The New Baby

3 days overdue, Baby W (Tye Gerald Williams 鄭學安) arrived at 7:20 am, August 9, 2009 after his Mom had gone through more than 40 hours of Labour and a painful C-section. He is too big (8 lb. 2 oz.) for median frame AI and made it difficult to be delivered naturally.













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On August 4 – 2 days before the D-day, AI got impatient and would like to get it over with. The weight was getting heavier and heavier and the baby was moving downward more and more. She also started to get small contractions that made her very uncomfortable.

When August 6 came and no sign of steady contractions, it seemed that the little guy was not ready to come out yet, but those infrequent small contractions continued. We all sat patiently at home waiting and waiting . . . To pass the time we played a game of guessing the birth date of the baby – I said jokingly that it would definitely be on Ba-Ba-Day (Chinese Father’s Day) - August 8; and SC hoped that he comes on August 9, his own Dad’s birthday.

On the 7th afternoon, AI felt she had enough regular contractions to go to hospital, but she and SC came back an hour later because doctor felt it was too early yet and she should wait until more frequent longer lasting contractions. So she waited at home and kept tracking the time and length of each contraction.

Around 6:30 the next morning, AI knocked on our bedroom door and said:
“Mom and Dad, I think it is time – I was turning and turning whole night and had hardly any sleep and felt more frequent regular contractions. SC and I felt we should go to hospital now. We will call you to let you know what doctor says.”

While we were having our breakfast, AI and SC walked into the house – false alarm. Although it was dilated, but only 2 cm and they should wait until it is 5 cm.

AI was very uncomfortable the whole morning and couldn’t sit still on the sofa. Near noon she felt more regular pain and contractions came closer and faster. She asked SC to take her to the hospital. Off they went without having their lunch. 75 minutes later, they appeared at the doorway – nothing changed, and still too early.

After the supper AI was getting more restless and we could see the pain on her face, they waited and waited until about 9 o’clock and decided they really have to go to the hospital.

JN and I waited until 11 and they didn’t come back and we felt this must be it!

5:30 am a telephone ring woke us up, SC told us that AI was in labour the whole night and the baby is still not yet here. An hour later, he called again and said:
The doctor felt the baby is dropping too low and AI should have a C-section to get the baby out.

We got up and dressed, then rushed to the hospital. We saw a nurse at ‘Delivery and Labour’ Ward and she directed us to the recovery room.

There they are – a happy pale-looking Mom and a very beautiful reddish Baby in her arm.
“Congratulations, AI. How are you feeling?”
“I am fine. Come to see your grandson.” AI replied smilingly.
“Can we hold the baby?” JN asked.
“Sure.”
“How much does the baby weigh?” We asked the nurse.
“You guess.”
“7 lb. 2 oz.” I replied. “6 lb. 9 oz.” JN said.
“No, he weighs 8 lb. 2 oz., 21” long with an Apgar score of 9 (out of 10), which is excellent (most babies got 6 or 7.) A very beautiful and healthy baby boy! Congratulations.”
Wow, no wonder AI endured more than 40 hours of labour and ended up with a C-section. Poor AI, she suffered both types of pain – a lengthy labour and an operation. As her parents, we could feel her pain, but she looked great and showed no sign of stress and suffer. She said:
“It is all worth it! Who do you think the baby looks alike? Me or SC?”
“Oh, I think he is more like you. He has your eyes, mouth and nose, and beautiful hair. Nice and soft skin as well.” JN replied.

The Flood

“Are you all right? Is your house flooded?” I got a panic call from my sister-in-law who saw the news from TV about the flood in Fargo-Moorhead and the Red River water flowing up to Winnipeg.
“Thanks for calling. We are all right and the flood hasn’t affected the City yet. Only those farmlands south and north of the city are immersed under the water.

* * * * *

Since we moved to Winnipeg in 1973, this is the second time we have experienced the flood from Red River – the first time was in 1997.

Red River flows through the city. With Assiniboine River running East-West, the City is divided into three sectors by these two rivers. By my knowledge, any river on earth running North-South flows from North to South and Red River is the only exception – it flows from South to North, i.e. from US to Canada.

When I turned on the CNN International news on TV while I was visiting Taiwan, I heard the news that Red River was flooding Fargo and the male announcer was saying that:
“…. All those waters coming down from Canada ….”, he sounded like blaming Canada for the flood situation in Fargo. How ignorant that guy was!

* * * * *

In 1997, the Red River water was rising rapidly and it was termed the worst flood of the Century. All the farmlands South of the City were under water and so were many small towns. I even remember that the whole City of Grand Forks was under water and there was a fire in its downtown area as well. The whole city downtown was destroyed.

Our house was separated by a street from the river bank of the Red and the City set up the last offence on the other side of the road – if the water broke through the last 2-feet sandbag wall, then our area would be in huge trouble. I volunteered to fill sandbags for the cross street neighbors who house was close to the riverbanks and was in immediate danger of flooding.

In late 1940's, then Premier, Duff Roblin who ignored strong opposition, ordered to build a floodway to divert the water from Red River starting from south of the City to the East side of the City, then rejoining the Red at the North side of the City. Most citizens criticized him for wasting taxpayers’ money. In 1997, the Floodway saved the City and he was hailed as a hero for his foresight. It was the first time the floodway really showed its power and usefulness.

After that flood, many city officials from US, especially Grand Forks came to tour City’s floodway and were trying to learn if their city could build something similar to it.

From 1997-flood experience, many small towns South of the City erected water-retaining walls or mud dikes, same were many houses in low area, thus this year’s flood didn’t affect the town or houses, but their surrounding areas were still under the water.

The following are some photos showing the flood situation South of the City:












The above is the photo of our street (the one with Cur de Sac) and our house is the 3rd one from the beginning of the street on the left hand side and the Red River is at the top of the picture.

Family Reunion - 2009

Our last ‘Family Reunion’ was held in Canada on August 2002. With 3 and 5’s planned visit to Taiwan in March/April, someone suggested that maybe it is a good opportunity to have another partial reunion. 4 and 4+ moved their original Taiwan visit in the fall to their spring China trip, so they could attend the reunion.

Due to personal event, 8 and 8+ cancelled their visit in the last minute and couldn’t make the trip, so the ‘Reunion’ was held with 7 Chengs (8, 9 and 10 were missing) and 1 Chao (C 3) and 1 Yuan (Y 2.2).

18 of us got together at a Restaurant on Heping East Road (和平東路) on April 4 evening. The following are some of the pictures taken at the gathering. After the dinner we had drinks at the Coffee Shop of Howard International House (福華國際文教會館) on Xinsen South Road (新生南路) (where 3 stayed during his 3-week visit). We chatted for more than an hour to catch up with each other. When it came to time to say goodbye, we felt a bit sad, but we were glad that we had chance to meet.






A side note: 7 prepared a birthday cake to celebrate 2’s upcoming 70th birthday – we sang ‘Happy Birthday’ and shared the cake.











4, 5 and 3 visited 10 and 10+ who is doing quite well.






Maybe our next Reunion would be in Houston next year since 5 and 5+ are moving to Sugar Land in May. With all the Yuans and Chao 1, it seems that it’d be a natural choice for the gathering. Please plan your trip to join us all.

The Upside-Down 'Fu'

At Chinese New Year, most families like to post Red Banners and Posters around the house to signal ‘good luck’, ‘fortune’, ‘good health’ and ‘happiness’.

One of the those common posters is a single word ‘Fu 福‘ means all those aforementioned signs. However it will be posted upside-down, like:

A natural question is ‘Why?’ The ‘upside-down’ (倒) has a Chinese synonym ‘到’ (Arrival), so it would mean ‘the luck has arrived’.

There was a story associated with this tradition:
A Ming Dynasty Emperor, Ju-Yuan-Zhang, used the word ‘Fu 福‘ as a signal to kill somebody. In order to get rid of this terrible practice, Emperor Ju’s wife, the good-hearted Queen Ma ordered everyone post the word ‘Fu 福‘ on his front door by the dawn. No one dared to disobey the order, but many people were illiterate and they posted the word upside-down. The next morning, the Emperor’s soldiers went out to check and found every household had the word ‘Fu 福‘ posted on its door and saw one house had the word upside-down. After having learned the report the Emperor was furious and ordered to kill every member of that family and all of its relatives. Queen Ma tried to stop this massacre, explained to the Emperor:
“That family knew that you were coming to visit. They deliberately post the word upside-down to signal the arrival of good luck.”
The Emperor turned his fury into a happy smile and rescinded the order. Hence a potential tragedy was averted.
From then on, people started to post the word upside-down deliberately to wish receiving good luck and happiness.

* * * * *
It was also a custom that people tended to decorate the word with added pictures and symbols of various good signs and words.





* * * * *
There are places this word was posted, like on the huge Water Container and Garbage Can because the content of these two should be emptied (Dao 倒) to get rid of the ‘old’ bringing the ‘new’, signaling a bright future.

Another place is the Chest where thing were stored. Posting upside-down ‘Fu 福‘ would bring the luck to this chest and this household.

As of posting it on the front door, normally the word ‘Fu 福‘ should be posted upright, meaning to receive the luck and fortune. The front door is showing the entrance of this household and it needs to be set up in right form with dignity, hence the word should NOT be posted in wrong direction. So this is the only exception – the word shouldn’t be posted upside-down on the front door.



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New Year Customs

• 紅包(壓歲錢) Red Pack (or New Year Money)
Just as the practice of Christmas gift at Christmas in western world, giving Red Pack (or New Year Money) in New Year is a common practice of Chinese families.

Usually the Red Pack is contained in a ‘Red’ envelope because ‘Red’ signals ‘happiness’, ‘good luck’ and ‘energy’.


Giving Red Pack to ‘single’ members of the family (according to Chinese, a person without a partner is considered as a ‘single’,) is to wish it would bring them good luck. The money inside is to make them happy. It is not the amount that matters; it is the ‘Red Envelope’, the symbol of luck! Hence opening the envelope in front of the person who gave it is inappropriate.

‘Red Pack’ is more commonly known among Chinese as ‘Ya-Sui-Qien’ (壓歲錢) (New Year Money). The letter-by-letter translation of the Chinese term is ‘Suppress Age Money’. But the letter 歲 ‘Sui’ (Age) has a synonym 祟 meaning ‘Evil’, so it actually means ‘Suppress Evil Money’. This little pack would give the receiver a safe year.
Just as little kids in Western World believe that Santa Claus delivered the Christmas gifts under the Christmas Tree, Chinese youngsters found his/her ‘Ya-Sui-Qien’ under their pillow on New Year’s Day. Rumors said that the kids could use the money to bribe the evil away to make themselves safe.

• 團圓飯 New Year’s Eve Dinner
The New Year Eve Dinner is just like the Christmas dinner to Westerners. It is the time for the whole family to get together. Members, scattered around the world, would try their hardest to get back home to be with his/her parents and other family members, to have a joyful dinner together. The importance and the meaning of this dinner go without saying.

This year’s pre-Christmas bad weather in most parts of North America stranded thousands of people at the airport, on the highway to cause them missed this important dinner. Many were very upset and felt helpless.

There is no exception for Chinese New Year Eve dinner. People tend to use this dinner to say ‘thanks’ – youngsters would feel grateful what their parents and elders had done to them; and elders would feel relieved their endless and selfless effort to bring their youngsters up were paid off.

Northern Chinese prefer to have dumplings for their dinner while southerners prefer rice and many elaborate dishes. All these have to be prepared on December 30th. The laughter and chats were filled on every ally and streets. People were busy in their kitchen, the ‘kings and kongs’ of pots and pans would be heard miles away.

Most families would have ‘Hot Pot’ and ‘Fish’ on the dining table. The fire and heat of hot pot signal prosperity of the coming year; and the synonym of ‘fish’, 餘 ‘yu’ (remains) gives a good sign that you would never run out of anything in life.

Most people would also cook fried lobsters and shrimps that might ‘generate’ good business for the whole year.

The synonym of dumpling, 交 ‘jiao’ means ‘interchange’ – change old with new. The shape of dumpling is like a Gold Nugget (in Boat shape) that would signal a good fortune to come. Some families even wrapped a clean coin inside the dumping.


• 守歲 Watch the Year Go By
Each New Year’s Eve, millions glued to TV to watch the huge crystal ball dropped on Times Square in New York City. More than million people jammed the Time Square to witness the special moment each year.

Chinese also believe in watching the year go by and the arrival of the New Year. After the New Year Eve dinner, everyone in the family would stay to chat and/or to play until after the midnight before going to bed. Even the kids were allowed to break the family rule to keep this tradition.

I still remember our family’s tradition, i.e. my Dad would hand out the Red Pack after the dinner and everyone (from my 80-year-old Grandma to my 2-year-old youngest brother) would gather around a huge table to play ‘Black Jack’. Everyone would use his/her red pack money to ‘gamble’ a little. My Dad was always the ‘Dealer’ and at the end of game, just before midnight, everyone would be a joyful winner except Dad who was the sole loser. In a way he handed out us extra ‘Red Pack’ by way of losing at card game so everyone would be happier.

There was a story about the origin of this practice in history:
Thousands years ago, there was a wild animal called ‘Nien’ 年. It liked to ram the field on New Year’s Eve and ate human beings. People were scared each New Year’s Eve and kept a close eye on its appearance to escape its attack. Once the daylight broke people would relieve a huge sigh and walk out of their homes and houses to congratulate each other that they had survived another year.

In one year, ‘Nien’ ran into a small village where a newly-weds were spending their first night together in their new home. Everyone in the village was eaten by the animal except the newly-weds and a handful of young kids who were lighting firecrackers. The newly-weds’ house was decorated with all kind of ‘Red’ banners, strings, lanterns, curtains and cushions. Afterward people figured it out that ‘Nien’ was afraid of ‘Red’, ‘Fire’ and ‘Noise’. Starting from that year on, at each New Year Eve, people would light firecrackers, hang red banners, post red papers with lucky Chinese Character and light red candles in the house and ‘Nien’ disappeared since. Hence the phrase 過年 ‘Guo-Nien’ was born, that means ‘Over the Year’.

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Chinese New Year

Westerners celebrate Christmas. Chinese celebrate Chinese New Year. There are different dates, but the same meaning.

For Chinese, Chinese New Year is the most important festival of the year. Everyone, adults or children, all look forward to this date and celebration.

There are many traditions and customs of New Year celebration. With five-thousand years of history, there were many old superstitions with regard to Chinese New Year.

The actual New Year celebration lasts 3 weeks, from December 24th to January 15. December 24th is the so-called ‘小年夜‘ (the ‘Little New Year’s Eve’) which kicks off the celebration; and the celebration ends at January 15th, the so-called ‘Lantern Festival’.

According to some customs, one the 24th, you clean the house, 25th, grind soya beans to make Tofu, 26th make stewing pork, 27th kill chickens, 28th make the dough, 29th steam the buns, 30th stay the midnight, the 1st, celebrate the New Year.

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There are many old phrases related to the New Year, like:

• 有錢沒錢，團聚過年 Rich or poor, everyone goes home for New Year.
• 瑞雪兆豐年 White snow signals a good harvest year.
• 小孩盼過年，大人憂無錢 Children look forward to the New Year celebration, and adults worry about the money.
• 每逢佳節倍思親 You miss your loved ones at festivals.
• 人多好種田，人少好過年 More people are good for planting, less people are good for New Year celebration.
• 有錢沒錢，剃頭過年 Rich or poor, having a new haircut for New Year’s Eve.
• 有錢沒錢，買件新衣過年 Rich or poor, buy a new set of outfits for the New Year.
• 金窩銀窩不如自己的窩 My own home is much better than golden or silver nest.
• 寧與他人賽種田，不和他人比過年 Rather compete with others in plowing the rice field than comparing how to celebrate the New Year.
• 年年錢壓腰，一輩生活不用焦 Having enough red packs at New Year would ensure a good lasting life.
• 家有一老，如有一寶 Having an elderly at home is one’s treasure.
• 一年之計在於春 A good year starts at Spring.

* * * * *

During ‘New Year Period’, many relatives and friends would come by to say well wishes, each family will prepare some treats to welcome their visit. Among them, nuts are the popular choices. Seven of nuts are the ones most people love to have:
• Pistachio
• Large Almond
• Cashew
• Macadamia Nuts (Hawaiian Nuts or Australian Nuts)
• Pecan
• Torreya Grandia Fruit
• Brazil Nuts

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Silk Road Trip

4, 4+,3+ and I took a 17-day ‘Silk Road’ tour in China. I took 1600 pictures and selected around 300 to share with you. Here is the web site:

http://picasaweb.google.com/smiley.cheng/SilkRoadChina?authkey=dIq0T2n_O4o#

It was a wonderful tour that had inspired us all about our ancestor’s courage to explore the outside world and the hardship they had gone through to bring western culture back to China.

If you have chance we encourage you to take the same trip.

3.