Falling Leaves: The True Story of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter by Adeline Yen Mah

Author:Adeline Yen Mah [Mah, Adeline Yen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Physicians, Social Science, China - Social Life and Customs, Chinese Americans, Medical, Chinese Americans - California - Biography, Asia, General, Customs & Traditions, Women Physicians, Ethnic Studies, Mah; Adeline Yen, California, California - Biography, Biography & Autobiography, China, History, Women Physicians - California - Biography, Biography, Women
ISBN: 9780786219148
Google: ly2c5HbHkpoC
Amazon: 0786219149
Publisher: Thorndike Pr
Published: 1997-03-15T07:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 15

Fu Zhong You Yu

Fish Swimming in a Cauldron

A few weeks before I left London, I wrote to Professor McFadden, Lo Mac, at Hong Kong University medical school. He welcomed my application as assistant lecturer in his department, commended me for my advanced degrees, quoted the salary and added that housing would be available. It was, therefore, with confidence and regret that I flew to Hong Kong in November 1963.

Gregory and James met me at Kai Tak airport in Father’s chauffeured Mercedes. They had both been working for Father for a year. James returned first, after finishing his studies at Cambridge. His salary was so low that he could only afford to live at the YMCA. Life became easier when Gregory returned from Montreal, where he had obtained a master’s degree from McGill University. Father paid them each a monthly salary of

2.000 Hong Kong dollars, equivalent to Z5O US dollars. Together, they were able to rent a tiny studio apartment above a nightclub on Nathan Road in Kowloon.

Hong Kong was no longer the sleepy city I had left behind eleven years ago. The narrow, cramped, neon-lit streets were teeming with pedestrians and traffic even though it was after nine p.m. There were a great number of new buildings, some of them half completed and covered with bamboo scaffolding. Colourful electrical signs blinked out their advertisements. The vitality was almost tangible.

141

’This is not the Hong Kong I left behind,’ I gasped to my brothers. ’This is Shanghai reincarnated!’

’Except bigger, better and more modern,’ James replied. ’Kowloon and Hong Kong are like one long Nanking Road.’

’I’m glad you’ve come back,’ Gregory said warmly. ’This is the right place and the right time. The city is going to explode. Our clever Old Man is making an absolute killing.’

’Is Father still in the import-export business?’

’Import-export!’ Gregory snorted, incredulous at my ignorance. ’Haven’t you heard of the Korean War? Didn’t you know that the Allies put an economic blockade on China when Mao Zedong supported North Korea? Father’s markets were closed to him overnight. The setback prompted him to diversify into manufacturing and light industry. He started three factories making plastic flowers, leather gloves and enamelware and now calls himself an industrialist.’

They told me that Father’s enamelware factory was especially profitable, turning out brightly coloured cooking utensils, camping implements and an assortment of unbreakable tableware. Father had recently been approached by the Nigerian government to build a branch factory in Port Harcourt. The terms were extremely favourable, with the Nigerian side providing subsidies, tax incentives and cheap land. My two brothers were involved in the project.

We had reached the Yaumati vehicular ferry, at that time the only means of transport between Kowloon and Hong Kong. After boarding, the three of us got out of the car and stood by the railing for the crossing. In front of us lay Hong Kong Island, glistening like a jewel, with thousands of lights twinkling in the night. Both my brothers were dressed in dark suits with white shirts and conservative ties.

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