home at last!

After leaving Jinan, China, we traveled to Shanghai, Hangzhou, Macau and Taiwan. It took us 17 days to get home. Wow, we were so tired of traveling that we just wanted to get home.

We left Taipei on All Nipon Airlines at 1 PM on July 10. Cousin Ming took us to the airport. We had layovers in Tokyo and San Francisco, and landed in Portland on the same day at 3:30 PM. I-Shuan and the boys came to pick up us. It was so good to see them. She gave us a welcome party on Saturday and invited all of Elwin's relatives who lived in Portland. Brother Dwain, his wife Linda, their two daughters, Dee and Dawna and their family, Keith's son, Ricky and his family were all present.

Thomas, Ryan, I-Shuan, Bryce, Rick
Alex, Linda, Bryan, Annette
Elwin, Shirley, Dwain, Dee, Emily
Peter, Dawna

The chefs - Ryan and Dawna

After dinner activity - water fight w/big boys, Alex and Brian

Cute Thomas

Entertainment by I-Shuan

On Monday morning, July 13, I-Shuan and the boys drove us back to Utah. Our first stop was Boise, Idaho where we visited Elwin's brother Bob and his wife Helen. We spent the night with them, then on to Pleasant Grove to see the rest of our children.

Elwin, Shirley, Bob and Helen

We all met at Elaine's home in Pleasant Grove after we arrived on Tuesday. Kang and Cami brought the boys up from St. George. We met Max for the first time. He is 2 months old and is the cutest baby there is. In fact, we sat there holding him, and cooed and smiled for at least 10 minutes. Wow, it made us so happy to be home to see all the children and grandchildren. My sister Ling flew down from Spokane for the occasion. So, we had the Winters and us all together for the reunion.

Max and us

Kang the cook - grilled steak, chicken, hamburger, hot dog

We are so happy to be home. All the grandchildren have grown a few inches. On Wednesday, July 15, the long awaited activity - Lagoon, here we come. Below is a slideshow of our trip to Lagoon.

Ethan says his favorite ride at Lagoon is "Jumping Dragon". Madisen's favorite is "cliff hangers". Enoch's is "samari", Johnny's is "round and round", Renzi's the Carousal. They all like to go there again. No doubt!

It was so good to be with family again.

Rededicating Grandma Shih's Gravesite

Rededication of AhMa’s Gravesite – July 6th, 2009

In talking with my aunt, Mei Juan the past few months, we agreed that AhMa’s gravesite has deteriorated so much that it neede to have some work done. We agreed to split the cost among AhMa’s 3 daughters’ families; my mom, Mei Lien, my aunt Mei Duan, and my aunt Mei Juan. She called in some contractors and got the price of 120,000 NT or 4,000 USD. Aunt Mei Juan was compelled to call cousin PoYuan, the son of mom’s 4th older brother about the project. My cousin, PoYuan agreed to share the cost too. The story that came out really surprised me though.

My Grandma, or AhMa as we called her, was the second wife of my grandfather Shih Ting. Or to put it more correctly, she was his concubine. The first wife was a very kind woman who had 4 sons. My grandmother had 3 daughters. The 4th son was very sickly as a child. As custom went, his health was so poor that my grandfather decided that he needed to be adopted by a poor family so the gods would have pity on him and keep him alive. It had to be a pretty difficult decision to give up a child to save his life according to the superstitions. My grandma was a clever woman. She hadn’t had any child at that time and she was 30 years old. She suggested to my grandfather that she should adopt the boy to be her own. It was a wonderful solution for all and my uncle was able to stay in the same household. He grew up to be a big healthy man and took over my grandfather’s family business, which was a glass shop.

My Aunt Mei Juan called PoYuan, the son of this uncle and asked if he would be interested in being involved with the project. He gladly accepted. So each family paid 30,000 NT or 1,000 USD. Ling and I gladly paid our share. According to the custom, a banquet was supposed to be held after the rededication or anything to do with funerals. Aunt Mei Juan asked if I was willing to provide such banquet. After conferring with Elwin, we decided that we could do that. Aunt Mei Juan carefully made out the guest list. Some cousins are getting old and not able to make the trip up to HsinDian where the gravesite was, so they were invited to join us at the luncheon afterwards. The luncheon was held at a restaurant not too far from my aunt’s house. The cost of the luncheon was 4,400 NT per table and we ordered 2 tables for 8,800 NT or around 300 USD for 22 people.

On Monday morning, July 6th, Elwin and I took the MRT to HsinDian and cousin MingXiong picked us up at the station. One cousin also took the MRT and we met at the HsinDian station. It was surprising that we recognized each other after 50+ years. She and I went to grade school together. When we arrived at the cemetery, several cousins were already there. The cemetery is a Air Force Officers’ cemetery. My uncle, Shih Zhi Pu, Aunt Mei Juan’s husband, served in the Air Force. Since my grandma lived with them, they decided to bury her there. It was an honor for him to be able to do that, but as I remembered, the other relatives were not very pleased. But everyone let Aunt Mei Juan had her way because she took care of grandma for many years without help from her brothers even though Grandpa left a fortune.

Aunt Mei Juan’s son, Zhong Wu and his wife, Hui Zhen were in charge of the project and they did a fantastic job. The gravesite was beautiful. Zhong Wu started the ceremony and her mom spoke first to welcome everyone. Then, Zhong Wu asked each present to bow to the grave 3 times as he called for each bow. After that, he invited me to say a prayer. My aunt is a Christian and I asked her the night before if a dedicatory prayer was being said. She told me it would fine if I offered the prayer. I was very grateful for that. I thanked our Father in Heaven for bringing us all here and making it possible to rededicate this gravesite. I asked our Father to bless Grandma that she was reunited with Grandpa and all her loved ones, including my mom and her 2nd daughter. I thanked our Father for the prosperity of the family and asked Him to continue to bless AhMa’s descendants. I was so grateful that my aunt agreed for me to say the prayer. Aunt Mei Juan is a Chirstian, but she didn’t believe that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was a legitimate church. So, it was very special that she showed us respect and allowed us to pray publicly.

The Shih Family

Cousin Zhong Wu and his wife Hui Zhen prepared some cool drinks for us after the dedication. We met at the pavilion and Aunt Mei Juan thanked everyone for coming. I, too, was asked to say a few words. I thanked everyone in behave of my 2 sisters and invited everyone to lunch afterwards. Cousin PoYuan presented the genealogy he’s been working on and it was so wonderful to have all the participation. Aunt Mei Juan had put together a Shih genealogy chart 3 years ago, but this time, Cousin PoYuan also presented us the status of our Grandfather Shih’s gravesite in Tainan. Apparently, someone had purchased the land around Grandpa’s gravesite making it impossible to visit the gravesite. The farmer who lives there would only allow families to go and do tomb sweeping during Spring holidays. He told us that he and his brothers have been working on some other ways to resolve the problems. We were all very happy to hear that ancestors are so important in the lives of people in Taiwan.

After the dedicatory prayer and the little rest at the pavilion, we proceeded to the restaurant and had a very delicious lunch. The meal included sea urchins, fish, famous barbeque ribs from the restaurant. Each family from the Shih family was represented. Mom’s best friend, cousin Ah Quan came to be with us too. It was a very special get-together. I was very grateful that Aunt Mei Juan made this all possible.

@ Grandma's gravesite - some brought flowers, some brought food, some brought a bottle of flower scent that Grandma loved---all to show her how much we love her and miss her.

In Tainan with the Shih Cousins – July 2-3, 2009

My 3 Shih cousins and the husbands

What a special opportunity it was to meet up with my cousins in Taiwan. Mali, Yili and Manli are daughters of mom’s 2nd sister. Aunt Shih Mei Duan was one of my favorite aunt when I was growing up. She was a home economics teacher for many years until she retired after working for 36 years. She died of diabetic complications in 1991. Her daughter Mali told me that her mom wanted to work until she put in 40 years, but didn’t make it.

Koxinga's Memorial

I called up the cousins before I came to Taiwan and each sounded very excited to meet and visit when we came to Tainan. Salli, the 3rd daughter was on her way to China, so we didn’t get to see her. The cousins and their husbands, except for Mali’s, all came to the hotel at around 4 PM on July 2. We took a walking tour of Koxinga’s memorial. It was fun to have the locals give you a guided tour and tell you all sorts of folklores which I never even have heard of before. Our cousins were ready to take us to a restaurant to have dinner, but we suggested that we should just stay around the district near the hotel to have some Tainan “xiao chi”, or local food. We had fish noodles, gluten rice, soups, and ended up with a big bowl of shaved ice with all sort of toppings, such as mangos, sweet red beans, sweet mung beans, pineapple, condensed milk, etc. It was very enjoyable.

The next morning, everyone showed up at the hotel at around 8:30 to take us to the place where they had the famous “zhong ze”, or the sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaves. Tainan was famous for their vegetabian “zhong ze”. It was full of peanuts and topped with ground peanuts. It was delicious as I remembered. Elwin had western breakfast at the hotel. Afterwards, we all got in the cars and started the adventure.

Our first stop was my high school, Tainan First Girls’ High School. I didn’t realize how prestigious the school was until my cousins told me that the school has become a national high school. At the time I entered this school, one must have high scores to qualify for this school after taking an entrance exam. I guess it's still the same 40 some years later. My mom and my youngest aunt both went there. We saw some very interesting pictures on the bulletin boards as you see in the slide show above. Lots of those slides were posted on the bulletin boards and Elwin took the pictures off the bulletin. They included pictures of uniforms from years past. They also included pictures of my mom’s school activities.

Standing in front of the billboard with uniforms of the past. Mine was the 2nd from the left. Mom and I made sure I had 10 straight crisp pleats in the front and 10 in the back.

I remember the mimosa trees with beautiful read flowers. My friend Lina and I used to study English under the tree every morning at around 7 before anyone arrived at the school. One of the comments in our year book was: Shirley (Wen-hui) and Lina (Li Na) love to study English with a picture of the two of us under the mimosa tree. It was such a fun memory.

The mimosa tree where Lina and I studied English every morning at our high school.

Next, we drove for over an hour south of Tainan to visit the mango capital, Yu Jing. We saw acres of mango trees on the roadside and each mango was wrapped in paper to protect them from bugs. It was incredible to see all the paper wrappers all over the fields. We went into town and had the famous mango ice which consists of a big bowl of shaved ice (made of mango juice), fresh chopped mangos, mango sauce, topped with 2 scoops of mango ice-cream and condensed milk. Elwin said he could eat one all by himself until he started eating it, then he realized that no one could finish a big bowl like that but to share. It was the best mango shaved ice I’ve ever had. We also visited the whole sale fruit market and saw all sorts of mangos in baskets. What a sight! My cousins purchased some dried mangos, guava for us.

A big bowl of mango shaved ice, with mangoes, mango sauce, mango ice-cream, topped with condensed milk - yum!

Zions Temple Mount

Next, we headed for the mountains. We drove for miles and came to a place called the “Zions Mountains”. It was founded by a group of Christians called the “New Testament Church” group. It was quite an impressive sight as they had their own community there with roads, beautiful buildings and a temple. They didn’t believe in military services or public education. They were persecuted by the KMT when KMT first came to Taiwan. The members retreated into the mountains when KMT soldiers started beating up on them. They are self sufficient in their own community. They have a shop with all sorts of organic foods, vitamins, and cosmetics. They have farms all around them. It was very beautiful and also very interesting.


Lastly, we went to have the famous “taro shaved ice” and some “xiao chi”. What a fun day it was. It was so good to get to know my cousins. We rode with Manli and her husband. She is the number 5 daughter and her name means “enough li“ sisters. Manli told us about her mom’s struggle with diabetes which finally took her life. She also told us the story of her growing up. Since both her mom and dad worked as teachers, her grandma took care of her during the week. She said she looked so forward to weekends because her mom and dad would come to pick her up and take her home. She would sit on the porch for hours waiting for her mom. One Saturday, she waited and waited and her mom didn’t come. She cried herself to sleep. Then she dreamed that someone picked her up and she kept sobbing until she opened her eyes and saw her mom. She made a promise that she would never do that do her own kids. She kept her promise and stayed home for her son. He graduated this year from high school. What an awesome girl!

The other sisters are also very devoted to their families. Mali's husband is doing business in Shanghai. Their two sons have all graduated from universities. We met Mali's husband in Shanghai and he took us out to dinner. We enjoyed his humor and wits. It was great to get to know the families. Hopefully we'll see them again.

In Tainan w/ Sung Family

Gaoxiong Harbor - Aerial View

June 30 - July 4, 2009

We arrvied in Gaoxiong (Kaoshiung) Tuesday afternoon on June 30. It was a beautiful clear day! Our cousin Waka Sung reserved a room at the Hero's Inn for us. Her husband served in the Taiwan Armed Forces and was privileged to make reservations at a government guest house. We stayed there 3 years ago with Cousin Ming and knew it was a nice place to stay. It was across the street from Ai River, which was a famous sightseeing spot in Gaoxiong.

It was good to see Waka. She looked young for a 73 year-old. She is always happy to see us. She was especially happy to see my sister Ling when she came with us to Taiwan to visit her 3 years ago. Our Aunt Mei Juan told us that Waka was a nanny to Ling when she was born until she was 3 years old. She took such good care of Ling by packing her on her back with a sling everywhere she went. In fact, Aunt Mei Juan said Ling never really touched the ground until she was 3 years old because Waka spoiled her so much.

WenHui, Ah Hua and Waka

We visited my cousin, Jiao Pi and her family in Gaoxiong. Jiao Pi's father is my father's oldest brother. They took us out to dinner at a Japanese restaurant. Their daughter was visiting from Taipei, and had two old friends with her at the time. So, we had dinner together. Jiao Pi’s husband is a retired doctor. The daughter’s 2 friends are both college professors in Taiwan. We had a good visit and my cousin thanked us for coming to see them and asked us to stay in touch.


The next day, July 1, Waka came to pick us up at the hotel with her nephew, YiRen. We went to YiRen’s house since his mom, Ah Hua lives with him. Ah Hua is Waka’s 2nd older sister and has had two strokes. She seems to be doing well, without any damage from either stroke, except for being a little slow. But, she was as witty as I remember her. YiRen drove us to Tainan, a 45-minute distance, to visit our cousin, Richard Soong who is the Chairman of Board for Chi-MEI, Chilin, Chi-Mei Meseum, Chi-Mei Nursing Home and other foundations. I called his secretary and told her when I was going to be in town and she set up a luncheon appointment for us. We had a happy reunion. Richard looked good. He was under a lot of pressure because of the world-wide economic chaos. But, he was happy to see us and showed us around. We saw in Richard’s office, a certificate of special blessing from the Pope, pictures of him with dignitaries. He was the Ambassador at Large for Taiwan. He has done a lot. They built Chi-Mei Museum about 20 years ago. The following information can be found on the website. www.chimei.com.tw

The Chi-Mei Museum in Tainan, Taiwan is the private museum of the Chi-Mei Industrial Corporation. The collection is divided into five categories: Western Art (including painting, sculpture, decorative arts and period furniture); Musical Instruments; Natural History; Arms and Armor; Antiquities and Artifacts. (Another collection to demonstrate the progress of technology is being formed and designed by experts, with assistance from many famous science museums.)
The Chi Mei Culture Foundation was established over 20 years ago, and the wealth of the collection encompasses different eras and geographical areas. At present, experts recognize the Chi-Mei Museum as one of the most prestigious private collections in the world. Forbes magazine, in its February 1996 article on private collectors in Asia, called Chi-Mei Museum "one of the world's most surprising art collections." The museum is open to the public, free of charge.
For further information on Chi-Mei Industrial Corporation and on Chi-Mei Foundation, please visit www.chimei.com.tw

YiRen, AhHua, Waka, Richard, WenHui and Elwin

I fell in love with the 3D flat screen television on display at Chi-Mei. We had delicious Chi-Mei lunch since Chi-Mei has gone into frozen food business. I read the biography of Richard’s uncle, Hsu Wen Long, who was the brainchild of many of the projects and was very impressed with the creative spirit the family processed. We had a great visit.

After visiting Richard, we went to the nursing home nearby in RenDe 仁德 to visit my aunt, JinZhi 锦治 . She is my father’s 3rd older sister. She is 97 years old. Her health condition has deteriorated the past year and had to be put in a nursery home. Her story is that of a classic Chinese story. She had a daughter, but no son. Her father-in-law decreed that the next grandson had to be given to her (my aunt) and her husband. So, this was how they adopted their son. The son was a fortune teller and his wife a hair dresser. Since the daughter-in-law was busy with the beauty salon, the son became the caretaker. It was difficult for him to take care of his mom, and she was 97, they decided to put her in a home. The caretakers seemed to be very good. There were 4 women in the room and two of them were there for over 18 years. They must have been taking good care of them. I was very happy to see her. Hope she does okay.

Aunt JinZhi 锦治, Elwin, WenHui and Waka

Cousin YenChiang & WenHui

We went back to the hotel after visiting with Aunt JinZhi. Her daughter, my cousin Yen Jiang called to say that she has contacted my 6th aunt’s son, HongZhi and he wanted to take us all out to dinner. We took a cab to cousin Yen Jiang’s house. She was married to a doctor and he has since passed away. She had an accident and her daughter moved her to her house, which was only a couple of blocks away. Her daughter was also married to a doctor. Their house (condo) was beautiful. They had all 4 floors to themselves. Their garage was all tiled. First floor was living room, dining and a very modern kitchen. Second floor was a large guest suite with a bedroom and living room, the next floor was the master bedroom suite, again with the living room and bedroom. Fourth floor was a studio/workshop. They were all decorated with Italian glassware, decorations, etc. It was beautiful. We went to the Japanese Restaurant in a cab to meet cousin HongZhi.

Cousin HongZhi's wife and grandson

Cousin HongZhi and grandson

Cousin HongZhi's son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter

Cousin HongZhi told us he stayed with my parents when he was working on his master’s degree in Taipei. Apparently, my parents took very good care of him and he remembered details well and had fond memories of my parents. The Japanese food was very good. We didn’t have sushi, as Elwin and I didn’t care for them while others had some. Everything was so nice and fancily prepared. We had a good time. At the end, HongZhi promised to pick us up to take us to his mom’s nursing home in KuanMiao, about 30 minutes from Tainan.

Cousin HongZhi is the only son of my 6th aunt and takes good care of his mom. His mom used to be in her own condo in Tainan. He would go over every morning to feed her. Then a caretaker came to take over after breakfast. I heard the maid was stealing everything from her. She even gave her gold bars b/c she was quite wealthy. Anyhow, her son moved her to the Chi Mei facility. It’s quite nice and they seem to take good care of her. He would call the nursing home before he got there. They wheeled her down and he would meet her at the front hall and take her out for a walk. They have a special spot in the garden where HongZhi made her do leg exercises. She had to call out numbers up to 100 in Chinese and Taiwanese, then go backwards in Japanese down to 0. There were other rituals that they did which I thought was fantastic. I would love it if my children would tell me to do all those things. ☺ It was really fun that HongZhi picked us up on Thursday morning to take us to KuanMiao to visit his mother. She didn’t recognize me at first, but when I told her I was the daughter of MeiLien in Japanese, she knew who I was. It was amazing.

HongZhi and his mom, my Aunt

After visiting 6th Aunt, HongZhi took us back to Tainan and we went to meet another cousin. He is cousin Maylin’s brother, the son of my father’s oldest sister. I got to know them a little bit because my parents moved to Taipei during my senior year and I stayed with my aunt for a short time. It was a happy reunion with Cousin HongGi and his wife, AhHua. They are both in their early 80’s now. He just had some operation, and she had high blood pressure. But, they both looked very good. They took us to a fancy Japanese restaurant and had lunch there. They took people to Japanese restaurant to show their love for them because Japanese foods are usually more nutritious without much oil. It was good. Bless Elwin, he ate what was presented and had no complaints.

Shirley (Wen Hui), Ah Hua and Waka Sung
Cousin HongGi, AhHua, WenHui and Elwin
Garden outside of the Japanese Restaurant