Stories of our (grand)parents

Get to hear lots of stories of my grandparents, mom and herself from my aunt in my Vancouver trip. Their generation really went through a lot. I cant imagine going through half as many ups/downs - or, maybe I am doing just the same, and not realising it while at it (as would be the case)?

First time I got the story straight. So my grandfather was a trader in dried fish (loosely translated). He has fishing boats, and an army of people working for him (pre Cultural Revolution, post Liberation in 1949). Then in 50s, he's arrested for being a capitalist, but framed by an enemy of sort and sent to a unnecessarily heavy sentence to a prison in Helongjiang. Left to die there himself. There was once an opportunity to bring him back as his sentence was finished, but the local government officials wont do the favorite to transport him back from Helongjiang to Dongguan.

So he was basically taken away, and my grandmother didnt even know when he will return, if he will return, and indeed, if he actually died (or more correctly, when he actually died). My grandmother was left to raise her two daughters, the younger one being 2 years old when this happened.

Then there's the migration to Guangzhou that followed, with the trading business gone, by my grandmother and my mom (then 8 years old)/aunt (4 years old). Life wasnt good in Guangzhou, and my mother went to HK to stay with relatives and started working for a living at the age of 9, making money for herself and her family in China. Grandma and aunt stayed in Dongguan for another 15 years before they reunited in HK.

Then there's the struggle in HK (no more than others, but certainly same as every blue collar workers in HK during the 60s/70s). Growing their own families, bringing up their children etc. Then there's the migration to Canada in 1993. And the return of the family to HK, bit by bit, over an extended period in early/mid 2000s.

So that's at least 4-5 cities, over 4 decades, lots of unthinkable hardship, ups/downs, deaths, uncertainties, and thankfully, peace/reward now.

And thats the journey of a whole generation of people in HK...