Very excited!
Bound galleys China’s Wings
Me and Moon Chin
Fabulous party at Moon Chin’s house yesterday afternoon. It absolutely boggles my mind to think that this man started flying in China during the winter of 1933. For those of you who might be new to my China’s Wings blog and unfamiliar with Moon Chin’s story, here’s a link to the beginning of some of it: all-roads-led-to-moon-chin (Work your way forward from there…)
An envelope that flew with CNAC
The CNAC reunion is in full swing yesterday and today, so I’m pretty distracted — and very excited for the party at Moon Chin’s house tonight. But before I head out for the day, here is the promised scan of Alistair Watt’s CNAC cover and the history blurb he included.
Thanks, Alistair!
One of the biggest mountains of the Hump!
Alistair Watt shares the fascination with CNAC and aviation in Asia during the Second World War. He stumbled across this blog, made a few comments, sent an email, and was kind enough to share this photo of Mt. Kawakarpo, which is apparently on the Salween/Mekong divide astride the Hump Route.
Alistair went to the base of the main glacier.
Tomorrow, I’ll post a pic of one of his envelopes that flew with CNAC during the war.
The mountaineer in me would like to point out that this is one hell of a fine looking peak, and probably remains unclimbed…
Translations of those crib sheets
Well, after an absolutely epic work push, I finished reading the page proofs of China’s Wings and returned them to New York. Another big “tick” made. I’m very happy with how everything is shaping up.
Picking up the thread of those crib sheets for a paper son that I posted a few weeks ago, Rebecca Lem’s aunt Rose Lem was kind enough to translate them. (Thank you Rebecca and Rose!)
Here’s the link to the crib sheets: http://gregcrouch.com/2011/crib-sheets-for-a-paper-son
And here’s the link to a further explanation of what they actually were when Donald Chan looked into his family history: http://gregcrouch.com/2011/more-on-those-crib-sheets
And here’s what Rose Lem translated for us:
Q: Did you attend Wing-Cheong’s wedding banquet?
A: I did not go.
Q: Where was his wife come from?
A: I heard that his wife came from Shan-Wu Village.
Q: How many children does Wing-Cheong have?
A: One daughter, name Yok-Xiao. She is one year old. He has no son yet.
Q; How far is your Che-Lang Village to Long-Sing Village? Can you see it from your village?
A: About 10 li. I cannot see it from my Che-Lang Village.
Q: What are the gifts at Wing-Cheong’s wedding?
A: I didn’t go so I do not know.
Q: Where is Wing-Cheong and his parents now?
A: They came to America in 1932. (actually, arrived in Jan 1932)
Q: How many persons are still in China?
A: There are three persons in China ( Wing-Sing, Yok-Xiao and Wing-Cheong’s wife)
The attached maps shows the relative distance among other villages.
And the second document:
A. My husband’s sisters had pass away long time ago. I did not see them at my wedding. I don’t know their names.
Q: How many plots in your village and does it has a temple?
A: In the front, there are six. Including the Temple there are nine. Now there are twelve in the back
Q: How many houses in your village?
A: In the front, there were 14 houses. Now there are 17 excluding the Temple and its two small houses.
Q: Which plot and which house do you live at?
A: I live at the first plot and the first house at the rear of the village.
Q: Does your house have tiles?
A: Yes
(if asked about the surroundings and the design of the old house, just say the actual things of my old house)
Q: Is there a shrine in your house ?
A: No
Q: Are there any market places near your village?
A: Wu-Xi market place is about 3-2 li from my village.
Q: Which direction does your village facing?
A: My village is facing Northwest.
Q: Does your village have mountain and water?
A: There is a little hill in the rear, rice field in the front.
Q: Where were your father and mother –in-law buried? And how far?
A: Their burial ground is in the hill in the back of the village, facing east. Approximately 1 li
Q: How far is your in-law’s village from your?
A: About 10 li
Q: What kind of wedding did you have?
A: The old fashioned way.
Q: Do you have a marriage certificate?
A: No
Q: Do you have the three generations document?
A: I had it before, but I have lost it long time ago. Now I don’t have it.
Q: When did you leave the village to Hong Kong?
A: (Tell the actual date)
If asked about your association with the Communist Party, the answer is no
The attached drawing is the layout of the houses in the village
The name of owner is listed.
Page proofs are in!
Page proofs just arrived from New York. It’s a book at last, and I’m thrilled with work done by Bantam’s design team.
Here’s a picture of the title page:
Hand fueling a DC-2
To get us back on the aviation track, here’s a fine pic of a CNAC ground crew hand fueling a DC-2 in the late-1930s. Probably at Chengtu.
More on those “paper son” crib sheets
This came in from Donald Chan last night as we delve further into the content of those crib sheets:
Greg, I talked to my dad, and have discovered that I wasn’t exactly correct about those crib sheets. All of the “crib sheets” in my possession are not from when my grandfather immigrated. They (or the vast majority) are crib sheets for my grandmother when my grandfather applied for her to come to the US in the 1950’s! They had actually sent letters to each other to ensure their “answers” were to match when she would be interviewed upon arrival. This included knowing her husband’s “paper” family history, not his real family. Well, those sheets were not what I thought, but still an amazing piece of history!
I certainly agree with Donald’s last line. Makes me proud of his family.
The power of the crowd
I posted the link to yesterday’s post on my facebook page, along with a question asking if anybody could help us read the “crib sheets” from Donald Chan’s grandfather, and within 24 hours an answer came back from Rebecca Lem’s grandmother. Here’s what she said:
“Hi Becky: You are correct in saying it is a crib sheet for paper sons to come to the U.S. One is the description of the village and houses where he lived . The other are answers to events of interest to clarify that he is connected . Your grandfather has a booklet like this too. They call it the “How Gong” which means supplied information. I will translate these for you when I have time. I am expecting company this week , so will be busy. Grandma”
And then the following from Rebecca: “So that’s what she has so far. My grandmother at 90 still has a very active social life, so I guess we’ll have to wait for a lull in the party to get the rest ;-)
My grandmother, Rose Lem, is an amazing woman. She escaped across China at age 14, fleeing the Japanese, with her younger siblings in tow (no parents). She came to the US, and later married my grandfather who is a “paper son”. My grandmother’s younger sister is Betty Lee Sung, one of the leading scholars on the Chinese in the U.S. (Bio: http://www.committee100.org/aboutus/member_bio.php?member_id=76 ). My grandfather, Arthur Lem, actually spent a year in Federal prison in the 60’s for allegedly helping to bring over his relatives. (http://174.123.24.242/leagle/xmlResult.aspx?xmldoc=19611013193FSupp820_1853.xml&docbase=CSLWAR1-1950-1985) See also “The Investigation and Prosecution of Chinese Immigration Broker Arthur Lem:, Work-in-Progress Session, 13th Conference of Asian Pacific American Law Faculty William Mitchell College of Law, Saint Paul, MN. Apr. 28, 2007. Anyway, it is interesting to be part of such a fascinating history.
Crib sheets for a “paper son”
Continuing on with Donald Chan’s grandfather’s documents I posted yesterday, Donald also sent up these handwritten papers which he thinks are crib sheets for a “paper son” — information to help a paper son pass INS interrogation and gain approval as an American citizen.
I explained the “paper sons” situation in one of the earlier posts about Moon Chin. Here’s the link: Moon Chin languishes in an INS jail.
Note, since neither of us reads Chinese, we might not have their purpose correct. We’d be delighted to discover their content from somebody running across this page who reads Chinese. (And I also suspect I’ve got them oriented incorrectly — I’d be happy to learn how to fix that, too.)
