7: Blameless Auntie

As told by Albert for the benefit of Soo-ling Chan Quon about her grandmother (May 28, 1989; transcribed by Albert's son Ronald).

My father belonged to a family of five brothers. Your grandfather [Quon Mane] was No. 4; my father [Quon Leon] was No. 5.

In 1888, your grandfather and my father established a company in San Diego, called Quon Mane. My father had a 30% interest, your grandfather had a 40% interest. Each of the other three brothers had a 10% interest. However, only your grandfather and my father participated in the operation of Quon Mane. We concentrated on selling products from the Province of Guangdong, especially from out of Canton. From Canton the company imported porcelains, mostly so-called “export ware”. From Foshan (Fat Saan), they imported Shiwan (Sek Wan) figurines and art porcelains. From Dongguan (Dong Gwoon), they imported straw mats; and from Nanhai (Nam Hoi), they imported mostly silk goods manufactured from in and around that area. In subsequent years, they added on the Japanese lines.

About 1900, your grandfather felt that he should like to bring his wife from China. But he hesitated because his wife was not able bear a child. So as a result, your grandfather decided to acquire a concubine. Therefore, he wrote to his No. 2 Brother. This No. 2 Brother more or less lived out of the efforts of his four brothers and handled all the exports from out of Canton to Quon Mane & Co. Not only did he collect a commission on the exports, but all money matters were handled by him to convert American monies to Hong Kong dollars and then to Chinese monies. Every time a conversion was made, he made a profit. So really, this No. 2 Brother enjoyed a very luxurious life.

When the request came for him to select a concubine for your grandfather, No. 2 Brother contacted many of the rich families in Foshan. Foshan was the center of the aristocracy the homes of the retired officials. So therefore, within that city, the rich families had what they called handmaids. The handmaids, were not working maids, but more or less were the ones that catered to entertaining guests. These handmaids were usually very talented and pretty girls, brought into the family with the idea that some of them could be eventually married as concubines to other rich families. Therefore, your future grandmother came from a very luxurious and exciting family.

A contract was made on the condition that she acquired a slave girl [“mui tsai”] to travel with her to the United States to serve as her own maid, because she could only serve as a wife and cater to the social needs of your grandfather.

They came to the United States around 1900. When your grandmother arrived, she was the prettiest Chinese girl in San Diego. Not only that, she became a delight to American society, because they never saw a woman quite as beautiful, as gay and entertaining as your grandmother. The American society women though she would be much prettier should she dress her hair like an American woman and dress in Parisian clothing to make good use of her beautiful figure. Your grandmother was gay and willing to try new things. But of course it was a very expensive affair to have a woman like that with new hat, new garments, and new make-up to along with the seasons.

The main photo on this page shows Quon Mane's second wife in the Quon Mane store, c. 1901.

Her first-born was a daughter, and that was Kum-Goo [Katherine Quon Lem]. Then the second one came, and that was also a daughter…Ah Gum [Mary]. And then the third one was also a daughter. By that time, your grandfather was not very happy because all he wanted was to have a boy to carry on the family name and hopefully able to carry on the family business. In the meantime, the business was not quite as good as it had been and his expenses continued climbing up.

Quon Mane's first two daughters, Katherine and Mary (Arrival Case File 28217/008-04, Quon Chew Ben, RG85, NARA San Bruno)

When your grandmother came to the United States, Quon Mane was in a building occupying the ground floor. The three other floors were devoted to a hotel. So in order to consolidate operations, they cut a hole from the 2nd floor into the mezzanine area of the store. Her dwelling was in the hotel and she was maintained by cooking and serving in the back end of the store room.

She became too expensive to maintain, so consequently they went back to China.

Quon Mane's 2nd wife, known to us, as was the custom of th time, only by her maiden surname "Gun" 簡 (ibid)

Quon Mane redecorated his home in our village [Long Har Village in Hoiping]. He divided his house into two sections. one section was for your grandmother, and the other section was for his first wife. During his stay in the village, his first wife for the first time conceived, and gave birth to a boy…and that was Ben.

When your grandmother returned to the village [she had never lived there before], she was entirely out of place. Not only was she accustomed to the more cultured aristocratic way of living in Foshan, but having been in the United States, well, my goodness, it was like trying to convert a race horse into a work horse! Immediately, there was conflict within the family.

Your grandfather brought her back and left her in the village to live. Then he returned to the United States. Already she was pregnant again, and after your grandfather returned to the United States, your father was born…and that was King.

All your grandmother was accustomed to was to look beautiful, to sing songs and to enjoy handiwork. But living in the village, you had to participate with other women, to cultivate rice fields, to supervise the servants in cultivation, and all that. She became exceedingly unhappy.

I was, at the time, about 9 years old. When your grandmother returned to China, I used to visit your house a great deal. We lived in another village [Yuk Sow Lei, established about 1906] within walking distance of about 20 minutes. I found it much more delightful to visit with your grandfather’s family because there was the companionship of the three girls and better food.

Albert aged about 5 (2nd from right). By the time of this story, his older brother Frank (2nd from left) had left for the US, along with cousin James (far left).

At that time, I had a boil on my head, and it was exceedingly painful. When a relative came to visit and saw my boil, he said that it was a “hungry” boil. In order to cure it, you had to feed the boil. You cooked a fat piece of pork and put it on top of the boil. Scientifically it was quite correct because when you put pork fat on the boil, it tends to draw the pus out.

Your grandmother thought she could take care of it, because she brought some medicine from the United States and had gauze to bind it up. So my mother sent me over to your grandmother’s place for her new medication and care to effect an immediate cure.

Since I was the only male in the family and she had no son of her own [until King was born in 1911], she lavished her affection upon me and showed me so many things and pictures. And then sometimes in the evenings, your grandmother’s house would be hot because there was no air conditioning in those days. She would fan me all night long to lull me to sleep. I had never had such wonderful treatment in my family. My mother was a very fine mother, but she was not demonstrative in her affection, while your grandmother would wrap me in her arms and kiss me and do everything and wish that I was her little boy. I never had such a wonderful time as with your grandmother. I thought that she was not only the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, but the finest and the grandest woman that I had ever met.

At one time she showed me some different postcards with a beautiful woman in a red dress. I said, “Who is this woman?” And she said, “Don’t you know? That’s your second mother, your father’s concubine.” I did not know that my father had a concubine. So I asked, “May I have this picture?” I returned home and I showed it to my mother: “Mother, this is Father’s concubine.”

Albert's mother close to the time of this story. She would have been busy with his younger brother, born around 1908.

Oh, my mother became hysterical and felt my father had deceived her by acquiring an American woman for his concubine. So she tearfully reported to my grandmother. See, a grandmother in a Chinese family is always the head of the family and domineers over the males. So my grandmother was quite agitated and finally asked your grandmother whether it was true. Your grandmother said, “Oh, no. He’s a little boy, and I was trying to have a little fun with him.” So your grandmother came to my village and told my mother that she had made up the story to amuse me.

Well, your grandmother could not fit into that environment, could not live the life of a village woman.

The lopsided world of Long Har village that was missing its young men (courtesy of San Diego History Center)

Within about 25 minutes walking distance of our village was a little town called “Chikan” (also "Chikhom"). Our family had an interest in an agricultural supply house. The second floor was cut into various compartments. Whenever some of the womenfolk went shopping in Chikan, they stayed overnight in this particular area.

Since there was not much to do, Chikan periodically had a festival twice a year. In that festival, there was a traveling troupe of theatrical and operatic actors. Your grandmother with her servants went to Chikan to attend the theater. She knew all the arias they sang. Many times she hummed some of those tunes at home.

At that time, your grandmother was around 29 to 30 years. When she sat in the theater, she was quite an attraction to everyone. So finally one day, out of the clear sky, she received a huge basket of fruits, sweetmeats and all that. She did not know where it came from, but she ate and enjoyed them. The next day, another basket with just as many assortments of things to eat arrived. So finally, she asked the man who delivered the basket, “Who sent me these?” He said, “Oh, this was sent by a man who knew your husband well. So knowing that you are attending this theater, he sent these especially as a courtesy to your husband and out of respect for him.”

Of course your grandmother was a gay and excitable woman with a great deal of imagination. Yet she could hardly imagine such a benefactor, such a generous person who would send so many good things for her to eat and to enjoy. Well, it wasn’t very long before there came along this man. He was a professional gambler, a young man in his middle thirties. He came to pay his respects to your grandmother. He said, “I knew your husband well. he did so many things for me; and whatever I have done, it would not justify all the good deeds he has done.” Of course, all that was a sham, a lie. He was eyeing your grandmother for not only her beauty, but also for her lovely jewelry.

Chikan is on the junction of two rivers. Usually these traveling troupes hired a boat and lived on that boat. This man said, “I have this boat, and today I am giving a special party. I would like you to come have dinner with me.” Your grandmother, thinking that this man was so kind and a friend of her husband, she readily agreed that after the theater she would come to his boat to have dinner. She dispensed the services of her maid and told her to go back to our agricultural warehouse to stay. She then went with this man to his boat to have dinner.

Well, at the dinner party, she was in her element, gaily repeating many of the songs. Of course, this gambler continued to ply her with liquor until he got her drunk. And there, during the course of events, he seduced her. From then on, she stayed every night with him on the boat. Each time, he got more of her jewelry, more of her gold bracelets and other things.

At the end of the theatrical period, the people began leaving. Your grandmother got to the point that she could not adjust herself to life in the village. She asked her lover to take her away from there. She would be willing to go with him wherever he went. And he agreed.

The traveling troupe moved to another junction in the river called "Sum Chung", approximately thirty miles from Chikan. After he had gotten every piece of jewelry that your grandmother possessed, until there was nothing more to take from her, he finally sold her to a prostitution house.

There had been rumors circulating all over our village and Chikan about this woman who ran away with a gambler. It was quite a story spreading around. Naturally, your grandfather's first wife considered it was good riddance to her, if she was that type.

About a month or so later, at midnight, there was a banging at the door. It was your grandmother asking to be admitted. The first wife said, "No! You are no longer a member of our family." And she would not admit her. She cried and begged, "I just want to come back to pick up a few things of mine and leave, not to bother you anymore."

Upon the pleading, crying and begging, the first wife opened the door and let her in.

She got into her room. She pulled the bolt and locked the door. The first wife banged on the door, asking her to come out. Well, it was nighttime and she decided to let her stay. The next morning, she pounded the door to evict your grandmother. There was no sound. She got some of the village men to come help open the door. Finally they opened the door and found that your grandmother had hanged herself and was already dead. They took down the body and found that she was already four months pregnant.

So that is the end of the story. It was a tragedy…a tragedy.

In the first place, the life she was to live as a concubine to your grandfather was out of place. She did not fit. She was not the type. She was trained from a child onward to be a future concubine to a wealthy family where she was brought up…so she was just like a fish out of water. It was poor judgment on the part of your grandfather’s older brother to select that woman. It was not entirely her fault, but a fault of circumstances.

From my point of view, I probably knew her better than anyone. As a child of only 9 or 10 years old, I was rather precocious, and I felt her love, her kindness, and her gaiety was a tremendous stimulus to me. So when I heard about her death, I broke down and cried. By then, I was already in the United States. No one would tell me about how she died until almost a year later when another man came from China to our company for help in interpreting to buy something. Through him, I finally got the story about your grandmother’s death.

Albert, far left, around the time he learned of his aunt's death. He would not have seen her or his mother since leaving China at about age 9. His father also died suddenly around this time. (On the far right is James, a son of Brother #2, who had selected his brother's wife.)

The memory of your grandmother was registered in my mind. I have never forgotten. I always said that if I was to ever marry, I should like to marry a woman as fine, as kind, as your grandmother.

When you were in Los Angeles, I could not tell you this story. You were too young to hear such things. Then finally when Nathan’s daughter Melinda got married in San Diego [Nathan was Albert’s younger brother], I saw you and your second sister. And your second sister, I saw that she was so beautiful and immediately I saw in her the image of your grandmother. That gives you some idea of how lovely and how sweet she was.

Soo-ling, right, with her No. 2 Sister at left

Therefore, I could not levy [blame?] all the escapades on your grandmother. It was the circumstances that created the situation. Therefore in the situation, she was caught in a net of social behavior. That gambler was not only a scoundrel, a crook, a man that was absolutely heartless. All he wanted was not your grandmother, he wanted her possessions, her jewelry that he could pawn to further his gambling.

Every time I think of your grandmother, it is a revival of my favorable impressions of her. I can only think of her as a beautiful woman, a kind-hearted woman. So I feel that I must tell you about it. If you ever should hear about your grandmother, chastising her character, I want you to know that it was not entirely her fault.

End of Albert's Stories