More Family Stories.. .
While I was home in DC many weeks ago I spent a lot of time with my grandmother. Here are some of her stories.. .When my grandma was small she loved to sneak off after school in her youth to listen to the local opera troupes (supplied by poor children sold by families) practice because she loved to sing. We talked about how Grandpa was a great Chinese Opera singer, often doing the women’s parts because of his strong falsetto voice. Evidently my grandpa would always laugh at grandma when she hummed opera. Grandma had a singing voice, not an opera voice and grandpa always thought she shouldn't bother trying. I guess this is where some of the artistic side me comes from.
She talked about how when the communists liberated cities any land owner or merchant had to hide lest they be beaten and had everything stolen. She and her own family used to hide in the attics.
There was another story of how once soldiers outside killed and cooked a wild dog. They brought it over to give to my great grandma and she was repulsed by it. She made an excuse about how she couldn’t eat it although she appreciated the gratitude.
Grandpa graduated from Shandong University right as the Japanese began to invade. He earned his degree in chemistry of some sort and was then place in Chongqing for work where he met my grandma in a hospital my grandma's sister was working at. If you had a college degree at the time it was really easy to get a job. After meeting my grandma and marrying work took them to Shaanxi province, Baoji city near Xian. Grandpa evidently liked to move around. He went to Shaanxi with some colleagues and even after they moved away he stayed in Shaanxi. Grandma says it was a very poor area. My grandmother made a quick stop in Lanzhou when the Japanese were approaching. She made the trip by herself because my grandpa stayed to work. She was pregnant with my auntie at the time. She says Lanzhou was a really clean city then. Not so much anymore i guess. The Japanese never made it as far as Xian however, so my grandma returned to Baoji from Lanzhou after only a few months. They were there for about three years until the war ended and then went to Qingdao for a year of unemployment until my grandfather’s younger cousin got him a job in Kaoshung, Taiwan.
Through long and winding family connections was how my grandma eventually got reconnected with her family on the mainland after the turmoil of other revolutions. Evidently a family friend or cousin from her childhood still had a letter with her Taiwan address and went all the way there to find her. My grandma didn’t even recognize him after so many years.
They spent a good 30 years in Taiwan in Kaoshuing and Taipei before finally moving to the United States. When I asked my grandma how she felt about moving to the States she said it didn’t feel that bad... she had moved all her life. Starting in her middle school years there had been long marches to hide from Japanese and Communists. Those long marches were led by her teachers in school during the war, the boys volunteering to carry the packs of the girls. My grandma was blessed to be raised in a like-minded school for women (started by Ms of the time) from England. A flight across the Pacific was just one more march of sorts.
My grandmother’s given name is not Hsieh Ruoh-Ying, but rather Hsieh Hui Min. She changed it after getting married to match two of her best friends at the time who also changed their generational names to Ruoh. This is one of the many interesting facts I’ve been able to uncover in chatting with my grandmother. I was even lucky enough to get some of it on digital video, sharing a story of her first experiences teaching primary school as a teenager in Hankou or playing a hymn on the piano.
There is still so much I want to know, yet I know there is no way I’ll be able to learn it all. In light of my grandfather’s passing, I’ve worked especially hard to be intentional with my grandma; this blessed lady who raised my mother’s generation and myself as well. This lady who’s walked I want ask many questions and listen intently to her stories. I treasure just sitting next to her and watch movies, have meals, to place my head on her shoulder and rest. Who knows how much longer i’ll have her in my life. I want to own and enjoy every moment.
posted by Unknown @ 11:45 AM
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