As a child, I attended public Elementary School P.S. 200, -- (Benson Avenue and Bay 25th Street), Junior High School 128, -- (21st Avenue and 84th Street), and New Utrecht High School, -- (New Utrecht Avenue and 79th Street), in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, New York. It was during my junior year at New Utrecht High that I took a leave of absence from school to visit my aging paternal grandmother (at that time she was in her early eighties) in mainland China.
I traveled by ship on the now defunct American President Line, on the U.S.S. Grant -- a passenger steamship line via the ports of San Francisco, California, Honolulu in Hawaii and Manila in the Philippines. For a large passenger steamship, the Pacific Ocean journey was very calm and comfortable except for the few days of roughish seas near the Philippines -- causing unpleasant sea-sickness for few of the passengers. The traveling speed of over 20 knots was considered fast in that era of steamship travel.
It took over twenty-plus days by ship to reach the final port-of-call in Victoria Harbour in the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong (now the Special Administrative District of Hong Kong in The Peoples Republic of China). Upon arrival in Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong -- the connecting journey into the southern delta region of mainland China was made by a much smaller sailing vessel that could navigate through the shallow river tributaries. My final destination was to travel to Toishan City, to the district of Tai Hung See, -- finally, my paternal grandmother's rural village called Sai Lung Lee Village.
The cluster of less than twenty, one-story brick homes is called the Sai Lung Lee Village. All of the brick homes are constucted in the oriental design and motif with slanted ceramic roof tiles, -- each home designed and arranged to be in clusters of four identical rows, -- each row consisting of four to five homes. My paternal grandmother's home sits on the first plot of land situated in the second row of homes as one enters the village from the stone path running up-to the main dirt road. I surmise from the way the stones appear to look -- it may be made of granite?
I stayed for about a year and attended the elementary school in my ancestral village and subsequently got married at the tender age of seventeen. My grandmother was excited and happy for her grandson's blissful occasion!
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
My grandfather's surname
I 'd like to continue on with my blog today -- the subject of my Americanized surname!
My grandfather's surname is "Eng" (as in the Chinese character, number five), and his given birthname -- phonically in English is"Chin Din." In the Chinese written language, the surname is always preceded and is written first, Eng -- then followed by writing the first birth-name (Chin), and second birth-name (Din), e.g. Eng Chin Din. Upon entry into America, immigration officials inadvertently gave him identity papers that read first name "Eng", middle name "Chin", and last name "Din." This is the Americanized version of my family's surname of Herbert C. Din.
My parents never bothered to legally change or correct my current surname in the U.S. Courts.
My grandfather as a young man worked at building the American transcontinental railroad to the West Coast in his twenties and upon completion of the railroad moved to the East Coast of the United States. He lived in the Massachusetts area of New England, worked and died in his earlly thirties working in the field of hand-washing laundry work. There was much discrimination of foreign workers in those early days of our new republic! Laundry work -- that was the limited opportunity for displaced workers after the completion of the transcontinental railroad. My grandfather died in the United States while my grandmother was still living in the rural village area of China. She never immigated to the United States and died in her late eighties in the British Crown Colong of Hong Kong (currently the Special Administrative District of Hong Kong in The Peoples Republic of China).
It's time for me to stop to buy take-out. I'll blog again whenever!
My grandfather's surname is "Eng" (as in the Chinese character, number five), and his given birthname -- phonically in English is"Chin Din." In the Chinese written language, the surname is always preceded and is written first, Eng -- then followed by writing the first birth-name (Chin), and second birth-name (Din), e.g. Eng Chin Din. Upon entry into America, immigration officials inadvertently gave him identity papers that read first name "Eng", middle name "Chin", and last name "Din." This is the Americanized version of my family's surname of Herbert C. Din.
My parents never bothered to legally change or correct my current surname in the U.S. Courts.
My grandfather as a young man worked at building the American transcontinental railroad to the West Coast in his twenties and upon completion of the railroad moved to the East Coast of the United States. He lived in the Massachusetts area of New England, worked and died in his earlly thirties working in the field of hand-washing laundry work. There was much discrimination of foreign workers in those early days of our new republic! Laundry work -- that was the limited opportunity for displaced workers after the completion of the transcontinental railroad. My grandfather died in the United States while my grandmother was still living in the rural village area of China. She never immigated to the United States and died in her late eighties in the British Crown Colong of Hong Kong (currently the Special Administrative District of Hong Kong in The Peoples Republic of China).
It's time for me to stop to buy take-out. I'll blog again whenever!
Saturday, October 27, 2007
A grandfather's brief historical synopsis of his life in these United States.
A grandfather's brief historical synopsis of his life in these United States.
This is my story --an odyssey of a 74-year-old grandfather in his quest of finding a 21st century bridge to computer literacy!
I am exceedingly happy that I have an opportunity to create a blog to reflect upon the vagaries of my life leading to Professor Ke Xu's computer class!
It has been exactly 35-years ago (1972) --my last college course in "Real Estate Practices and Brokerage" at Pace University in downtown New York City --that I now have just the opportunity write again.
With your kind indulgence please allow me --Herbert C. Din, to briefly share with you my trials and tribulations --in what I call the "circle of life." I am a 74-year-old grandfather of Chinese ancestry, born during the great American Depression of the 1930's --on Columbus Day, October 12th 1933. The Lamaze method --a natural method of childbirth helped bring me into this world with the assistance of a midwife --in an apartment on Columbus Avenue on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. How giving birth has changed over time. --doctors now prefer to perform new births by Caesarean section. I suppose it's because a doctor's liability becomes a worrisome factor in any hospital.
Well, Herbert C. Din --how did I get such a non-ethnic sounding name? In the late 19th century, my grandfather Eng Chin Din was recruited from the Sai Lung Lee Village, (my ancestral village in the Toishan district of Guaundong Province --located in the delta region of southern China), in The Peoples Republic of China. My paternal grandfather was selected to leave the village for work in America or Gum San (Golden Mountain to the southern Chinese), --because the shop steward for the American Corporation was from the same village area.
I am cognizant of the fact that my grandfather endured struggle and hardship in these United States --so I feel blessed and grateful for the riches and abundance that I have!
It certainly took my grandfather many months to reach the shores of American --by the four-mast sailing ship of yesteryear.
I am trying to visualize how difficult it must have been --a laborious and tedious journey sailing on the high seas without comforts of 21st century travel. I can only think of my grandfather as a true pioneer in his time!
At the South Street Seaport in lower Manhattan there is a sailing ship docked at the pier that is similar to the late 19th century sailing ships. I think it's amazing how such a wooden vessel could traverse the treachery and dangers of the high seas --such a magnificent feat in those early days of travel!
I shall continue blogging another day --I am trying to edit my beginning piece of writing to see how my blog page functions.
This is my story --an odyssey of a 74-year-old grandfather in his quest of finding a 21st century bridge to computer literacy!
I am exceedingly happy that I have an opportunity to create a blog to reflect upon the vagaries of my life leading to Professor Ke Xu's computer class!
It has been exactly 35-years ago (1972) --my last college course in "Real Estate Practices and Brokerage" at Pace University in downtown New York City --that I now have just the opportunity write again.
With your kind indulgence please allow me --Herbert C. Din, to briefly share with you my trials and tribulations --in what I call the "circle of life." I am a 74-year-old grandfather of Chinese ancestry, born during the great American Depression of the 1930's --on Columbus Day, October 12th 1933. The Lamaze method --a natural method of childbirth helped bring me into this world with the assistance of a midwife --in an apartment on Columbus Avenue on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. How giving birth has changed over time. --doctors now prefer to perform new births by Caesarean section. I suppose it's because a doctor's liability becomes a worrisome factor in any hospital.
Well, Herbert C. Din --how did I get such a non-ethnic sounding name? In the late 19th century, my grandfather Eng Chin Din was recruited from the Sai Lung Lee Village, (my ancestral village in the Toishan district of Guaundong Province --located in the delta region of southern China), in The Peoples Republic of China. My paternal grandfather was selected to leave the village for work in America or Gum San (Golden Mountain to the southern Chinese), --because the shop steward for the American Corporation was from the same village area.
I am cognizant of the fact that my grandfather endured struggle and hardship in these United States --so I feel blessed and grateful for the riches and abundance that I have!
It certainly took my grandfather many months to reach the shores of American --by the four-mast sailing ship of yesteryear.
I am trying to visualize how difficult it must have been --a laborious and tedious journey sailing on the high seas without comforts of 21st century travel. I can only think of my grandfather as a true pioneer in his time!
At the South Street Seaport in lower Manhattan there is a sailing ship docked at the pier that is similar to the late 19th century sailing ships. I think it's amazing how such a wooden vessel could traverse the treachery and dangers of the high seas --such a magnificent feat in those early days of travel!
I shall continue blogging another day --I am trying to edit my beginning piece of writing to see how my blog page functions.
Friday, October 26, 2007
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