May 13 2008
Circa 1930, Grandma Qingpei Kong 孔庆佩, 字 玉贞(1902 Hefei - 1977 Taipei) and Grandpa Jingzong 景宗, 字 续堂 (1902 Jinan - 1935 Jinan)
义良朋乾坤后福寿门
善耕耘习文武荣国鳌
玉如石怀景常在 (Dabo Changfa said it’s 玉汝士懷景常在)
家传孝友万世存
Those two sets of couplets were my paternal family’s genealogy. It’s kept at Zhang’s shrine in Donge County, Shandong Province in China. Each word identified a single generation. [...]
May 13 2008
21 Changde Dao 常德道 21号 located in Heping District (和平区), Tianjin, the former British Concession. The four semi-attached two-story villas and a three-story row that housed four more loosely makes up the compound owned by 三爷 Third Grandfather as Dad calls - my great grandfather’s kid brother. Dad spent few years in Tianjin in his grandfather’s estate on 徐磨街 in the Japanese Concession. His [...]
May 09 2008
Xiaomin (1906 Lujiang Anhui - 1967 Lujiang) in the front row with her three children: (fm left) Liu Chongwu 刘崇武, Liu Chongwen 刘崇文, Liu Chongbin 刘崇斌 (Don’s mother). The youngest daughter Chongwei 刘崇伟 wasn’t born yet.
Their palacial house in Beichangjie 北长街 was next door to Li Zongren 李宗仁. Then they downsized to Xisi Dajie 西四大街 where I remembered endless rooms and courtyards for us to run around [...]
May 09 2008
Misha Xiaoyi, Xiaoyifu and I, 1966
Xiaoyi - Lü Youtang (1936 Beijing -) is my Mom’s younger sister. An OB/GY by training, but she loves doing house chords. Even working at the hospital, she preferred to dish out aspirin than deliver babies.
Misha and Xiaoyi dated briefly, parted way after she went to medical school. A naval engineer boy friend who’s father [...]
May 02 2008
King’s been practicing piano a lot lately without being asked, to my surprise! It’s really the sound of music to my ears :). Yesterday after Lee left, I asked how did the lesson go. "It’s ok." Ou? "Every once in a while I’ll get a boring lesson." I can’t [...]
Apr 30 2008
Si gupo 四姑婆 Grandaunt Lily (1914 Beijing - ) is Yeye’s youngest sister. On our way home from Virginia, we stopped by her apartment. At 94, unbelievably healthy and still lives by herself in Silver Spring. Compare to Lucy who’s separated from her husband since late 70s or 1980 (more free time with others) and [...]
Apr 29 2008
Xiaohui 吕孝惠 (1902 - 1922) [right in the picture] was Yeye’s older sister. This is perhaps one of few pictures we have of her. The little girl is grandaunt Lily. Two girls facing the camera were friends. Xiaohui died of pulmonary tuberculosis when it recurred in Henan. Not sure if she had a better chance if they were in [...]
Apr 27 2008
Before the color photo became affordable and common, the so called ‘color photos’ were actually all coloring jobs. Jiujiu, Mom and Xiaoyi on the left and Aunt Judy, Uncle Alan and Phillips on the right, a better coloring job, .. better looking kids too. Hey, their mom’s beauty queen.
Apr 16 2008
I don’t remember what I was looking for on the Internal - where and what else? - but found Uncle Zanzeng, Harry (1923 Shanghai - ). It was his picture that caught my eye, an elegant elder with silver hair and long silver beard to his chest, 孔子翻身? Don’t know why I didn’t ask Jiujiu first, [...]
Apr 16 2008
Popo’s grandfather 玉山老人 (1837 Jiande, Anhui -1921 Tianjin) had three concubines 侧室, the last one was a young maid on the staff. She was expelled abruptly for something that considered a grave offense to an official family, not long after giving birth to Xuehui (1882 Tianjin -1971 Tianjin). Yiliang wrote in his popular memoir that the girl had no family nor got married, lived her life out in solidarity [...]
Apr 16 2008
Long before the one child policy, Chinese families were well stocked with kids born from the wife and sired by the concubines. More generations living under one roof symbolized the prosperity and longevity. The patriarch could be the father upto the great great grandfather. They number coded the off spring - paihang 排行 seniority among sibling, on [...]
Apr 16 2008
Lϋ Xiaojin 吕孝谨 (1914 - 1950) was my Yeye’s half brother, born to Zhao. In her memoir, Lucy wrote he wasn’t able to conceive, but in fact, he sired a son (died young) and a daughter Lϋ Youlin 吕友林 (1944 - ). Youlin’s retired from the coal mine general store 小卖部 , and still lives in Lujiang, keeps sporadic phone [...]
Mar 07 2008
The servant pecking order in Hong Kong was geographical: Shunde, local HK Chinese, China mainlander and Filipino.
Shunde is a small town in Guangdong province. I don’t know the history of it, but women from there were single with excellent domestic skills. They were a dying breed hence were very much in demand among the affluent. They were easy to identify: worn [...]
Mar 06 2008
1961-06-25 2003-07-28
I hadn’t been back to China since settling in New York for two decades, but even before I touched down in Beijing, Jiujiu, my mother’s brother, had drawn up a list of relatives to whom I should be paying respects. This was not wholly unexpected, and I was quite happy to let Jiujiu [...]
Mar 05 2008
My great grandparents, both older pictures are taken in Beijing
My Zengzu, maternal great grandfather was Lü (many spell it as Lv or Lyu on the English keyboard) Jun 吕均 (4/1/1879 Lujiang - 1/28/1942 Beijing), style 字 Xiheng 习恒. His father was Lü Keqi 吕克齐(1859 Lujiang - 1918 Lujiang) from Lujiang 庐江县 in Anhui province, mother Hong Shi (? - 1935 Lujiang). [...]
Mar 01 2008
Looking at my families from different branches, it’s obvious that in the past, the families in the city would hire their servants almost enitrely from their own countryside, job opportunity, trust worthy, same taste and tradition perhaps were the main reasons. Today Jiujiu looked at one of the pictures I put up on the Internet, remembered one of the men [...]
Feb 25 2008
The NY Phil 280-person strong delegation (only 105 are orchestra members) to Pyongyang includes William Perry - the former US defence secretary. Hmmmm .. what will he play? Can’t believe they granted him a visa! So bold, shouldn’t the US send Valerie Palmer or the like?
Back in the 1970s, 中央乐团 now CNSO went to Pyongyang to perform. Aunt [...]
Jan 24 2008
This doc dated 5/28/1996 certified the property my great grandfather owned since 1913 while serving as the governor. He built this old style brick and tile 60-room+ compound on three acres of land. I have long wanted to visit his garden compound in Jinan, that has converted into a public park in the 80s. It’s a very popular site with the wedding [...]