My Boyhoot Mays in China by Shew Chuck Lee Twas born in lung Tow (Dragon(s Head), a small village in the remote part of the district of Hoy Ping in Kwangtung provinces. Onr village and the other villares in the imnediate area were inhebited by the Lee family. Like other rural areas in Chira aifferent families tend to cluster in different com munities. cust beyond our Lee community there were the Hunts, Seto's, Fongts and Kung's. You might say that China was a commnity of communities. Nine generations hefore ne oun ancestors moved fron the district of sin Wei to our present location. Refore settling in Sun Wei our forebears lived in Nantung, up in the northern part of our province. Here in Lung Tow nembers of the Lee family grew up and tilled the land. When the fother died the son would earrv on his work. ‘This was the vattern of life from one generation to another. after the founder of our village Tirst set foot here sone three Immdred years or so ago has been lintle or no change in our comunity. The roosters world crow at dawn, the dogs barked, the boys would recite théir lessons at school and the farmers would work in the fielas The lend vas good to us, We grew our pincrdae anaetepehables. We oaight fish in the rivers. eathered fire wood in the hills Th waa a herd life mt sonelow we-nanaged to eke Gut a—Miwinge == when I vas seven years ola my nother sent me to the villare schoo}, School life in those days was herd and boring. While the farmers were totling In the fields we youngsters had to work hard at or studies, We started of? to school at sunrise and cane hone when it was too dark to see, In contrast the first year of school indergarten) there would be nore play than study. Not sé in China, Whether we liked it or not_we got a steady dose of reading and writing day in and day out. T sup- none it was the only way to master the intricate and complex Chinese written language. The formation cf each Chinese char- ng one word, had to be memorized. Durine my first year in school I must have memorized a couple thousand characters. We used to get a little relief once in a while. Our school teacher would sometines run ont of groceries and supplies and had to go to the market place abonta mile away. When he was out of sight we wowlé dash off to the nearby strean and play. lowever, we were not always so fortunate. I remembered one day our appointed sentinel failed to see hin coming back from the market piece. Instead of the isual route he must have circled around to the back o” the village. When he noticed that we were not at school he sneaked over +o the bank of the strean, scooped up our clothing ané calmly awaited for our return te school, When we discovered our prodicanent we had no alternative but +o Slowly and sheeptshly walk back to school minus oup clothing. Noadvess a sey he delivered ns a stern leoture and eave us & R08 Be oD LON pe actus ai FOP aTEARREE LOSER OSE Aton Enon soho also.In my bovhood days we found life very interesting and full of adventures. We had no werries. Only older people had problens - not us. We hea plenty of wide open spaces to roam around and play. There ware also plenty of wild life in our area. de u8ed to catch dragon flies, fire flies, cicados, frogs, snekes and eels. It was quite an art to catch these insects and reptiles, and just lixe boys elsewhere all over she world we did 9 bit of stealing too - not from dire need but just for the fun of it. We took great delight in stealing sugar canes, bananas and sweet potatoes. I remembered one dey my Playmate was caught stealing a stalk of sugar cane. I got away Decause Iwas able to run a little faster, The owner of tho plantation gave ny litte friend a sound thrashing and nent him home erying. when he reached hore he got no sympathy from his mother. Some of the bigesr and bolder boys also stole chickens. I want to mention here a little nore on stolen chickens. I heard a story abont a hungry beggar wandering around the countryside back in the Tang dynasty, To satisfy his hunger he maneged to catch a stray chicken, He took this chicken, killed it, plucked off its feathers, and cleaned it in a nearby stream, He built a little fire and’was about to ecok the chicken when some one came by. So he took the chicken, had it covered with a lotus leat anf threw it into the muddy bank. After the passerby was gone he recovered the chicken, now cover- ed with md, and set abont the task of cooking his chicken once more. Howevar, sore people came waiking by and eain he was foreed to throw the chiexen away but this time it was into the enbers of the dying fire. It was ailite a vihile before the steady procession of pedestrians stopped. When at last he had a chance to look at his chicken it was then well cooked. So he unwrapned the Lotus lea? around the chicken and sat down to enjoy a most delicious chicken dinner. Thus Ghinese culinary haa its first recipe of "hegear's chicken." Ar a pastine we used +o spend many hours at the bank of the river to watch the boshs go by. Once in a while we wonld 8e7 a Small crowd milling atound some one on the wharf and, then there would by a lot of rejofoing ané merry meking, @ccasion would be the welcoming party for a "gum shun huk, (gold mountain sojourner), Gola mfuntain was the nane given +0 North Americ, by the early emigrants. Ewerybody was earer to hear stories from this man who had trawelled a long dis- tance to come back hone. He would bring back with hin, soap, chocoletes, biscuits ana dried raisins - all of which he wogld distribute freely to the villagers. Judging by the looks on the people's faces you would think he was back from another planet. Twas always fascinated with stories told to me by people who had ventured to Gun Shun, The early emigrants to North Anerica went on sailing shins (stean ships appeared around the turn of the century). When they set sail there vas no telling what day they would arrive at their destination. Generally it i awould require a couple of months. Oftentimes they would be swant off their course thus causing a further delay. 1 remembered my granduncle once set out for San Francisco and landed in Cookstown, New Zealand. That ordeal was ensugh for him and he returned home shortly thereafter. From all accounts the first wave of emicrants suffered all sorts of hardships and privations. For sone it ended in bitter disappointment but _a few did manage to come home with a small fortune (based on Ghinese standards. ) After an absence of almost fifty years I still have fond monories of my ancestral hone. Tt was situated in a valley. Walled in practically on all sides by mountains we were isolated from the remttof the world. ie had no knowledge of the people living beyond these mountains. Because of the lack of a modern communication systen it required a lot of time to go from one one point to cnother, For instance, to go from our village te Hong Fong used to take two days. Actually the distance between those two points, as far as the crow would fly, 3s about 200 mites. So we had no easy access fo the big cities such as Canton, Macao and Hong Kong. Forthis reason people had to be content to remain where they were from one generation to an- other. To perpetuate this way of life and tradition we had the teachings of Gonfueius. This great philosopher once said: "While the perents are alive the son should not go to distant places, If he does go abroed be must have a fixed place to go.” The people of this area did not have «moh in a materialisti sense. Their standard of living was low. Their wants were few but they were inwardly happy. How nice it was to stroll along the quiet countryside and hear the farmere sing. They did not know and aid not care ebout the turmoil and strife elsewhere. One favourite I used to hear went like this "I start my work at dawn, I quit at sunset. I have a home ania family. The emperor sits on his throne, His power and glory are of no coneern to me." Lung Tow is the village where I grew up. There is a certain nostalgia about the place - a place where tins and space have little or no meaning. Perhaps one day I might have the opportunity to visit my old village and see the few people that I knew in my boyhood days and are still living,