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Re: hakka: Re: Hakka Women: Strong Personalities
>From your Birthyear I would say you are an X-er, I was born in 1974
too..
Sherman Cheung
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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