[ { "id": 211402, "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": 118, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "94\n\nA SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY INTO THE PAST OF\n\nTHE CHAN AND JONG FAMILIES*\n\nVIOLET MEBIG CHAN LEW\n\nIntroduction\n\nI have tried several times to get started on tracing my roots but have found several factors hindering my progress. Although I have gathered together quite a bit of material, I have been somewhat frustrated by my inability to read and write Chinese fluently or to find help with it. Also, ages given are often confusing because some are reckoned according to the lunar calendar and some according to the Gregorian system.\n\nOn one occasion I wrote, \"On this the 16th day of October, 1973, I am on a United Airlines plane with my husband, John, bound for Honolulu, which is 'home' to me. It seems that as long as one's parent is alive and is living in the same locality where one grew up, that place remains 'home'. It is the place where one has friendships bonded as far back as memory carries one. The older one becomes, the more one looks backward and recalls with pleasure incidents that have enriched one's life. I have been toying with the idea of putting down in English an account of the migration of my grandparents to Hawaii and the assimilation of the family members into the Western culture. Already, within three generations extending over a span of about one hundred\n\n* Editor's note: Violet Mebig Chan Lew was born in 1906. At the age of 71, she decided to investigate the history of her family, the Chan and Jong clans, which had emigrated to Hawaii from Hsiang-shan county in Kwangtung. Consulting public documents, genealogical records, personal correspondence, her diary and interviewing as many people as she could, Violet Lew spent ten years gathering material for this endeavour. A retired teacher and social worker, Mrs. Lew now lives in Boston and Honolulu with her husband, John. The Journal discovered this manuscript in 1986, and persuaded Mrs. Lew to allow it to be published. Mrs. Lew writes in her correspondence with the Journal: \"I wish to acknowledge the help of Dr. Wing Tsit Chan and my cousin, Toby Chen, in the translation of several sections of the Chan genealogy; the help of Pyun Kyau Minn with the organization of the project; and especially that of Betty Liu in getting this project published. I am also grateful to those who have contributed what they remembered of past events or enlightened me in the translation of Chinese characters.\" Mrs. Lew dedicates this article to her parents, Ping Yip and Jong Hung Chan.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "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": 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": 211416, "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": 132, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "108\n\nWhen he landed in the United States, he had only three dollars on his person to begin seeking his own livelihood.\n\nIn those days, employment for Chinese immigrants was limited to working in restaurants, laundries, or importing businesses. Moreover, they had to work long and hard. When they had accumulated enough from their meagre earnings, they would return to their respective villages, get married (unless they were married already), raise a family, and enjoy their retirement. So it was that Uncle went to work for Sing Fat Chinese Emporium, an importing business. In a short time, he realized the importance of a good education, so used every opportunity to study English, even while at work. One day, while he was on the roof of the Emporium to dry some leather goods, he impressed an American neighbour, who, espying him poring over an English book, offered to tutor him.\n\nUncle was very resourceful. For instance, he would collect discarded Chinese newspapers and sell them at bazaars to Americans who would buy them out of curiosity or out of desire to help a struggling student. He would sell paper 'matches', rolled to the size and length of a drinking straw and used to light Chinese water pipes. At one of the World Fairs, he made money by telling fortunes. There is no information on the schools he attended, but we know that in the autumn of 1894, he was accepted by the Omaha Medical College at Omaha, Nebraska, and graduated on 22 April 1897, with a degree in General Medicine.\n\nThe earliest letter we have from Uncle to Father was dated 26 October 1894 from Omaha. In the letter, he noted that he had not seen Father since leaving home some ten years before and bemoaned the fact that poverty deprived him of the joy of seeing his family every day. He regretted that his ship did not pass Honolulu. (According to Toby, Uncle returned to China to get married in compliance with Grandfather's request, and no doubt was referring to this trip on his way back from the United States.) Uncle mentioned that he had seen Goon Sun MA, a second cousin, in Stockton the previous summer. It took him three weeks to get from San Francisco to Omaha to enter medical school. There, he had his dinner in a restaurant but cooked his own breakfast and supper each day. A year later, on 20 December 1895, he wrote that he was homesick seeing all the other students going home for Christmas.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211418, "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": 134, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "110\n\n mourning for one year. He expressed his hope that Grandfather would marry again.\n\nWhen Uncle learned from Father's letter of 11 February 1900 that Grandfather, Aunt Yim and her husband had been taken to a camp, along with others, for quarantine during the Honolulu Chinatown fire on 20 January, he wrote that he was sorry to receive such news of ill-treatment and discrimination against the Chinese. At the same time, he announced the birth of a son named Ting Kin (Toby), who was growing rapidly and smarter by the day. Uncle sent Aunt and the infant to the village to escape the violence of the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. To avoid being accused as a Nge Mow Tsz or being killed, he bought a queue to wear whenever he alighted from his sedan.\n\nThe next letter preserved was dated 22 February 1902, when Uncle wrote from Canton that he had resigned as house surgeon from the Bok Chai Hospital\n\nwhere he had been assisting an American whose name in Chinese was Dr. Kwan. Uncle was not able to save from his salary of 60 dollars a month and he was kept busy night and day taking care of emergency cases, and consequently felt too confined. He thought he would teach physiology and chemistry for two hours a day at the Shi Man School and would start private practice. He also announced the birth of a second child, a daughter named Moo Ching, on 5 February\n\n1902.\n\nWhile still in Canton, he wrote on 21 October 1902 that Grandfather was indeed wise to have chosen a ‘large-footed' girl to be Father's wife, because women in China were beginning to unbind their feet, and that Second Aunt was thinking of doing it also. He stated that Ting Kin was anxiously waiting for the parcel Father was sending him and had asked many times what the gifts would be. Uncle's office was located on 12th Street in Canton. On 9 March 1903, while on board the Rajaburi on the way back to Hong Kong from Singapore via Swatow, Uncle informed Father that he was considering Manila or Honolulu as the next place for him to practise. Butterfield and Swire had retained Uncle and several other physicians to be ship surgeons, but the health authorities of Singapore only allowed ships with Chinese Physicians from the Alice Medical College in Hong Kong to enter the harbour. Uncle was not considered qualified because he only had three years of medical school.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211419, "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": 135, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "111\n\nTwo other physicians, one Japanese trained in Japan and one American trained in the United States, were also denied entry. Butterfield and Swire contested this decision in court; the court not only ruled against the company, but also made it pay a fine. Uncle felt he had to return to private practice because he had a family to support, even though he would have liked to study for two more years, and decided to go back to Shanghai where Western medicine was becoming more accepted among the Chinese residents.\n\nAlthough Uncle was proficient in Chinese, in preparation for an imperial examination (I believe this was one of the last imperial examinations held) for students who had studied abroad, he sought tutoring in the language and in the use of interjections. He passed the examinations and, according to Toby, he was awarded the degree of chü-jen. However, as I recall it, Father told me that Uncle received the degree of chin-shih; but would have been awarded a higher honour if his Chinese had been a little better. We have a copy of a photograph of him and the other recipients in their ceremonial caps and gowns taken in Peking. For Uncle, his family and his clansmen, it was an honour indeed and there was much rejoicing when he returned to Shanghai. His one regret was that he could not see clearly the Kuang-hsu Emperor (1875-1908) during the ceremonial awards, for although near-sighted, he was not allowed to wear his glasses in the imperial presence.\n\nOut of a sense of civic duty, Uncle served as medical officer for both the Customs Service and the Post Office in Shanghai, from 1916 until 1925 when he retired. When we visited him in 1919, his home was on Hankow Road. He later invested in real estate in the Chapei district and moved to Darrock Road, but all of his real property was taken over by the Japanese, and then by the Communists. When the Japanese invaded Shanghai, Uncle and Aunt moved south to live in Macau where he had become a Portuguese citizen earlier, and also in Hong Kong where he owned another home. When the war ended, they returned to Shanghai to live with their second son, Ting Hing R (Charles), and in 1948 visited with Toby in Taiwan for several months. When the Communists took over, they did not dare venture out of their home. Uncle died in 1953 at the age of 83, and Aunt a half year later in 1954 at the age of 81.\n\nPage 135\n\nPage 136", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211420, "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": 136, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "112\n\nI remember Uncle as a tall, serious person with rather high cheek bones and a broad, prominent chin, altogether a rather handsome gentleman. He had a soft voice, unexpected of a man his size. He was frugal, conservative and cautious in whatever task he undertook. His wife, née Auyoung, was a tiny woman, with bound feet, exuding energy and efficiency, a true Chinese matriarch. She was born on 14 October 1874 in the village of Ma Tsze To a family of some stature. One of her cousins was well-known in national politics and was connected with the building of the Yet Hon Railroad connecting Canton and Hankow. Toby described his mother as a good woman and a good mother. She was a literate person even though she only had tutoring at home. Because she had experienced poverty at some point before marriage, she was very thrifty herself, but generous with others. She stinted on food for herself to give her children. Toby was very much touched when she sent him off to the United States with a 20 dollar gold coin she had saved for emergencies, and regrets that he did not save it as a permanent reminder of her great love and sacrifice.\n\nThe three boys and four girls in the family attended St. John's and St. Mary's in Shanghai, where they learned English well, as Uncle had hoped. They are:\n\nToby Ting Kin E (18 Feb 1900-); also known as Tung Pai |0f| Helen Moo Ching AA (5 Feb 1902-15 Jan 1974)\n\nCharles Ting Hing (21 Dec 1903-1978)\n\nGeorgette Moo Yung\n\nMoo Yun\n\nTing Cheong\n\nL\n\n(3 Apr 1909-25 Jun 1979); also known as Tung Sui 同瑞\n\nMoo Sau 慕修(1919-).\n\nNo doubt very bright, after two years at St. John's, Toby was admitted by competitive examination to Tsinghua University in Peking at the age of 16. Tsinghua was founded with Boxer Indemnity money the United States had returned to China to prepare Chinese students for further studies in the American universities. Toby became interested in fisheries and selected the University of Washington after Tsinghua in 1920. He earned a B.S. degree in 1923 in Fisheries but he felt the need to study other aspects of the field not available in Washington. After two semesters", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1988.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ft84gb83q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 211421, "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": 137, "title": "RAS-1988", "content_text": "113\n\nat MIT, he travelled around the country to observe and learn more before returning to the University of Washington, where, after another year of study, he received a M.S. degree in 1925, specializing in Aquaculture. He returned to China, becoming Director of the Kwangtung Fisheries Experiment Station in 1929, and later Director of the Chekiang Fisheries Experiment Station. In 1946, he became President of the Taiwan Fisheries Corporation. His comprehensive knowledge and experience in the field of aquaculture made him a leading and respected authority of national and international renown,\n\nIn Canton on March 1928, Toby married Louise Dung Yuk Bow, a vivacious beauty from Grass Valley, California. Stricken with Parkinson's Disease and gradually weakened by it, she died on 27 January 1971. While I was teaching in Canton, Toby and Louise welcomed me as an immediate member of their family and I spent many weekends in their home - I am grateful for this hospitality to this day. They had six children, five daughters and one son:\n\nMelody Wil married Johnson C. J. Chen\n\nCarol Kit married John Lee\n\nSonia Cíl married Tai Min Wan\n\nJade Ef married Eddy Lin\n\nLloyd married Deborah\n\nLena ft married Jeffrey Lo\n\nThe girls leaned towards the arts like their mother, and Lloyd, an ichthyologist, towards science like his father.\n\nCousin Helen Moo Ching married a nephew of Tong Siu Yee (T'ang Shao-i) Hill, a Chinese diplomat during the late Ch'ing and one time Prime Minister of the Republic of China. Her married life was spent in Peking where her husband was head of the Postal Savings Bureau. After his death she moved south and finally retreated to Taiwan where she died in 1974 of cancer.\n\nCharles Ting Hing began his career in banking but switched to dentistry. He was married twice, both times to non-Chinese girls, and had children by both of them. He died in Shanghai in 1978.", "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 } ]