Nine Brothers Awaiting - Grandpa looking, our grandma 夏 Xia means Summer.
My Guan Xuan Qing 官选清 grandmother’s tombstone in Zigong is fading.
Only two granddaughters still live there — our youngest aunt Juhua’s 举华 daughters. They suggested we restore her stone. Her twelve grandchildren, are now — Chengdu, Chongching, Shenzhen, Haikou, UK, US — we all said yes. Each one of us had a special memory with her.
For me, she was my mother, she always wore blue.
Hakka Blue (客家蓝)
**Hakka Blue** is the iconic indigo hue that defines the visual identity of the Hakka people. It is more than just a color; it represents a philosophy of life rooted in simplicity, resilience, and a deep connection to the earth.
### 1. Cultural Significance
**The "Blue-Shirted" Identity:** Historically, Hakka people were known as the "blue-shirted" people due to their ubiquitous indigo tunics (**Grand-front shirts** or *Dajinshan*).
* **Symbolism:** The color represents **frugality (勤俭)** and **hard work**. Because the natural indigo dye was durable and resisted dirt, it became the "armor" for Hakka ancestors who worked in the fields and hills.
* **Resilience:** Like the Hakka spirit, the color is known to fade gracefully over time but never lose its strength, symbolizing a culture that survives and adapts through migration.
### 2. Traditional Craftsmanship
* **Source:** The dye is extracted from **Indigo plants** (such as *Strobilanthes cusia*).
* **Process:** It involves a labor-intensive method of fermenting the plant to create a "blue mud" (dye paste) and repeatedly dipping the fabric into the vat to achieve a deep, layered tone.
* **Functionality:** Beyond aesthetics, the indigo-dyed cloth was traditionally valued for being skin-friendly and having natural insect-repelling properties.
**Hakka Blue** remains a "living color"—a thread that connects the rugged history of the ancestors to the cultural identity of future generations.
From age 1 to 9, I was with her full time. Then on and off. The last few years, because she had smoked all her life and needed more medical care, she moved into our home in Chengdu. She died in 1978 at age 75, right before my 高考 college entry exam. She once told me: daughters join their husband’s family. Even a poor son was the default for old-age support, while a rich daughter belonged to another household. She came because of me.
"养儿防老，养女是外人"
Raise a son for old age; raise a daughter and she belongs to others.
Or the related sentiment:
"嫁出去的女儿，泼出去的水"
A married daughter is like water spilled out.
The old expectation: parents, especially mothers, stay with sons because daughters join their husband’s family. So even a poor son was the default for old-age support, while a rich daughter was considered part of another household.
随子，不随女" A mother follows her son, not her daughter.
My mom worked for the oil company in Sichuan — the best medical benefits among her five siblings. The Chinese government covered three generations, employees, kids and the grandparents.
Still, some costs weren’t covered.
My parents had a 400 yuan CD. Almost a year of my mom’s salary. She spent it all on Cytochrome C injections for her mom. In 1978, that was the “life-saving shot.” Cytochrome C Injection
In Chinese: 细胞色素C注射液 That was the “life-saving shot” your mom bought for 满孃 in 1978. 细胞色素针剂 = Cytochrome C Injection
A prescription drug in China. Main ingredient is 细胞色素C / Cytochrome C, an enzyme involved in cellular respiration and electron transport in mitochondria.
Common uses in China: Adjuvant for hypoxia: Used for tissue hypoxia from things like CO poisoning, cerebrovascular disease, heart failure, or shock
Tissue repair: Sometimes given for hepatitis, leukopenia, or as supportive care after chemotherapy/radiation Fatigue/energy: Popular historically as an "energy injection" because it plays a role in ATP production
Key points:
Brand names: 细胞色素C注射液
Administration: IV or IM injection, prescription only
Not common in US/Europe: Cytochrome C isn't used as a routine drug in Western medicine. It's considered experimental/supportive, with limited evidence for most uses
Side effects: Allergic reactions, chills, fever. Must do a skin test first in China due to allergy risk
It became well-known in China during the 80s-90s as a general "tonic" shot, but modern guidelines are more restrictive now.
The first time my grandma was critical in the hospital, the woman to her right was Yan’s wife 颜氏 — the big salt merchant from Zigong, who my oldest uncle 举晶 used to work for. She was so weak her son put his ear to her mouth to listen to her. None of us knew them. My oldest uncle 举晶 and aunt 举华 came from Zigong, my youngest uncle from Chongqing 重庆. Juming 举铭 and my mom Jufeng 举芬 were already working in Chengdu. The two ladies lay in hospital beds next to each other, not knowing and unable to speak. Their two oldest sons recognized each other. Yan’s wife died the next day, as if she’d been waiting. My grandma was pleased the rich lady left before her. We can't help wondering: what were the chances that, out of all the hospitals in Chengdu, she ended up lying right next to my grandma in the same room?
But the second time, my grandma wasn’t even critical. She was alone and supposed to go home the next day. At dawn, phlegm blocked her airway. There were no call buttons in 1978. No one heard her.
I was almost 17 that September. I’d already buried my grandfather at 7. Ten years later, I buried her. I blamed my mother and aunts. Even Juhua, who loved me most, turned on me. I felt alone for the first time in my life.
After she died, I had nightmares. One night she died. The next night I failed my gaokao 高考. Until finally, she came to my dream — alive and healthy.
Decades later, I didn’t go to my parents’ funerals, but I went back every year to see them for 2-3 weeks before they passed away. My dad, at age 87, was still very critical of me. He passed away during the COVID lockdown. My mom who had dementia thought I was her coworker. She passed away last spring at age 94. I sent money, gave up the estate, and left my brother and sister to handle everything. I was sad, but not like I was at 16.
Unlike my brother and sister, I’ve never had the same emotional pull. I remember mom handing out candy when we were young — they’d rush her, fighting for more, while I stood back. My grandma saw it one day and blamed my mom for not saving one for me. My mom ended up in tears. Back then, it felt good. Because all I wanted was to go home with her.
My aunt had already transferred my household registration (户口) to my mom’s without asking my grandma first, because they knew my grandma would say "NO".
Why it matters: Your 户口 tied you to a place for school, food rations, medical care. Without it in Gongjing, you were “illegal” to stay with 夏氏, and couldn’t enroll in school there.
My grandmother was from 夏 Xia clan in 内江 Neijiang, a big farm landowner and famous for its traditional Chinese medicine. She was the last of the ten children her parents had, and she was the only girl. They called her 满孃 reads as Mǎn Niáng:
Meaning breakdown:
满 (Mǎn): Full, complete, fulfilled. Also a common surname.
孃 (Niáng): Old/southern term for mother, or respectful address for an older woman. In Sichuan/Cantonese dialects, 孃孃 means aunt or married woman.
Common uses:
Name/title: Could be a family nickname — “Auntie Man” or “Mother Man”. In some regions, the youngest daughter or youngest aunt is called 满孃.
I did not know my grandma side family history, AI again gives me a clue that my grandma's family might be Cantonese, I know they prefer boys, often abandon their baby girls. Hakka families would take them in, raise them, and they’d become daughters-in-law of the family. Hakka people keep all of their children.
My grandpa side is 客家人 Hakka, they keep all their children. Our first generation in Sichuan Zhang Suren 张淑人 in Sichuan had 10 children but five boys and 5 girls, the first born boy 福星 Fuxing, means happy star died, so only 4 boys grown up. Our branch Rong 溶于 became the second son.
Assuming boy/girl is 50/50 for each birth and each birth is independent: "9 boys and then a girl." So somewhere around 1 in 1,000. Rare, but it happens.
This topic refers to a dark and harrowing practice from old society, particularly in parts of pre-modern China, known as **female infanticide** (specifically "drowning of girls").
The term "under the commode" (or toilet) describes a specific, brutal reality of that era:
### 1. The Physical Context In the past, toilets were not modern plumbing fixtures. In cities, people used **wooden nightstools** (commodes), while in rural areas, toilets consisted of a **cesspit** or a large vat buried in the ground with wooden planks over it. The "lower layer" refers directly to the waste pit beneath these planks.
### 2. Why the Toilet? The choice of this location was rooted in several grim factors:
* **Immediacy:** Deliveries often happened in the home. If a girl was born and deemed a "burden" or "unwanted," the commode was the closest place to immediately hide the act.
* **Symbolism of Devaluation:** In a strictly patriarchal society, unwanted female infants were often viewed as "bad luck" or "waste." Placing them in a pit of filth was a physical manifestation of how little the culture valued their lives at that time.
* **Superstition:** There were cruel superstitions suggesting that disposing of a girl in this manner would "prevent" another girl from being born next, or "call forth" a son.
### 3. Societal Roots This practice was the result of a convergence of extreme pressures:
* **Feudal Patriarchy:** The "lineage" system prioritized males for ancestor worship and labor, while girls were seen as "belonging to another family" once they married.
* **Extreme Poverty:** In times of famine or war, families living on the edge of survival often felt they could not afford to feed a child who wouldn't contribute to the ancestral home.
* **Lack of Rights:** Women and children had virtually no legal protection within the domestic sphere, often leaving their fate to the whims of the head of the household or elder matriarchs.
This historical detail is often cited in literature — in discussions of Dream of the Red Chamber 红楼梦 or 20th-century social critiques — as the ultimate symbol of old feudal ethics. It represents the darkest chapter of female history before modern social and legal reforms abolished such atrocities. My dad told me that as late as the 1950s, you could see dead baby girls in the farm fields. I remember going down to a bridge with my middle school classmates to see a dead baby girl washed up on the riverbank. My dad's sister picked up an abandoned girl who could not speak. She grown up married, and her son drove her to my mom’s funeral last year.
To protect unborn girls, the Chinese government banned doctors from telling parents the baby's sex during ultrasounds.
The ban started in 2003. Ultrasounds are allowed, but revealing the gender for non-medical reasons is illegal. Doctors can lose their license if they tell.
Why: In the 1980s–1990s, when ultrasound became common, families who preferred sons would abort girls after finding out the sex. This caused a huge gender imbalance. In some areas it hit 118 boys for every 100 girls. Normal is about 105:100. Millions of girls “disappeared.”
As the only girl after 9 boys, my grandma was not able to escape foot binding. Hakka women did not bind their feet. 张淑人 Zhang Suren's offspring kept that tradition, which was why none of my grandpa's daughters had their feet bound and they all went to school just like the boys.
Why this mattered:
Hakka women 客家妇女 are famous for fighting too.
Hakka women were the original "Iron Women" of inland China:
No foot binding: Hakka women didn’t bind their feet. That meant they could work farms, haul water, carry goods, and defend themselves. In Qing dynasty records, outsiders called them “big-footed women” 大脚婆 — it was both an insult and proof they were physically capable.
Physical defense: During the Hakka-Punti clan wars 土客械斗 in Guangdong 1855-1867, Hakka women defended villages when men were away. They used farm tools, boiling water, and organized village militias. Hakka folk songs still mention women climbing watchtowers and beating war drums.
Economic backbone: While men often left to work as laborers or merchants, Hakka women ran the farms and households. That’s the same “stayed behind to manage farms and families” resilience you described — just inland instead of coastal Fujian.
太平天国 Taiping Rebellion: Hong Xiuquan’s 洪秀全 Taiping army had Hakka women soldiers. His sister Hong Xuanjiao 洪宣娇 commanded female troops. Hakka women weren’t expected to be demure — they were expected to survive.
“Three Knives 三把刀” woman as hairpins were to fight Japanese pirates during Ming/Qing Dynasty raids in Fuzhou 福洲 coast. Hakka women fought inland clan wars instead. The message is clear, don't mess up with 福建 Fujian women.
张淑人 Zhang Suren’s line keeping the no-foot-binding tradition is exactly that Hakka ethos. Your grandpa’s daughters going to school “just like the boys” fits too — many Hakka communities were early adopters of female education compared to other Han groups.
Both traditions produced “Iron Women.”
Different weapons, same spine. Labor, not leisure.
Hakka families were migrants from the north who fled when fertile farmland was taken. They resettled in the mountains, so their farms were on slopes and terraces.
Women worked the fields, carried water, hauled firewood, mined, farmed tea. Bound feet meant crippled. You couldn’t survive with 3-inch “lotus feet.”
Hakka women had to walk, run, work. So they kept natural “big feet” — 大脚.
Hakka 客家 are Han 汉族.
“Hakka” literally means “guest families” 客家人. They’re Han Chinese who migrated from the Central Plains 中原 in waves starting ∼1600 years ago during war and famine.
Moved south → Fujian 福建, Guangdong 广东, Jiangxi 江西 mountains. Locals called them “guests” because they arrived late, after the good lowland farmland was taken.
So same Han roots as Min 闽, Cantonese 粤, etc. Different dialect, different customs from migration — like no foot binding, “big feet” 大脚, and women working fields.
No economic value in footbinding
In rich Han 汉 families, bound feet signaled: “We’re wealthy. Our daughters don’t work.” Hakka clans were often poor, displaced. A working daughter was worth more than a decorative one. A Hakka saying: “大脚婆，旺家门” — Big-footed women make the family prosper.
Cultural defiance
Hakka identity formed through migration and hardship after losing their northern homelands. They kept older Tang-Song customs. Footbinding started later, in Song, and spread mainly in the plains. Hakka in the mountains rejected it. It became a marker: we are Hakka, not bound.
Hakka women were known as “men’s equals in work” — strong, mobile, essential. That strength is part of why your mom could spend all the savings in 1978. She came from women who weren’t raised to be ornamental. When they moved to Sichuan, they brought their Hakka ways with them. Hakka women worked in the fields just like men, while also cooking and caring for their children and family. Sichuan women are well known for being “里外一把手” — someone who handles everything, inside and outside the home.
The phrase: 客家女人，脚大心大 — Hakka women, big feet, big heart.
My grandfather Da Da 哒哒 Guan Xuanzheng (官选鏳 1895-1968)
The Bridge: Born in 1895, the year of the 公车上书 Gongche Shangshu — the Reform Movement petition.
Marriage: He married the "Jewel of the Xia Clan (1903-1978) 内江夏氏," cementing an alliance with another powerful Neijiang family with farmland.
My grandma told me about her life as a carefree young lady in Neijiang before she was married at age 15. Then she married into a stranger's home and lived with a man she had never met. She cried until her tears ran dry.
She blocked out the grief of losing her firstborn son. She never spoke of him. She only told me she lost her fifth child, a boy, to pneumonia.
Because she still had milk, she turned around and nursed her fourth son instead.
The nursing helped her recover from losing her 5th child. Later she had a daughter Juhua 举华.
It was all thanks to her second oldest son, 举晶 my eldest uncle, she said. She owed everything to him.
举晶 Jǔ Jīng
Character breakdown:
举 jǔ: to lift, to raise, to recommend, to elect. Also means “whole, entire” or “to act.” It carries a sense of rising up, achievement, or being chosen.
晶 jīng: crystal, clear, bright, glittering. Made of 3 “sun” 日 characters. Means brilliant, sparkling, lucid.
Together 举晶 ≈ “lifting up brilliance” or “raised to sparkle.” It suggests someone bright, clear, and outstanding — like a crystal held up to the light.
It’s not a common set phrase. As a name, parents pick it hoping the child will be intelligent, pure, and shine.
My grandpa was addicted to opium and relied on support from both the Guan 官 and Xia 夏 families to raise his five children. My grandma never told me this, nor did any of my uncles and aunts. It was a family secret.
Only when I searched my Hakka roots did my oldest cousin Zhongwei in the UK tell me. He said our grandma told him as a warning because he was the oldest grandson. I was really upset — I thought I was her favorite grandchild. I guess, again, I was only a granddaughter.
My grandpa, the third son, and his youngest brother, my fifth uncle Xuan Cei 选镃, were opium addicts. Xuan Cei’s wife, Zeng 曾, left him with their two children and, I heard, became a concubine for a rich family.
Then my mom told me not to write about it. It was a family shame that no one wanted to talk about. My oldest uncle never admitted it. He only told me his dad was disabled and his mom was the hero who saved them.
I grew up with the story from all our aunts and uncles: my grandpa’s salt business partners ran away with the money, so he went broke. They went through very difficult years after that.
I found out my grandpa’s partners were all his family members. They possibly forced him to quit opium. Since my grandma was the only and youngest daughter, her Xia 夏 family also helped. They let my grandpa start a business selling their rice, which he failed.
They likely also trained his younger brother in the family’s traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) secrets — the fourth son, Xuan Rong 选鏞 — since he became one of the four best TCM doctors in Zigong. We only guessed the deal was that he was supposed to help us.
家传 / Family Inheritance
This is TCM passed down within bloodlines, father to son, mother to daughter.
Core features:
秘方不外传 — Secret formulas stay in the family. Ingredients, ratios, processing methods only told to heirs.
口述 + 抄本 — Hand-copied books and oral instruction. No public publishing. Some families burn the formula book if there’s no heir.
传男不传女 — Traditionally passed to sons only. Daughters “marry out” and become outsiders. That’s why many lineages died when a family had only daughters.
从小学起 — Children start grinding herbs, watching pulses, memorizing classics from age 6-7. You grow up inside the medicine.
Example: 同仁堂 started as family prescriptions for the Qing imperial court. 云南白药 was a Yunnan family’s secret trauma powder.
I only heard the story that 选鏞 Xuan Rong (1897-1962) was supposed to help his nephew — my oldest uncle — attend college after he passed the exam. He backed out. So the Guan clan decided to have my uncle work for one of the biggest salt merchants, the Yan 颜 clan.
## The Convergence of Elite Medical Training: Dr. Wilford （胡祖遗)Guan Xuanyong （官选鏞）
### 1. Dr. Wilford's Advanced Western Specializations
Before and during his 40-year tenure in China, Dr. Wilford (胡祖遗) obtained an elite level of medical education and Western credentials that set him apart as a top-tier specialist:
* **Dual International Fellowships:** He successfully obtained official certifications from both the **Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons (Edinburgh)** and the **American College of Surgeons**.
* **Pioneering Radiologist & Surgeon:** In addition to being an outstanding surgeon, he was a certified **radiology specialist** (放射科专家), and Dr. W.J. Sheridan (沈德才), a physician who graduated from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto in Canada. The advanced West training allowed them to introduce early diagnostic imaging to Sichuan.
* **Academic Advancement:** During his 40 years of service, he returned to Canada three times to pursue further advanced studies, ultimately earning his **Doctor of Medicine (MD) / Medical Doctorate** to keep his skills at the absolute cutting edge.
### 2. Guan Xuanyong's选鏞 Elite Traditional Training: Not only from Xia 夏氏 family training, In 1937 he went to study in the research class at the Wuxi Acupuncture 无锡针灸 and Moxibustion Specialized School in Jiangsu 江苏. From 1951 to 1952, all foregn doctors left, after studying for 6 months in the Zigong City Traditional Chinese Medicine Advanced Training Class under new China, he practiced traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture at the Sanshengqiao 三圣桥 United Clinic. He was one of the founders of Zilujing 自流井Hospital and one of the four famous doctors of Zigong City. He passed away in November 1962 at the age of 65.
As **one of the Four best Doctors of Zigong** (自贡四大名医), Guan Xuanyong was not a casual practitioner; he possessed the highest level of training available in the Eastern tradition:
* **Mastery of Classical Medicine:** His training required a profound mastery of pulse diagnostics, complex herbal pharmacology, and internal medicine.
* **Occupational Trauma Expertise:** Operating in the industrial heart of the Ziliujing salt valleys 自流井, Guan's practical training was uniquely adapted to the specific occupational hazards of the salt wells—treating severe brine burns, deep tissue infections, and heavy physical trauma.
---
## How Their Combined Training Transformed Zigong
When Dr. Wilford opened his first rented clinics at **Dengganba (灯杆坝)** and **Tongziao (桐梓坳)**, the collaboration was so successful precisely because **neither doctor was missing the necessary training to understand the other.**
* **Mutual Professional Respect:** Because Dr. Wilford was highly trained in radiology and surgery, and Guan Xuanyong was an elite master of traditional clinical diagnostics, they recognized each other as true peers of medical science.
* **The Perfect Triage:** At the **Yutaishan Hospital** (founded in 1914), their combined training created a revolutionary healthcare pipeline for Zigong. Guan Xuanyong’s deep understanding of local pathology and pharmacology paired perfectly with Dr. Wilford’s elite surgical and radiological capabilities, giving the people and salt laborers of Zigong an unprecedented standard of integrated care.
My uncle Jujing 举晶 became the breadwinner for the whole family. My grandma said he gave every penny he earned to his father, never spending even 3 pennies for a bowl of summer tea. But my uncle told me he never gave his earnings to his dad — he always gave them to his mom.
He did go to college later, for chemistry, because it was his dream. He worked for 自贡鸿鹤坝 Hongheba Chemical Plant for the rest of his life. He died at age 92, a month short of 93.
My grandparents' five children were 举晶, 举芬, 举铭, 举彪, 举华.
举晶: Oldest son. Chemist at 自贡鸿鹤坝Hongheba Chemical Plant.
举芬: 1st Daughter. Worked at 四川石油勘探研究院 Sichuan Petroleum Exploration Research Institute her whole career.
举铭: 2nd Daughter. Worked at 中国地质勘查研究院 China Geological Exploration Research Institute her whole career.
举彪: Youngest son. Worked at 重庆巴山仪表厂 Chongqing Bashan Military Factory his whole life. He planted the peach tree in Gongjing.
举华: Youngest daughter. Taught high school in Zigong her whole life.
All five carried the generation name 举 Jǔ — “to raise up.” Your grandpa 官选鏳 named them from his sickbed, hoping they’d rise. Your grandma 满娘 Mǎn Niáng raised them up on bound feet.
My oldest uncle knew the rule for tombstones: it had to list her own last name Xia 夏, then her married name. He decided to use her married name 官选清 Guan Xuanqing only. To him, she was the "True Guan", the head of the household.
For me, it is incredibly important to use this re-carving of the tombstone to finally ‘right the name’ of my grandmother. She didn’t even have a formal name on record — she was known only as “the only daughter of the Xia 夏 from Neijiang 内江.” She was 满娘. She had bound feet.
My grandfather’s ashes have been lost, and my eldest uncle feels such profound regret over this. My grandpa’s ashes are lost. He was buried under a tree. The tree was cut down, the whole area was cleaned, and houses were built over it. But a new Catholic church was built there. His eldest son went to Ai Ye Gospel Hall 艾叶福音堂 school as a child. He must have stayed connected with the church before. My unlce took me to both churches 15 years ago.
I am looking for a way to add Grandfather’s name to her stone, so that he can finally ‘find’ her. He shouldn’t have to be alone. It’s too lonely.
His coffin used to be in Gongjing 贡井. We were living at his eldest brother Xuanquan’s 选铨 house then. The coffin was placed outside under the eaves of the covered porch. I was so afraid of it.
In front of the house, beyond the courtyard, was the peach tree 举彪 planted. Then a small creek, and further ahead, a small pond. I nearly drowned there when I was 2 or 3 years old because I was always nearby picking flowers. A neighbor saved my life.
Behind the house, there was a temple on the hill. It was so dark inside, and I was terrified of it, too. Jia-Jia 贾贾 my grandma never once took me inside. She used to take her son 举晶 to the Aiye Gospel Hall 艾叶福音堂 grammar school.
I remember an old tailor. Jia-Jia took me to have clothes made. His glasses had slipped down his face, and he peered over the rims at me, saying how beautiful I looked in the clothes he made.
Across from us lived the Yang 杨 family. The parents were my eldest grand-uncle’s long-term laborers. I didn’t realize it then, but I remember once when the Yang family’s son came home, he harassed me outside the main gate, exposing himself to me. I was only five years old. I ran home in terror and never dared to tell anyone. We soon moved to my oldest uncle's home in Zigong.
My mom said Yang’s wife could carry two buckets of water on her shoulders. She never went to school, married young, so her children were a lot older than me.
Later, Jia-Jia told me that Da-Da 哒哒 — Grandfather — had left his coffin to her. He said he had nothing left to give her but that coffin, and he knew she was afraid of fire. But later in Chengdu, she said: “There is no place to be buried. 嫁鸡随鸡，嫁狗随狗 — marry a chicken, follow the chicken; marry a dog, follow the dog. Your Da-Da was cremated, so I will be cremated too, and he will come to fetch me.”
My grandpa Da-Da had quit opium but was left disabled. He had more than one pipe, but to us kids it was a weapon. We were all afraid of it. My oldest cousin said Grandpa hit him with it once. It was really painful. He smoked tobacco leaves from a long pipe with a copper end. What I remember most was his copper water pipe. It sat on the table like a teapot, and I used to play with it by blowing air into the water to make sounds.
My grandma was great at math. She was a sharp barterer in the market, and she took me there every day after breakfast. We’d come home for lunch. She’d buy me little treats, or take me to my grandpa’s oldest brother 选銓’s house. To me it felt like a palace — the furniture was crowded in the room, but much nicer than ours. His widow, 钱 Qian, would always bring out a wooden box of treats for me to choose from. I wanted to take them all home because we didn’t have any at our house. But I only took one, just like my grandmother told me. She said we had to show our pride.
My grandpa spent his final 40 years bedridden, yet he remained a silent anchor for my grandma until his passing in 1968 at age 73.
When I was in high school, I discovered that Jia-Jia could actually recognize a few characters. One day she mentioned something she saw in the newspaper, but then she denied it. I also once heard her singing to herself when she was alone. The moment she saw me, she stopped. I told her to keep going, but she said, “I don’t know how to sing.” After that, she never mentioned reading again, and I never heard her sing another note.
Today is Mother’s Day, and I was thinking about my grandma — the one who raised me for my first 9 years.
I was born in 1961, during the famine. The government gave pregnant women one jin 斤 of eggs, but thankfully my grandma had a egg laying hen. My mom didn’t have enough milk for me.
My younger brother was born in 1963. By then the country had recovered. My mom had plenty of milk for him, below was my mom and my brother.
Photo below in 1962, my parents sent me to Gongjing. I was one year old. From age 1 to 9, I lived with my maternal grandparents. The photo from Gongjing was taken by my youngest uncle with a camera he brought back from Russia. My dad was holding me in the middle. My eldest uncle was holding his oldest son Zhongwei, he was called small Guan “小官” back then because there was a big Guan in the clan.
My grandma was 59 in this photo below. She was born in 1903. My grandpa died in 1968, when I was almost 7. My grandma passed away in 1978, when I was almost 17 — ten years later, one month before the Gaokao. I attended both of their funerals.
What that photo really means:
It wasn’t “dropping off”
In 1960s Sichuan, kids went to grandparents to survive. Food was tight. City jobs were hard. 夏氏 took you because she could raise you. That photo is your dad trusting them with his daughter — with *忠*字辈的血脉.Ziliujing 自流井, Sichuan
The photo was taken by Jubiao's 举彪 camera from Kyjv Ukraine since he went to 基辅大学 Kyiv University. Back row, left to right: My mom Jufeng 举芬, my grandma Xia 夏氏, my aunt Juming 举铭. Front row, left to right: My youngest uncle Jubiao 举彪, my dad Han Wenjian 韩文健 holding me Han Ying韩英 in the middle, and my oldest uncle Jujing 举晶 holding his oldest son Zhongwei Guan 官忠伟.
Jubiao's 举彪 ** 中山装 Zhongshan suit** (Mao suit) is a iconic four-pocket tunic that bridged the gap between traditional robes and modern Western wear.
**Origin:** Popularized by ** 孙中山 Sun Yat-sen** in the early 1900s as a practical, modern uniform for China.
**Symbolism:**
**4 Pockets:** Represent the Four Virtues (Propriety, Justice, Integrity, Honor).
**5 Buttons:** Represent the five branches of government.
Five Branches of Government
Executive Yuan 行政院
Runs the country. Implements laws and policies. Headed by the Premier. Includes ministries for defense, finance, education, etc.
Legislative Yuan 立法院
Makes laws. Represents the people. Debates and passes bills, approves budgets, oversees the Executive.
Judicial Yuan 司法院
Interprets laws. Highest court system. Ensures constitutionality, settles legal disputes, protects civil rights.
Examination Yuan 考试院
Recruits government officials through civil service exams. Sets standards for public employment. Prevents nepotism and ensures merit-based hiring.
Control Yuan 监察院
Audits government agencies. Investigates corruption and misconduct. Has power to impeach and censure officials. Acts as watchdog over the other branches.
**3 Sleeve Buttons:** Represent the "Three People's Principles. 三民主义"
Three Principles of the People
Nationalism
Freedom from foreign imperialist domination. China governed by the Chinese people. National independence and unity.
Democracy
Sovereignty belongs to the people. Government elected by the people. Civil rights, constitutional rule, separation of five powers: executive, legislative, judicial, examination, and control.
Livelihood
Economic welfare for all citizens. Equalization of land ownership, regulation of capital, state role in key industries. The goal: every person has food, clothing, housing, and security.
**Legacy:** It became the standard national dress for decades and remains the go-to **formal attire** for Chinese leaders during major state ceremonies
Here is a list of prominent historical and modern figures associated with the Zhongshan suit and its closely related variations:
### Historical Leaders
* **Sun Yat-sen** (The creator/namesake) 孙中山, married to the second sister of Soong/Han family, Soong Ching-ling, no children.
* **Chiang Kai-shek** 蒋介石, married the youngest Soong Mei-ling and no kids. Only Soong Ai-ling and H.H. Kung had four kids. The common saying in China summarizes three Soong/Han sisters lives: "The eldest loved money, the second loved her country, and the youngest loved power.
* **Mao Zedong** 毛泽东
* **Zhou Enlai** 周恩来
* **Deng Xiaoping** 邓小平
* **Jiang Zemin** 江泽民
* **Hu Jintao** 胡锦涛
* **Ho Chi Minh** (Vietnam)
* **Kim Il-sung** (North Korea)
* **Kim Jong-il** (North Korea)
* **Jawaharlal Nehru** (India – *Nehru Jacket variant*)
* **Josip Broz Tito** (Yugoslavia)
* **Joseph Stalin** (Soviet Union – *Stalin Tunic variant*)
* **Fidel Castro** (Cuba – *Formal tunic variant*)
* **Pol Pot** (Cambodia)
### Modern Leaders
* **Xi Jinping** (China) 习近平
* **Kim Jong-un** (North Korea)
* **Narendra Modi** (India – *Modern Nehru/Modi Jacket variant*)
My grandma left her dowry and coffin behind. To help the family survive and to help her oldest grandson get married, Jia-Jia allowed her precious treasure chest — her “ten-mile dowry” — to be sold. It was worth my mom’s 8 months pay at the time, worth a lot more today if we had not sold it. The last gift for her 5 children. The high-quality wood from the coffin Da-Da left for her was supposed to repurposed into furniture for her oldest grandson’s wedding.
A chemist, two geologists, an expert trained by Kyiv University and UESTC 成电. and a teacher. She raised five 举 — five who rose — out of opium debt, poverty, and a house with a coffin under the eaves. On bound feet.
Final inscription:
内江夏氏 满娘
官门选清 孺人
配 官选鏳 府君
子 举晶 举芬 举铭 举彪 举华
孙辈 官忠伟...泣立
Why this works:
子: Lists the five 举 siblings. Since you twelve are erecting the stone, it’s understood the 子 generation has passed.
孙辈: Covers all 12 grandchildren in one line. No need to split by paternal/maternal. In modern stones this is very common.
泣立: Goes last. Means you all set this stone together, in tears.
Three lines tell the whole story:
满娘 and 官选鏳 → their five children → their twelve grandchildren who remember them.
This puts 举晶 举芬 举铭 举彪 举华 on the stone with their mother.
Holding space for 满娘 and all five 举.
满娘 carried the whole family. Now the stone carries her whole name.
10th generation (忠 = Loyalty), 忠字辈: We rebuilt the 1st gen’s tombstones 2025
We rebuilt the 1st generation’s tombstones. 立仁 Liren’s descendant 忠字辈 Zhongpu 众仆, from 溶 Rong’s first wife 陈 Chen, organized the labor at Guan Farm and purchased the stones for engraving. We, Rong’s second wife 童 Tong's youngest son 立亨 Liheng's descendents contributed funds only, since none of us live locally. So all the lost souls of their descendants could find a way home.
1st gen: Loyal to family → came to Sichuan at age 62 and 26.
∼1724 → Guan Wenguang 文光公, age 62, Hakka from Fujian Yongding
“六旬携子去闽入蜀，十年治铁开基创业”
Left home with his son 云辉 at 26. Spent 10 years as a blacksmith in Neijiang to build a foothold. Became 内邑官氏始祖 — the founding ancestor in Sichuan.
Re-erected his stone + 上官 Shangguan，中仪大夫，张淑人 Zhang Suren stone. Re-carved the names, the dates, the story.
9 generations between you. ∼33 years per generation.
300 years between “开基” and “叩立”.
He used iron to start the family.
You used stone to make sure he’s remembered.
源远流长 → 萬古長青
That’s not just calligraphy on the tombs, That’s what the 10th generation proved.
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