Eldest Aunt's wedding picture 大姑媽盧素德和大姑丈陳述文結婚照
My father is the first one on the left 我爸爸是左邊第一人
Secret meeting of my two aunts and their children
Standing from left to right (Cousin 陳祥開, Aunt Ming 二姑媽盧素明, cousin陳祥國)
Sitting (Eldest Aunt 大姑媽盧素德, cousin 何國偉 - son of Aunt Ming)
My cousin emailed me some old photos of my father's family. I always thought my eldest aunt died a horrible death during the
Great Leap Forward, because my grandfather, her father, was a landlord and businessman, this immediately classified her as the "people's enemy".
Well, it turned out oral tradition was not quite accurate. While looking these old photos, my father recalled the circumstance surrounding my aunt and her family. My aunt married her husband before the Chinese Communist took over China. As seen in the photo, my uncle was in his military uniform. He was a military man, belonging to the First New Army (
新一軍), which is under the
Kuomintang 國民黨 (Republic of China) government, stationed in Sichuan 四川 province.
The cousin who sent me the pictures has send this new comment to my Facebook:
The First New Army was hailed as the "world's number one troop", because during World War II, the troop was stationed at the border of India and Burma, they not only stopped the Japanese from going further across the border, but also defeated the Japanese, saved the lives of 7,000 British troops. My uncle's oldest son 祥開 recalled even at places with signs that said
"No Dogs or Chinese allowed", my uncle could go in without a problem. His superior, General Sun attended their wedding.
新一軍被稱為天下第一軍, 是因為在二次世界大戰時, 新一軍被派註印緬邊境, 截斷日軍的入侵, 打敗日軍, 救了7,000英軍, 所以號稱「天下第一軍」。祥開說「華人與狗不淮進入」的地方（有代考證）, 他父親都可以進。他父親是孫立人將軍的部下, 他父母親結婚時, 他說孫立人將軍也有出席。”
While Chinese Communist took over China, my father's family moved to Hong Kong upon losing their land and houses in Guangzhou, but my aunt refused to go with the family. She stayed in China and did not leave with the family because she believed in the New China. She named her children 開 (beginning, new) and 國 (country), she loved her country, she deeply believed that the Communist China would bring a brand new start to China. My eldest aunt visited Hong Kong once, her family urged her not to go back, she finally decided against it.
My uncle, obviously, didn't go with the troop to Taiwan when the Republic of China lost their battle with the Communist Party, probably because of my aunt's trust in the New China. They remained in Sichuan. But after some time, they went back to Guangzhou, where my aunt was from. When my grandmother heard about her whereabouts, she forbid her sons and daughter (my second aunt) to have any contact with her, she basically disowned her because she viewed her oldest daughter as "heartless" and "cold". I suspect that it was because of my aunt's politically view that made my grandmother very upset about her, and in turn, my aunt decided to stay in China instead of going to Hong Kong to be with the family. But my second aunt, out of sisterly love, secretly went to Guangzhou to meet her sister, even hauling her baby along (the one seen in the picture that was on my eldest aunt's lap.) That's when they took this picture, a secret meeting between two sisters, disregarding their mother's will.
I always heard that she died a horrible death from starvation during Great Leap Forward, but it turns out, it was far from that. She lived through the Great Leap Forward, because the picture was taken on 1963, that's after the Great Leap Forward, and three years before the
Culture Revolution officially started.
My uncle (her husband), suffered greatly during the Cultural Revolution because of him being an army guy under the Kuomintang government, and tragically, he suffered tremendous criticisms under the hands of his own wife! The"verbal struggle" (文鬥) often turned into "physical struggle" (武鬥). I cannot imagine how he got through those 10 years of struggles, but he did, he lived to his 80s, he went to live in Hong Kong for a while, and died in China. My aunt was sick in the middle of the Cultural Revolution and died of kidney failure.
Their two young boys (my cousins) in this picture are now in their late 50s to early 60s, made their way to Hong Kong by holding onto a basketball and swam the shark infested South China Sea all the way from China to Hong Kong. They are married and are living in Hong Kong. I remember my father commented when they first arrived in Hong Kong that it would be difficult for them to make a life for themselves because they had very little education. The older one ended up being a truck driver (I believe) and still come to every family gathering we have. The younger one is street smart, he made a lot of money during the real estate boom, he still owns factories and big businesses in Hong Kong and China. However, he didn't bother to link up with the family, we have not seen him for a very long time.
It is intriguing to put the puzzles together.
