Feb 09 2008
The Perfect Tenants
My family had few very interesting tenants over the years in Beijing. The most talked about was Liu Youyu 刘友鱼 family. Liu was 冯玉祥 Feng Yuxiang’s young general, among 4 (or so) who sent to Germany to study. He came home with a German wife in toe. The marriage produced five gorgeous children: Linda, Meidi, Lulu, Misha and Nina. Frau Liu citing imcompatibility (kissing, table cloth ..), left him and married an Italian attaché in Beijing, had a girl, Eda. When she left China, she took Nina and Eda. Linda, Lulu and Misha live in China now. Meidi eventually settled in Cardiff via hair-raising ordeal. I visited her and her husband Terry once in 1982 while in London. Misha had crush on Xiaoyi and Jiujiu tried to date (or the other way) Lulu.
Another tenant Wu Yeye, grandfather Wu, who happened also studied in Germany, came home with an engineering degree and a German wife. He had a prosperous tracking company - leasing them to the Americans that fighting in China. After 1949 he worked for China TeleCable Co. It turned out he’s classmate of my paternal grandfather! I first learnt the term War Lord from him.