1

01:00:00,000 --> 01:00:01,000

 

2

01:00:21,440 --> 01:00:26,840

We bring many strange things on our journey

 

3

01:00:26,840 --> 01:00:28,760

We bring the day  

 

4

01:00:28,760 --> 01:00:31,440

towards the night

 

5

01:00:31,440 --> 01:00:35,440

We bring the East towards the West

 

6

01:00:35,440 --> 01:00:37,440

We bring ourselves

 

7

01:00:37,440 --> 01:00:43,480

towards the Other

 

8

01:00:43,480 --> 01:00:45,280

- P.K. Leung

 

9

01:00:57,960 --> 01:01:00,639

I was born a 'Stephen'  in the same year

 

10

01:01:00,639 --> 01:01:03,280

that Queen Elizabeth II was crowned.

 

11

01:01:25,079 --> 01:01:28,239

On my birth certificate, my father's name

 

12

01:01:28,239 --> 01:01:31,119

was registered as Henry Stephen.

 

13

01:01:40,440 --> 01:01:43,000

Photography by H. Stephen

 

14

01:01:44,480 --> 01:01:48,119

Color by Cinecolor

 

15

01:01:51,679 --> 01:01:56,199

My mother, who was known as Mrs. Hilda Stephen,

 

16

01:01:56,199 --> 01:01:59,440

was put on record with her Chinese maiden name.

 

17

01:02:05,519 --> 01:02:10,679

The Railway Bell Tower looks so British!

 

18

01:02:26,320 --> 01:02:28,559

We were, by all appearances,

 

19

01:02:28,840 --> 01:02:30,599

a typical Chinese family.

 

20

01:02:32,800 --> 01:02:36,039

All appearances, yes, but not our name.

 

21

01:02:36,559 --> 01:02:41,960

27th July 2001, interview with Mary Stephen.

 

22

01:02:41,960 --> 01:02:47,320

Everyone asks about the name Mary Stephen.

 

23

01:02:47,320 --> 01:02:50,199

Where does it come from?

 

24

01:02:51,679 --> 01:02:55,199

This is why I came back to Hong Kong.

 

25

01:02:55,199 --> 01:02:59,400

It's a strange thing about our family.

 

26

01:02:59,400 --> 01:03:02,760

I don't know our family history at all.

 

27

01:03:03,320 --> 01:03:12,440

I'd like to ask older relatives here

 

28

01:03:12,440 --> 01:03:14,199

what the truth is.

 

29

01:03:42,760 --> 01:03:44,440

Looking for the truth?

 

30

01:03:45,360 --> 01:03:46,920

Looking for the truth?

 

31

01:03:47,079 --> 01:03:50,360

All my life I've been asked about my family name.

 

32

01:03:51,159 --> 01:03:53,119

"But where's the truth?"

 

33

01:03:54,000 --> 01:03:56,320

This is the most recurrent theme in the films

 

34

01:03:56,320 --> 01:03:58,920

of French New Wave master Eric Rohmer.

 

35

01:03:59,159 --> 01:04:00,880

with whom I've worked for decades

 

36

01:04:00,880 --> 01:04:02,119

as film editor.

 

37

01:04:03,920 --> 01:04:08,079

In a stroke of serendipity or simple coincidence,

 

38

01:04:08,679 --> 01:04:11,559

Eric Rohmer's name is also a palimpsest.

 

39

01:04:13,519 --> 01:04:15,000

He used to say,

 

40

01:04:15,000 --> 01:04:18,079

"I like mystery and ambiguities."

 

41

01:04:19,280 --> 01:04:20,599

He would have gotten a chuckle  

 

42

01:04:20,599 --> 01:04:22,639

out of the story I'm about to tell.

 

43

01:04:31,000 --> 01:04:32,480

It was in 1996 or 1997...

 

44

01:04:32,480 --> 01:04:35,719

One day, at the Hong Kong Arts Centre,

 

45

01:04:35,719 --> 01:04:38,480

they were showing Eric Rohmer films.

 

46

01:04:39,400 --> 01:04:42,599

I went up to the office and asked them,

 

47

01:04:42,599 --> 01:04:45,880

"The editor Mary Stephen on this poster...

 

48

01:04:45,880 --> 01:04:47,400

it's me!"

 

49

01:04:48,760 --> 01:04:49,559

Until then,

 

50

01:04:49,559 --> 01:04:52,960

no one knew that Mary Stephen was Chinese.

 

51

01:04:54,760 --> 01:04:56,559

People in Asia assume that

 

52

01:04:56,559 --> 01:04:58,320

Mary Stephen is a Westerner.

 

53

01:04:58,360 --> 01:05:00,039

As you are well aware,

 

54

01:05:00,039 --> 01:05:02,599

in Hong Kong and China,

 

55

01:05:02,599 --> 01:05:04,639

a foreign surname

 

56

01:05:04,639 --> 01:05:07,079

carries a different connotation.

 

57

01:05:19,440 --> 01:05:21,800

What impact and influence

 

58

01:05:21,800 --> 01:05:25,199

does a surname have on someone's life?

 

59

01:05:25,800 --> 01:05:27,000

I often wonder,

 

60

01:05:27,000 --> 01:05:29,599

when I started working with Eric Rohmer,  

 

61

01:05:29,599 --> 01:05:31,360

if my name was Mary Chan,

 

62

01:05:31,360 --> 01:05:33,760

would I have been convincing?

 

63

01:05:33,760 --> 01:05:36,719

I think there'd have been more discrimination.

 

64

01:05:36,719 --> 01:05:38,440

Yes.

 

65

01:05:38,440 --> 01:05:42,960

Your life might have been impacted differently.

 

66

01:05:42,960 --> 01:05:44,679

Yes, for sure.

 

67

01:05:51,599 --> 01:05:54,559

Both in the predominantly white culture

 

68

01:05:54,559 --> 01:05:57,719

where I have lived for all of my adult life,

 

69

01:05:57,719 --> 01:06:00,119

and in Asia where, in the last two decades,

 

70

01:06:00,559 --> 01:06:03,280

I have returned to a place of youth,

 

71

01:06:03,280 --> 01:06:05,840

not just my youth but the young creators

 

72

01:06:05,840 --> 01:06:09,559

with whom I do most of my work these days.

 

73

01:06:09,559 --> 01:06:12,960

I'm often not what people expected to see.

 

74

01:06:14,360 --> 01:06:17,079

Sometimes not white enough,

 

75

01:06:17,079 --> 01:06:19,239

sometimes not Asian enough.

 

76

01:06:19,559 --> 01:06:24,079

Or maybe too 'Chan' for some, and too 'Stephen' for others.

 

77

01:06:33,719 --> 01:06:36,559

"If you completely forget your name,

 

78

01:06:36,559 --> 01:06:38,400

you will never find your way home,"

 

79

01:06:39,480 --> 01:06:42,280

so said the beautiful dragon boy Haku

 

80

01:06:42,760 --> 01:06:45,639

in 'Spirited Away' by Miyazaki.

 

81

01:07:02,159 --> 01:07:05,920

Here, on the south side of Hong Kong island,

 

82

01:07:05,920 --> 01:07:08,519

my parents bought an apartment on the 8th floor

 

83

01:07:08,519 --> 01:07:12,400

of this high-class residence on Repulse Bay Road,

 

84

01:07:12,400 --> 01:07:16,039

facing the sea, while it was still in construction.

 

85

01:07:20,880 --> 01:07:23,519

They asked a Feng Shui master

 

86

01:07:23,519 --> 01:07:26,960

to check the karma of the new home.

 

87

01:07:26,960 --> 01:07:31,760

Courteously, the master praised the prestigious location.

 

88

01:07:32,159 --> 01:07:35,199

He commented on the breathtaking view.

 

89

01:07:35,400 --> 01:07:36,280

But he said,

 

90

01:07:37,639 --> 01:07:39,800

"You may have to come to terms with the idea

 

91

01:07:39,800 --> 01:07:42,639

that you may spend your elderly years

 

92

01:07:42,639 --> 01:07:44,760

far from the land of your birth,

 

93

01:07:44,760 --> 01:07:47,719

and your last resting place may not be

 

94

01:07:47,719 --> 01:07:49,719

where your ancestors are."

 

95

01:07:59,039 --> 01:08:02,039

It turns out that the master was right.

 

96

01:08:02,519 --> 01:08:04,159

Here's where they rest.

 

97

01:08:04,679 --> 01:08:07,440

Not in the glimmer of a warm sea

 

98

01:08:07,880 --> 01:08:12,800

but with the crisp, glittering snow in the land of winter,

 

99

01:08:17,199 --> 01:08:21,600

"My eldest brother became Canadian in his later years.

 

100

01:08:21,600 --> 01:08:28,960

All alone, he passed away in Quebec in 1986.

 

101

01:08:30,000 --> 01:08:31,920

His bones buried in foreign soil,

 

102

01:08:31,920 --> 01:08:34,520

he would never return to his ancestors.

 

103

01:08:34,520 --> 01:08:38,399

He was 79."

 

104

01:08:43,199 --> 01:08:46,399

Which is the version that my father would have preferred?

 

105

01:08:47,800 --> 01:08:51,880

The lonely departure described by his own brother in China?

 

106

01:08:53,039 --> 01:08:55,880

Or resting in peace in the company of kins,

 

107

01:08:56,439 --> 01:09:01,000

those with names like theirs, or so it seems.

 

108

01:09:10,279 --> 01:09:13,960

What happened to Henry and Hilda Stephen, my parents,

 

109

01:09:14,800 --> 01:09:16,479

between Hong Kong and Montreal ?

 

110

01:09:18,119 --> 01:09:23,720

Between being part of a family, a name, a clan, a land,

 

111

01:09:24,640 --> 01:09:27,399

not to mention a culture, a race,

 

112

01:09:28,720 --> 01:09:31,600

to resting in anonymous peace

 

113

01:09:31,600 --> 01:09:34,520

without any connection with the name on the grave?

 

114

01:09:41,479 --> 01:09:44,560

And I started to look for what's behind our name.

 

115

01:09:45,520 --> 01:09:47,880

Clues that might have been in the reels and reels

 

116

01:09:47,880 --> 01:09:51,000

of home movies left by my father

 

117

01:09:51,000 --> 01:09:53,720

that had always been part of our childhood.

 

118

01:09:55,239 --> 01:09:59,079

But also, for decades, I used anything

 

119

01:09:59,079 --> 01:10:01,239

easily available at hand,

 

120

01:10:01,439 --> 01:10:04,800

whether it's a low-def handycam, a phone or a

 

121

01:10:04,800 --> 01:10:08,479

stills camera, to take photographs and videos,

 

122

01:10:08,800 --> 01:10:12,159

or record conversations in every place

 

123

01:10:12,159 --> 01:10:14,359

  I worked in or visited,

 

124

01:10:14,359 --> 01:10:16,920

hoping that somewhere in those

 

125

01:10:16,920 --> 01:10:19,479

would be traces of our name.

 

126

01:10:25,600 --> 01:10:27,680

The uprooting from the summer place  

 

127

01:10:27,680 --> 01:10:29,680

to the land of winter was sudden.

 

128

01:10:30,760 --> 01:10:33,960

We were not prepared to live a foreign life so soon,

 

129

01:10:34,640 --> 01:10:38,640

Mother was visiting my brother and sister in Montreal

 

130

01:10:38,640 --> 01:10:40,560

when riots erupted back home.

 

131

01:10:44,039 --> 01:10:45,800

Concerting together,

 

132

01:10:45,800 --> 01:10:48,920

they agreed that she should stay put where she was

 

133

01:10:48,920 --> 01:10:53,399

and apply for a family reunification visa and immigration.

 

134

01:10:57,199 --> 01:10:59,000

It would be 15 years

 

135

01:10:59,000 --> 01:11:02,239

before I would set foot in my birthplace again.

 

136

01:11:05,840 --> 01:11:08,399

We settled with a minimum of preparation

 

137

01:11:08,399 --> 01:11:13,159

at our first western home as a Stephen family.

 

138

01:11:15,640 --> 01:11:18,760

One of the first things my mother cautioned us about

 

139

01:11:18,760 --> 01:11:21,239

was to keep our garbage clean,

 

140

01:11:22,359 --> 01:11:24,560

since, she said, already the Canadians

 

141

01:11:24,560 --> 01:11:27,640

think of the Chinese as dirty people.

 

142

01:11:35,479 --> 01:11:38,680

I imagine how Henry and Hilda Stephen

 

143

01:11:38,680 --> 01:11:41,000

thought and hoped that they could fit in here.

 

144

01:11:43,880 --> 01:11:46,239

My mother had chosen this neighborhood

 

145

01:11:46,239 --> 01:11:50,479

thinking it would provide safety and respectability.

 

146

01:11:51,720 --> 01:11:54,680

She was certain that my little sister and I,

 

147

01:11:54,680 --> 01:11:56,119

the Stephen Girls,

 

148

01:11:56,119 --> 01:11:58,319

would be educated like the best of them,

 

149

01:11:58,319 --> 01:12:02,079

in the English private girls' school next door.

 

150

01:12:03,479 --> 01:12:05,960

My parents were at a loss

 

151

01:12:05,960 --> 01:12:08,439

when I refused to go to school for days.

 

152

01:12:08,439 --> 01:12:11,239

They couldn't imagine what could be wrong

 

153

01:12:11,239 --> 01:12:14,600

since everyone was so exceedingly kind to us,

 

154

01:12:15,079 --> 01:12:17,880

so excruciatingly kind.  

 

155

01:12:18,600 --> 01:12:20,800

Suddenly, I felt like I no longer

 

156

01:12:20,800 --> 01:12:23,119

had any solid ground to stand on.

 

157

01:12:23,119 --> 01:12:25,720

The disconnect between name and identity

 

158

01:12:25,720 --> 01:12:27,680

would be there for good.

 

159

01:12:31,159 --> 01:12:34,760

What Henry and Hilda Stephen didn't see

 

160

01:12:34,760 --> 01:12:37,600

was that their Stephen Girls were not perceived

 

161

01:12:37,600 --> 01:12:41,479

as really Stephen Girls by their classmates.

 

162

01:12:41,479 --> 01:12:45,840

We were still just Chinese immigrants, freshly off the boat,

 

163

01:12:45,840 --> 01:12:48,800

no matter how much money the boat might have cost.

 

164

01:12:52,439 --> 01:12:56,039

At 15, and trying so hard to be as cool

 

165

01:12:56,039 --> 01:12:58,840

and confident as my new classmates,

 

166

01:12:58,840 --> 01:13:00,680

I did not yet know of the existence

 

167

01:13:00,680 --> 01:13:03,279

of the real Stephen sisters,

 

168

01:13:03,279 --> 01:13:06,720

living in some intellectual and artistic paradise,

 

169

01:13:06,720 --> 01:13:08,439

called Bloomsbury.

 

170

01:13:09,800 --> 01:13:14,119

Vanessa and Virginia Stephen had not yet become

 

171

01:13:14,119 --> 01:13:18,960

Vanessa Bell, painter, and Virginia Woolf, writer.

 

172

01:13:21,079 --> 01:13:23,399

Most of my new classmates,

 

173

01:13:23,399 --> 01:13:26,079

with fair hair and pale skin,

 

174

01:13:26,079 --> 01:13:30,760

bore an uncanny resemblance to the real Stephen sisters.

 

175

01:13:30,760 --> 01:13:33,560

There was no way we could have won the competition

 

176

01:13:33,560 --> 01:13:36,239

of who's the most Stephen among us.

 

177

01:13:58,600 --> 01:14:03,239

In my sister's basement in a winterly suburbs of Toronto,

 

178

01:14:03,479 --> 01:14:07,000

I find mysterious black and red journals

 

179

01:14:07,000 --> 01:14:09,600

stored there since our father passed away,

 

180

01:14:09,600 --> 01:14:11,439

a decade after our mother.

 

181

01:14:11,680 --> 01:14:16,680

50 black volumes entitled 'Henry Stephen Biography'

 

182

01:14:16,680 --> 01:14:19,640

and twice as many red ones in notebooks

 

183

01:14:19,640 --> 01:14:22,760

for the building-materials company called FRIENDS

 

184

01:14:22,760 --> 01:14:24,760

founded by my parents.

 

185

01:14:37,000 --> 01:14:41,039

I seem to recall always seeing one in my father's bedroom

 

186

01:14:41,039 --> 01:14:45,000

in that residence that the Feng Shui master was wary about.

 

187

01:14:46,560 --> 01:14:48,920

But was it red or black?

 

188

01:14:49,039 --> 01:14:50,199

I can't remember.

 

189

01:14:53,920 --> 01:14:56,680

I do remember the incessant comings and goings

 

190

01:14:56,680 --> 01:14:59,880

of new secretaries in my father's office

 

191

01:14:59,880 --> 01:15:02,840

he occupies as founder of the company,

 

192

01:15:02,840 --> 01:15:06,239

while my mother had a bigger office as General Manager.  

 

193

01:15:08,239 --> 01:15:11,439

But of course, the one laid out on his cabinet

 

194

01:15:11,439 --> 01:15:13,000

was the black one,

 

195

01:15:13,000 --> 01:15:14,359

re-drafted with the words

 

196

01:15:14,359 --> 01:15:18,600

of his new secretaries, in the 3rd person.  

 

197

01:15:19,239 --> 01:15:23,560

The 'Henry Stephen Biography', not an autobiography.

 

198

01:15:26,279 --> 01:15:29,199

As a child I often heard whispers

 

199

01:15:29,199 --> 01:15:32,159

among the womanfolk in the household,

 

200

01:15:32,159 --> 01:15:37,079

about a real narrative locked in a safe in the room.

 

201

01:15:37,800 --> 01:15:40,279

Doubtless it was red,

 

202

01:15:40,279 --> 01:15:44,000

with its unruly, spontaneous scribblings,

 

203

01:15:44,000 --> 01:15:49,119

written in the 1st person with entries every single day,

 

204

01:15:49,119 --> 01:15:52,840

until a few months before he passed away in Canada.

 

205

01:15:56,000 --> 01:15:58,399

Nothing remains of the red original volume

 

206

01:15:58,399 --> 01:16:00,119

after it's been recopied.

 

207

01:16:01,319 --> 01:16:04,119

There is no way I will ever know how the first page

 

208

01:16:04,119 --> 01:16:07,000

of the first red journal used to read.

 

209

01:16:08,000 --> 01:16:12,159

I can only open the Volume 1 of the black ones.

 

210

01:16:14,880 --> 01:16:16,399

Right before my eyes appears

 

211

01:16:16,399 --> 01:16:19,720

a completely unexpected landscape

 

212

01:16:19,720 --> 01:16:23,600

and unfamiliar characters who appear out of nowhere.

 

213

01:16:24,880 --> 01:16:27,399

"On a June morning in 1907

 

214

01:16:28,319 --> 01:16:32,039

the sun is shining over the dew drops in the fields.

 

215

01:16:32,399 --> 01:16:35,239

The morning breeze caresses the earth,

 

216

01:16:35,239 --> 01:16:38,159

showing its bright and beautiful face.

 

217

01:16:39,199 --> 01:16:42,159

Robert is an old Aboriginal man

 

218

01:16:42,159 --> 01:16:44,399

in a village in New South Wales.    

 

219

01:16:44,880 --> 01:16:48,079

He is getting his gear ready to do the monotonous work

 

220

01:16:48,079 --> 01:16:49,560

he does everyday :

 

221

01:16:49,680 --> 01:16:50,399

fishing."

 

222

01:16:50,920 --> 01:16:55,680

As he was slowly leaving the village,

 

223

01:16:55,680 --> 01:16:58,520

a loud voice suddenly called out to him.

 

224

01:16:58,520 --> 01:17:02,399

"Robert, your daughter-in-law just gave birth!

 

225

01:17:02,399 --> 01:17:05,279

It's a boy! Congratulations!"

 

226

01:17:06,159 --> 01:17:11,119

The incredible text, neatly set black on white, continues,

 

227

01:17:11,119 --> 01:17:13,760

telling the story of an Alfred,

 

228

01:17:13,760 --> 01:17:18,359

the son of Robert, the aboriginal fisherman we just met.

 

229

01:17:19,159 --> 01:17:22,079

Alfred, a youth in his late teens,

 

230

01:17:22,079 --> 01:17:24,479

had gone to do business in Hong Kong

 

231

01:17:24,479 --> 01:17:27,840

a few months prior to the birth of his baby.

 

232

01:17:28,319 --> 01:17:30,840

His pregnant wife had not been able to go with him...

 

233

01:17:30,840 --> 01:17:34,640

...the next day their grandson was baptised

 

234

01:17:34,640 --> 01:17:36,800

and named Henry.

 

235

01:17:37,760 --> 01:17:41,960

Apparently, according to a family tree of Stephen genealogy

 

236

01:17:41,960 --> 01:17:44,039

inside the journal,

 

237

01:17:44,039 --> 01:17:47,560

from the Stephen forefathers came Robert,

 

238

01:17:47,560 --> 01:17:50,399

the aboriginal fisherman on the first page,

 

239

01:17:50,399 --> 01:17:52,840

who would be my great-grandfather.

 

240

01:17:54,399 --> 01:17:56,680

Robert's son is Alfred,

 

241

01:17:56,680 --> 01:17:58,520

he would be my grandfather.

 

242

01:17:59,319 --> 01:18:03,640

Baby Henry in the story became Henry Stephen, my father.

 

243

01:18:03,840 --> 01:18:09,760

Henry has five children, Irene, Helen, David the only boy,

 

244

01:18:09,760 --> 01:18:14,640

Mary myself, and Christina, who has in her basement

 

245

01:18:14,640 --> 01:18:17,439

the Henry Stephen archives that I unearthed.

 

246

01:18:25,840 --> 01:18:30,399

In Dreamtime, the aboriginals created the Universe.

 

247

01:18:35,680 --> 01:18:39,279

In the tummy of this Universe were hidden,

 

248

01:18:39,279 --> 01:18:41,920

like so many colorful little Easter eggs,  

 

249

01:18:42,640 --> 01:18:45,000

many many stories.

 

250

01:18:48,239 --> 01:18:50,880

The story goes that, when we were small,

 

251

01:18:50,880 --> 01:18:55,119

father always said we were Australians

 

252

01:18:55,119 --> 01:18:58,199

from Sydney, Australia.

 

253

01:18:58,199 --> 01:19:01,119

Up until Secondary School,

 

254

01:19:01,119 --> 01:19:04,960

we declared we were from Sydney, Australia.

 

255

01:19:05,520 --> 01:19:09,199

My classmates always asked my sister and me

 

256

01:19:09,199 --> 01:19:11,119

what Australia was like.

 

257

01:19:11,119 --> 01:19:14,960

I was asked too many times,

 

258

01:19:14,960 --> 01:19:19,079

I got really annoyed.

 

259

01:19:19,119 --> 01:19:21,960

I started making up stories.

 

260

01:19:21,960 --> 01:19:24,279

I said I was too little,

 

261

01:19:24,279 --> 01:19:27,760

"I only remember a very big bridge"

 

262

01:19:27,760 --> 01:19:30,079

I had seen the bridge in a book.

 

263

01:19:36,399 --> 01:19:40,760

My cousin took me to see his mother, my 7th aunt,

 

264

01:19:40,760 --> 01:19:45,079

my father's younger sister, by then herself 90 years old.

 

265

01:19:45,279 --> 01:19:49,079

He hoped whatever she could salvage from her wobbly memory

 

266

01:19:49,079 --> 01:19:52,399

would help elucidate my question on our name.

 

267

01:19:53,239 --> 01:19:56,760

- Why was he Australian?  - Who?  - My dad?

 

 

268

01:19:56,760 --> 01:20:00,840

- Why did he say he wasn't Chinese?  - He's not Chinese?

 

269

01:20:00,840 --> 01:20:03,720

Yes, why?  Why?

 

270

01:20:03,720 --> 01:20:11,159

Why did he invent the Australian thing with his wife...

 

271

01:20:11,319 --> 01:20:13,600

  She doesn't know. She's forgotten.  

 

272

01:20:13,600 --> 01:20:17,640

He said he wrote the story with your mom.

 

273

01:20:17,640 --> 01:20:20,000

Wrote a story? Really?   

 

274

01:20:21,720 --> 01:20:25,119

In secondary school, our history teacher taught us

 

275

01:20:25,119 --> 01:20:27,000

the White Australia policy.

 

276

01:20:27,920 --> 01:20:30,960

How did my father find the inspiration

 

277

01:20:30,960 --> 01:20:34,239

for situating the beginning of his story in Australia?

 

278

01:20:34,640 --> 01:20:38,399

From an Aboriginal male line with an English name,

 

279

01:20:38,800 --> 01:20:41,239

mixed with a Chinese female line?

 

280

01:20:42,880 --> 01:20:47,000

I admit, there's something irresistibly exotic about this,

 

281

01:20:47,000 --> 01:20:48,760

this Australian myth,

 

282

01:20:48,760 --> 01:20:52,560

the way we probably all are somebody else's mythology.

 

283

01:20:55,119 --> 01:20:57,880

My elder siblings always wondered about

 

284

01:20:57,880 --> 01:21:00,359

my father's dark complexion.

 

285

01:21:00,920 --> 01:21:04,000

"Darker than your average Chinese man", they said,

 

286

01:21:04,600 --> 01:21:08,000

and speculated about his "real" biological origins.

 

287

01:21:09,119 --> 01:21:11,439

West Indian? South Asian?  

 

288

01:21:12,000 --> 01:21:15,960

And of course, why not, Aboriginal Australian?

 

289

01:21:20,560 --> 01:21:22,039

My mother replied,

 

290

01:21:22,039 --> 01:21:25,640

not without a small smile on the corner of her lips,

 

291

01:21:26,479 --> 01:21:28,199

"I don't know the truth.

 

292

01:21:28,640 --> 01:21:30,960

Your father has always said he was adopted

 

293

01:21:30,960 --> 01:21:34,239

by a Catholic priest by the name of Stephen."

 

294

01:21:36,800 --> 01:21:39,960

Nowhere in the impeccably-written black journal

 

295

01:21:39,960 --> 01:21:43,199

is there a trace of this well-meaning priest,

 

296

01:21:43,199 --> 01:21:44,640

nor a hint

 

297

01:21:44,640 --> 01:21:47,520

to whether he adopted a little Aboriginal boy

 

298

01:21:47,520 --> 01:21:49,640

or a dark-skinned Asian one.

 

299

01:21:52,760 --> 01:21:56,359

My late brother David's skin was as dark as our father's.

 

300

01:21:57,000 --> 01:22:01,000

There is a hierarchy of skin color in Asian society.

 

301

01:22:01,359 --> 01:22:05,479

The darker we are, the lower in rank.

 

302

01:22:05,479 --> 01:22:09,319

The good, the smart, the chic in our Asian world,

 

303

01:22:09,319 --> 01:22:12,399

have beautiful pearly skin and make sure

 

304

01:22:12,399 --> 01:22:15,159

they keep it that way with skin products  

 

305

01:22:15,159 --> 01:22:17,640

specially created for this market.

 

306

01:22:18,039 --> 01:22:21,560

I remember that David was the one among the siblings

 

307

01:22:21,560 --> 01:22:25,000

who particularly took issue with having an English name.

 

308

01:22:25,560 --> 01:22:29,000

I went to Montreal for some clues from David's widow,

 

309

01:22:29,000 --> 01:22:33,359

my sister-in-law Luisa, and their son, my nephew Vincent.

 

310

01:22:33,720 --> 01:22:37,359

David was very dark.

 

311

01:22:37,520 --> 01:22:39,960

That was something that he told me he was teased about

 

312

01:22:39,960 --> 01:22:42,720

and it also just gave me insight into

 

313

01:22:42,720 --> 01:22:45,680

how Chinese are just as racist as everybody else!

 

314

01:22:46,359 --> 01:22:52,399

All his life, David tried to find out why he was a Stephen,

 

315

01:22:52,399 --> 01:22:55,359

what kind of Stephen was he?

 

316

01:22:55,439 --> 01:22:57,720

Whether to accept the name

 

317

01:22:57,720 --> 01:23:01,239

or to deny the name, or ...

 

318

01:23:01,760 --> 01:23:05,560

In the early days of pre-internet,

 

319

01:23:05,560 --> 01:23:10,079

I think he went online by the pseudo 'Dingo'.

 

320

01:23:10,079 --> 01:23:14,520

It's a dark-complexioned Australian dog.

 

321

01:23:14,520 --> 01:23:17,560

- Who went by the name 'Dingo'?  - David.

 

322

01:23:17,560 --> 01:23:20,720

It's more of a joke than a fiction.

 

323

01:23:20,720 --> 01:23:23,920

Right, sort of 'fictionalize my world' kind of thing.

 

 

324

01:23:28,279 --> 01:23:31,159

How close to the truth is the rewritten biography

 

325

01:23:31,159 --> 01:23:32,880

in the black journals?

 

326

01:23:33,560 --> 01:23:37,039

I gave the narrated stories Henry's voice,

 

327

01:23:37,039 --> 01:23:39,479

hoping that the artifice can convince me  

 

328

01:23:39,479 --> 01:23:41,399

that it is the real story.

 

329

01:23:42,479 --> 01:23:46,239

We say, "tell me the real story," or,

 

330

01:23:46,239 --> 01:23:49,600

"don't give me one of your tall tales!"

 

331

01:23:50,520 --> 01:23:51,840

Which is it to be?

 

332

01:23:57,199 --> 01:24:00,319

"Time flies by swiftly, I am already three.

 

333

01:24:01,039 --> 01:24:05,239

A postman came to our village

 

334

01:24:05,239 --> 01:24:07,000

with a message ...

 

335

01:24:07,000 --> 01:24:09,720

from my father Alfred in Hong Kong.  

 

336

01:24:10,680 --> 01:24:13,920

He started a small ship supplies store

 

337

01:24:13,920 --> 01:24:17,960

with a Chinese partner Mr. Chan.

 

338

01:24:18,319 --> 01:24:24,560

The business did well, so he wrote to his wife

 

339

01:24:24,560 --> 01:24:28,600

asking her to bring me, his son,

 

340

01:24:28,600 --> 01:24:30,479

to come live with him in Hong Kong."

 

341

01:24:31,119 --> 01:24:35,720

"So, on a bright summer afternoon in 1911,

 

342

01:24:35,720 --> 01:24:39,640

colorful fluttering paper ribbons on the SS Asia Queen

 

343

01:24:39,640 --> 01:24:42,720

flew to the hands of the families on the pier.

 

344

01:24:43,119 --> 01:24:46,000

Henry's mother was leaning against the railing

 

345

01:24:46,000 --> 01:24:49,600

with her child in her arms, waving her hand

 

346

01:24:49,600 --> 01:24:52,680

to his grandparents, relatives and friends,   

 

347

01:24:52,680 --> 01:24:57,680

with a confused yet seemingly cheerful smile on her face.

 

348

01:24:58,159 --> 01:25:02,840

Suddenly a siren blew, this enormous monster of a ship

 

349

01:25:02,840 --> 01:25:06,760

moves slowly away from the Australian shores."

 

350

01:25:08,600 --> 01:25:11,920

The black journal reads like a novel,

 

351

01:25:11,920 --> 01:25:14,640

with minute details about places,

 

352

01:25:14,640 --> 01:25:18,760

characters, conversations, the protagonists' movements

 

353

01:25:18,760 --> 01:25:23,920

and expressions, with faithful chronological continuity.

 

354

01:25:25,680 --> 01:25:29,840

"In 1912, there was the plague in Hong Kong.

 

355

01:25:29,840 --> 01:25:34,079

My father unfortunately died.

 

356

01:25:34,079 --> 01:25:35,880

I was only six.

 

357

01:25:36,279 --> 01:25:37,560

After father's death,

 

358

01:25:37,560 --> 01:25:40,239

mother and I moved into the Chan home.

 

359

01:25:40,520 --> 01:25:42,840

My mother had been in HK barely a year.

 

360

01:25:43,119 --> 01:25:44,800

She seldom went out,

 

361

01:25:44,800 --> 01:25:48,439

ignorant of the language and the customs.

 

362

01:25:48,439 --> 01:25:52,800

Being far from her parents-in-law in Sydney,

 

363

01:25:52,800 --> 01:25:55,760

she decided to leave me with Mr. Chan.

 

364

01:25:55,760 --> 01:25:58,000

Accompanying her husband's coffin back home,

 

365

01:25:58,000 --> 01:25:59,560

my mother left Hong Kong sadly.

 

366

01:26:02,000 --> 01:26:06,960

Time flew by, but no news from my mother.

 

367

01:26:06,960 --> 01:26:09,760

I continued to live with the Chan family,

 

368

01:26:09,760 --> 01:26:12,079

and adopted their name for convenience.

 

369

01:26:12,800 --> 01:26:17,159

My adoptive father's business was struggling,

 

370

01:26:17,159 --> 01:26:20,119

so he went to ask for a loan from his clansman.

 

371

01:26:20,920 --> 01:26:24,880

Clansman was a Chinese buyer for the dairy company,

 

372

01:26:24,880 --> 01:26:26,439

and lived in the rich mid-levels.

 

373

01:26:28,640 --> 01:26:31,159

Clansman Chan was very westernized.

 

374

01:26:31,159 --> 01:26:34,000

His home was furnished in a western style.

 

375

01:26:34,439 --> 01:26:39,439

His wife and daughter were elegantly dressed.

 

376

01:26:40,760 --> 01:26:47,479

He also had two young radiant concubines.

 

377

01:26:47,479 --> 01:26:49,720

They were cultured in both languages,

 

378

01:26:49,720 --> 01:26:54,119

and had the fine manners of the upper class.

 

379

01:26:54,960 --> 01:26:57,479

I was deeply impressed.

 

380

01:26:57,920 --> 01:27:00,640

When I went home, I tried hard

 

381

01:27:00,640 --> 01:27:02,840

to westernize my home.

 

382

01:27:03,960 --> 01:27:06,239

I ordered a few western suits

 

383

01:27:06,239 --> 01:27:07,520

at the tailor shop.

 

384

01:27:07,920 --> 01:27:11,119

The tailor was the silent film narrator

 

385

01:27:11,119 --> 01:27:12,600

in a local cinema.

 

386

01:27:13,159 --> 01:27:15,239

He worked in the cinema by night

 

387

01:27:15,239 --> 01:27:18,600

and in his tailor shop by day.

 

388

01:27:19,199 --> 01:27:20,920

Since I loved movies  

 

389

01:27:20,920 --> 01:27:23,399

I got to know him at the cinema."

 

390

01:27:36,199 --> 01:27:40,159

All these reels of films, some now turned to dust

 

391

01:27:40,159 --> 01:27:42,439

and lost forever to oblivion,

 

392

01:27:42,439 --> 01:27:43,319

were significant capture of real life.

 

393

01:27:43,319 --> 01:27:44,920

were significant capture of real life.

 

394

01:27:45,560 --> 01:27:48,880

The vast ocean of words in the black and red journals

 

395

01:27:48,880 --> 01:27:52,119

was not the only tool at my father's disposal

 

396

01:27:52,119 --> 01:27:54,279

to tell the 'Henry Stephen story'.

 

397

01:28:23,279 --> 01:28:26,920

But how much of this capture of real life can be trusted?

 

398

01:28:27,479 --> 01:28:30,800

It's a question that I ask myself as a film editor,

 

399

01:28:30,800 --> 01:28:33,600

especially when I work on documentary images.

 

400

01:28:42,680 --> 01:28:46,159

How much can I trust what I see with my own eyes,

 

401

01:28:46,159 --> 01:28:49,680

what I hear with my own ears, on my editing table?

 

402

01:29:10,520 --> 01:29:13,119

My reading of the overwhelming details

 

403

01:29:13,119 --> 01:29:15,880

of the black volumes becomes elliptic.

 

404

01:29:16,760 --> 01:29:18,720

I look for key episodes

 

405

01:29:18,720 --> 01:29:21,239

that may be the clue to the official start

 

406

01:29:21,239 --> 01:29:23,800

of our Stephen name.

 

407

01:29:23,800 --> 01:29:26,439

After the story of his birth mother's departure

 

408

01:29:26,439 --> 01:29:28,760

back to Australia,  

 

409

01:29:28,760 --> 01:29:30,359

the young Henry Stephen,   

 

410

01:29:30,359 --> 01:29:33,880

growing up as a young Chan in his adoptive family,

 

411

01:29:33,880 --> 01:29:37,680

much preferred working at odd jobs than attending school,

 

412

01:29:37,680 --> 01:29:40,880

when he was not lapping up stories on the big screen.

 

413

01:29:41,960 --> 01:29:45,600

But his mind would soon be preoccupied elsewhere.

 

414

01:29:46,399 --> 01:29:50,359

It was at a time when China was prey to Japanese aggression,

 

415

01:29:50,359 --> 01:29:52,840

starting in Manchuria that spread

 

416

01:29:52,840 --> 01:29:56,039

and stayed throughout the next 14 years,    

 

417

01:29:56,039 --> 01:30:01,760

punctuated by many different incidents, battles and names.

 

418

01:30:02,039 --> 01:30:04,000

Henry writes that he tried to enrol

 

419

01:30:04,000 --> 01:30:08,520

in the famous 19th Regiment as well as the Air Force,

 

420

01:30:08,520 --> 01:30:10,239

but both in vain.

 

421

01:30:11,479 --> 01:30:14,399

Then he decided to organize a walking tour

 

422

01:30:14,399 --> 01:30:15,840

through all of China

 

423

01:30:15,840 --> 01:30:18,800

in order to promote a spirit of solidarity

 

424

01:30:18,800 --> 01:30:22,680

and resistance against the foreign invasion.

 

425

01:30:22,680 --> 01:30:26,239

He recruited 6 other participants to join him

 

426

01:30:26,239 --> 01:30:27,600

in this ambitious plan.

 

427

01:30:27,800 --> 01:30:30,000

"We arrived in Guangzhou,

 

428

01:30:30,000 --> 01:30:33,800

photographed factories and historic sites.

 

429

01:30:33,800 --> 01:30:36,159

We kept a travel diary,

 

430

01:30:36,159 --> 01:30:41,199

through Weizhou... Pingshan...etc...

 

431

01:30:42,199 --> 01:30:45,920

There were difficult weather and obstacles.

 

432

01:30:45,920 --> 01:30:49,439

Many quit in the middle of the trip.

 

433

01:30:49,439 --> 01:30:51,000

By the time I reached Peking,

 

 

434

01:30:51,000 --> 01:30:52,439

I was the only one left.

 

435

01:30:58,000 --> 01:31:00,840

The Northeast had already fallen to the Japanese,

 

436

01:31:00,840 --> 01:31:01,960

I could not proceed further.

 

437

01:31:02,560 --> 01:31:04,479

The political situation became increasingly tense.

 

438

01:31:04,920 --> 01:31:08,920

Universities organized resistance armies

 

439

01:31:09,159 --> 01:31:12,239

I also joined the effort to save our country,

 

440

01:31:12,239 --> 01:31:14,000

and underwent military training.

 

441

01:31:14,000 --> 01:31:15,199

Then a compromise was reached,

 

442

01:31:15,199 --> 01:31:17,119

volunteer armies were dissolved.

 

443

01:31:17,119 --> 01:31:19,159

I was about to continue my travels.

 

444

01:31:19,399 --> 01:31:21,119

A letter arrived from my brother,

 

445

01:31:21,119 --> 01:31:22,319

our father had gone bankrupt,

 

446

01:31:22,319 --> 01:31:24,079

I'd have to return for legal matters...

 

447

01:31:24,439 --> 01:31:26,239

I immediately set out to go home.

 

448

01:31:26,640 --> 01:31:30,239

I arrived in Hong Kong August 14th 1933,

 

449

01:31:30,239 --> 01:31:33,920

with only two silver coins left

 

450

01:31:33,920 --> 01:31:36,399

i.e. a dollar eighty cents today."

 

451

01:31:39,239 --> 01:31:41,760

I read that conditions were dire

 

452

01:31:41,760 --> 01:31:44,000

after Henry returned to Hong Kong.

 

453

01:31:44,279 --> 01:31:45,640

He and his brother picked apart stolen bicycles   

 

454

01:31:45,640 --> 01:31:47,520

He and his brother picked apart stolen bicycles   

 

455

01:31:47,520 --> 01:31:50,600

for their spare parts, ripping plastic tubings

 

456

01:31:50,600 --> 01:31:53,920

and electric wirings and anything resaleable

 

457

01:31:53,920 --> 01:31:57,199

left on the streets, to make ends meet for the family.

 

458

01:31:57,680 --> 01:32:00,800

He went knocking on every door for some work,

 

459

01:32:00,800 --> 01:32:04,720

and when an unusual offer came in exchange for free meals,

 

460

01:32:04,720 --> 01:32:06,039

he didn't think twice.

 

461

01:32:06,039 --> 01:32:07,960

"I ran into my friend Li on the street.

 

462

01:32:07,960 --> 01:32:10,920

He was setting up a new film association

 

463

01:32:10,920 --> 01:32:13,560

with friends called 'New Universe'.

 

464

01:32:13,560 --> 01:32:14,880

Knowing I was unemployed,

 

465

01:32:14,880 --> 01:32:17,319

invited me to be a co-founder.

 

466

01:32:17,319 --> 01:32:21,359

I agreed without knowing any details.

 

467

01:32:21,359 --> 01:32:22,840

I went to work everyday

 

468

01:32:22,840 --> 01:32:24,880

at the New Universe Film Society.

 

469

01:32:25,239 --> 01:32:28,000

My "work" involved helping members

 

470

01:32:28,000 --> 01:32:30,520

learn movie poses, dancing, etc.

 

471

01:32:30,520 --> 01:32:33,119

Three meals a day provided.

 

472

01:32:33,680 --> 01:32:35,119

With no other job opportunities,

 

473

01:32:35,119 --> 01:32:39,239

I did this happily for three months."

 

474

01:32:40,800 --> 01:32:43,520

Having registered with the Public Works Department,

 

475

01:32:44,079 --> 01:32:47,640

my father found work as a cement operator.

 

476

01:32:47,640 --> 01:32:50,600

Finally he worked as foreman on the construction site

 

477

01:32:50,600 --> 01:32:53,199

of new Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank building,

 

478

01:32:53,560 --> 01:32:56,720

which was to be a jewel of modern architecture.

 

479

01:32:57,279 --> 01:33:00,640

It was constantly reminded in official films later

 

480

01:33:01,039 --> 01:33:04,720

as the symbol of the success of the colonial era.

 

481

01:33:08,079 --> 01:33:11,439

"The Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, a symbol of prosperity,

 

482

01:33:11,439 --> 01:33:14,920

was founded back in the days of pirates and opium barons.

 

483

01:33:16,439 --> 01:33:18,960

Right in the center of downtown Hong Kong

 

484

01:33:18,960 --> 01:33:20,680

are the British Cricket Club grounds.

 

485

01:33:22,520 --> 01:33:26,079

Cricket has been played on these grounds since 1880,

 

486

01:33:26,079 --> 01:33:30,079

and symbolizes the spirit of British 'fair play for all'."

 

487

01:33:35,880 --> 01:33:38,239

The black journal is like a treasure hunt.

 

488

01:33:38,680 --> 01:33:41,239

In the many many hand-made pockets,

 

489

01:33:41,239 --> 01:33:44,920

there are folded newspapers clippings and personal letters

 

490

01:33:44,920 --> 01:33:46,760

from father's handwriting,

 

491

01:33:46,760 --> 01:33:49,560

signed with a name : Chan Bik Hoi

 

492

01:33:49,560 --> 01:33:51,880

that I've never heard of in my childhood.

 

493

01:33:53,640 --> 01:34:00,920

Now you know all of Chan family history!

 

494

01:34:01,720 --> 01:34:03,760

My 7th Aunt says,

 

495

01:34:03,760 --> 01:34:08,119

"now you finally know everything about the Chan family!"

 

496

01:34:08,119 --> 01:34:12,159

The Chan family who is supposed to be the adoptive family,

 

497

01:34:12,159 --> 01:34:13,199

after Henry's mother

 

498

01:34:13,199 --> 01:34:16,479

returned to Australia with his birth father's body...!

 

499

01:34:17,800 --> 01:34:19,760

But here's another mystery.

 

500

01:34:19,760 --> 01:34:22,720

If I was supposed to be a daughter of Chan,

 

501

01:34:22,720 --> 01:34:23,880

I wasn't.

 

502

01:34:23,880 --> 01:34:26,720

I was born with another Chinese surname.

 

503

01:34:27,960 --> 01:34:31,239

- Your Chinese name is 'Syut Mei Lin'. - Yes.

 

 

504

01:34:31,239 --> 01:34:33,399

- Your surname is really 'Syut'?

 

505

01:34:33,399 --> 01:34:38,720

It seems 'Syut' is a Mongolian surname.

 

506

01:34:38,720 --> 01:34:42,960

Many imagine it is 'Sit' or 'Shu'.

 

507

01:34:43,359 --> 01:34:46,199

There seems no need to look up the origin

 

508

01:34:46,199 --> 01:34:49,199

of this Chinese surname that my siblings and I

 

509

01:34:49,199 --> 01:34:53,199

are born with: 'Syut' meaning 'Snow'.

 

510

01:34:54,159 --> 01:34:56,600

There are many magic wands in Henry's bag!

 

511

01:35:16,760 --> 01:35:18,720

SUDDEN DISAPPEARANCE OF A SAD YOUNG MAN

 

512

01:35:20,520 --> 01:35:21,600

HONG KONG SPECIAL REPORT

 

513

01:35:22,279 --> 01:35:25,720

"Chan Bik Hoi, 23 years old,

 

514

01:35:25,720 --> 01:35:29,239

foreman at the Public Works Department.

 

515

01:35:29,239 --> 01:35:31,680

Known for his exceptional intelligence,

 

516

01:35:31,680 --> 01:35:33,199

he is praised by his colleagues

 

517

01:35:33,199 --> 01:35:34,840

for his amiable ways.

 

518

01:35:35,520 --> 01:35:39,239

He studied Chinese and English,

 

519

01:35:39,239 --> 01:35:40,720

speaks English fluently.

 

520

01:35:41,760 --> 01:35:45,039

Recently, Chan seemed dismal,

 

521

01:35:45,800 --> 01:35:47,640

claiming things were not well,

 

522

01:35:47,640 --> 01:35:49,000

hinting at suicide.

 

523

01:35:50,159 --> 01:35:53,880

His friends thought he was joking,

 

524

01:35:53,880 --> 01:35:56,720

then realised that the threat was real.

 

525

01:35:57,039 --> 01:35:58,359

They are very worried.

 

526

01:35:58,920 --> 01:36:01,760

Chan disappeared three days ago.

 

527

01:36:02,319 --> 01:36:05,079

His close friend Mr. Syut is very concerned.

 

528

01:36:06,079 --> 01:36:10,000

Syut got a letter from Chan yesterday,

 

529

01:36:10,720 --> 01:36:13,159

saying he would kill himself.

 

530

01:36:13,840 --> 01:36:17,239

Everyone is looking for Chan,

 

531

01:36:17,520 --> 01:36:19,720

hoping to save his life."

 

532

01:36:24,680 --> 01:36:29,560

Effortlessly, exits Mr. Chan, enters Mr.Syut.

 

533

01:36:49,439 --> 01:36:54,119

Meanwhile, my father Henry, no longer a Mr. Chan,

 

534

01:36:54,119 --> 01:36:57,680

  already a Mr. Suyt, and in all probability,

 

535

01:36:57,680 --> 01:37:00,000

not yet Mr. Stephen,

 

536

01:37:00,000 --> 01:37:02,359

has an encounter that's more incredible

 

537

01:37:02,359 --> 01:37:05,560

than the fiction he watches on the big screen.

 

538

01:37:06,199 --> 01:37:09,039

"December 1st, though it was winter,

 

539

01:37:09,039 --> 01:37:11,239

it was not very cold yet.

 

540

01:37:11,479 --> 01:37:13,840

Ladies in Hong Kong were just wearing wool.

 

541

01:37:14,560 --> 01:37:20,840

It was Saturday, I worked until 5 pm.

 

542

01:37:20,840 --> 01:37:24,960

My friend Hua asked me to visit her that evening.

 

543

01:37:24,960 --> 01:37:28,680

She wanted me to meet a certain Miss Choi.

 

544

01:37:29,239 --> 01:37:33,399

I told her messenger that I'd be there.

 

545

01:37:34,119 --> 01:37:36,960

In the evening, I changed

 

546

01:37:36,960 --> 01:37:40,439

and crossed the harbor to Hua's house.

 

547

01:37:41,439 --> 01:37:44,600

Upon entering around 7:30 pm,

 

548

01:37:44,600 --> 01:37:47,439

I saw a young lady in the living room,

 

549

01:37:47,439 --> 01:37:51,199

in an old yellow cotton robe with flowery prints,

 

550

01:37:51,199 --> 01:37:53,640

and old-fashioned flat shoes,

 

551

01:37:53,640 --> 01:37:56,560

about twenty and very charming.

 

552

01:38:04,359 --> 01:38:05,960

My friend Hua said to me,

 

553

01:38:06,880 --> 01:38:08,119

"I thought you were free tonight,

 

554

01:38:08,600 --> 01:38:10,560

but only tomorrow night?

 

555

01:38:10,960 --> 01:38:12,479

why are you here suddenly?"

 

556

01:38:13,000 --> 01:38:16,119

I replied, "When did I say I was not coming?

 

557

01:38:16,359 --> 01:38:17,840

There must be some misunderstanding."

 

558

01:38:18,319 --> 01:38:20,119

Hearing this, Hua said,

 

559

01:38:20,119 --> 01:38:22,520

"Fate brings us together from afar!

 

560

01:38:22,520 --> 01:38:25,279

Let me introduce you two.

 

561

01:38:26,359 --> 01:38:27,560

This is Miss Yik."

 

562

01:38:28,800 --> 01:38:31,359

She then introduced me to Miss Yik as Mr. Syut.

 

563

01:38:32,079 --> 01:38:35,319

We nodded in greeting.

 

564

01:38:35,840 --> 01:38:37,680

Hua continued her introduction,

 

565

01:38:38,000 --> 01:38:40,359

"Miss Yik used to be my colleague

 

566

01:38:40,359 --> 01:38:42,359

when I taught at St. Paul's college."

 

567

01:38:44,920 --> 01:38:47,560

I said, "Teaching is a noble profession.

 

568

01:38:47,560 --> 01:38:50,239

Have you been a teacher long, Miss Yik?"

 

569

01:38:50,880 --> 01:38:54,199

"Only two years, nothing to boast about."

 

570

01:38:54,840 --> 01:38:59,119

I said, "I only returned from Peking last October.

 

571

01:38:59,640 --> 01:39:02,560

I've been working at the new construction site

 

572

01:39:02,560 --> 01:39:03,560

of the HK and Shanghai Bank.

 

573

01:39:03,920 --> 01:39:05,520

Have to make a living somehow!"

 

574

01:39:06,199 --> 01:39:10,399

We became better acquainted gradually.

 

575

01:39:10,920 --> 01:39:14,680

We started to discuss parapsychology.

 

576

01:39:14,720 --> 01:39:18,359

I said, "You Chinese talk about souls,

 

577

01:39:18,359 --> 01:39:20,560

but I don't believe it."

 

578

01:39:21,000 --> 01:39:24,560

Miss Yik said, hearing me say 'you Chinese',

 

579

01:39:24,560 --> 01:39:26,800

"Aren't you Chinese?"

 

580

01:39:27,000 --> 01:39:31,720

"My father was a native from Sydney,

 

581

01:39:31,720 --> 01:39:35,960

my mother Chinese, I was born in Sydney,

 

582

01:39:35,960 --> 01:39:39,479

my mother brought me to Hong Kong

 

583

01:39:39,479 --> 01:39:41,000

when I was four.

 

584

01:39:41,000 --> 01:39:43,359

That's why I became like a Chinese,

 

585

01:39:43,359 --> 01:39:46,520

but in fact, I am a mixed-blood."

 

586

01:39:46,520 --> 01:39:50,920

Miss Yik laughed, "Mixed-blood's are smart!"

 

587

01:39:52,279 --> 01:39:53,880

Then we discussed movies.

 

588

01:39:54,079 --> 01:39:58,039

"Miss Yik, do you like movies?"

 

589

01:39:58,960 --> 01:40:01,560

She smiled and said she loved it.

 

590

01:40:02,000 --> 01:40:06,000

"I heard that 'Scarlett Express' at the Queen's Theatre

 

591

01:40:06,000 --> 01:40:08,640

is a must-see masterpiece."

 

592

01:40:10,000 --> 01:40:13,279

I asked Miss Yik, "would you like to see it?

 

593

01:40:13,279 --> 01:40:15,359

May I invite you tomorrow night?"

 

594

01:40:15,880 --> 01:40:21,920

Miss Yik said, "can you buy a ticket for me?"

 

595

01:40:22,520 --> 01:40:24,680

I said, "no need, I'm inviting."  

 

596

01:40:38,920 --> 01:40:41,800

I couldn't have written a better script.

 

597

01:40:42,520 --> 01:40:45,119

Through a case of a mistaken identity,

 

598

01:40:45,640 --> 01:40:48,840

my mother Hilda meets my father Henry.

 

599

01:40:54,039 --> 01:40:56,039

Did she see on the big screen

 

600

01:40:56,039 --> 01:40:58,680

these idyllic scenes in the years to come

 

601

01:40:58,680 --> 01:41:03,439

as she sent the first love letter to her Mr. Syut Tik Fong,

 

602

01:41:03,439 --> 01:41:07,119

which means 'snowy mountain summit',

 

603

01:41:07,119 --> 01:41:10,159

just a couple of days after their chance meeting?

 

604

01:41:11,000 --> 01:41:14,399

Within a month, they were engaged to marry.

 

605

01:41:17,199 --> 01:41:18,800

In the decades that followed,

 

606

01:41:18,800 --> 01:41:22,960

the blissful images of their life were printed on film,

 

607

01:41:22,960 --> 01:41:27,159

and every line of heartfelt dialogue set for posterity

 

608

01:41:27,159 --> 01:41:31,800

in a black journal, until death did they part.

 

609

01:41:37,840 --> 01:41:41,560

Henry, already working at the bank construction site

 

610

01:41:41,560 --> 01:41:45,840

at the time, tells how he works up the ranks successfully  

 

611

01:41:45,840 --> 01:41:47,920

shortly after meeting Hilda,

 

612

01:41:47,920 --> 01:41:51,399

with the appreciation of his Caucasian superiors.

 

613

01:41:51,560 --> 01:41:52,640

At the same time,

 

614

01:41:52,640 --> 01:41:56,880

his name appears as Henry Stephen on employment documents.

 

615

01:41:57,520 --> 01:41:58,800

"As the months passed,

 

616

01:41:58,800 --> 01:42:00,880

more workers joined the project.

 

617

01:42:00,880 --> 01:42:03,279

I asked for a raise and more assistants

 

618

01:42:03,279 --> 01:42:05,920

from Mr. Pierpont, our manager.

 

619

01:42:06,119 --> 01:42:07,560

In view of my excellent work,

 

620

01:42:07,560 --> 01:42:09,479

he promoted me to foreman,

 

621

01:42:09,479 --> 01:42:11,520

and raised my salary to 100 yuan per month.

 

622

01:42:11,960 --> 01:42:13,560

I was invited to work in the office.

 

623

01:42:13,960 --> 01:42:16,479

I get an afternoon tea break at 3 p.m.,

 

624

01:42:16,479 --> 01:42:18,479

just like for the Caucasians.

 

625

01:42:19,439 --> 01:42:21,800

Mr. Pierpont appreciated me very much.

 

626

01:42:21,800 --> 01:42:23,800

Noticing I didn't own a lot of clothes,

 

627

01:42:23,800 --> 01:42:26,520

he would give me his used clothing.

 

628

01:42:31,199 --> 01:42:34,600

Colleagues at the site said,

 

629

01:42:34,600 --> 01:42:37,119

"Stephen is the boss's favorite."

 

630

01:42:57,159 --> 01:42:59,600

There are mighty lions guarding the banks.

 

631

01:43:03,560 --> 01:43:07,680

From the mouth of these lions watching the ebb and tide

 

632

01:43:07,680 --> 01:43:09,920

of Hong Kong fortunes,

 

633

01:43:09,920 --> 01:43:13,119

Henry and Hilda Stephen were birthed.

 

634

01:43:16,760 --> 01:43:19,279

But what do we know of Miss Yik who

 

635

01:43:19,279 --> 01:43:21,880

became Mrs. Henry Stephen?

 

636

01:43:35,439 --> 01:43:39,640

We used to call her 'Poet'.

 

637

01:43:39,640 --> 01:43:42,600

All our sisters called your mom 'Poet'.

 

638

01:43:42,600 --> 01:43:46,479

Yes, my mom used to write poetry.

 

639

01:43:46,479 --> 01:43:50,199

These yellowed and torn magazines were kept preciously

 

640

01:43:50,199 --> 01:43:53,680

then given to me by my brother David.

 

641

01:43:54,079 --> 01:43:58,159

My mother left her traces in these pages with two pen names.

 

642

01:43:58,159 --> 01:44:01,399

A Miss Eiko, whom I would venture to imagine

 

643

01:44:01,399 --> 01:44:05,600

referring to Fukuda Eiko, a Japanese feminist writer.

 

644

01:44:06,359 --> 01:44:08,239

And a Miss Petrel,   

 

645

01:44:08,239 --> 01:44:11,720

the proud and fearless seabird in Gorki's poem.

 

646

01:44:11,720 --> 01:44:14,159

soaring over the stormy sea,

 

647

01:44:14,159 --> 01:44:17,439

mocking less courageous fellow seabirds.

 

648

01:44:22,800 --> 01:44:25,239

These women's magazines are remarkable

 

649

01:44:25,239 --> 01:44:28,479

in their unabashed mixtures of contents.

 

650

01:44:29,039 --> 01:44:31,680

Obviously catered to the quintessential

 

651

01:44:31,680 --> 01:44:34,960

"New Woman" of the 1930s in Hong Kong,

 

652

01:44:34,960 --> 01:44:39,159

there are texts on modern love, sex education,

 

653

01:44:40,000 --> 01:44:41,560

Hollywood gossip,

 

654

01:44:42,399 --> 01:44:44,600

the latest Cantonese movies,

 

655

01:44:49,720 --> 01:44:52,920

and recent publications of favorite writers.

 

656

01:44:54,079 --> 01:44:57,000

There are translations of D.H. Lawrence,

 

657

01:44:57,000 --> 01:45:01,439

short stories by Virginia Woolf, or Tagore's poetry.

 

658

01:45:02,520 --> 01:45:03,800

And poets and writers

 

659

01:45:03,800 --> 01:45:05,840

from the Crescent Moon Society,

 

660

01:45:05,840 --> 01:45:07,880

the Chinese Bloomsbury

 

661

01:45:07,880 --> 01:45:11,960

founded by the charismatic poet Xu Zhimo,

 

662

01:45:11,960 --> 01:45:14,600

joined by talented women writers

 

663

01:45:14,600 --> 01:45:16,720

such as Ling Shuhua,

 

664

01:45:16,720 --> 01:45:19,800

dubbed the 'Katherine Mansfield of China'.

 

665

01:45:29,920 --> 01:45:34,359

Hilda, my mother, left us so few clues to who she was.

 

666

01:45:34,760 --> 01:45:38,159

I imagine some diaries, long destroyed,

 

667

01:45:38,159 --> 01:45:41,960

a few notes, some crumpled drafts of letters.

 

668

01:45:42,840 --> 01:45:45,560

I found one addressed to Ling Shuhua,

 

669

01:45:45,560 --> 01:45:48,680

with whom she had been apparently corresponding.

 

670

01:45:49,239 --> 01:45:51,239

Looks like it runs in the family,

 

671

01:45:51,239 --> 01:45:54,920

writing letters to those we admire or who inspire us.

 

672

01:45:55,720 --> 01:45:58,680

Did she send it? I'll never know.

 

673

01:46:00,680 --> 01:46:03,039

"Respected Ms. Ling Shuhua,

 

674

01:46:03,039 --> 01:46:06,319

I am honored that you took the time

 

675

01:46:06,319 --> 01:46:10,920

to write me back despite your busy life.

 

676

01:46:12,000 --> 01:46:13,560

Your response points to the difficulty

 

677

01:46:13,560 --> 01:46:16,720

in the birth of the 'New Woman' in China.

 

678

01:46:17,239 --> 01:46:21,159

I am grateful for your sincerity.

 

679

01:46:21,720 --> 01:46:24,760

You suggest that we may be more progressive

 

680

01:46:24,760 --> 01:46:29,319

than our sisters in Europe and America.

 

681

01:46:29,319 --> 01:46:31,399

You do not take your husband's name,

 

682

01:46:31,399 --> 01:46:37,159

but the famous writer Virginia Woolf

 

683

01:46:37,800 --> 01:46:39,880

who was born a Stephen,

 

684

01:46:39,880 --> 01:46:42,079

has adopted her husband's name.

 

685

01:46:42,720 --> 01:46:46,439

Thank you for enlightening me.

 

686

01:46:47,439 --> 01:46:49,079

You are absolutely right ... "

 

687

01:46:52,199 --> 01:46:56,000

From the dates I noticed that, only a few months

 

688

01:46:56,000 --> 01:46:58,840

after this draft of correspondence,

 

689

01:46:58,840 --> 01:47:02,159

there would be the meeting, based on a mistaken identity,

 

690

01:47:02,159 --> 01:47:06,560

between my mother and my father, and soon afterwards,

 

691

01:47:06,560 --> 01:47:10,079

their union and the start of a new Stephen clan.  

 

692

01:47:20,520 --> 01:47:22,840

But where was this letter going to?

 

693

01:47:24,079 --> 01:47:27,600

What would be the backstory that I should look out for

 

694

01:47:27,600 --> 01:47:31,600

if I were to edit this narrative thread together properly?

 

695

01:47:36,119 --> 01:47:40,119

With a complexion as fair as my father's was dark,

 

696

01:47:40,119 --> 01:47:43,720

remembered by Aunt Virginia as "high-spirited,

 

697

01:47:43,720 --> 01:47:46,920

irresponsible, and extravagant,"

 

698

01:47:46,920 --> 01:47:50,600

Julian Bell descended on Wuhan around the same time

 

699

01:47:50,600 --> 01:47:53,359

that my father found steady employment

 

700

01:47:53,359 --> 01:47:58,000

at the bank construction site, 900 km to the south.

 

701

01:48:00,039 --> 01:48:01,600

Julian didn't stay in China

 

702

01:48:01,600 --> 01:48:04,039

for the three years of his engagement.

 

703

01:48:04,399 --> 01:48:08,399

Upon his return to England, his aunt Virginia wrote,

 

704

01:48:09,119 --> 01:48:12,760

"The impression of the change was on me very markedly.

 

705

01:48:12,880 --> 01:48:16,359

the first night he came back and we dined at Charleston

 

706

01:48:16,600 --> 01:48:18,960

and he wore his Chinese robes.

 

707

01:48:19,319 --> 01:48:22,279

A lilac robe I think, and he looked very beautiful."

 

708

01:48:31,279 --> 01:48:32,560

Before he left China,

 

709

01:48:33,159 --> 01:48:35,680

Julian already made plans to join

 

710

01:48:35,680 --> 01:48:37,960

the Spanish Civil War as driver.

 

711

01:48:39,000 --> 01:48:42,199

A few months after his return to Europe,

 

712

01:48:42,199 --> 01:48:46,039

on the 18th of July 1937,

 

713

01:48:46,039 --> 01:48:49,560

Julian Bell died in the Spanish Civil War

 

714

01:48:49,560 --> 01:48:52,720

when the ambulance he was driving was hit by a bomb.

 

715

01:48:53,119 --> 01:48:55,119

He was 29 years old.

 

716

01:48:55,640 --> 01:48:59,479

Julian was still conscious and murmured to the doctor,

 

717

01:49:00,520 --> 01:49:05,720

"Well, I always wanted a mistress and a chance to go to war,

 

718

01:49:05,720 --> 01:49:07,880

and now I've had both."

 

719

01:49:22,600 --> 01:49:25,960

That certain summer, my daughter Julie and I

 

720

01:49:25,960 --> 01:49:29,039

went in search of clues of the Stephen name.

 

721

01:49:30,279 --> 01:49:32,000

Following the footsteps of the boy

 

722

01:49:32,000 --> 01:49:34,039

from the other Stephen clan,

 

723

01:49:34,600 --> 01:49:37,039

where he received an offer to teach English

 

724

01:49:37,039 --> 01:49:40,319

for three years at the University of Wuhan.

 

725

01:49:41,319 --> 01:49:44,640

We walked into a hazy dream in August,

 

726

01:49:44,640 --> 01:49:48,640

in this place known as one of the four furnaces of China.

 

727

01:50:08,239 --> 01:50:11,720

Listless after his graduation from Cambridge,

 

728

01:50:11,720 --> 01:50:16,439

feeling ambivalent about his illustrious Bloomsbury family

 

729

01:50:16,439 --> 01:50:20,680

and their unconventional circle of writers and artists,

 

730

01:50:20,680 --> 01:50:25,039

Julian Bell questioned his place as in independent adult

 

731

01:50:25,039 --> 01:50:27,560

and a poet in his own right.

 

732

01:50:29,680 --> 01:50:32,600

He is the kind of romantic figure that seems to

 

733

01:50:32,600 --> 01:50:36,359

jump off the page of the book we were reading.

 

734

01:50:37,319 --> 01:50:41,159

Of course, at first contact, we were mesmerised.

 

735

01:50:42,039 --> 01:50:44,479

"I see I should lose my head 50 times over

 

736

01:50:44,479 --> 01:50:47,800

with half a chance.  Everyone here is charming to me.

 

737

01:50:49,000 --> 01:50:51,680

I've spent the afternoon with the dean of the faculty

 

738

01:50:51,680 --> 01:50:54,279

and his wife and daughter, about six.

 

739

01:50:55,840 --> 01:50:59,039

It's all very informal, a Mediterranean Cambridge."  

 

740

01:51:01,399 --> 01:51:03,319

Shall I ever find a Chinese mistress?

 

741

01:51:03,840 --> 01:51:05,199

Lots of them are attractive,

 

742

01:51:06,000 --> 01:51:07,439

but I doubt there's much doing."

 

743

01:51:09,359 --> 01:51:13,720

Wandering from poem to poem, from lover to lover,

 

744

01:51:13,720 --> 01:51:17,479

Julian leaves an impressive collection of correspondence

 

745

01:51:17,479 --> 01:51:19,319

during his time in China.

 

746

01:51:19,760 --> 01:51:22,760

With relentless indiscretion,

 

747

01:51:22,760 --> 01:51:25,000

confiding everything to his mother Vanessa,

 

748

01:51:25,920 --> 01:51:28,000

"Nessa dearest",

 

749

01:51:28,000 --> 01:51:31,279

and affectionately to his aunt Virginia.

 

750

01:51:31,920 --> 01:51:34,760

"My dean, Professor Chen Yuan and his wife,

 

751

01:51:34,760 --> 01:51:38,640

are my neighbors and simply angelic, extremely cultured.

 

752

01:51:39,039 --> 01:51:41,560

He a critic and translator of Turgenev,

 

753

01:51:41,560 --> 01:51:45,560

she a painter, Chinese style, writer of short stories and

 

754

01:51:45,560 --> 01:51:49,359

editor of a literary page in one of the big Hankow papers.

 

755

01:51:49,960 --> 01:51:52,479

I gather she's called the Chinese Katherine Mansfield,

 

756

01:51:52,479 --> 01:51:54,640

but I fancy there's more to her really,

 

757

01:51:54,640 --> 01:51:56,880

though she's very quiet and gentle..."

 

758

01:52:03,640 --> 01:52:06,079

Though he was fascinated by China and

 

759

01:52:06,079 --> 01:52:10,039

and told his correspondents of his sailing on the East Lake

 

760

01:52:10,039 --> 01:52:13,560

his trekking in Tibet and other adventures,

 

761

01:52:13,560 --> 01:52:16,239

he actually had very limited knowledge

 

762

01:52:16,239 --> 01:52:18,239

on Chinese language and culture,

 

763

01:52:19,279 --> 01:52:21,439

and described his situation to Virginia

 

764

01:52:21,439 --> 01:52:23,479

as a 'provincial' one.

 

765

01:52:28,279 --> 01:52:32,119

"Do you make friends with the Chinks?  The students, I mean.

 

766

01:52:33,920 --> 01:52:35,920

It all seems like a seraphic scene

 

767

01:52:35,920 --> 01:52:37,800

on a blue China plate to me."

 

768

01:52:38,920 --> 01:52:42,840

"There's no real culture even in faintly foreign society.

 

769

01:52:42,840 --> 01:52:46,399

And the Chinese are, I feel, very different

 

770

01:52:46,399 --> 01:52:49,319

if one wants intimacy of intellectual conversation."

 

771

01:52:49,800 --> 01:52:51,399

"Now I suppose you're teaching the Chinks

 

772

01:52:51,399 --> 01:52:52,920

about Mrs. Gaskell,

 

773

01:52:52,920 --> 01:52:54,680

which seems an odd thing to do."

 

774

01:52:55,199 --> 01:52:58,359

"At least these rather stiff and provincial academics are."

 

775

01:52:58,680 --> 01:52:59,800

"I feel instinctively

 

776

01:52:59,800 --> 01:53:02,079

that China is a little like a blue pot,

 

777

01:53:02,600 --> 01:53:05,279

love a little flowery, learning a little scented."

 

778

01:53:05,520 --> 01:53:07,479

"Beiping (Peking) is utterly different.

 

779

01:53:07,479 --> 01:53:10,079

There are genuine, flexible Chinese,

 

780

01:53:10,079 --> 01:53:12,319

some intelligent foreigners mix with them."

 

781

01:53:19,640 --> 01:53:22,079

"I can't help feeling you were a little dismal

 

782

01:53:22,079 --> 01:53:23,119

when you wrote it.

 

783

01:53:23,800 --> 01:53:25,800

I hope now you're not dismal.

 

784

01:53:26,800 --> 01:53:30,359

Still it's a curse your being so far away.

 

785

01:53:32,199 --> 01:53:34,399

And then I expect the mitigated culture

 

786

01:53:34,399 --> 01:53:36,920

of your university is rather like skimmed milk.

 

787

01:53:38,239 --> 01:53:40,560

That's what some of the other English professors felt,

 

788

01:53:40,560 --> 01:53:41,319

I know.

 

789

01:53:43,880 --> 01:53:46,279

I expect you will be much better when you ride off

 

790

01:53:46,279 --> 01:53:48,560

into the wilds with your charming student.

 

791

01:53:56,119 --> 01:53:58,600

And I expect in after years

 

792

01:53:58,600 --> 01:54:02,000

the reality will seem much more exciting than it does now.

 

793

01:54:03,239 --> 01:54:05,079

It will make a background.

 

794

01:54:09,479 --> 01:54:12,000

In fact, I think you're much to be envied.

 

795

01:54:13,039 --> 01:54:16,079

I wish I had spent three years in China at your age,

 

796

01:54:16,960 --> 01:54:21,560

but I shall write soon and do you too, love, V."

 

797

01:54:24,920 --> 01:54:29,000

But soon, in his exchanges with his King's College mate,

 

798

01:54:29,960 --> 01:54:33,079

he confesses that he is getting into what he calls

 

799

01:54:33,079 --> 01:54:35,319

"a delicate situation ...

 

800

01:54:35,319 --> 01:54:37,399

with the nicest woman I've ever met,

 

801

01:54:37,399 --> 01:54:39,800

Shuhua, my dean's wife.

 

802

01:54:39,800 --> 01:54:43,720

She's as sensitive as Virginia is, intelligent,      

 

803

01:54:43,720 --> 01:54:47,000

as nice or nicer than anyone I know is,

 

804

01:54:49,199 --> 01:54:51,479

not pretty but attracts me,

 

805

01:54:51,479 --> 01:54:53,479

a Chinese Bloomsburian."

 

806

01:54:58,960 --> 01:55:01,079

To which his mate replies,

 

807

01:55:01,359 --> 01:55:04,239

anglicizing Shuhua's name to Sue,

 

808

01:55:05,600 --> 01:55:08,279

"Sue seems from your description to be everything

 

809

01:55:08,279 --> 01:55:10,399

one expects the Chinese not to be.

 

810

01:55:10,840 --> 01:55:13,880

One thinks of them as calm, infinitely experienced,

 

811

01:55:13,880 --> 01:55:17,000

reliable, rather literary in their emotions.

 

812

01:55:18,000 --> 01:55:21,479

But Sue sounds as if she wouldn't be at all out of place

 

813

01:55:21,479 --> 01:55:23,640

in the love life of Cambridge.

 

814

01:55:25,680 --> 01:55:27,039

However, I recognize that,

 

815

01:55:27,039 --> 01:55:30,079

however great Confucius may be as a sage,

 

816

01:55:30,079 --> 01:55:31,840

one could imagine better mistresses

 

817

01:55:31,840 --> 01:55:33,880

than those shaped in his likeness."

 

818

01:55:37,800 --> 01:55:41,319

"I'm gloomy at being 28 and so little done.

 

819

01:55:41,319 --> 01:55:43,880

I feel less like the Chinese idea of a poet

 

820

01:55:43,880 --> 01:55:45,560

than words can express.

 

821

01:55:46,640 --> 01:55:49,600

Well anyway, I've got two years before I'm 30

 

822

01:55:49,600 --> 01:55:51,640

and definitely middle-aged

 

823

01:55:51,640 --> 01:55:54,239

and Stephen's are allowed to begin late.

 

824

01:55:57,279 --> 01:55:59,159

Shall I, with Sue's help,

 

825

01:55:59,159 --> 01:56:02,119

invent a Chinese personage and invent a life of him?"

 

826

01:56:03,800 --> 01:56:06,760

Invent a personage and invent a life of him?

 

827

01:56:07,239 --> 01:56:10,399

Why does it make me think that the two Stephen boys,

 

828

01:56:10,399 --> 01:56:14,640

Julian and Henry, could almost have had genes in common?

 

829

01:56:16,399 --> 01:56:20,279

"Ma vie amoureuse had reached a point of sheer fantasy

 

830

01:56:20,279 --> 01:56:23,239

that you wouldn't swallow in a restoration play

 

831

01:56:23,239 --> 01:56:25,319

and which has forced me to resign.

 

832

01:56:29,960 --> 01:56:32,560

While Julian promised the wronged husband

 

833

01:56:32,560 --> 01:56:35,199

not to see his wife again,

 

834

01:56:35,199 --> 01:56:37,000

they actually planned together

 

835

01:56:37,000 --> 01:56:41,000

a last secret rendez-vous to say goodbye.

 

836

01:56:41,960 --> 01:56:45,119

This was to take place in Hong Kong from where

 

837

01:56:45,119 --> 01:56:48,359

   Julian's ship was to sail for Marseille.

 

838

01:57:12,680 --> 01:57:15,119

Listening to Julie singing carelessly

 

839

01:57:15,119 --> 01:57:18,399

on our last night in our Wuhan hotel room

 

840

01:57:18,399 --> 01:57:20,800

I wonder how much of this mini-series

 

841

01:57:20,800 --> 01:57:23,960

of the golden Stephen boy matters to her?

 

842

01:57:32,840 --> 01:57:35,880

Julie who is part of a younger generation

 

843

01:57:35,880 --> 01:57:39,159

from parents of immigration background,

 

844

01:57:39,159 --> 01:57:43,359

fearlessly embracing diversity and never for a moment

 

845

01:57:43,359 --> 01:57:46,399

accepting belittlement or condescension,

 

846

01:57:46,399 --> 01:57:48,680

what's really her take on this?

 

847

01:58:10,119 --> 01:58:14,119

Julian and Shuhua spent a last few days together

 

848

01:58:14,119 --> 01:58:15,239

in Hong Kong.

 

849

01:58:15,760 --> 01:58:18,800

They celebrated his birthday before he sailed away

 

850

01:58:18,800 --> 01:58:22,000

back to England via Marseille.

 

851

01:58:31,000 --> 01:58:34,359

The logistics of this secret meeting was organised

 

852

01:58:34,359 --> 01:58:37,640

by a young amateur writer in Hong Kong,

 

853

01:58:37,640 --> 01:58:41,479

one of Ling Shuhua's literary fans.

 

854

01:58:41,960 --> 01:58:45,479

Her pen name was ... Miss Petrel.

 

855

01:58:55,159 --> 01:58:57,479

Almost two decades later,

 

856

01:58:57,479 --> 01:59:00,720

Miss Petrel would see her own daughters off

 

857

01:59:00,720 --> 01:59:03,960

on the same wharf to go to England to study,

 

858

01:59:03,960 --> 01:59:06,600

a privilege indicating that by then,

 

859

01:59:06,600 --> 01:59:08,800

some years after WWII,

 

860

01:59:08,800 --> 01:59:10,960

the family could afford to do so.

 

861

01:59:11,399 --> 01:59:16,439

Her name had become Mrs. Hilda Stephen, my mother.

 

862

01:59:21,039 --> 01:59:23,600

But first they would have to endure

 

863

01:59:23,600 --> 01:59:26,199

the infamous three years and eight months

 

864

01:59:26,199 --> 01:59:28,479

called the Fall of Hong Kong.

 

865

01:59:50,159 --> 01:59:53,199

There were no  more stills in the photo albums

 

866

01:59:53,199 --> 01:59:56,319

when the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong started.

 

867

02:00:02,560 --> 02:00:08,199

The first reel of 8mm movie is dated 1949 after the war.

 

868

02:00:08,840 --> 02:00:12,399

During the occupation, the journals continued

 

869

02:00:12,399 --> 02:00:16,439

to document the times of fear and privations

 

870

02:00:16,439 --> 02:00:18,960

when they closed up their new business

 

871

02:00:18,960 --> 02:00:21,439

and took to selling fried peanuts

 

872

02:00:21,439 --> 02:00:23,720

and street foods to survive.

 

873

02:00:24,359 --> 02:00:28,359

Brother David born in the midst of bombardments,

 

874

02:00:28,359 --> 02:00:32,800

other family tragedies of arrest, torture and deaths.

 

875

02:00:33,000 --> 02:00:36,479

The journals took in the tears and the rage,

 

876

02:00:36,920 --> 02:00:39,199

whether first-hand or recopied.

 

877

02:00:46,359 --> 02:00:49,760

Henry and Hilda, now become Stephen,

 

878

02:00:49,760 --> 02:00:53,439

prospered in the building boom of the post-war years

 

879

02:00:53,439 --> 02:00:55,840

with their company called Friends,

 

880

02:00:55,840 --> 02:00:59,840

selling bathroom equipment, mosaic tilings,

 

881

02:00:59,840 --> 02:01:02,640

and other construction materials.

 

882

02:01:05,039 --> 02:01:07,880

At the foot of their social ascension,

 

883

02:01:07,880 --> 02:01:12,119

Henry Stephen also left his previous Chinese name behind,

 

884

02:01:12,119 --> 02:01:15,199

'Snowy Mountain Summit',

 

885

02:01:15,199 --> 02:01:18,119

and with Hilda's help, changes it to

 

886

02:01:18,119 --> 02:01:20,920

'Reaching for the Clouds',

 

887

02:01:20,920 --> 02:01:23,760

a name to propel forward.

 

888

02:01:25,560 --> 02:01:29,439

Hilda abandoned Miss Petrel and Miss Eiko,

 

889

02:01:29,439 --> 02:01:32,079

and any other pen names that I didn't find.

 

890

02:01:32,640 --> 02:01:36,239

She became 'Bamboo Gentleman',

 

891

02:01:36,680 --> 02:01:39,359

a name quite appropriate for her ideal

 

892

02:01:39,359 --> 02:01:42,119

of the modern new woman as championed

 

893

02:01:42,119 --> 02:01:44,199

by writers like her idols,

 

894

02:01:44,199 --> 02:01:46,680

Ling Shuhua or Virginia Woolf.

 

895

02:01:48,279 --> 02:01:50,520

She oversaw the whole enterprise

 

896

02:01:50,520 --> 02:01:51,960

which kept growing.

 

897

02:01:55,279 --> 02:01:57,920

It's a breathless transformation

 

898

02:01:57,920 --> 02:02:00,720

from poetess to businesswoman.

 

899

02:02:02,239 --> 02:02:05,039

But did she see beauty and poetry

 

900

02:02:05,039 --> 02:02:09,840

in these new surroundings of tilings, mosaics or ceramics?

 

901

02:02:20,039 --> 02:02:24,720

Life as documented on my father's films, was punctuated

 

902

02:02:24,720 --> 02:02:29,239

by repeated sequences of cozy domestic events,

 

903

02:02:29,239 --> 02:02:32,319

or celebrations and special occasions,

 

904

02:02:32,319 --> 02:02:34,880

to outings in a car with a driver.

 

905

02:02:42,279 --> 02:02:47,359

A favorite subject was the expedition to the movie theatres.

 

906

02:02:47,359 --> 02:02:50,880

On these images I see that, already before the arrival of

 

907

02:02:50,880 --> 02:02:56,119

the last two Stephen babies, myself and my younger sister,

 

908

02:02:56,119 --> 02:03:00,600

the Stephen family was a devoted consumer of western movies.

 

909

02:03:03,920 --> 02:03:07,399

Even before obtaining more substantial prosperity  

 

910

02:03:07,399 --> 02:03:12,039

and social status, it seems never to occur to Henry or Hilda

 

911

02:03:12,039 --> 02:03:14,239

to go see anything else other than

 

912

02:03:14,239 --> 02:03:16,720

the latest Hollywood offerings.

 

913

02:03:21,880 --> 02:03:24,800

As far as I can remember, we never went

 

914

02:03:24,800 --> 02:03:28,880

to see Mandarin-language films, though these were popular

 

915

02:03:28,880 --> 02:03:31,880

with the staff at my parents' company.

 

916

02:03:31,880 --> 02:03:36,279

And certainly never ever the Cantonese-speaking ones,    

 

917

02:03:36,279 --> 02:03:40,680

made quickly and widely popular with the general population.

 

918

02:03:47,680 --> 02:03:50,800

There were lots of entertaining of foreign clients

 

919

02:03:50,800 --> 02:03:53,479

who were to confer to Friends Company

 

920

02:03:53,479 --> 02:03:56,520

exclusive concession of their prestigious brand of

 

921

02:03:56,520 --> 02:04:01,119

bathroom fixtures from Germany, Japan or America.

 

922

02:04:07,760 --> 02:04:10,319

They greatly enjoyed being taken around

 

923

02:04:10,319 --> 02:04:13,079

to see fishing villages, beaches,

 

924

02:04:13,079 --> 02:04:15,640

kitsch Tiger Balm Garden

 

925

02:04:15,640 --> 02:04:18,960

in the company of the first pair of Stephen sisters

 

926

02:04:18,960 --> 02:04:20,840

who went to English schools

 

927

02:04:20,840 --> 02:04:24,039

and so were able to converse with them with ease.

 

928

02:04:30,840 --> 02:04:33,399

Whether they felt more at ease doing business

 

929

02:04:33,399 --> 02:04:36,640

with a Mr. Stephen, I have no idea.

 

930

02:04:37,680 --> 02:04:41,960

Was the name some kind of a bridge or a safety net

 

931

02:04:41,960 --> 02:04:45,239

that made them feel like we were on the same continent,

 

932

02:04:45,600 --> 02:04:48,520

even as they might have been somewhat overwhelmed

 

933

02:04:49,000 --> 02:04:52,199

by the exotic and confusing surroundings?

 

934

02:05:26,000 --> 02:05:30,600

We were climbing up, but the summit was not for us to reach.

 

935

02:05:31,199 --> 02:05:34,479

There were two categories we could never equal.

 

936

02:05:35,119 --> 02:05:40,239

The anciently rich, strongly-reputed Chinese families

 

937

02:05:40,239 --> 02:05:44,159

who have accumulated their wealth and influence

 

938

02:05:44,159 --> 02:05:48,439

from generation to generation and are highly respected

 

939

02:05:48,439 --> 02:05:51,239

by the colonial government who knows that

 

940

02:05:51,239 --> 02:05:55,119

they are an important local ally to reckon with.

 

941

02:06:08,680 --> 02:06:12,840

The 2nd category is the middle-class white families

 

942

02:06:12,840 --> 02:06:16,359

living their best life in privileged conditions

 

943

02:06:16,359 --> 02:06:19,399

that they could not easily attain back home.

 

944

02:06:19,399 --> 02:06:22,680

Privileges that come with their expat jobs,

 

945

02:06:22,680 --> 02:06:25,920

or administrative positions in the British colony.

 

946

02:06:42,520 --> 02:06:45,399

There must have been something very ambivalent

 

947

02:06:45,399 --> 02:06:48,800

in assuming such a British name against this background.

 

948

02:06:49,920 --> 02:06:52,239

The obsession with documenting everything

 

949

02:06:52,239 --> 02:06:56,039

in words and images, keeping a record

 

950

02:06:56,039 --> 02:07:00,119

but one which has been airbrushed, glamour-filtered.

 

951

02:07:01,600 --> 02:07:04,720

Of course, we can also provide a perfect shot

 

952

02:07:04,720 --> 02:07:06,560

with some accessories.

 

953

02:07:29,479 --> 02:07:34,399

When we arrived on the scene, myself and my younger sister,

 

954

02:07:34,399 --> 02:07:36,880

my parents were already well on their way

 

955

02:07:36,880 --> 02:07:39,600

to a more socially prominent life.

 

956

02:07:49,199 --> 02:07:52,520

The young Stephen sisters each had a 'governess',

 

957

02:07:52,520 --> 02:07:55,600

according to proper British terminology.

 

958

02:07:56,600 --> 02:08:00,640

We hardly practised any Chinese customs with our parents

 

959

02:08:00,640 --> 02:08:03,920

as in my friends' traditional Chinese homes.

 

960

02:08:04,520 --> 02:08:09,159

We didn't eat Zongzi dumplings for dragon boat festivals,

 

961

02:08:09,159 --> 02:08:11,920

didn't go sweep ancestors' tombs,

 

962

02:08:11,920 --> 02:08:14,520

didn't gather for a family reunion meal

 

963

02:08:14,520 --> 02:08:16,239

before mid-autumn moon.

 

964

02:08:17,199 --> 02:08:18,840

But was this really so?

 

965

02:08:24,159 --> 02:08:26,159

It was said that as a Stephen,

 

966

02:08:26,560 --> 02:08:29,560

it would be easier to get privileged treatment

 

967

02:08:29,560 --> 02:08:31,319

in many circumstances,

 

968

02:08:31,680 --> 02:08:34,760

and eventually would facilitate emigration.

 

969

02:08:38,800 --> 02:08:43,000

A long time before we physically emigrated to land unknown,

 

970

02:08:44,000 --> 02:08:47,760

we seemed to have already emigrated to an imaginary land

 

971

02:08:48,119 --> 02:08:50,199

that didn't have the same social

 

972

02:08:50,199 --> 02:08:52,199

and cultural codes.

 

973

02:09:09,359 --> 02:09:12,680

We grew up with the obligatory piano lessons.

 

974

02:09:20,720 --> 02:09:22,439

At the same time,

 

975

02:09:22,439 --> 02:09:26,960

Henry and Hilda Stephen became notables of society,

 

976

02:09:26,960 --> 02:09:30,680

participating in charities and other worthy causes.

 

 

977

02:09:33,000 --> 02:09:36,720

Would there have been any fast lane or special treatment

 

978

02:09:36,720 --> 02:09:40,319

in wearing an English surname in those post-war years?

 

979

02:09:41,760 --> 02:09:44,640

It is certain that the origins of the name

 

980

02:09:44,640 --> 02:09:49,039

became a sort of urban legend, much speculated about.

 

981

02:09:50,119 --> 02:09:53,359

After all, some of Hong Kong's most prominent and

 

982

02:09:53,359 --> 02:09:58,520

richest families hail from foreign or mixed ancestry.

 

983

02:10:01,920 --> 02:10:04,319

I can only surmise that it would have been

 

984

02:10:04,319 --> 02:10:07,079

  an inspired and studied choice.

 

985

02:10:17,600 --> 02:10:21,039

It now gives flesh to what 7th aunt said,

 

986

02:10:21,600 --> 02:10:24,000

"They wrote the story together."

 

987

02:11:40,319 --> 02:11:42,800

Across the street from the three-storey house

 

988

02:11:42,800 --> 02:11:45,920

in the old style, where we lived until we moved on

 

989

02:11:45,920 --> 02:11:50,199

to the Repulse Bay residence, was a hillside of shantytown.

 

990

02:11:52,079 --> 02:11:54,760

I watched the people there meandering in the path

 

991

02:11:54,760 --> 02:11:56,640

to their makeshift homes,

 

992

02:11:56,640 --> 02:12:00,640

carrying their buckets of water from the street faucets.

 

993

02:12:04,000 --> 02:12:07,199

There were two boys from our class in primary school.

 

994

02:12:08,159 --> 02:12:12,880

One had a piano at home, the other was on scholarship

 

995

02:12:12,880 --> 02:12:15,319

and lived in one of those wooden shacks.

 

996

02:12:17,359 --> 02:12:21,520

I drew a picture of this boy and me,  prince and princess,

 

997

02:12:21,520 --> 02:12:23,960

in an imaginary perfect world.

 

998

02:12:25,159 --> 02:12:28,760

He refused any pity or offer of help.

 

999

02:12:29,520 --> 02:12:32,560

Too much charity, too much fantasy.

 

1000

02:12:33,560 --> 02:12:36,039

I often wonder where he might be today.

 

1001

02:12:39,920 --> 02:12:41,239

For the other boy,

 

1002

02:12:41,239 --> 02:12:44,920

I know very well where he is, emigrated and secure.

 

1003

02:12:45,560 --> 02:12:48,000

He treated me to a wonderful day of outing

 

1004

02:12:48,000 --> 02:12:49,960

in his new country when I went there

 

1005

02:12:49,960 --> 02:12:52,119

to do an editing seminar.

 

1006

02:14:42,600 --> 02:14:44,439

Every year on the anniversary

 

1007

02:14:44,439 --> 02:14:47,239

of Henry and Hilda's engagement,

 

1008

02:14:47,239 --> 02:14:48,800

which they consider to be

 

1009

02:14:48,800 --> 02:14:51,760

the founding of Friends Company,

 

1010

02:14:51,760 --> 02:14:53,680

they hold a big banquet at home

 

1011

02:14:53,680 --> 02:14:56,560

with their close associates and their employees.

 

1012

02:15:08,000 --> 02:15:10,159

There are familiar faces every year

 

1013

02:15:10,159 --> 02:15:12,199

coming through that door,

 

1014

02:15:12,199 --> 02:15:15,119

like the family's Shanghainese lawyer friend,

 

1015

02:15:15,119 --> 02:15:17,840

the electrical or plumbing contractors that

 

1016

02:15:17,840 --> 02:15:21,359

Henry has worked with since his difficult beginnings,

 

1017

02:15:21,359 --> 02:15:25,119

the secretaries and accountants, the loyal driver,

 

1018

02:15:27,680 --> 02:15:29,720

our returning older siblings

 

1019

02:15:29,720 --> 02:15:31,840

from their higher education abroad,

 

1020

02:15:34,560 --> 02:15:37,439

our governesses, our grandma.

 

1021

02:16:04,279 --> 02:16:06,880

My maternal grandma was a concubine

 

1022

02:16:06,880 --> 02:16:09,119

in a traditional Chinese household.

 

1023

02:16:10,119 --> 02:16:12,199

I remember my mother saying,

 

1024

02:16:12,199 --> 02:16:14,640

"She never had a day of happiness."

 

1025

02:16:15,439 --> 02:16:17,199

I remember her wrapping herself

 

1026

02:16:17,199 --> 02:16:19,760

around the radio post in the living room

 

1027

02:16:19,760 --> 02:16:23,600

to listen to her favorite Cantonese operas.

 

1028

02:16:26,359 --> 02:16:28,199

She passed away before we moved

 

1029

02:16:28,199 --> 02:16:30,319

to the new Repulse Bay home.

 

1030

02:16:30,960 --> 02:16:32,760

We were never told her name

 

1031

02:16:33,280 --> 02:16:36,559

I don't remember anyone going to sweep her tomb.

 

1032

02:16:39,799 --> 02:16:42,639

Decades later, on a trip back,

 

1033

02:16:42,639 --> 02:16:44,879

I went to look for her tomb

 

1034

02:16:44,879 --> 02:16:47,719

and later realized I had paid homage

 

1035

02:16:47,719 --> 02:16:51,719

to the wrong grave in the wrong cemetery.

 

1036

02:16:54,760 --> 02:16:56,879

Sometimes I wonder what she thought of her daughter

 

1037

02:16:56,879 --> 02:16:59,799

becoming a Mrs. Stephen

 

1038

02:16:59,799 --> 02:17:03,959

without having to marry a 'gweilo' :  'foreign ghost',

 

1039

02:17:03,959 --> 02:17:06,600

how we call westerners in Cantonese.

 

1040

02:17:09,079 --> 02:17:14,760

All these episodes, amply preserved in the filmed images,

 

1041

02:17:14,760 --> 02:17:18,559

with big movie lights directed towards the guests!

 

1042

02:17:19,040 --> 02:17:22,079

Are images invariably misleading?

 

1043

02:17:22,520 --> 02:17:26,040

We can only be the most gullible of onlookers

 

1044

02:17:26,200 --> 02:17:29,600

in front of what I imagine to be an innocent image.

 

1045

02:17:30,040 --> 02:17:34,040

There is the perfect lighting,  mise-en-scene of daily life,

 

1046

02:17:34,280 --> 02:17:38,600

parents playing with children, children playing with dogs,

 

1047

02:17:38,600 --> 02:17:42,639

everybody playing their part and playing along.

 

1048

02:17:44,239 --> 02:17:47,399

What if I remember fragments contrary to the

 

1049

02:17:47,399 --> 02:17:51,680

fun and glamour immortalised in these images?

 

1050

02:17:52,040 --> 02:17:55,840

Where is the proof?  How can I trust my memory?

 

 

1051

02:17:56,319 --> 02:17:58,840

The very truth is in front of my eyes, in these reels.

 

1052

02:17:58,840 --> 02:18:00,920

The very truth is in front of my eyes, in these reels.

 

1053

02:18:00,920 --> 02:18:02,959

It IS the only proof.

 

1054

02:18:39,159 --> 02:18:41,360

The banquets ceased when they ascended

 

1055

02:18:41,360 --> 02:18:44,959

to the last summit at Repulse Bay.

 

1056

02:18:44,959 --> 02:18:46,680

The films ended here.

 

1057

02:18:47,799 --> 02:18:50,479

In our memory, there were no more banquets

 

1058

02:18:50,479 --> 02:18:53,600

for the employees and old contractor friends

 

1059

02:18:53,600 --> 02:18:57,040

drinking themselves to filmed embarrassment.

 

1060

02:19:10,079 --> 02:19:14,079

And as we ascend, the neighborhoods become whiter.

 

1061

02:19:15,200 --> 02:19:18,520

Even Chinese friends who came to the Repulse Bay home

 

1062

02:19:18,520 --> 02:19:21,360

seem to have smoother, whiter skins.

 

1063

02:19:22,360 --> 02:19:26,680

Our house was quiet, meticulously decorated,

 

1064

02:19:26,680 --> 02:19:29,680

the piano in its proper place with a lace cloth

 

1065

02:19:29,680 --> 02:19:32,280

draped over the top.

 

1066

02:19:32,280 --> 02:19:35,239

Paintings, Chinese scrolls and embroideries

 

1067

02:19:35,239 --> 02:19:37,600

were commissioned for the new residence.

 

1068

02:19:38,319 --> 02:19:41,639

A microphone was set up permanently near the kitchen

 

1069

02:19:41,639 --> 02:19:44,440

so that Henry could monitor all conversations

 

1070

02:19:44,440 --> 02:19:47,879

between the cook and the housekeeper during the day.

 

1071

02:20:28,520 --> 02:20:31,959

Why were there no longer the boisterous dinner parties?

 

1072

02:20:32,680 --> 02:20:36,280

No more beach outings nor picnics in the countryside?

 

1073

02:20:36,959 --> 02:20:40,520

Is there a protocol of living in the highest spheres

 

1074

02:20:40,520 --> 02:20:43,200

that dictates a certain code of conduct?

 

1075

02:20:44,879 --> 02:20:48,319

When I'm looking from this side of my own life,

 

1076

02:20:48,319 --> 02:20:52,360

towards a time and a place where I no longer,

 

1077

02:20:52,360 --> 02:20:56,479

or never did, possess the codes or the keys,

 

1078

02:20:56,479 --> 02:21:00,360

there are as many, or even more, unanswered questions

 

1079

02:21:00,360 --> 02:21:03,120

as when I started investigating.

 

1080

02:21:10,040 --> 02:21:14,360

We now became friends with American and British children.

 

1081

02:21:14,360 --> 02:21:16,799

I went to the American Church service

 

1082

02:21:16,799 --> 02:21:21,520

at the Repulse Bay Hotel with my new young blonde friends.

 

1083

02:21:21,520 --> 02:21:25,440

I was caught unawares when the donation basket came along,

 

1084

02:21:25,440 --> 02:21:27,360

and instead of the closed box

 

1085

02:21:27,360 --> 02:21:29,920

in our Chinese Protestant churches,

 

1086

02:21:29,920 --> 02:21:31,959

this was an open basket.

 

1087

02:21:31,959 --> 02:21:35,000

I panicked to see full dollar bills in it.

 

1088

02:21:35,000 --> 02:21:37,680

I tried to shove my few coins quickly

 

1089

02:21:37,680 --> 02:21:40,879

to hide under the others' carefree dollar bills.

 

1090

02:21:53,280 --> 02:21:55,559

The driver came early each morning

 

1091

02:21:55,559 --> 02:21:58,600

to take Hilda to a pre-breakfast swim

 

1092

02:21:58,600 --> 02:22:01,959

on the beach below with other early morning swimmers

 

1093

02:22:01,959 --> 02:22:04,840

from the well-appointed residences around.

 

1094

02:22:05,920 --> 02:22:09,079

The drivers wait while the masters swim,

 

1095

02:22:09,079 --> 02:22:11,559

chat and buy fish from the boats.

 

1096

02:22:16,120 --> 02:22:19,200

One day before departing on her morning swim,

 

1097

02:22:19,719 --> 02:22:23,159

a loud thud was heard outside our dining room

 

1098

02:22:23,159 --> 02:22:27,079

adjacent to the kitchen and the servants' tiny quarters.

 

1099

02:22:27,920 --> 02:22:30,280

A servant girl from our upstairs neighbours

 

1100

02:22:30,280 --> 02:22:34,040

on the 10th floor had just jumped from the window

 

1101

02:22:34,040 --> 02:22:37,120

and lay in her pool of blood below.

 

1102

02:22:38,040 --> 02:22:40,000

Henry tells Hilda not to look that way

 

1103

02:22:40,000 --> 02:22:41,760

when she goes to the car.

 

1104

02:22:42,799 --> 02:22:46,559

Stories circulated about the illiterate girl from China

 

1105

02:22:46,559 --> 02:22:48,799

abused by her boss.

 

1106

02:22:54,840 --> 02:22:57,840

Usually Hilda would get home for breakfast

 

1107

02:22:57,840 --> 02:23:00,959

and take her time to ready herself for office

 

1108

02:23:00,959 --> 02:23:03,280

while listening to a small audio recording

 

1109

02:23:03,280 --> 02:23:04,920

of English lessons.

 

1110

02:23:06,239 --> 02:23:08,760

From an elementary school teacher

 

1111

02:23:08,760 --> 02:23:12,360

to half of a respectable high society tandem,

 

1112

02:23:13,000 --> 02:23:15,760

it was a long and one-way road.

 

1113

02:23:16,680 --> 02:23:18,959

Family urban legend or not,

 

1114

02:23:18,959 --> 02:23:21,840

my 7th aunt always told her children

 

1115

02:23:21,840 --> 02:23:23,879

that my mother peddled her poems

 

1116

02:23:23,879 --> 02:23:26,000

on the Star Ferry crossings.

 

1117

02:23:29,040 --> 02:23:34,200

But Hilda, mother, where is your voice really?

 

1118

02:23:34,719 --> 02:23:37,600

Are you heard only behind the pseudonym of Miss Petrel,

 

1119

02:23:37,600 --> 02:23:39,360

the fearless seabird?

 

1120

02:23:39,879 --> 02:23:43,360

Why a strong modern woman that you proclaim to be

 

1121

02:23:43,360 --> 02:23:46,479

left practically nothing of written legacy?

 

1122

02:23:46,760 --> 02:23:50,440

Where are your black and red or journals of other colors?

 

1123

02:23:51,399 --> 02:23:54,799

Ghostwriting part of Henry's reinvented black journals

 

1124

02:23:54,799 --> 02:23:56,280

of the pre-war years,

 

1125

02:23:56,719 --> 02:23:59,040

I recognize your writing style.

 

1126

02:23:59,799 --> 02:24:02,280

Four hands, joint in complicity,

 

1127

02:24:02,280 --> 02:24:04,200

to rewrite a family history.

 

1128

02:24:05,120 --> 02:24:08,760

Is that your only concrete act of being a new woman?

 

1129

02:24:10,760 --> 02:24:13,719

You helped connect our name to the other icon

 

1130

02:24:13,719 --> 02:24:16,600

of the new woman, but what of it?

 

1131

02:24:17,600 --> 02:24:21,319

Between you and Virginia, the fearless new women,

 

1132

02:24:21,319 --> 02:24:23,440

one bearing her husband's name,

 

1133

02:24:23,440 --> 02:24:26,959

walked into a river with a pocket full of stones.

 

1134

02:24:28,120 --> 02:24:31,280

The other never pursued her writing dreams

 

1135

02:24:31,280 --> 02:24:35,360

further than writing up an Australian aboriginal story

 

1136

02:24:35,360 --> 02:24:39,680

for her fabulist husband, who, in my own memories,

 

1137

02:24:39,680 --> 02:24:42,200

needed more help in anger-control issues

 

1138

02:24:42,200 --> 02:24:43,559

than in storytelling?

 

1139

02:24:47,319 --> 02:24:49,920

What message does this contradiction send

 

1140

02:24:49,920 --> 02:24:54,000

to your female offsprings when we try to find our voice

 

1141

02:24:54,000 --> 02:24:58,040

and our place on the sexual and racial battlegrounds?

 

1142

02:24:58,879 --> 02:25:02,559

Or, are certain behaviors simply regarded as

 

1143

02:25:02,559 --> 02:25:05,520

generally-accepted cultural practices

 

1144

02:25:05,520 --> 02:25:08,639

of a certain region and a certain era?

 

1145

02:25:09,520 --> 02:25:12,639

This, no matter how much my brother and I

 

1146

02:25:12,639 --> 02:25:15,479

still hear the cries and whispers,

 

1147

02:25:15,479 --> 02:25:20,079

the shouts and the whish of the bamboo duster on skin,

 

1148

02:25:20,079 --> 02:25:24,000

a soundtrack forgotten in the editing manoeuvres.

 

1149

02:25:24,559 --> 02:25:26,680

Perhaps these new women paved the road

 

1150

02:25:26,680 --> 02:25:30,600

for us their daughters and their sons,

 

1151

02:25:30,600 --> 02:25:33,440

not by example, but by their regrets?

 

1152

02:25:34,200 --> 02:25:38,559

We would have to go through our own baptism by fire,

 

1153

02:25:38,559 --> 02:25:42,120

before we would realise that, sustained and inspired

 

1154

02:25:42,120 --> 02:25:44,799

by the force of your regrets,

 

1155

02:25:44,799 --> 02:25:48,200

we can transcend any repetitive karma,  

 

1156

02:25:48,200 --> 02:25:50,559

supposedly inevitable,

 

1157

02:25:50,559 --> 02:25:52,239

and live differently.

 

1158

02:25:54,600 --> 02:25:55,959

"Nessa dearest,

 

1159

02:25:56,520 --> 02:25:58,600

You did say you had to go to Cassis?

 

1160

02:25:59,639 --> 02:26:01,680

You know I must see you.

 

1161

02:26:04,280 --> 02:26:08,319

It's so much best if we can meet there, make plans,

 

1162

02:26:08,319 --> 02:26:09,879

and the Bergère would be nice."

 

1163

02:26:10,799 --> 02:26:13,680

The stones here in the south of France

 

1164

02:26:13,680 --> 02:26:17,120

where our shadow sisters, Vanessa and Virginia,  

 

1165

02:26:17,120 --> 02:26:20,280

spent their summers still feel warm.

 

1166

02:26:20,719 --> 02:26:22,760

"I'll see what can be done about writing on route,

 

1167

02:26:22,760 --> 02:26:24,239

and also from Hong Kong.

 

1168

02:26:24,799 --> 02:26:26,200

Love, Julian."

 

1169

02:26:27,799 --> 02:26:31,200

Their presence still imprinted in these sands,

 

1170

02:26:31,760 --> 02:26:33,239

their words still heard.

 

1171

02:26:34,079 --> 02:26:35,719

"Oh, one thing more.

 

1172

02:26:35,719 --> 02:26:38,559

If you come out to Cassis, could you bring a big bottle

 

1173

02:26:38,559 --> 02:26:40,799

of Horlicks malted milk tablets?

 

1174

02:26:40,799 --> 02:26:43,440

I found they were the best form of concentrated food,

 

1175

02:26:43,440 --> 02:26:45,600

and I doubt you can get them in France."

 

1176

02:26:49,680 --> 02:26:52,520

The colors on Vanessa's hand-painted furniture

 

1177

02:26:52,520 --> 02:26:54,200

may still be fresh.

 

1178

02:26:55,399 --> 02:26:59,520

In the glimmering sea, I may still hear Julian as a child

 

1179

02:27:01,319 --> 02:27:04,280

I felt overwhelmed by a rush of emotions

 

1180

02:27:04,280 --> 02:27:06,200

that took me by surprise.

 

1181

02:27:07,000 --> 02:27:10,399

The ghosts are not pacified, they hover.

 

1182

02:27:10,920 --> 02:27:13,000

And why am I still subjugated?

 

1183

02:27:15,120 --> 02:27:18,440

For a moment, there was magical thinking

 

1184

02:27:18,440 --> 02:27:21,040

as if this other Stephen family were mine.

 

1185

02:27:22,440 --> 02:27:25,360

For a moment there might have been make-believe,

 

1186

02:27:26,159 --> 02:27:28,680

making believe in another reality,

 

1187

02:27:29,319 --> 02:27:30,680

in another self.

 

1188

02:27:33,319 --> 02:27:36,840

Is this kind of wishful thinking an automatic reflex

 

1189

02:27:36,840 --> 02:27:39,520

for those grown on a colonial soil?  

 

1190

02:27:40,760 --> 02:27:43,920

or is it just a leftover innocent habit

 

1191

02:27:43,920 --> 02:27:46,840

from the time we listened to bedtime stories?

 

1192

02:27:48,000 --> 02:27:50,760

Is this need for Western validation

 

1193

02:27:50,760 --> 02:27:54,280

and identification so ingrained

 

1194

02:27:54,280 --> 02:27:56,440

that I may still rush to embrace those

 

1195

02:27:56,440 --> 02:27:59,559

who have been speaking from a self-appointed,

 

1196

02:27:59,559 --> 02:28:02,079

higher cultural and moral ground?

 

1197

02:28:02,959 --> 02:28:03,959

Or did we,

 

1198

02:28:04,479 --> 02:28:08,040

do we give them that privileged position ourselves?

 

1199

02:28:11,799 --> 02:28:14,239

Have we come a long way, really?

 

1200

02:28:19,159 --> 02:28:22,000

Why does our work, our art, our science,

 

1201

02:28:22,000 --> 02:28:25,280

have to be validated in a Western festival,

 

1202

02:28:25,280 --> 02:28:27,680

an Occidental institution,

 

1203

02:28:27,680 --> 02:28:30,360

before we give it the value it deserves?

 

1204

02:28:31,360 --> 02:28:35,399

Why would a Ms. Stephen seem to weigh more in credibility

 

1205

02:28:35,399 --> 02:28:39,639

as an advisor in an Asian setting than a Ms. Chan?

 

1206

02:28:42,040 --> 02:28:46,000

Maybe I've come to represent a person of color

 

1207

02:28:46,000 --> 02:28:48,879

having 'made good' in the Western world.

 

1208

02:28:50,120 --> 02:28:53,600

It's rather hilarious that my professional life  

 

1209

02:28:53,600 --> 02:28:57,440

may have been helped by a case of mistaken identity,

 

1210

02:28:57,440 --> 02:29:00,680

just as Henry's name might have procured for him

 

1211

02:29:00,680 --> 02:29:01,799

extra value.

 

1212

02:29:02,520 --> 02:29:06,280

And perhaps finally things have come full circle.

 

1213

02:29:08,399 --> 02:29:11,479

On behalf of Reel Asian, I want to ongratulate you

 

1214

02:29:11,479 --> 02:29:14,680

on being the recipient of the 2023 Fire Horse Award.

 

1215

02:29:14,680 --> 02:29:17,680

I think of a young Asian woman trying to enter this

 

1216

02:29:17,680 --> 02:29:19,959

notoriously difficult film industry.

 

1217

02:29:19,959 --> 02:29:23,239

Even now, it's so rare to see an Asian woman on set.

 

1218

02:29:23,239 --> 02:29:26,840

Mary was doing it at a time when that just didn't happen.

 

1219

02:29:27,200 --> 02:29:29,639

I'm therefore deeply grateful

 

1220

02:29:29,639 --> 02:29:31,600

for the support and energy that I've always

 

1221

02:29:31,600 --> 02:29:35,280

received from the creative community here,

 

1222

02:29:35,280 --> 02:29:37,399

Asian and affiliated.

 

1223

02:29:37,680 --> 02:29:41,319

I was 15 when my family emigrated to Canada

 

1224

02:29:41,319 --> 02:29:45,840

and the questions of culture shock and displaced identity

 

1225

02:29:45,840 --> 02:29:49,000

became the main topics in my work.

 

1226

02:29:49,000 --> 02:29:51,600

I had to figure out where I stood.

 

1227

02:29:51,600 --> 02:29:55,559

whether my self-worth was dependent on my fitting in,

 

1228

02:29:55,559 --> 02:29:58,959

and whether my goal should be maximum integration

 

1229

02:29:58,959 --> 02:30:02,200

or integrity to my cultural origins

 

1230

02:30:03,319 --> 02:30:06,440

The loss of my mother tongue, Cantonese,

 

1231

02:30:06,440 --> 02:30:10,680

which I used for writing in student newspapers in Hong Kong,

 

1232

02:30:10,680 --> 02:30:14,120

was compensated in finding a new language,

 

1233

02:30:14,120 --> 02:30:15,399

the film language.

 

1234

02:30:19,520 --> 02:30:21,559

We'll never be able to pretend to be

 

1235

02:30:21,559 --> 02:30:24,799

like the other pair of Stephen sisters,

 

1236

02:30:25,239 --> 02:30:28,879

but of course, we are really the Stephen sisters,

 

1237

02:30:29,719 --> 02:30:32,719

and that's as much truth as truth stands.

 

1238

02:30:43,399 --> 02:30:46,920

Henry and Hilda Stephen reinvented themselves.

 

1239

02:30:46,920 --> 02:30:50,559

I'm just another teller of tall tales along the way.

 

1240

02:30:51,399 --> 02:30:55,440

I took liberties with the chronology of real documents,

 

1241

02:30:55,440 --> 02:30:58,639

slipping a few months on the calendar of facts,

 

1242

02:30:58,639 --> 02:31:03,680

while in reality Henry Stephen already existed as a Stephen

 

1243

02:31:03,680 --> 02:31:06,479

  in May of 1934,

 

1244

02:31:06,479 --> 02:31:10,520

months before he actually met Hilda in December.

 

1245

02:31:10,520 --> 02:31:13,399

And so the idea of the Stephen name

 

1246

02:31:14,000 --> 02:31:16,000

could not have come from my mother.

 

1247

02:31:16,959 --> 02:31:20,200

Hilda added her dash of imagination

 

1248

02:31:20,200 --> 02:31:23,680

and created a fabulous Australian backstory for him.

 

1249

02:31:25,799 --> 02:31:28,760

The fictional fan letter was concocted

 

1250

02:31:28,760 --> 02:31:33,000

by a willing accomplice, herself a woman of letters,  

 

1251

02:31:33,000 --> 02:31:34,159

my daughter-in-law.

 

1252

02:31:34,600 --> 02:31:38,360

We all owe debts to the Hilda's, the Shuhua's,

 

1253

02:31:38,360 --> 02:31:41,879

the Virginia's, who opened the road for us.

 

1254

02:31:42,639 --> 02:31:45,639

My twisting of the facts is my meager effort

 

1255

02:31:45,639 --> 02:31:49,040

to make Hilda the mastermind behind the change of name,

 

1256

02:31:49,040 --> 02:31:51,079

and with it, their destiny.

 

1257

02:32:27,440 --> 02:32:29,719

And then that certain summer,

 

1258

02:32:29,719 --> 02:32:32,120

I took my French-born children to Asia

 

1259

02:32:32,120 --> 02:32:35,959

for their own experience of ancestral resonances.

 

1260

02:32:36,520 --> 02:32:40,920

They were all born as Chheng,   

 

1261

02:32:40,920 --> 02:32:43,799

the name of their Sino-Cambodian father,

 

1262

02:32:43,799 --> 02:32:49,479

which is, in Chinese characters, quite simply, Chan,

 

1263

02:32:49,479 --> 02:32:51,840

the original name of Henry Stephen.

 

1264

02:32:52,319 --> 02:32:56,079

It may be coincidence, it may be karma,

 

1265

02:32:56,079 --> 02:32:58,959

but certainly it is anything but fiction.

 

1266

02:33:03,760 --> 02:33:07,520

These three are my children.

 

1267

02:33:09,879 --> 02:33:11,239

My ears can't hear.

 

1268

02:33:11,239 --> 02:33:14,239

We made an impromptu stop in Nanjing,

 

1269

02:33:14,239 --> 02:33:17,840

as my cousins urged me to find out our true story

 

1270

02:33:17,840 --> 02:33:21,319

by my fifth uncle there, my father's brother,

 

1271

02:33:21,319 --> 02:33:24,840

who for most of his life changed his name too,

 

1272

02:33:24,840 --> 02:33:28,079

to Shek, which means Stone,

 

1273

02:33:28,079 --> 02:33:33,719

but eventually changed back to the original surname, Chan,

 

1274

02:33:33,719 --> 02:33:36,799

which can mean 'Old', or 'Display',

 

1275

02:33:36,799 --> 02:33:38,879

but also, 'To Tell',

 

1276

02:33:38,879 --> 02:33:40,760

as in, 'Storytelling'?

 

1277

02:33:41,120 --> 02:33:42,079

Hey, are you leaving?

 

1278

02:33:42,600 --> 02:33:43,840

Oh, he left?

 

1279

02:33:43,959 --> 02:33:45,280

He can't hear.

 

1280

02:33:47,639 --> 02:33:51,440

Of course, the physical resemblance was impressive,

 

1281

02:33:51,440 --> 02:33:54,760

even though 5th uncle was deaf and couldn't speak

 

1282

02:33:54,760 --> 02:33:56,760

after having suffered a stroke.

 

1283

02:33:57,040 --> 02:34:00,920

These are my father and mother-in-law.

 

1284

02:34:04,120 --> 02:34:10,200

Your great-grandparents!

 

1285

02:34:16,840 --> 02:34:21,600

His father - so our great-grandfather!

 

1286

02:34:24,000 --> 02:34:29,959

A lot of resemblance with your dad.

 

1287

02:34:37,680 --> 02:34:41,200

This is N°3 son-in-law,

 

1288

02:34:41,200 --> 02:34:47,040

N° 3 daughter in Singapore.

 

1289

02:34:47,040 --> 02:34:52,280

working in China now after her Master's degree.

 

1290

02:34:52,280 --> 02:34:55,159

Son-in-law is an architect.

 

1291

02:34:58,280 --> 02:35:05,959

I think you can take out your camera now.

 

1292

02:35:07,479 --> 02:35:10,840

I'm going to film too!

 

1293

02:35:10,840 --> 02:35:13,680

Just like my father, he loved to film too!

 

1294

02:35:13,680 --> 02:35:15,840

He liked taking pictures?

 

1295

02:35:15,840 --> 02:35:21,639

Yes, there are a lot of photos and films,

 

1296

02:35:21,639 --> 02:35:24,719

they're all at my home now.

 

1297

02:35:24,719 --> 02:35:27,479

My father was quite good at it...

 

1298

02:35:29,000 --> 02:35:31,879

But when he pointed his handicam at us,

 

1299

02:35:31,879 --> 02:35:34,319

there was no proof more solid

 

1300

02:35:34,319 --> 02:35:36,760

of a biological brotherly bond

 

1301

02:35:36,760 --> 02:35:39,319

between my father and my uncle.

 

1302

02:36:21,559 --> 02:36:25,319

(Julie) Very happy!

 

1303

02:36:28,159 --> 02:36:30,040

It's time for a nap!

 

1304

02:36:34,000 --> 02:36:36,600

Do go rest!  Bye-bye!

 

1305

02:36:40,520 --> 02:36:41,920

Have a safe trip!

 

1306

02:36:44,559 --> 02:36:48,719

Before we left, my aunt gave me a hand-written copy

 

1307

02:36:48,719 --> 02:36:51,719

of what her husband, my 5th uncle,

 

1308

02:36:51,719 --> 02:36:54,280

had made about our family history.

 

1309

02:37:07,040 --> 02:37:09,680

As the train sped away from Nanjing,

 

1310

02:37:09,680 --> 02:37:12,360

I read his version of the story.

 

1311

02:37:12,360 --> 02:37:15,280

A very different story emerges with the backdrop

 

1312

02:37:15,280 --> 02:37:18,360

of a China in all its turmoils.

 

1313

02:37:18,600 --> 02:37:23,040

Internal power struggles, famine and disease,

 

1314

02:37:23,040 --> 02:37:25,760

foreign invasions and civil war.

 

1315

02:37:26,360 --> 02:37:28,399

The story of a Chinese family making

 

1316

02:37:28,399 --> 02:37:30,760

and breaking its fortunes,

 

1317

02:37:30,920 --> 02:37:33,840

navigating through the tides of history,

 

1318

02:37:33,920 --> 02:37:36,760

scattered and reunited,

 

1319

02:37:36,760 --> 02:37:41,920

then torn asunder again by emigration, sickness and death.

 

1320

02:37:45,879 --> 02:37:49,959

Australian priests, aboriginal fishermen,

 

1321

02:37:49,959 --> 02:37:54,760

secret poetesses, Bloomsbury artists and writers

 

1322

02:37:54,760 --> 02:37:58,840

are faraway or non-existent in this version.

 

1323

02:37:58,840 --> 02:38:03,280

   "(The university volunteer army) soon disbanded

 

1324

02:38:03,280 --> 02:38:08,120

due to pressure from pro-Japanese fractions.

 

1325

02:38:08,120 --> 02:38:09,639

His ambitions were thwarted,

 

1326

02:38:09,639 --> 02:38:11,520

impossible to serve his country.

 

1327

02:38:11,520 --> 02:38:12,879

Obstacles everywhere.

 

1328

02:38:12,879 --> 02:38:15,000

Ashamed of his countrymen's incompetence,

 

1329

02:38:15,000 --> 02:38:17,000

seeing the hopeless situation of China,

 

1330

02:38:17,000 --> 02:38:19,000

he decided to renounce his nationality,

 

1331

02:38:19,000 --> 02:38:21,879

declared himself Australian,

 

1332

02:38:21,879 --> 02:38:24,079

changed to the Occidental name Stephen,

 

1333

02:38:24,079 --> 02:38:27,159

and became a nomadic wanderer."

 

1334

02:38:27,440 --> 02:38:31,000

Why?  What's the story with the war?

 

1335

02:38:31,000 --> 02:38:33,719

The Anti-Japanese.

 

1336

02:38:33,719 --> 02:38:36,479

So he wandered everywhere,

 

1337

02:38:36,479 --> 02:38:40,399

and returned to Guangzhou when he ran out of money.

 

1338

02:38:40,399 --> 02:38:43,319

Later he went back to Hong Kong with his family.

 

1339

02:38:43,319 --> 02:38:47,319

My father decided to leave again.

 

1340

02:38:47,319 --> 02:38:52,040

The family situation was very difficult,

 

1341

02:38:52,040 --> 02:38:54,760

they pawned objects to survive.

 

1342

02:38:54,760 --> 02:39:02,360

Luckily, at that time the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank ...

 

1343

02:39:02,840 --> 02:39:05,719

Is this the end of my quest?

 

1344

02:39:05,719 --> 02:39:09,559

A story that started in the Australian Outback

 

1345

02:39:09,559 --> 02:39:12,680

finds its roots finally in an epic moment

 

1346

02:39:12,680 --> 02:39:16,120

in Chinese history with a capital H.

 

1347

02:39:17,120 --> 02:39:20,959

Was the change of name a gesture of defiance

 

1348

02:39:20,959 --> 02:39:23,680

rather than a voluntary act of erasure?

 

1349

02:39:25,040 --> 02:39:27,600

Is uncle's version the truth?

 

1350

02:39:31,879 --> 02:39:36,680

In my story, I gave Hilda the key to change their history

 

1351

02:39:36,680 --> 02:39:40,200

and in so doing, I turn out to be, somehow,

 

1352

02:39:40,200 --> 02:39:42,440

truly my father's daughter,

 

1353

02:39:42,440 --> 02:39:46,120

taking my place in a long line of storytellers.

 

1354

02:39:51,280 --> 02:39:55,079

I am closing my own red and black journals.

 

1355

02:39:55,479 --> 02:39:58,360

Henry and Hilda gave me all the tools,

 

1356

02:39:58,360 --> 02:40:02,479

the poetry, the madness, the romanticism, the defiance,

 

1357

02:40:02,479 --> 02:40:08,280

to do as the Persian poet Rumi taught so many centuries ago

 

1358

02:40:08,719 --> 02:40:11,239

"Don't be satisfied with stories,

 

1359

02:40:11,959 --> 02:40:14,360

how things have gone with others.

 

1360

02:40:14,760 --> 02:40:17,079

Unfold your own myth."

 

1361

02:40:29,600 --> 02:40:33,040

Whatever truth that my brother David was searching for,

 

1362

02:40:33,040 --> 02:40:36,840

I think I've completed the investigation for both of us

 

1363

02:40:36,840 --> 02:40:40,680

as far as it can go.

 

1364

02:40:40,680 --> 02:40:43,079

Our elders had their own reasons to write

 

1365

02:40:43,079 --> 02:40:44,799

their stories the way they did.

 

1366

02:40:44,799 --> 02:40:50,120

I, meanwhile, only find palimpsests of our name.

 

1367

02:40:50,120 --> 02:40:53,200

I've waited until almost no one can confirm

 

1368

02:40:53,200 --> 02:40:55,000

or deny a version.

 

1369

02:40:55,000 --> 02:40:57,559

And therefore, it is no longer necessary

 

1370

02:40:57,559 --> 02:41:00,079

to find a correct answer to the question,

 

1371

02:41:00,079 --> 02:41:02,360

"Why is your name Stephen?"

 

1372

02:41:04,159 --> 02:41:08,799

What's important now is my next generation of storytellers.

 

1373

02:41:08,799 --> 02:41:11,159

What stories will I leave with them

 

1374

02:41:11,159 --> 02:41:14,360

to continue recreating with their own new mix?

 

1375

02:41:20,120 --> 02:41:23,319

Our roots, sometimes buried and sometimes

 

1376

02:41:23,319 --> 02:41:28,000

in the air, will nourish bright hybrid flowers,

 

1377

02:41:28,000 --> 02:41:30,479

neither French nor Chinese,

 

1378

02:41:30,479 --> 02:41:33,000

neither Canadian nor Australian.

 

1379

02:41:42,799 --> 02:41:46,559

One day, my latest grandson arrives.

 

1380

02:41:46,559 --> 02:41:48,159

It is the parents' choice

 

1381

02:41:48,159 --> 02:41:51,680

that baby Pedro will now have the double surname

 

1382

02:41:51,680 --> 02:41:53,760

of Stephen and Pons,

 

1383

02:41:53,760 --> 02:41:56,760

both matronymics of his parents.

 

1384

02:42:02,000 --> 02:42:05,040

Some years before my father passed away,

 

1385

02:42:05,040 --> 02:42:07,000

I received a letter,

 

1386

02:42:07,000 --> 02:42:09,879

saying that he and my mother had hoped

 

1387

02:42:09,879 --> 02:42:12,879

that the new Stephen clan they had created

 

1388

02:42:12,879 --> 02:42:17,399

would perpetuate and prosper from generation to generation.

 

1389

02:42:18,399 --> 02:42:21,200

But now, he said in his particular style

 

1390

02:42:21,200 --> 02:42:23,600

of melodramatic writing,

 

1391

02:42:23,600 --> 02:42:25,639

"All our hopes are dashed,

 

1392

02:42:25,639 --> 02:42:28,280

they've disappeared in soap bubbles."

 

1393

02:42:28,879 --> 02:42:31,360

I question why Julie decided to give

 

1394

02:42:31,360 --> 02:42:33,959

the Stephen name to her son,

 

1395

02:42:33,959 --> 02:42:36,319

without knowing about this letter.

 

1396

02:42:45,520 --> 02:42:48,040

I chose to use the name Stephen-Chheng

 

1397

02:42:48,040 --> 02:42:51,159

because it's both anglophone and Asian,  

 

1398

02:42:51,159 --> 02:42:53,000

that's cool since I'm French.

 

1399

02:42:53,000 --> 02:42:55,239

I wanted to say I'm not just Asian,

 

1400

02:42:55,239 --> 02:42:57,399

that I'm a Citizen of the World

 

1401

02:42:57,399 --> 02:42:58,840

just by my name.

 

1402

02:42:59,840 --> 02:43:04,159

Now Pedro is Pedro Stephen Pons.

 

1403

02:43:04,159 --> 02:43:09,520

His surname has nothing Asian anymore.

 

1404

02:43:09,520 --> 02:43:11,760

It's finished!

 

1405

02:43:11,760 --> 02:43:18,239

You thought the Stephen clan has disappeared?

 

1406

02:43:18,239 --> 02:43:20,319

Oh dear!

 

1407

02:43:20,319 --> 02:43:25,000

So finally my father's wish has come true.

 

1408

02:43:25,000 --> 02:43:29,600

Exactly! Little Pedro is the last Stephen.

 

1409

02:43:29,600 --> 02:43:32,520

He'll have lots of kids, with the name of...

 

1410

02:43:32,520 --> 02:43:34,760

Stephen!

 

1411

02:44:32,840 --> 02:44:35,319

The End by D. Stephen

 

1412

02:44:48,399 --> 02:44:50,920

The End

 

1413

02:44:50,920 --> 02:44:54,360

Or, is it?

 

1414

02:45:00,879 --> 02:45:06,120

When the Hong Kong head office was rebuilt 1933-1935,

 

1415

02:45:06,120 --> 02:45:09,840

it got bronze lions just like their Shanghai office ones,

 

1416

02:45:09,840 --> 02:45:13,639

with the same names, Stitt, after Gordon H. Stitt,

 

1417

02:45:13,639 --> 02:45:16,319

the Shanghai manager in 1921,

 

1418

02:45:16,319 --> 02:45:20,280

and Stephen, after Alexander G. Stephen, the chief manager.

 

1419

02:45:20,280 --> 02:45:22,440

They have guarded the bank here ever since.

 

1420

02:45:22,440 --> 02:45:24,559

Stitt guards silently to the west.

 

1421

02:45:24,559 --> 02:45:26,719

Stephen roars and protects to the east,

 

1422

02:45:26,719 --> 02:45:28,760

Both are local talismans.

 

1423

02:45:28,760 --> 02:45:30,879

Passers-by stroke their paws for luck.