Jing Li House
August 9, 2010
After pondering for a number of years and from much encouragement (and sometimes threats) from friends and families, I have decided to start researching my family history for the last 120 years or so. I know from rough calculations that my grandfather (whom I never met) was born just before the turn of the 20th century, in the late, late 1800 (Exact date to be determined if ever I can come across those information). He was born in Xingning (興寧) County, Guangdong Province (廣東省) in Southern China.
My grandpa, CHAN Jing Li (陳禎利), (Chinese always states their family name first) had earned every sense of the word, had three wives but only fathered 8 children (I can only guess why only 8 kids and will explain later). He started out as a poor man selling threads and needles at the town square where everyone bought and sold goods. Back in those days, they had small “swap meet” every three days and large “swap meet” every five days. You can sell everything from pigs, cows to wooden clogs; rice, vegetables to sun dried fish; fire wood, sweet goods to “slave” servants. Not the kind of farmer’s market we know of nowadays.
Anyway, Jing Li was a real entrepreneur, it didn’t take him long to build a fortune, married two wives in Xingning, had 4 sons and 1 daughter. He was still able to branch out to Lianghua( 梁化)(another county), built a farm house, married another wife (my grandmother) and had 2 sons and 1 daughter. The farm house was where most of my siblings were born. I am in the process of gathering description of the farm house, verbatim from my siblings and will coerce my brother Alex (the painter) to draw into picture. Jing Li also managed to start two stores by the town squares (see photo above) and sold fabric and groceries. He also owned many farmland and started a sugar cane factory, build his own road and bought trucks to transports farm goods to major cities. Now you know why he only had time to father 8 kids (A conjecture on my part).
In the past three weeks, I have started to interview and asked many questions, beginning with only a few of my siblings, about their childhood memories. What rural Leung Far and the Farm House were like? How life was growing up back 70 years ago? It is like doing a jigsaw puzzle, a painting and a quilt all at the same time. As every answer provides a missing piece to solve the mystery, a brush stroke to give it more depth and an individual fabric to add color to the whole picture.
The only thing I did not prepare was the emotional side of the research and interview. Because our family (as in countless other families in China during the 1940s to 1960s) had suffered so much from a civil war (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
One thing I notice, by sharing their past, it has seemed to help them to heal from their sufferings. I also managed to feel closer to them as I grew up apart from some of them until I was well into my adulthood. Another added benefit to the research, I also find out many of my family share the same birthdays. This project has taken a life of its own. I am planning to visit Lianghua and Xingning for the first time in my life with my sister Amy whom has already managed to find some long lost cousins in both places and they are eagerly awaiting for our visit.
More later….
