January 09, 2010

Story That Made My Day

This morning, my mother and I were chatting and watching the tellie, and I changed the channel to a film where the Chinese were fighting against the Japanese in the Second Sino-Japanese war. (According the Wikipedia, this huge war begun when the Japanese invaded Manchuria 1937-1945. It is part of WWII) I asked my mother if the Japanese ever invaded her neighborhood. She told me that it had happened before she was born, but Grandma and Grandpa were there to experience it. The story she told me truly made my day. So let me tell you what happened from my best ability to translate from Cantonese:

Grandpa stopped being a solider to be with Grandma, and they continued to live in the same neighborhood that they grew up in. They lived somewhere in the Guang Dong province and in their neighborhood, there was a family who was wealthy enough to send his son to Japan to go to school. There he met a Japanese native and they fell in love. He offered his hand in marriage and brought her back to China. Before she left her homeland, her father knew exactly was going on and wanted his daughter to be safe. He gave his daughter a scroll with the Japanese flag. In that scroll there was writing.

The Japanese were terrorizing the citizens of China from killing girls after they were raped, throwing babies down wells, bombing cities, burning houses, anything you can imagine that will happen in war. There were thousands of people trying to hide from the Japanese, there was even young women who put on make up to make them appear as if they were old ladies in fear of getting raped and killed.

One day, the Japanese troops arrived at that little neighborhood where my grandparents lived at. Everybody feared for their lives because that day could be their last. The Japanese girl runs out of her house and faced the big bad Japanese troop. She held her scroll out proudly and then the entire Japanese troop quickly fell to their knees. The troop was not allowed to hurt a Japanese Native, so they left the neighborhood in peace.


I've seen her around when I was a child. She was this old deaf little lady who bought vegetables in the market.


When war is at foot, the most unlikely of people become heros or heroins :] FUUHHHHHH, I'm still amazed. I bet your grandparents have some pretty amazing stories, I just wish my grandparents were still around so I can ask them about their lives. Rest in Peace ah Po Po.

1 comment:

  1. awesome story. keep asking you mom about your family's history - it'll amaze you!

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