Feb 27 2008
Liu Mama 刘妈妈
Liu Yingfang’s my godmother. She and her hubby were Malaysia born Chinese. She’s fm a wealthy rubber baron family and he a working class. They met in London while she was finishing up her piano at the Royal School of Music and he was working for a newspaper. The romance was highly unsymmetrical, so they fought hard to get married and decided to settle in Beijing, both - the marriage and location -against her parents’ will. Mao did have a lot of charms and appeals to the young and hot blooded. She became the pianist at the Beijing Ballet and he became journalist, moved in as Yeye’s tenant at Canzheng Hutong, settled down into the west wing.
They didn’t have child, so took me as their own. Mom was busy with her career, Dad was mostly 3000 miles a way. So the set up was perfect. Yeye and Nainai entertained me for the weekdays and they did the weekends. Life was pretty swell. We had afternoon tea (or beer) at the foreign correspondents’ club (having me drinking beer, made them feel sophisticated, very different era, circumstance and environment), went to ballet, had dinner at Moscow Restaurant, Sichuan fandian, sardine sandwich while boating at Kunming Lake at Summer Palace. (Sandwich is belly filler in the west, why would Chinese considered it as a delicacy is beyond me.) Washing it down with beer. Food at Moscow Restaurant wasn’t that great. But for the prestige, few who could afford. we loved it very much. There wasn’t many decent restaurants in the entire Beijing.
Dada was a tacit man, spared very few words. When they had a fight, it was Liu Mama who’s talkin. We never heard a single complain from him. From time to time, his face would sport bloody scratches. At the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, they decided to move out. And got divorced immediately. It’s a face thing, they didn’t want to separate in front of us. Nainai later whispered the reason, or part of it was one party wasn’t satisfied privately - an A bomb quality.
During the turbulence years, she and I had no contact - 自身难保. She visited Yeye and Nainai couple of times but I wasn’t around. Few years later, she got married again, to a much younger man - a Peking Duck chef. It’s like an A bomb, the second time. Soon after Mao died, she took the family to Hong Kong. They have no child, adapted his bro’s son instead.
When Auntie Jennie decided to go to HK, she found out Liu was my god mother. So she fished out the contact info. We were very happy to re-united. As soon as I arrived in HK, she came over, took both Dad and I out for dinner, in a Malaysian restaurant in Causeway Bay. Her parents had passed away. Her older brother - the head of the family - purchased a small apartment for her in North Point. She took up teaching piano. Her situation was much better off then many people before or after her. Most of them went to HK empty handed and without a roof over their head.
We socialized for awhile, gone swimming at the pool and beach, went to the concert, movie. She taught me to make 干煸牛肉丝 with carrot - perfect for beer. She would have fit if I didn’t irrigate enough beer, “白教你了“. When she was around her hubby and son, she became very grumpy. Oddly enough, the boys were very jolly and joyful. They’d do whatever she asked, with a big smile. Her Chef is tall and lanky, in many ways resemble Dada. Unfortunately it wasn’t a happy home. The grumpier she got, the less I saw her. .. Now we lost touch again.
There is something eerie about a woman who has no biologic child: they’re cold and distant. That’s the feeling or vibe I got off them, Liu Mama and Xiaoyi (Mom’s kid sister). They both should have played a much warmer n closer role in my life, especially after Mom’s gone. Come to think about it, Xiaoyi Fu (Xiaoyi’s husband) and Dada presented normal father figures - I felt at ease with them, knew I could be a kid, not have to worry to keep up with them as a peer.