My mom is a descendent of a legendary general, the god of loyalty and righteousness, a god both the police and triad warship in China. My mom's family consists of two older brothers, a younger brother, and younger sister. My mom never really talked much about her side of the family because they all stayed in China. Her second-oldest brother (Yee Kow Foo) was chief of police of Jiangmen. He was highly respected, and lived up to the righteous name of his ancestor.
My mom had a rough time in China. During the early periods of the new government, there was mandatory labour you had to complete for the state. Each adult had a minimum quota of soil to carry from the sea to the fields for fertilization. My dad was away teaching in Guangzhou, so she had to rely on her younger brother to help with the labour. She spent most of her youth farming and teaching kindergarten. This life taught her about poverty: she would only get a dollar a month for spending money, half of which went to food she could not grow herself, such as meat; 25 cents went to paying for school for my sisters, and the remaining 25 cents she would save for a rainy day.
No matter what reputation you may have inherited, from money to your last name, your life is still ultimately in your own hands. My mother is able to retire comfortably today because she understood that if she wanted to make it out of her situation, she would need to be disciplined. Despite being a descendent of a man revered as a god, she found that life doesn’t give you a free pass.
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Swimming with Asian Sharks - Business Secrets from the Pacific Rim
Non-FictionEver wonder what it takes to do business in Asia? How do Asian business executives behave and think? Do you want to create a business from scratch in under 24 hours? If so, this is your guide. This book is a compilation of over one hundred business...
