Re: Han Suyin's autobiography

[CHUNG Yoon-Ngan <chungyn@mozart.joinet.net.au>]

Dear Henrietta,

First of all Han Suyin is a Hakka woman and a world famous author, though
she was trained as a medical doctor. Dr Han Suyin obtained her first
degree in a Chinese University in Peking (Beijing) called Yan Jing
University which is now renamed to Qing Hua University. Her bachelor of
science degree, in French, was from Brussles University in Belgium which
is also the Alma Mater of her late father Chow Yentung, a railway
engineer. Her M.B.B.S was obtained from London University in England. 

My friend Professor Teresa Kowalska in Poland rings her once fortnightly.
Professor Kowalska is a best friend and fan of Han Suyin.  If you want to
write to both of them here are their addresses. I think Han Suyin, who is
83 years old, has no internet. 

From: Teresa Kowalska <kowalska@uranos.cto.us.edu.pl>
To: CHUNG Yoon-Ngan <chungyn@mozart.joinet.net.au>

.......................

Bye-bye then,

Teresa

********************************************************
Prof. Dr. Teresa Kowalska
Institute of Chemistry, Silesian University
9, Szkolna Street
40-006 Katowice, POLAND
E-mail: kowalska@us.edu.pl
Phone/fax (office): (+48-32) 599-978
Phone (home): (+48-32) 24-12-162 
Mobile phone: (0) 602-675-049
********************************************************
 
Han Suyin's address is:

Han Suyin / Elizabeth Comber
37 Avenue Montoie
1007 Lansanne Switzerland 
011-41-21-616-4980

Han Suyin was born Chow Guang Hu (Zhou Guang Hu in pinyin), but she was
called Rosalie Chow, in a railway town (can't remember the name of the
small town) some where in Henan province, although some people said she
was born in Peking (Beijing) where she grew up.

I have posted to the Forum an article listing almost all her books. Please
go and search for it. Han Suyin still has three books yet to be published
and I don't think she is going to do so. She said she did not like these
three books which are offensive. 

Very few people living in U.S.A. know about Han Suyin because she was
banned for life for visiting America by the U.S.A Government because she
was too pro- China and her books were not welcomed in America, short of
totally banning them all. The ban was lifted in 1980s and she visited
America once and she did not like it at all.  However, Han Suyin is very,
very popular in the Commonwealth countries especially the Hakkas in
Malaysia where she practiced her medicine for 11 years. Her daughter was
educated in Malaysia.

The title of almost everyone of her books is part of a Chinese poem. 
The book .....And The Rain My Drink.....is about Malaya during the
Emergency, a war between the British and the Malayan Communist Party.
I love this book so much because it is about the Malaysian Hakkas
descibing how they struggled in the 1950s. It is about small towns and
villages in the then Malaya. In this book sometimes, I think, as if 
she is talking about my childhood and my hometown. I quote from this
book:

I will go to the forest for justice,
For justice and righteousness,
And become a green-clad man.
The rulers pursue me with soldiers,
With riders, chariots and spears.

I will go to the forest for justice,
The people will flock to me.
I right their wrongs from the green shades,
And kill the rulers with arrows.
The horsemen stumble with fear.

I will go to the forest for justice.
The wind for my garment I wear.
Together with my many companions,
The wind for my garment AND THE RAIN MY DRINK,
we build a new heaven and earth 

>From the book ....And The Rain My Drink..... By Han Suyin.

Yoon-Ngan

 On Sat, 17 Jun 2000, Kelvin wrote:

> Dear Yoon-Ngan,
> Can you give us a brief bio-sketch of Han Suyin, it's for those who
> never heard of her before.
> Thank you.
> Henrietta.
>