In honor of Mother's Day, storyteller Frances chronicles her own mother's life, marriage, and parenthood in 1940s China. Frances touches on the complex family dynamics and high expectations her mother learned to navigate, the political turmoil that forced her parents to flee to Hong Kong, and the opportunity that eventually brought Frances to the United States.
My mother, Kit Jing Chow, was born in Xiuquan, China in 1922. In Chinese, her name Kit means clean, and Jing means chaste. Together, the words mean pure and chaste.
My mother was the fourth child of her family. She had three older brothers, two younger brothers, and one younger sister.
I don't know much about her childhood. I just know that with the outbreak of the Second World War, my mother did not finish her teaching training at Tsiu Kwan Teachers' Training College. So instead of teaching, she stayed in her hometown and assisted her father in the family business.
My maternal grandfather had three stores selling dry seafood and high-end herbal medicines. My mother was one of the store's accountants. She was not only skillful in doing calculations with an abacus, but she also wrote with beautiful Chinese calligraphy.
My parents were married in 1946 in Guangzhou, China. The matchmaker was a close relative whose husband was a judge, a reliable and reputable matchmaker, was thought to be one of the key elements that would guarantee a happy marriage. The reason my father chose my mother as his wife was because he believed my mother could handle the complicating relationships that existed in his own and extended family. My father knew that his wife would become the eldest daughter-in-law of a wealthy family with two mothers-in-law who were at odds with one another. It wasn't an enviable role to play...
