the cost of originally building each of them amounting to thousands of dollars. \n\nIt was usual for a family to own more than one small house in one of the rows of houses that characterised local villages, and for its members to spread into several whilst still feeding as one household. Among specific cases is the following statement of the position at Li Cheng Uk, New Kowloon about 1910: \n\n44 \n\nWhen I went to the LING clan of Cheng Uk as a sun po tsai (童養媳) or child fiancée at the age of eight, my future husband's parents occupied five houses in a row. I slept in one with my mother-in-law, two adult but unmarried sisters-in-law slept in another, my father-in-law and two adult unmarried sons in the third, an old uncle and aunt in a fourth, and the family's hired labourers in the last. \n\n++ \n\nIn the adjoining village of Sheung Li Uk another informant's family occupied five houses next to the clan's main ancestral hall: \n\nOne of these houses was an additional ancestral hall, built to honour my own grandfather, whilst the first of the other four was used at night by my mother and father and myself; the second and third were used by my unmarried brothers in their twenties; and the fourth and last by a married brother, his wife and their small daughter. All these persons fed together. Our domestic animals were housed in a wooden barn, though it was common for dwelling houses to be used as cow houses and pigsties and for storage of grass and firewood, agricultural implements and farm produce. Our family was quite prosperous but most other families in the village occupied only a pair of house.\" (Period circa 1900 - 1910) \n\nOn Hong Kong island a few similar examples have come to my notice in the course of reading and enquiry. \n\nPage 165\n\nPage 166", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1969.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/9g553n20d", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211407, "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": 123, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "Table 1: Genealogy of the Chan Family\n\nChan Tak Youg (Violet's great grandfather)\n\nChan Jok Jun\n\nGeorge, Harry, Henry\n\nChan Jok Chiu (b. 1845) m (1) Au (Violet's grandparents)\n\n(2) Leong\n\nYung Kam in Yim (First Paternal Aunt)\n\nGeorge Goon Hop (adopted) m (1) Auyoung\n\n(2) Liu\n\n \n Gladys Yung Hoy m Lan Kwai\n \n \n Claudia in George Murphy\n David, Michael\n \n \n Calvin m Barbara\n Jennifer, Jason, Jeffrey\n \n \n Kwock Wah m Mona Lew\n Paula, Donna, Marcha, David, Jonathan\n \n \n Lorna (adopted) m\n Lawrence, Paul, Yolanda, Twila-dawn, Keith, Robin\n \n\nChan Ping Wing (First Paternal Uncle) m Ching (Concubine: \"Small Aunt\")\n\nChan Po Ling m (1) Auyoung\n\n(2) Kan (Concubine: Kam)\n\n \n Linda, Judy, Lillian, Robert, Chi Fai, Anthony, m Dorothy (5 daughters)\n \n \n Rosita, m Robert Ting (1 child)\n \n\nChan Ping I (Second Paternal Uncle) m Auyoung\n\nToby in Louise Dung\n\n \n Melody m Johnson Chen, Carol m John Lee, Sonja in Tai Min Wan, Jade m Eddy Lin, Lloyd m Deborah, Lena m Jeffrey Lu\n \n\nHelen m Tong\n\nCharles (children)\n\nGeorgette m Lu Bing Leong (daughter) Moo Yun\n\nTing Cheong (2 sons, 2 daughters)\n\nMoo Sau\n\nChan Ping Yip m Jong (Violet's parents)\n\nRuth\n\nViolet m John Lew m\n\nMe Yuk\n\n \n Helen m (1) Edmund Tin Wai Tong\n \n \n Edmund Yee Sing m (1) Susan Loui\n Kevin\n \n \n (2) Gertrude Kristiansen\n Syrilyn, Clayton\n \n \n (2) Tso-yu Fu\n Lynnette Wen-chu\n \n \n Russell m (1) Lila Kung\n Dora m Tso-chien Shen\n \n \n Eugene m Nancy Chun\n Wendell, Celia\n \n \n (2) Susan Carter\n Russell\n \n \n Gilbert m Christine Liao\n Warren, Tabitha\n \n\ndaughter m Leong Ting Bau (Second Paternal Aunt)\n\nYung Yik m Auyoung (Third Paternal Aunt)\n\nSuk Jun, m So (4 sons, 3 daughters)\n\nSuk Num, (3 daughters, 1 son), Suk Chiu, (2 sons, 2 daughters) Chan Ping Lim (d. 1903) (Fourth Paternal Uncle)\n\nChan Jok Sau\n\nL-6 sons (including Dai Mec, Ngit Chiu and Dai Geng)\n\nChan Jok Sui\n\nNgit Chiu (adopted) d 1924 in Honolulu\n\nChan Jok King\n\nJu Dai, Dai Geng (adopted)\n\n99", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211412, "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": 128, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "104\n\nFirst Paternal Aunt I joined him in 1897. She was surnamed Ching and was born on 16 August 1869 in the village of Tin Bin. A kindly, passive and not well-educated lady, she was anxious to be liked, but did not have the authoritativeness, shrewdness, and skill necessary to manage a large Chinese household. Because she bore no children, Uncle asked Cousin George Goon Sun Chan to bring a 'bought' girl with him into the United States as his own wife, when in reality she was to be Uncle's concubine. This was in 1903. Her name was Wong Lin Hing, a native of Soochow, and she was born on 7 February 1887. Although she was addressed by the family as Ngee Nai, namely, Second Concubine, I called her Small Paternal Aunt, to give her more status. In San Francisco, these two women, by shelling shrimp in the home, were able to use their earnings for investment that gave them some income of their own. During the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, it was a very difficult experience for Uncle when he had to flee with Aunt on his back because she could not run with bound feet.\n\nIn response to one of Uncle's letters bemoaning the fact that he had no children by either spouse, Father responded, without realizing the full impact, that if they lived near each other, he would let him have one of his children. Uncle immediately wrote that friends passing through Honolulu on their way to California could take the child to him. Fortunately for me, it was my younger sister, Me Yuk, still an infant, who was presented to Uncle. I have never discussed with Mother what her feelings were, but I suspect that she had little say in the matter and had dutifully acceded to a husband's decision and that she carried a great burden of guilt over it. When Me Yuk was about four or five, Small Aunt took her along to visit friends in Sacramento, and on the way back by boat, she developed convulsions and died. She was described as a sweet, appealing, and talented child, a little performer, whom Uncle proudly showed off to his friends. He doted on her and lavished her with fine clothes, some of which were sent to us after her death. It was traumatic for the family. Small Aunt contemplated suicide as she felt that she was to blame for the child's death. Me Yuk's remains were later taken to Hong Kong for reburial, and in 1932, she was buried a third time by Mother to rest next to Father and Ruth in the Pokfulam Christian Cemetery, Hong Kong.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211413, "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": 129, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "105\n\nBecause of conflict between the Heong Shan and the Toy Shan cl stockholders of the bank, and depressed over the loss of Me Yuk, uncle returned to China in 1910. I remember them when they stopped over in Honolulu and the trip we took with him by taxi to the Pali. He presented Mother with a pair of etched California gold bracelets, one of which I now own. On my first visit to China in 1919, Uncle was working for the Sun Company Ltd., a large department store in Hong Kong, but he later returned to banking as the Branch Manager of the Bank of East Asia in Canton until his death during World War II.\n\none at 96 Kennedy Road, Hong Kong,\n\nM, Canton, on the bank of a small\n\nHe established two homes and the other in Lai Chee Wan river. The former was a sturdy concrete building of British design and character, while the latter was Chinese, with an enclosed courtyard and garden. Since he had accumulated a comfortable fortune, he acquired an estate in Deep Water Bay near Aberdeen, Hong Kong, where he would retreat from time to time to enjoy the beautiful flowers which his gardeners cultivated. His Kennedy Road home was like a hotel, open to relatives from the village and to other visitors as well. He found jobs for male relatives from the village who wanted to work in the city; he contributed to the support of needy kinsmen; and he paid a percentage of the debt owed to creditors of the family pawn shop which had failed during Grandfather's tenure. He was a true head of the house, assuming responsibilities for the care and support of many.\n\n1\n\nSometime before 1919 when Uncle got settled again, he brought into the household his \"Third Concubine\", a native of Sun Yup. Born on 12 December 1897, she was considerably younger than Uncle. Uncle seemed quite fond of her. This was probably threatening to both First Aunt and Small Aunt, for the former then adopted a son, Po Nin, who was born on 17 February 1908, but he died from tuberculosis when he was in his teens. Small Aunt tried very hard to conceive by frequently going to the temple to pray for a son and miraculously became pregnant and bore a son, Po Ling, on 10 May 1915. A great deal of rivalry existed between the two concubines that resulted in intrigues and accusations until eventually Uncle reluctantly had to send Third Concubine out of his household, reportedly because there was proof of her infidelity. However, he gave her a sum of money in order that she could learn to be a midwife and become self-supporting. It is reported", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211414, "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": 130, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "106\n\nthat she did not follow through.\n\nDuring World War II the Japanese took over Uncle's Hong Kong home and the family had to retreat to the cellar, which fortunately was huge, roomy and above ground. Since communication between Hawaii and Hong Kong was impossible, we did not learn of the details of the deaths of both Uncle and Aunt. Uncle did have a history of bladder stones and Aunt, diabetes. Later, the Communists appropriated his home in Canton, and Po Ling subsequently sold the country estate and the Kennedy Road home. Po Ling, trained in law at the Soochow University and at University of Illinois, went into banking and finance like his father. He lived for many years in Malaysia, but, after suffering a stroke, he went back to Hong Kong where he started a finance company of his own.\n\nBecause I felt deprived of a father early in life, Uncle seemed to fill that void in 1932 and 1935 when I was living in China. He opened his home to Mother, Dora and me, allowing us to live in the Hong Kong residence while his family lived in Canton. After Mother and Dora left for Honolulu, I could always have the key to the house and take the train from Canton to Hong Kong with several colleagues to spend a few days there. Small Aunt was an efficient manager of the household, a task given to her when First Aunt proved inadequate. She not only saw to it that Uncle and her son had every comfort but she was always thoughtful of me too. For example, she would often send a maid to True Light Middle School where I was teaching with specially prepared soup, or have some ready for me on my visits. She and Mother became quite close to each other and took a trip to Shanghai and Soochow, accompanied by Dora. They did not have an opportunity to see each other again after Mother returned to Hawaii in 1933, but they kept in touch by mail. My husband John and I saw Small Aunt for the last time on our visit to Hong Kong in 1972. In January 1976 she had a chance to fulfill her wish to see the United States once again, particularly San Francisco. Accompanied by her granddaughter, Rosita, she visited with Dora in Honolulu and with other relatives and friends in California. When Po Ling sold the Kennedy Road home, Small Aunt went to Australia to live with her grandson, Anthony, but after about a year she returned to Hong Kong to be with Po Ling, over whose health she was greatly concerned. In 1980, at the age of 92, she died in her sleep.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211415, "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": 131, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "107\n\nPo Ling, Uncle's sole heir, was in business in Malaysia for many years, but returned to Hong Kong following a stroke. He has been married twice. His first wife, née Auyoung, died of tuberculosis early in their marriage. His present wife, Su Min Kan, is the mother of three daughters and two sons: Linda, Judy, Lillian, Robert and Chi Fai, all of whom were educated in England. I met Su Min for the first time when she and Po Ling toured the United States in 1978 with Linda and Robert. Po Ling's concubine, Grace Kam Siu Wai, born 28 February 1918, and her two children, Anthony F, born 12 May 1945, and Rosita b, born 20 July 1953, are settled in Australia. Anthony, married to an Australian, Dorothy, has five daughters. Rosita, married to Robert Ting, has one child. Because of the distance between Uncle's family and ours, contacts are infrequent and I am afraid family ties will weaken and be lost in time.\n\nAs for me, fond memories of Uncle and Small Aunt linger still, and I cannot forget his affection and concern for me when he took a launch from Shameen, Canton, to True Light Middle School at Paak Hok Tung, to comfort me upon the untimely and tragic death of my fiancé. To have lived in his truly Chinese home was to experience the joys of an extended family, the sharing of sadness and happiness, the concern for one another's well-being, the responsibilities falling upon and assumed by the head of the family, and the respect towards our elders and for each other — attributes which have drawn our families close for several generations and which have increased my appreciation of the ancient culture of my people.\n\nSecond Paternal Uncle\n\nMuch of the information on Second Paternal Uncle comes from letters he wrote to Father and from the autobiography of his eldest son, Toby, written in Chinese.\n\nUncle, the second son in the family, was born in our ancestral village on 17 August 1870. His 'milk name' was Ping I; his marriage name, On Kiao; his adult name, Chung Chi. The last was the name he was known by outside the family. He was taught in the village by a tutor and most likely had studied some English in Hong Kong before Grandfather sent him at the age of 16 to join First Uncle in San Francisco.", "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": 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": 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": 211441, "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": 157, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "133\n\nthe truck, Uncle hired drivers to take the produce to Honolulu. I had many rides on the truck to pick up bananas which Okinawa immigrants grew on what used to be pineapple fields. Uncle prospered and was dubbed *Mayor of Kaneohe*. When it was time for him to retire from farming, he bought a piece of Cobb-Adam's land on Kamehameha Highway, one lot removed from Lilipuna Road. Uncle was extended credit from C. K. Ai, who was a friend of my parents, so that he could buy lumber from City Mill Company to build a simple but spacious home and a large garage for his trucking business.\n\nWhen Uncle was struggling to make ends meet, Father would try to help with small loans. During the First World War, when the price of guano was rising fast, Father bought a ton of the fertilizer and stored it under our School Street home. Uncle would pay the current price for each bag he took, and when the ton was used up, the profit was divided between Father and Uncle. Because the price of animal feed was also rising, Mother would wake Ruth, Helen and me at early dawn, competing with a neighbour, to gather algaroba beans from a back lot for Uncle at one dollar a bag.\n\nThere was little social life in those days. Uncle was a member of a fraternal society in Heeia, namely, the Bow Yee Tong, established in 1903. Mother told me that this was a Triad society, where members were initiated and sworn in as 'blood brothers' by secret rituals, so secret that they were not revealed even to their wives. In later years, after the death of Aunt, Uncle became a devout Buddhist and frequently visited a temple in Honolulu.\n\nUncle registered seven of his ten children with the Board of Health on 15 October 1918. At that time, he gave his name as Cheung Yau and Aunt's as Wong Fung, and his age at 38 and hers 33. Their children are:\n\nAnnie Ah Hoon (21 Apr 1902-1936) married Henry Auyoung\n\nMary Ah Moy Hiki (9 Oct 1904-) married Joseph Liu\n\nHelen Ah Sam (11 Dec 1906-) married Robert Zane\n\nAlice Ah Lin (15 Dec 1909-) married Frank Carpino (died 1982) 1927\n\nReuben Ah Kau (17 Jun 1911-) married Eunice Ching\n\nAaron Ah Mung (13 Oct 1913-8 Oct 1985)", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211442, "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": 158, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "134\n\nEsther Ah Lun EA (9 Jun 1916-) married Raymond Ho (died 1981) Amy Ah Mee (11 Dec 1918-1967)\n\nElla Ah How 55F (10 Sept 1921-) married Holbin Akiona (died 1981) Raymond Gai Sum (5 Nov 1927-) married Nellie Fong\n\nRaymond, the youngest, was a difficult infant as he cried constantly. Uncle felt that his deceased brother, wanting a descendant to provide him with offerings, had been responsible for the baby's behaviour. Therefore, Raymond was given to the brother with appropriate ceremony, and his name was changed from Ah Chai to Gai Sum, the first character of the new name meaning 'adopted'.\n\nI always looked forward to visiting my cousins. When I was older and transportation was easier, I visited them more often. I was treated as a regular member of the family, disciplined by Uncle when needed, eating freely, going on hikes with them to the foot of the mountain, picking wild white and yellow ginger blossoms for leis, sampling guavas, mangoes or mountain apples, or plunging into cold streams after carefully picking our way on bare feet over rough and sometimes thorny terrain. On holiday one summer, I joined my cousins in working for a small pineapple cannery nearby, earning thirteen cents an hour on the night shift. During midnight breaks, the older Hawaiian women would entertain us with ukulele music, hula and song. The atmosphere was relaxed and the work was easy. Although I worked only two weeks, I was very happy to receive my first pay when I was only 15 years old.\n\nMy memories of Uncle and his family are very warm, for the relationship was close. Concern for one another was not verbalized but was shown by what we did for each other. The affection between Mother and Aunt was not demonstrative but genuine, and I have never heard any harsh word between the two. Since telephones were not yet common, Uncle would drop in on us regularly to see that all was well. On the other hand, whenever Uncle or Aunt needed new Chinese dresses, Mother would make them. If there were any business matters to be attended to, Father, and later Mother, would find Uncle whatever help he needed.\n\nUncle was truly the head of the house. He was dominating, quick-tempered but honest and hard-working, never complaining. When he", "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 }, { "id": 211910, "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-1989", "page_number": 325, "title": "RAS-1989", "content_text": "300\n\ntroubles herself about me. Yet she cheered me up wonderfully, and I felt quite another person after reading them. I am sorry that she stayed no longer at Hythe, but I am glad she is back to her former place in one sense. What would I not give to see her.\n\nI was glad to hear all at home continue well. I am very anxious about Siss and Charley, and wonder father did not even mention their names in his letter. I hope, however, to get a letter from each of them soon. I hope the shop where you are going will answer well. I am afraid, however, for mother; that she will work herself to death. Let her take things easy, as I do, and she will do far better. She need not fear coming to the workhouse, as she anticipates, now I can get bread and cheese enough for two. Only let her keep her \"pecker\" up, and she will get on all the better. Poor old George I hope is better. Time is up or I would write him. Mail closes in less than three hours, and I have a great deal to do in the way of college business with the Bp as well as to write to Anna. Will write a great bundle of letters for next mail, to all parties. I have been very busy looking over all my accounts to begin with, and inquiring about everything and putting everything as it should be.\n\nTonight I go to pay my respects to the Colonial Chaplain, Mr. Irwin and family. I have a good harmonium to play upon. Thank Jabey for his kind letter and tell him to write again and I will send him two in one to make up.\n\nI was sorry to hear of Johnny's having the measles. I hope he is all right. Every time I slept I could not help remembering Aunt Maria, in the comfort I found in the pillow. I will write her soon. Stir all the Hythe folks up, and get them to send a cargo of news from home. Shall be glad to hear from any of them and will answer every letter I get. I wish Siss would write a long yarn. My best love to everybody. To all at Hythe, Bridge, Dover and elsewhere, I will send full description soon.\n\nHoping this finds you all well and that I shall hear nothing but good news from every body,\n\nI remain, 's\n\nYours &c\n\nJohn Fryer [sig.]", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1989.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8336pm92h", "rank": 0 } ]