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March 30, 2002
Memories of a Fragrant Harbour: Family
Okay. I'm obviously not going to make any headway on this if I try to do it all as one giant chunk, so it's going to come in little slivers. Before I get started, though, I need to lay down some groundwork.
My trip to Hong Kong was mostly for family. Consequently, it follows that family would feature prominently in my accounts of the trip. Let me tell you a little something about my family: I have one sister, Sheree, who is three years younger that myself. I have a mother and a father, though my father didn't join us on this trip. However, my family doesn't stop there. All of my father's side of the family has moved to Canada, whereas my mother's side is split between Canada and Hong Kong. For this trip, I'm dealing exclusively with my mom's side of the family. Let's get started:
Mom is fourth in a line of seven siblings. Grandmother turned 85 during the trip, which was the main reason why the family flocked back to Hong Kong this year. We'll do it again in five years. Grandfather passed away in 1984. From there, it gets a little more confusing.
In my culture, it is typical to call your elders by their relational titles, such as Uncle or Aunt. It is not proper to call them by their names. Even in my generation, the older ones are given titles. Here's how I address my mom's side of the family:
- Uncle #1 ("dai kau fu"); his wife, Aunt #1 ("dai kum mo"), daughter Sandy (younger than me).
- Uncle #2 ("yee kau fu"); his wife, Aunt #2 ("yee kum mo"), daughters Tze-Jun ("jun biu jie"), Tze-Sin ("sin biu jie"), and Tze-Mei ("mei biu jie") (a.k.a. Elizabeth, Antoinette, and Denise).
- Aunt #3 ("sam yee mah">; her husband, Uncle #3 ("sam yee jeung"); son Tommy ("biu goh") and daughter Cathy (younger than me).
- Mom; Dad; my sister, Sheree, three years younger than me, but I alternate between her English name and her title, "muy muy."
- Aunt #5 ("ng yee"); her husband, Uncle #5 ("ng yee jeung"); sons Dixon and Nelson (both younger than me).
- Aunt #6 ("lok yee"); her husband, Uncle #6 ("lok yee jeung"); sons Gar-Ho and Gar-Ming (a.k.a. Eric and Edwin) (both younger than me).
- Uncle #7 ("chut kau fu"); his wife, Aunt #7 ("chut kum mo"); daughters Tze-Mun and Tze-Ke (a.k.a. Viola and Venus) (both younger than me).
Right. Those are the people you're likely to see mentioned most often. I'll probably be calling my cousins by their names, English or Cantonese. I'll probably be using shorthand for the older generation, too. U1 and A5 instead of Uncle #1 and Aunt #5, for example.
Confused? Believe me. It makes much more sense using the Cantonese words. It's nearly impossible to translate "biu jie" as "female cousin, older than I am, from my mother's side". By the by, broken down further, "jie" is a female of my generation older than me, and "biu" sets the relationship of cousin on my mom's side.
Posted by KinCross at March 30, 2002 09:53 PM