QCI125
To my daughters Leia and Isla,This book is by no means the complete story, during the making of this project I collected hundreds of old photographs, letters and items. They came from all over the world, surviving wars and numerous migrations across oceans and cultures. Familiar stories were retold to me by different relatives, many new ones came to light for the first time; some fascinating, some touching, some amusing and some shocking. Moving to England at the age of 13, I spent my teenage years wishing I was like everyone else, dyeing my hair, wearing coloured contact lenses, naviely thinking that will help me fit in. Spending many years in my 20s traveling and working around the world, the question of culture rarely came up. It wasn’t until you were born that I confronted it again. I came to the project rather unsure of my own cultural heritage but left proud to be Chinese. I hope you will grow up proud to be who you are and embrace both your heritages. I hope one day we will have time to sit down and I can retell some of the stories to you in more details and the many other tales that didn’t make it into the book. Through researching the project, I was surprised by how little information /records there were on my grandmothers, once they were married into a family, it was clear that they were no longer part of their previous family. The Wong family tree can be traced back 27 generations but only along the male lines. I don't feature on. I can only tell you my side of the story, you should find out more about your Scottish side of the family when you get the chance.Let me sign out with the tale of the looted stained glass screens. The image was taken in one of the best restaurants in Guangzhou. Several relatives have told me that the stained glass screen came from the Wong’s Mansion; they were looted by the communist army and many years later, surfaced in the restaurant. Since there is no trace of the Wong’s Mansion left, I was so excited when I got permission to shoot the screens. However, it took all but 10 seconds for me to realise that all the screens were new and impossible to have come from the Wong’s Mansion. I showed the pictures to your grandmother; she is still convinced that they have come from her old house.I am sure I will be making many of the details up when it’s my turn to tell you; we can start with how I met your mother.