myroot

5.6.2001 (Sun) Sunny

Finding my roots.

I watched TV tonight. Strange, huh? I seldom sit still and finish a TV show. Anyway, this TV program was about 4 Chinese teens who were either born in Canada or immigrated to Canada when they were children went back to China to find their roots.

One of the 4 visited her hometown, ChaoZhou. All her uncles, aunts, (more safe to say all the people in the village) came out to welcome her fervently. Whow..I started to fancy what if I visit my hometown in China. One thing I am pretty sure is that no one is going to welcome me if I visit my hometown since no one knows me.

It's hard to explain everything. My last name is not Kwong, Chow is my real last name. I guess not many people know that..I didn't tell my friends in fact. Well, they don't ask, so I won't tell. I suppose only Cynthia and Rosa know this secret. (no longer secret now)

My grandpa's parents were definitely Chinese, and they lived in China with two sons (my grandpa and his brother). My grandpa said they were a rich family at that time, but his father was a gambler, and he lost all the money. Not only did he lose all the money, but he also lost the huge house, servants..etc So my grandpa and his mom moved to HK when my grandpa was still a child.

My grandpa worked in a Chinese BBQ restaurant as an apprentice. At that time, in HK, all the people wanted to take advantage from new comers. The owner of that restaurant wanted my grandpa follow him and said " if you wanna stay in HK, you got to change your name and agree to be my son. Then you can get the ID card. OR I will tell the police, and they will take you back to China." And you know what happened next, rite?

The restaurant owner didn't treat my grandpa as his son, but a worker, a manservant, a dog. (my grandpa said) He left the restaurant stealthily, but he couldn't change his last name anymore. So my dad, my uncles, cousins, Charlie and I were named "Kwong" instead of "Chow".

鄺 = 鄒

Also my grandpa, he didn't go back to hometown since he moved to HK. He always says, we have a "house" in our hometown, and he wanted to go back and see the house. I doubt if the house is still there.

If I have the chance, I will go back to my hometown. I am not going to take my "house" back, not going to do anything with the "legendary heritage", but to see the place where my grandpa was born and had a few memory of.

I feel warm when I am talking about my hometown even though no one in my (also the last) generation had been there before. If I visit there, I will be the first one in my whole family.

(posted @ 22:37)