Re: Hakka Women: Strong Personalities

["Hilary Chance" <hil_chance@hotmail.com>]

Hi Tim,

Thanks for your message.   

Regarding your first question (i.e. whether or not I am related to 
Diahann Chance),  I'm not completely sure.  My mother is not familiar 
with the name off hand, but perhaps a little more information including 
her age, her Chinese surname and who her parents are would be a little 
more helpful.  Then I can ask around.   

Aside from my extended family and closer friends of my parents, I'm 
sorry to say that I know relatively few Chinese Jamaicans.  I am out of 
synch with my "generation,"  in terms of age.  Actually, I'm not sure 
which generation I fit into!  Let me explain. 

My father, Lester Chance (Chin), was born in 1914 and married my mother, 
Dorothy Chung, who was about twenty years his junior, in 1955.   My 
mother, by the way, was born in 1935.  Shortly after they were married 
they had three children:  my sister Theresa (in 1956), my brother 
Michael (in 1958) and my brother Joseph (in 1960).  I was born much 
later in 1974 (in Canada) and may be considered a rather unexpected 
after thought.  You do the math... I am "ridicuously young" in relation 
to my parents, as a Chinese History professor of mine once commented. 

As to my thoughts on the personality of Hakka men, I would agree with 
Mr. (SL) Lee who wrote in subsequent message:  "Strong personality is 
not only a characteristic of Hakka females.  Males too."
>From what I have noticed, the men in my family and in my extended family 
have most certainly exhibited this trait.  I would also like to add (for 
the benefit of everyone) that, in my discussion of Hakka women, it was 
not my intention to imply that Hakka men did not have strong 
personalities (did I touch a nerve out there?).  My somewhat limited 
scope was simply a means to 'highlight' the female experience.  I also 
wanted to draw out more female participation in the Network and the 
Forum which, I have found, is a little bit lacking.   

Hilary           


On: Sat, 5 Dec 1998 01:30:05 -0800,
 "Tim Chang" <tchang@cris.com> wrote:

>Hi Hilary,
>Great to meet a fellow Jamaican-Hakka who is still quite interested in 
>our own culture. Are you by chance related to Diahann Chance (now >Yap) 
down in Miami and her family in St. Catherine? I know it's >probably a 
small world esp with Jamaican Chinese.
>
>As for me, I was fortunate to have been born in Hong Kong as a >Hakka 
and proud of it. Actually when I was young, I thought Hakka >and 
Cantonese was the same language. I grew up in Kingston till >almost 
graduation in high school and then in Miami and now work in >San 
Francisco. I still understand Hakka but Cantonese is my forte >with some 
Mandarin.
>
>As for your thoughts on strong Hakka women, I too thought that was >the 
norm. My mom was an equal partner with my dad, and did her fair >share 
of speaking her mind. I never sense a low self-esteem problem >in my mom 
or any of our family friends who were Hakka women. I've >seen them run 
businesses, take care of kids at the same time, and >never once hear the 
complaints that our American/Canadian >counterparts have. Of course, 
it's a different world now
>with higher standards and expectations.  I didn't have any sisters so I
>can't get a good female perspective within my family on this.
>
>Anyway, I would love to hear more about your family and your 
>impressions if the opposite is true: if Hakka men are more "masciline" 
>in relation to strong Hakka women.
>
>Bye for now,
>Tim.




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