摘要
A dream born in an old house on New Lupai Street “When I look back over the past thirty years,” Mei Hing Chak says with emotion, “I realize that everything we’ve accomplished was made possible only by reform and China’s opening-up. I think about it a lot.” Wanting to tell her children what she had experienced over those years, knowing how little they or perhaps anyone else knewor remembered of how the Heungkong Group had developed, she was keen the story should be set down. She hoped that the legacy she might leave her children and grandchildren was not one of just money, but also one of spirit and culture. A monetary inheritance might support a few future generations, but she herself had ventured into the business world with nothing in her hands and knew how with hard work and determination so much can be attained. The youngest child in her family, Mei Hing was born in the early summer of 1964. She had an elder sister and two elder brothers, and the affection shown to her by her parents and siblings encouraged her to develop a lively independence. Her parents immigrated from their native Zhaoqing to Guangzhou, the province’s capital, and Mei Hing was sent to a kindergarten where she boarded. Her father was the head of a construction team and worked very hard every day. Her mother was a saleswoman in a department store selling confectionery and tobacco. Such couples were known as “double income” parents, unable to stay at home to take care of their children. But in their spare time Mei Hing’s parents did their very best to make sure their four children’s lives were filled with much happiness. Among other things, Mei Hing learned to play chess with her father. In the hometown where they lived, he was regarded asbeing educated, and learning from him made her extremely proud. In her grandfather’s time, the family had owned land and had enjoyed some reputation locally, but for some reason this wealth had since disappeared. Although Mei Hing’s father had had a basic education, he had not gone to university. He had taught for several years in a countryside village and was able to write letters for other people and to do bookkeeping. Her father had an excellent memory and when he played chess, he seldom checked the position of the pieces. Little Mei Hingwatched him play and was very curious about the game. As time went by, she gradually learned how to play herself. Her brothers were both already good at the game and always beat their opponents. Decades later, her eldest son, Sam Lau, also became a top chess player and was o en school champion. Mei Hing inherited her father’s good memory and from an early age was adept at numbers and mathematics. After school, she would put up a small blackboard in an alleyway by her home and teach her little friends how to do their sums. The alley off New Lupai Street in Guangzhou, where Chak and her family lived, connected with a narrow street at one end and had only houses at the other. Since the alley was a cul-de-sac, few but residents used it, so it was a quiet spot for the children to play in. Her neighborhood friends would sit on small chairs happily listening to little Mei Hing teaching them how to add up numbers. Although her parents’ day started early and finished late, the family was not very well off. Theirs was a life of scrimping on food and clothing. Until she was eighteen years old, Mei Hing remained living in the alley and as far as she was concerned in no way did things improve or change. All the houses in the alley were old and had black carved doors and high thick walls. is was the typical Guangzhou style. Her parents added another floor to the cramped house to create an attic for their four children, while they continued living downstairs. The conditions were very impoverished, but the children were happy. However, Mei Hing often dreamed that one day they would have a bigger house. Sleeping together with her siblings in the attic, she would listen to her brothers breathing heavily at night and cling to that dream of her family living in a large, bright house where she had her own room filled with her favorite books, and of course chess, and where she would also dance to beautiful music. Mei Hing relived this scene in her dreams all the time they remained in the old house on New Lupai Street… and did so formany years.
