My Background
My Family
My hometown is in Xingning County in the eastern part of Guangdong Province, adjacent to Jiangxi and Fujian provinces. It is a mountainous area with limited fields. The traffic is inconvenient. Residents are mainly Hakka, which is a branch of Han migrated from Central China in different periods since the Jin Dynasty (around 300 AD). Hakka is well known to be assiduous and hardworking. For the
sake of development, people attach great importance to education, so-called Xingning has "three many": Many teachers, many doctors, and many officers. Before 1949, almost every district or market town had a middle school; only in Xingning county town there were more than a dozen physicians graduated from medical colleges; many officers of high rank were from Xingning. A large number of people went out for business or career, most of them went to Guangzhou, Shanghai, or nearby to Jiangxi, Fujian, faraway to Southeast Asia, etc. Our Zeng clan was not a large clan in Xingning County. My grandfather was not a person in power but had certain prestige and served as the executive director of the County Chamber ofComme-rce. He was enthusiastic about public welfare and did many good deeds for the community. In those years, the children of poor families had little opportunities for education. My grandfather, in association with clan squires, created a primary school of modern style - Dexin School. Tuition was reasonable; kids from poor families might get a waiver or deduction. Teachers were persons with true
skills and genuine knowledge. Dexin won good reputation in the County, so until now it still retains the name "Dexin School" and receives donations from alumni at home and abroad. My eldest uncle, my father, and another uncle (a high school teacher) devoted much effort to the school. My eldest uncle had been principal for many years. In the 1930s, Xingning had no hospital, so patients had to see a private doctor of Western Medicine or Traditional Chinese Medicine or a folk herbalist. My grandfather contacted county celebrities and obtained government support, established The Public Hospital of Xingning County in 1938. It provided affordable treatment for the common people with modern Western Medicine, but
Traditional Chinese Medicine was also available. From initiating, financing, planning, site selection to construction, my grandfather participated in detail, later also got my father's strong support. I remembered my grandfather had said that as the selected site was located on the other side of the Ning River, he was really afraid of falling down into the river when he walked each time across the rickety bridge of two planks. The "April Desolation" of every year was the most difficult time for poor peasants. The profiteers bought grain at low prices during the harvest season and sold high in April. My grandfather in view of
this, associated with the county enthusiasts to establish "Huiji (means ‘kindly help’) Granary”. He was appointed as the Director. Huiji Granary bought grain in harvest season and sold it at reasonable price in April. In addition, it set up temporary station to distribute rice porridge to hungry people every day at
noon. This action received widely acclaim and support. In the winter of 1940, th-e Japanese invader attacked Mt. Monkey - a hundred li (equivalent to one half-kilometer) away from Xingning, the Chinese soldiers and civilians fought the enemy bravely, the battle was very fierce and finally turned the tide and won. An anti-Japanese army was stationed at the granary warehouse. With poor equipment and thin clothing, the soldiers groaned during cold winten nights. My grandfather told the warehouse steward to lend the worn-out and pending repaired gunnysacks to soldiers to keep out the cold. When the troops were mobilized, the soldiers begged them to leave the gunnysacks to them. As the gunnysacks were public property, my grandfather together with another squire paid for the gunnysacks and gave them to the soldiers. My grandfather was a devout Catholic. He was kindhearted and always smiled. I never saw him losing his temper, to the most just grumbling awhile. He sympathized with the poor and was always pleased to do something for them, thus setting a good example for us. He loved us and cared about us. Once I found him and said to him jubilantly: "Ah! Grandpa, you are in bad luck, in bad luck! I got the first place once more, so you have to give me two dollars again." He didn't mind but felt naive with children, and happily talked to whomever he met. Grandfather valued the education of his children. After my father graduated from high school, my grandfather wished him to read medicine, saying that it could help many people. With the recommendation of the church, my father was admitted to Shanghai Aurora University School of Medicine (the predecessor of Shanghai Second Medical College). Aurora University was a university sponsored by French Catholics, teaching in French. Students studied seven years per the French
Regulation. After graduation my father worked as a doctor at the famous ShanghaiGuangci Hospital. My grandfather's only photo left, obtained from my uncle in Taiwan. The Christmas tree decoration was added by the uncle When my father was studying in the university, he was introduced by friends, met and married my mother. My grandfather-in-law lived in a mountainous area. When my mother graduated from the elementary school, she won the first place. Due to the local patriarchal custom, my grandfather-in-law did not wish her to go to the high school in the market town. But my mother knew that as long as she could read the first year of high school and earned good credits, parents might let her read on, so in two
years earlier she went with her girl peers to a tea plantation to pick tea leaves for money. At the plantation her companions were dispersed all around, leaving her alone as a little girl. She was often suspicious of imaginary fears and frightened by any unexpected noise. She finally saved enough money to pay tuition for the first year of the middle school, and won the first place again. Her parents commended her aspiration and continued to support her until graduation from junior high after three years. Before long after her graduation, the two families planned a wedding for my mother and father. My mother discussed with my father
that instead of spending money on the wedding ceremony, it was better to beg mygrandfather to save money for her and let her go with her husband to Shanghai soto learn a skill, such as to enroll in a midwifery school. My grandfather was a very open-minded person who totally agreed and announced this to relatives and friends. Since my grandfather was a local celebrity, the wedding expenses were not a small amount. Whether it was enough for three years tuition was not known, anyway my mother was able to complete her courses to graduation, and then shebecam-e a midwife at the Mother Heart Hospital in Shanghai.In August, 1937, the Japanese army invaded Shanghai. My father, taking my mother with a babyin the womb, a-nd me at one and a half year old, hurried back to my hometown Xingning. At beginning my father ran a clinic and my mother was his assistant. Soon my father was appointed the dean of the County Public Hospital and my mother was hired as a m-idwife. After two years, the hospital was well under way in all aspects, my father didn't want tospend much time on administrative duties, so he and my mother both resigned from the hospital, and reopened their own clinic, which was well known in Xingning County. My father liked to make friends with intellectuals and common people. He detested flattering and had little contact with official circles. Similar to my grandfather, he always expressed sympathy for poor patients. Several times I had heard him saying: "The same one dollar may be nothing to the rich, but is not easy for the poor.” He did things step by step, unhurried. My mother’s idea was consistent with my father, but she was more intense, doing her work promptly and without complaint. She often laughed at my father "being hit three sticks on the buttocks but still not put a fart.” First anniversary of the Public Hospital of Xingning County (1939). The fourth from the left of the front row was my father, the sixth was my mother There was a hard time during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. One impression left on me was the alarm siren warning of Japanese bombers coming; the second was the waves ofrefugees - fled from Chaozhou and Shantou; the third was we ourselves escaping:In 1940 the Japanese aggressors reached a hundred li away from Xingning and my parents led us to escape to my grandfather-in-law’s home in mountainous area. My brother and I sat on bamboo baskets, one on each side, were carried by a woman with a shoulder pole, walking on the rugged trails. Looking at the deep
ravine, I was scared all the time. Later the Japanese attack was repulsed and wereturned to county town. My father did not participate in politics, but was rich in the sense of justice. He hated the aggression of the Japanese imperialism, and together with a group of intellectuals with the same ideas founded the newspaper "World News". He was elected as the president. The author who wrote commenta-ry on current events was one of my uncles Tsang Hin Wan, who later served as the Editor-inChief of the Central Daily when the Kuomintang (KMT – Chinese Nation-alists) fled to Taiwan. The "World News" together with other newspapers in our county advocated and inspired the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggressio-n. After the war, it continued to publish unbiased views, point out problems, and was once mistaken for the underground publication of the Communist Party. Afte-r the rise of the civil war, my father and his partners felt that continuing publication might encountermany difficulties, so decided to stop publication.
My Childhood