Pictures- San Tong in Mexico

Recently, Auntie Soo Yin has provided some wonderful photos and commentary concerning my grandfather San Tong Jue's time in Mexico. I have included some of these photos in a previous post to illustrate her comments on the hacienda and ranch in Tulancingo which San Tong managed for Sr. Castro . Here are some other photos and Auntie Soo-Yin's comments. Some further details of San Tong's time in Mexico as a "food scientist" can be found here.

"According to Auntie Pingileen, this photo of Ah Gung was taken at his friend's goat farm in, or near, Mexico City. Auntie Pingileen said she had met the owner of this goat farm and had been there with Ah Gung when she'd visited him in Mexico. This is the photo that my siblings and I love most. It is how we like to remember our father. "
(click on photos to enlarge)


"Here is a picture some of Ah Gung's many products that he produced at his factories in Tulancingo, Actopan, Mexico City, and La Paz, Baja California: Sharksfin, Pulque, Damiana Tea, Damiana Champagne, Passion Fruit Champagne, Soy Sauce, and Five-Spiced Peanuts. "



"The last photo of his mushrooms is very interesting. This is what he wrote on the back of that photo: "Dated 4/05/1974: "This is my miniature mushroom farm. It is growing in my bathroom. I have 6 of these boxes growing them--just to work out my technique in a small scale to prepare for commercial production at a later date." He told me that he had found caves in which to grow mushrooms on a larger scale when he was ready to start production. Caves, he said, were ideal because of their cool and constant temperature. ps. The man in the mushroom photo is Frederico Lee. He was Ah Gung's business partner in the "Sun Hing Corporation" located in Mexico City and in La Paz. Frederico Lee owned a cafe in La Paz, Baja California, and he liked Ah Gung's soy sauce and five-spiced peanuts that Ah Gung had sold to him. Together the two men started the Sun Hing Corporation and opened a factory in Mexico City for production in a larger way. The Sun Hing Corporation was Ah Gung's first business development. Later, he started the Western Advance Corporation, and was operating both businesses at the same time. "