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My Youngest Uncle (Part I)                                                     By Lisa Lee                                      Contents

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My grandparents had four sons. My youngest uncle, Kwang Shen, was the darling son in the family. He was handsome, clever, and gentle. But in this feudalistic family, he was a rebel. Resisting the despotic and corrupt government, he was a brave revolutionary, even dedicating his young life at last.

My grandpa was a country doctor who was proficient in Chinese medical knowledge and skill. At that time usually people paid for a country doctor with some rice, dried meat or sweet potatoes seldom with money. Therefore, my grandpa was not rich. He decided to let his eldest son and the third son to learn Chinese medical knowledge with him. He thought the second son, my father, was a little slow-wetted, so my father was sent to Hong Kong to work in a small company when he was only thirteen. Only my youngest uncle could have a good education. He was very intelligent and studied hard. At sixteen, he graduated from middle school and got a scholarship to attend Hong Zhou University. He was the glorious one of our family and the glorious one of the village as well.

Next year, my grandpa was very sick. Before he died, he wanted his youngest son to get married. He asked a matchmaker to find a girl. My youngest uncle definitely hated the feudal influence and the arranged marriage. He resisted his father’s order. But my grandpa was extremely stubborn. He threatened his son. Under big pressure from all the relatives, caused by my grandparents, my youngest uncle was forced to accept this unhappy marriage. He left home after the wedding day, without talking to or touching my aunt. My grandparents felt distressed that their darling son had become the rebel of the family. In fact, my youngest uncle and my aunt both were victims of the arranged marriage.

Four years later, my grandpa died. My youngest uncle came back for the funeral. He treated my aunt as a respected relative, not as a wife.

My youngest uncle wandered around many cities until the spring of 1941. He worked in a high school as a science teacher in Chengdu City. He met a young girl and fell in love with her. To pursue his true love, he married the girl and concealed the marriage from his first wife and his brothers. Really, it was very unfair to my aunt. People would blame my youngest uncle, but who was the chief offender in creating this tragedy?

My Youngest Uncle (Part II)                                                                       By Lisa Lee                                               Contents

I didn’t meet my youngest uncle until I was mine, in 1942. During the most difficult defensive war, my youngest uncle was a teacher in a high school in Chungzhou. In order to keep us studying, my father let my cousin, my brother and I go to live with my youngest uncle.

I was deeply impressed with my youngest uncle’s appearance and his character. My youngest uncle was not very tall but he had an athletic build. He had a straight nose and pair of bright big eyes. Naturally, he had our Leung attribute—prominent incisors. He was open and had great vitality. Actually, he was a handsome man. People loved his charming smile and his humorous talk.

It was the first time my youngest uncle got along with us. We lived together very harmoniously, and he took care of us very well. We rented two rooms behind the front part of the house where the landlord lived. The lavatory was in the backyard. In front of the lavatory the landlord put a black coffin. That made me scared to death, because I imagined a corpse might jump out from the coffin. My youngest uncle accompanied me to the lavatory a few times. He lifted up a little bit of the upper part of the coffin and let me take a look inside. He explained to me that this was one of the customs of Chungzhou. Many houses had a coffin in their backyard. At last, I dared to go by myself. However, I still felt scared going to the toilet at night.

To bring up four kids and two adults during the war was not easy, although my father paid half of the costs. Everyone lacked food. Sometimes we ate rice and sometimes we only ate sweet potato soup. When we had some meat to eat, my youngest uncle made a joke: “Today is Grandpa’s birthday.” We yelled at once, “We hope very day is someone’s birthday!” He pointed to us and said, “You greedy little urchins!” Then we laughed loudly together.

My youngest uncle was very busy and every day he worked until midnight. Stull, sometimes he played with us or taught us to sing patriotic songs. Once he took us to climb a mountain named Sunxianling. When we reached the mid-slope of the mountain, we were sweating and tired, sitting there, and did not want to move. Encouraging us to continue the climbing, my youngest uncle pointed at a peak and said, “Let s play a combat game. The Japanese army is hiding in that peak. Rush forward!” We sang the song “Pointing guns at the enemy, we march forward together…”) and rushed with all our might to the peak. To celebrate our victory, in a small temple everybody ate a bowl of plain noodles. Oh! That was a wonderful reward!

My youngest uncle also was our good teacher. He usually convinced us by reasoning and taught us by his own actions. I remember, on a chilly afternoon, a poor student, who was shaking in thin clothing, came to our house. My youngest uncle got an old coat for him and shared the sweet potato soup with him. The student was so moved that tears ran down his face.

My youngest uncle taught us to know what is the main meaning of “We” and “I,” “nation” and “home.” In the early summer of 1943, my young uncle got a mission from his organization. He left us and went to Ching Yuan city to work in a government department. After that time, we did not see him anymore.

After the Second World War, my father and my aunt went the Ching Yuan government to ask the whereabouts of my youngest uncle. The officer answered indifferently, “He was killed by robbers in some lonely place when we moved to a village. We could not find his body; only saw a pool of blood.”

When the people’s republic of China was established, a friend of my youngest uncle told my aunt that my uncle was a Communist. He was killed secretly by the Kuomintang when they discovered his real identity.

We are always in deep mourning for our youngest uncle. He is always our beloved and respected uncle. Even though the time we spent together was not long and I was too young to understand everything, I always treasure this memory.

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