Table Of ContentPraise for Journey Across the FourSeas
"I love this book. It is the true story of one unusual woman who faces all of
life’s adversities and overcomes them through sheer determination, grit and a bit
of luck. While it is the story of one woman, it is also a story that millions of
people will identify with. It has the makings of a bestseller."
—Frank Ching, senior columnist, The South China Morning Post
"Lovingly interpreted by a devoted daughter, Flora Li’s story is a unique
piece of oral history, a family saga of fluctuating fortunes told against the
backdrop of British-held Hong Kong and wartime China. It also takes us to
Bangkok and Taipei, destinations of recent Chinese diasporas. Fast-paced and
absorbing, Flora’s journey through turbulent times is at one level an intensely
personal tale of loss, disappointment, and a fraught marriage that ends with a
new beginning in 1960s California. At another, her story mirrors the experience
of an entire generation of migrating Chinese like Flora—resourceful, resilient,
and engaged in a determined ‘search for home,’ a sure place where the family
might survive and thrive."
—Paula Harrell, Visiting Professor, University of Maryland; author of
Sowing the Seeds of Change: Chinese Students, Japanese Teachers, 1895-1905
"A gutsy Chinese woman remembers with unsparing wit and candor growing
up poor in British-ruled Hong Kong, surviving the perils and privations of
Japanese-occupied China and the joys and pains of raising a family with a
Kuomintang official’s privileged son she married. This is history as biography
that can bring nostalgia attacks to old Asia hands. It’s also an odyssey through
life in the Chinese diaspora peopled with funny and outrageous real-life
personalities Amy Tan couldn’t have imagined."
—Eduardo Lachica, independent analyst of Southeast Asian security and
military affairs; former reporter of The Wall Street Journal and Washington
bureau chief of The Asian Wall Street Journal
"This book is an amazing read. When I finished it, I felt as if I understood
Hong Kong, China, the heroine Flora, and myself better. It’s the Asian Grapes of
Wrath."
—Adair Lara, award-winning columnist, The San Francisco Chronicle;
author of five books including Hold Me Close, Let Me Go, and Hanging Out the
Wash
"Aside from being well done and written this book should also be very
helpful in dispelling notions that some Americans might have about the role of
women in China and Hong Kong in the early and mid-twentieth century. This is
an incredible story about a remarkable Chinese woman; once started it is
virtually impossible to put down for long. To me the principal message was the
importance of initiative and hard work regardless of the adversity. Networking
was important (extensive Swatow relations, Hong KongUniversity alumni,
connection with the Nationalist Finance Minister, and so on) but only up to a
point. Then initiative and hard work was required to carry her through."
—Morris Morkre, Economist, the Federal Trade Commission; former
Senior Lecturer in Economics, Hong KongUniversity
"This book contributes to broadening the record of women’s experiences,
much of which is being lost because individually we keep inadequate notes, and
as a group we often do not collect and share our records. Many younger women
are uninformed about how their improved status came about…. For many who
grew up in the West there is a lot to learn from this book. It is a story about
hardships, survival strategies, networks, and above all, family."
—Gloria Scott, advisor on Women in Development, World Bank, 1977-86.
"This story of one extraordinary woman, caught up in the wars and conflicts
of East Asia, is part family, part adventure story. As daughter of the Chinese
diaspora, as refugee, as heiress to rising and falling family fortunes, Flora
cultivates in herself the strength and wisdom to constantly reconstruct life for her
family. Her life exemplifies the pioneering spirit of millions of refugees and
émigrés strewn across the four seas in the past and present century. You won’t
be able to put the Journey by Li down, and its lessons will stay with you."
—Vilma Seeberg, China scholar; Associate Professor, KentStateUniversity
"This compelling story is vivid testimony to the recent turbulent Chinese
history and the prevalence of traditional values seen through the eyes of a
remarkable Chinese woman, Flora, and written by her daughter, Veronica Li. It
provides a rare window into the inner world of a woman of that era."
—Marie Luise Wagner, Visiting Assistant Professor, Edmund A. Walsh
School of Foreign Service, GeorgetownUniversity
"This story brings out a centerpiece of Chinese culture—education of the
young. To attain that end, a Chinese woman would sacrifice anything and
overcome any adversity. Like the mother of Mencius, she is willing to uproot
herself in search of the best education for her children."
—Mi Chu Wiens, Had of Scholarly Services, Asian Division, Library of
Congress
"Veronica Li has captured vividly the image of a woman who has lived
through the turmoil of war and political upheavals in Hong Kong and China
from the 1920s to the 1960s. In a particularly authentic way, she has given us
many snapshots of life in those decades, in the language of a chronicler rich in
colorful expressions coined from the Chinese social fabric—"chasing the
dragon," "bitter squash," and "tear bag." Her mother’s epic is at once unique yet
universal…. It is amazing how many Chinese women of that era share her
experiences. These stories, embodying her life-long memories across the four
seas, will, as Veronica says in her Epilogue, take on a life of their own."
—Diana Yue, Honorary Associate Professor, Hong KongUniversity;
translator of literature
Journey across the FourSeas
A Chinese Woman’s Search for Home
Veronica Li
HOMA & SEKEY BOOKS
Paramus, New Jersey
FIRST AMERICAN EDITION
Copyright © 2007 by Veronica Li All rights reserved. No part of this book
may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or
by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,
without prior permission from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Li, Veronica, 1951-
Journey across the four seas : a Chinese woman’s search for home / Veronica Li.
— 1st American ed.
p. cm.
ISBN-13: 978-1-931907-43-9 (pbk.) ISBN-10: 1-931907-43-9 (pbk.) 1. Li,
Flora. 2. Chinese Americans—Biography. 3. Immigrants—United States—
Biography. 4. China—Biography. I. Title. E184.C5L57 2006
304.8’73051092—dc22
[B]
2006020414
Homa & Sekey Books 3rd Floor, NorthTower
Mack-CaliCenter III 140 E. Ridgewood Ave.
Paramus, NJ 07652
Tel: 800-870-HOMA, 201-261-8810
Fax: 201-261-8890, 201-384-6055
Email: [email protected] Website: www.homabooks.com
Edited by Larry Matthews
Printed in U.S.A.
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
For my mother, who has dedicated her life to the family,
For my father, who has lived his life to the best of his ability, and
For Sverrir, who has made it possible for me to write and take care of my
parents.
Contents
Author’s Note and Acknowledgements
