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  • Meet the Quons
    • The Lovely Family
    • A USC Couple
    • Civic-Minded
    • The Summer of 1954 >
      • The Scene
      • 1: Al: "Have I been busy"
      • 2: Jigi: "Orchid leis"
      • 3: Lil: "Go crazy, kid"
      • 4: Wally: "Don't change"
      • 5: Ron: "Damn nice of you"
      • 6: Mom: "A grand success"
      • 7: Mom: "My fashion plate"
      • 8: Lil: "Who'd've understood?"
      • 9: Jigi: "The sexy bastard"
      • 10: Mom: "That gleam & glow"
      • 11: Mom: So proud of you
      • 12: Al: "Fast Casanova"
      • 13: Lil: "Free Coaching"
      • 14: Mom: "Simply heartbroken"
      • 15: Al: "Most scandalous"
      • 16: Lil: "Men!!"
      • 17: Jigi: "Gush it up"
      • 18: Mom: "Keep it to yourselves"
      • 19: Lil: "Bitter today"
      • 20: Lil: "Your future brother-in-law"
      • 21: Lil: "To the convent"
      • The Anniversary Party
  • About Albert
    • Businessman's Biography
    • Sei Yup Native
    • Village of Talent
    • His Family & Tree
  • Albert's Stories
    • About the Stories
    • 1: Youngest Son's Son
    • 2: Unwelcome Nephew
    • 3: Promising Student
    • 4: Marrying Material
    • 5: Ineligible Bachelor
    • 6: Reliable Associate
    • 7: Blameless Auntie
  • Quon Mane & Stores
    • Unexpected Patriarch
    • 1st-Hand Accounts
    • 90 Years in Business
    • Quon Mane Offshoots
    • Exclusion-Era Paper Chase
    • Brothers Between Lands
    • Other Quon Profiles
  • About Lily
    • A Life in 600 Words
    • Fuller Portrait
    • Ginling College
    • Nanjing Dentist
    • Ho Family Photos
  • Photo Albums
    • Albert & Lily Photos
    • Quon Clan Photos
  • About | Dede | Contact
QUONQUON.COM
Image: An unusually self-promotional ad from 1925, perhaps drawing on the marketing ideas of Quon Mane's nephew Albert (The San Diego Union)

Unexpected Patriarch
Also in this section: 1st-Hand Accounts | 90 Years in Business | Quon Mane Offshoots | Exclusion-Era Paper Chase | Brothers Between Lands | Other Quon Profiles
Quon Mane was the fourth of five brothers, who against the odds, became the patriarch of the Quon family in San Diego as its various members sought footholds in Exclusion-era America.

The details of his life and career, and those of his four brothers, were mostly forgotten over the years. But a research effort started during Covid and combining scraps of family anecdote with immigration records and newspaper archives has yielded a vivid if still incomplete picture of Quon Mane as the go-to fixer for an extended network of Quons.

This new Quon Mane is a greater man than the uncle presented in Albert's stories, although not incompatible with him. Albert felt hemmed in by his uncle and remembered only lack of imagination. But that hardly gives Quon Mane his due. From unpromising beginnings peeling vegetables and pulling up sage brush, Quon Mane caught the eye of influential people and built a respected business that was the livelihood and starting point for many Quons including Albert.

Indeed we'd like to think that if pressed today, Albert might admit that he learned a thing or two from Uncle Quon Mane
, who as a younger man was always photographed gazing toward a space in the distance that he was carving out for himself.

We'd like to think that Albert might 
acknowledge that being self-made didn't mean reaching a particular codified goal as defined by someone else, but simply having propelled oneself much farther beyond one's beginnings than anyone else could possibly have imagined. 

​Respect.

Also in this section: 1st-Hand Accounts | 90 Years in Business | Quon Mane Offshoots | Exclusion-Era Paper Chase | Brothers Between Lands | Other Quon Profiles​​
Meet the Quons
About Albert
​Albert’s Stories

Quon Mane & Stores
About Lily
Photo Albums
​
About | Dede | Contact
  • Home | Blog
  • Meet the Quons
    • The Lovely Family
    • A USC Couple
    • Civic-Minded
    • The Summer of 1954 >
      • The Scene
      • 1: Al: "Have I been busy"
      • 2: Jigi: "Orchid leis"
      • 3: Lil: "Go crazy, kid"
      • 4: Wally: "Don't change"
      • 5: Ron: "Damn nice of you"
      • 6: Mom: "A grand success"
      • 7: Mom: "My fashion plate"
      • 8: Lil: "Who'd've understood?"
      • 9: Jigi: "The sexy bastard"
      • 10: Mom: "That gleam & glow"
      • 11: Mom: So proud of you
      • 12: Al: "Fast Casanova"
      • 13: Lil: "Free Coaching"
      • 14: Mom: "Simply heartbroken"
      • 15: Al: "Most scandalous"
      • 16: Lil: "Men!!"
      • 17: Jigi: "Gush it up"
      • 18: Mom: "Keep it to yourselves"
      • 19: Lil: "Bitter today"
      • 20: Lil: "Your future brother-in-law"
      • 21: Lil: "To the convent"
      • The Anniversary Party
  • About Albert
    • Businessman's Biography
    • Sei Yup Native
    • Village of Talent
    • His Family & Tree
  • Albert's Stories
    • About the Stories
    • 1: Youngest Son's Son
    • 2: Unwelcome Nephew
    • 3: Promising Student
    • 4: Marrying Material
    • 5: Ineligible Bachelor
    • 6: Reliable Associate
    • 7: Blameless Auntie
  • Quon Mane & Stores
    • Unexpected Patriarch
    • 1st-Hand Accounts
    • 90 Years in Business
    • Quon Mane Offshoots
    • Exclusion-Era Paper Chase
    • Brothers Between Lands
    • Other Quon Profiles
  • About Lily
    • A Life in 600 Words
    • Fuller Portrait
    • Ginling College
    • Nanjing Dentist
    • Ho Family Photos
  • Photo Albums
    • Albert & Lily Photos
    • Quon Clan Photos
  • About | Dede | Contact