Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Vid-Weddings in China 1937

In 1937 San Tong , accompanied by his mother Leong Shee , returns to China to marry Yee Lai Ping . Yee Lai Ping's older sister is married to her first husband just before San Tong and Yee Lai Ping are married. Yee Lai Ping's sister later marries San Tong's cousin Loon and emigrates to America circa 1950 . Fay Loon , Yee Lai Ping's sister is the mother of my cousins Jimmy and Ming.
The first segment of this video features Fay Loon's wedding to her 1st husband and pictures of other relatives in China . The second segment is on the boat carrying San Tong and his new bride Yee Lai Ping back to San Francisco.
Here are some notes on this video by Auntie Soo- Yin ( Thanks so much Auntie Soo-Yin !)
" Ah-Yee's( Fay Loon's ) wedding: Parade, dowry, and being carried piggyback to her 1st husband's house. Also, the close-up portrait of a 17-year old girl is that of Mansui, the one who later swam Sum Gong Village's canal all the way to Macau when the communists overran the Village.
The little boy later in this video is Cousin Mo at 4-years old in Sum Gong Village. He was the boy that Baba was suppose to bring back to the States, but could not. His mother, wife of Ah Fook (Baba's 1st cousin who was son of Ah Yao, Jue Joe's youngest brother) is carrying him. Auntie Pingy and I met them in 1987 when Mo was an adult, and his mother was in her early 80s (showing on her face the hard life she had lived as a villager). A short, thin young man walking toward the camera was the official witness to my parents' wedding. The 2 young ladies walking together at the end of the segment is my Mom and Ah Yee (mother of Jimmy and Ming).
On the ship about to depart for Hong Kong with my parents aboard, and family to send them off: The young woman wearing glasses and a short, white jacket was my mother's teacher and matchmaker. The teacher and my maternal grandmother had arranged for my mother to bring Ah Yee's wedding cakes to the home of the teacher, where Leong Shee and San T. Jue were waiting. ... Auntie Soo-yin "



ps
I have also embedded this video and commentary in this previous post with more information.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Vid-Earliest Jue Family Movies

Time to get this blog going again !. Recently Auntie Soo-Jan and Uncle Mel shared a remarkable DVD with all the family . Let me have Auntie Soo-Jan tell you about it ....

"In 1987, we went to Guy's house for an Easter dinner. We were treated to a wonderful treasure of assembled footages of BaBa's old home movie clips put together by Guy and Jack (Sr.) into a video. The audio background of the video captured all of our laughter, explanations, exclamations and excitement that we experienced watching these old family doings at that party. Later, each of us siblings received a copy of this Jue Family History video. Recently, I became concerned that over time, the video may deteriorate to the point where these old images will be lost so I had the video converted into a DVD at Costco "

Over the next few weeks I will convert some of the clips from the DVD to You Tube videos and share them on the blog .

The first installment of the You Tube Videos is titled "Earliest Jue Family Movies". As many know my Dad, Jack Sr. , has been a keen movie maker and videographer all his life. What many may not know is that my grandfather , San Tong Jue , started all this movie making by making home movies of his family when he was in his 20's . This collection of early home movies features San Tong Jue , his wife Rose , their children , Jack Sr. , and Joan , and San Tong's sisters Dorothy and Corrine . Also on the movie are Jack and Joan's first cousins ,Maxine, Lorraine , and June , who are children of San You Jue (San Tong's brother) and Maxine May Kam.
There is a scripted train robbery movie that also includes Rose's brother Willie. This movie is remarkable when you realize that the young stars of the movie , Jack and Joan , recently celebrated their 82nd and 80th birthdays . The movies were shot circa the 1930's . These are movies from what I have called the " Halcyon Days" of the Jue clan , a time of joy and happiness and prosperity . Jue Joe's hard work in establishing the clan in America had paid off , and the family was doing well despite the Depression . I have also embedded this video in my previous post "Halcyon Days" which has nice still pictures from this period as well. At the end of this video is a preview of the next installment which is the trip that San Tong made to the village in China to marry his 2nd wife Yee Lai Ping some years after the tragic death of his first wife Rose.