Learning Family History in Gaoyou

An incredibly important part of this trip for me as Mom, Dad and I made a trip to find my father's grandfathers home and fabric store in the town of Gaoyou, Jiangsu province.  We found the actual building and this piqued my interest and gave me impetus to hear about my family's history on both my mother and father's sides.  Those stories come below.

So, first a little history about Gaoyou.  It's a city that borders the large Gaoyou Lake. 

But most importantly, it's right on the famed Grand Canal that connected Beijing in the north to the Yangtze river in the south.  As you can see, in the distance, this part of the Grand Canal is still in operation with big huge coal loaded ships still using it like superhighway.

Along the Grand Canal were many stops, of which Gaoyou was one.  It's the one written in red near the southern terminus.

Because of its position on the Grand Canal, Gaoyou was a prosperous town and along the Canal itself were official places of commerce where mail was handed off and taxes were paid.  There were places where people could stop for the night.  Here's the old Gaoyou Drum Tower.

Here in Gaoyou's oldest historic district, you can see the old style houses that sit behind levee with the Grand Canal in the distance.

Marco Polo visited Gaoyou and in essence called it a "land of plenty"

Here we are looking down Gaoyou's "老南大街" or "Old South Street"

About halfway down we found my Dad's Grandfather's old home and fabric store.  Apparently being a fabric store owner in those times meant some wealth. We knew we had found it because my Dad knew that the building was two stories (there are only two on the street)

And we found this plaque on the building.  Gaoyou made it into a historic building in 2010.

Those pink banners tell us that someone recently got married.

We peeked inside and the building has been divided into a bunch of parts for a number of families.

To illustrate the "land of plenty", fresh fish are still taken from the lake and sold right there on the street!

So, let's get to the family history.  We'll start on Dad's side.  My great grandfather was the fabric store owner here in Gaoyou.  His son, my grandfather, was very smart and tested well and was admitted to major institutions here in China, such as Peking University. However, my great grandfather didn't want my grandfather to travel so far and so my grandfather ended up going to Shanghai's Jiaotong University. Upon graduation, my grandfather got a job with the Ministry of Railways, which was a very prestigious place of employment. To put it in perspective....no commercial air service in the 1920's and 30's in Mainland China.  My Dad was born in 1937 and his brother Wendell in 1938.  They were born in Anhui province where my grandfather was working at the time.  At this point, the Japanese were marching through eastern China and my Dad's family started moving and running away from the Japanese.  This wasn't open to all people but my Dad's family had the ability to move because of their connection to the railways. In 1939, while in Guilin, my Dad's mother passed away while giving birth to my Dad's sister. They were buried in Guilin, and my grandfather drew a map of where they were buried but my Dad went back and due to development, was unable to locate the graves. From 1939 to 1945, my Dad's family was on the move eventually ending up Chongqing for three years. My Dad tells me he remembers riding the trains as a kid to get away from the Japanese. In 1945, their family moves back to Shanghai and my grandfather is now working for a ministry that distributes foreign aid. In 1947, they move to Hong Kong and in 1948 they move to Taiwan where my grandfather now works for the Taiwan government still distributing foreign aid money. In 1950, my grandfather, still working for the Taiwan government, gets a job with the Central Trust of China buying and selling Taiwanese items in Japan. And therefore my grandfather gets transferred to Japan and Dad and Wendell move to Japan.  From 1950-55, my father and my uncle attend middle and the beginning of high school in Japan. In 1955, my grandfather determines that my Dad and my Uncle, who will eventually end up in the United States, do not have the Chinese language skills to head back to Taiwan for further schooling, sends them to the United States. So in December 1955, my Dad and my Uncle spend 30 days on a ship sailing from Japan to Seattle, where they have a relative. They both spend half a year finishing high school at Seattle's Garfield High school and go on to the University of Washington enrolling in the Fall of 1956.  Dad wins a scholarship from the Seattle Chinese Society, majors in Electrical Engineering.  Starts working for Boeing in 1960. Marries Mom and 1968 and Ernie is born in 1970 and Marlene in 1973.

Now let's go to my Mother's side of the story.  We'll start with my paternal grandfather who was born in 1919.  His father originally was with the KMT but when the Japanese set up a puppet government in Shanghai, my great grandfather was coerced into working for that government and thereby forever tainted by that association. His second wife, my grandfathers step-mother was a longtime Communist Party member.  My grandfather and grandmother marry in 1942 and Mom is born in 1943 in Suzhou.  In 1945, the war ends and since my great grandfather is associated with the cooperating with the Japanese he flees and changes his name and my grandfather is no longer in touch with his father. In 1945, my grandfather moves his family, at this point, just my grandmother and Mom, to Qingdao.  In December 1947, he moves his family to Taiwan where his brother is. He works at a job and along the way applies to be a sales person for an American based company. He gets the job when the two who were ahead of him don't take the job for various reasons and my grandfather stays with this company until retirement. In Taiwan, my two aunts are born. At some point, my grandfather is accepted and decides to go do graduate work at Kansas State University. However, due to the fact that his father has Communist ties (and the Japanese connection) my grandfather is not granted a visa to leave Taiwan. This visa ban also applied to his offspring. So at this point, my grandfather, my Mom and aunt are not allowed to leave Taiwan. However, the father of a family friend was a former officer in the Shanghai Office of the equivalent of China's CIA and he clears my grandfather of this connection and the visa restriction is lifted. However, he stays in Taiwan and eventually my mother and my two aunts, all graduate from college in Taiwan and then proceed to go to graduate school in the United States. My Mom specifically ends up doing her Masters in Mathematics at Clark University in Worcester, MA and then moves to Seattle to start a PHD at the University of Washington. She ends up working at Boeing, meets my Dad and they get married.

One note about my grandfather. At some point, he finds his father, who at this point has fathered another two sons. And my grandfather eventually meets his two half-brothers.

My maternal grandmother's side starts with a long ago relative who was the ambassador to some European country. In that time, he amassed quite a collection of books. My grandmothers father never worked a day in his life and kept the family going by selling off that collection of books. My grandmother was the 2nd of 9 children.  She marries my grandfather in 1942. As my Dad puts it, my paternal grandfather's family in the early 1940's was on the rise and my maternal grandmother's family was in decline. He married up, she married down.  If you ever met them, you would understand how this totally makes sense. He adored her and deferred to her every wish.  She bossed him around.

What I take from this is that on both my parents sides, they came from highly educated backgrounds and/or money. Because of this, my parents both had opportunities to get to the United States. This wasn't the common story at all. I'm lucky to be an American citizen based on my family's status.

"Please speak standard Mandarin Chinese" At first I wondered why this was plastered all over the Gaoyou Bus Station. Then I heard the accent and it was unintelligible.

Mom, Dad and I will forever remember the California Sunshine Hotel in Gaoyou. After a pretty crappy hotel in Nanjing, this was a surprisingly clean and high end hotel in a podunk town. 

Even in the podunk town, it was out away from the center of town (why does this hotel exist?) and we had to hop on the bus to get anywhere. Here's Mom looking happy and content on the bus.  I love this photo.

Our rooms were across the hall from each other and the only way we could get wireless Internet was if we sat in the hallway. We spent a lot of time in this formation.

Good times in the California Sunshine Hotel hallway!!!