And You Thought The Joy Luck Club Was Dramatic...

A Cebu Pacific flight to Hong Kong, a bus ride to Shenzhen, a China Eastern Flight to Shanghai and back, a bus ride to Macau, and an Air Macau flight back home... the first time I'd been on a travel package tour is also the first time I'd been on a flight that's not Philippine Airlines. The purpose of that trip was to reunite the spirit of my late grandfather with his sister, the only living proof that Lolo actually comes from China. Upon an emotional reunion with her and her family in Shanghai, I learned a lot of things about Lolo.

Before Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution, Lolo was born and raised in Shanghai. He went to school at Ellis Kadoorie, the best school at Shanghai during that time which was run by Jews and the medium of instruction was English. Lolo's father was a well-known herbalist all over China (an article written about him in the New York Times back in 1999, will try to search for a link once I put a Chinese macro in the PC). I knew that Lolo was the 8th child in his family of 12 siblings. His sister was child number 9 and Lolo was about 7 years old when his mother died.

How he ended up in the Philippines is still a mystery to our family, my Lolo's family in Shanghai, and the family who took him in (the Sytancos). As far as the Sytancos were concerned, Lolo was their "kuya" and their father would tell them not to ask anything about my Lolo's past... my guess is that their father knew his story since the Sytanco children don't speak Mandarin while their father & Lolo did and often spoke in private. Lolo's sister in Shanghai remembered that before the time he left, he was a 21-year old living in with a young Cantonese lady 3 years older than him and he wanted to marry her... Lolo's father wasn't happy about that at all and treated him unfairly since. His family's last communicatiom from him was through a man on a boat that was being attacked by an American naval vessel who returned Lolo's watch given to him by his father... either that meant "I'm still alive" or "don't bother looking for me". We in the family only knew that Lolo came from Bicol and never spoke a word of Mandarin to my mom, my titos, or Lola even up until the time that his brother in Hong Kong who escaped the Cultural Revolution (child number 3 from his family in Shanghai) looked for him.

The Cultural Revolution drastically changed the Chinese way of life. Lolo's departure affected his family back home as his unknown status may have caused suspicion from Chinese officials therefore his family along with their university-educated nieces and nephews were sent to the countryside for a re-education courtesy of Mao Zedong's Little Red Book (child number 3 made it to Hong Kong where he made a lot of money as a stock broker and even sent his one of his sons to Harvard who now runs a multimillion dollar furniture business). Most of Lolo's brothers and sisters died of sickness during the Cultural Revolution. My Lolo's sister doesn't hold anything against him for leaving because she knew that he had his reasons then and it may have been the best for him to do so.

Before coming to Shanghai, Lolo's sister had no idea that he passed away almost a couple of years ago and wanted to find out if he was coming so that they could see each other again after more than 60 years apart. My tito informed the son of my Lolo's sister by e-mail that he already died. I had digitally scanned over a hundred pictures of Lolo when he was still alive so that Lolo's sister can see for herself how Lolo was. She lives in a high-rise apartment with her husband who happens to know Lolo because he also went to Ellis Kadoorie and was a couple of batches higher than Lolo (still alive and very strong... never smoked in his life, does tai chi every morning, and the hospital is just a block away). I walked in their door along with my mom, and my tito's family and we were warmly welcomed... we exchanged stories (the son and husband translated our English because she only speaks Mandarin and some Russian) and I showed her the pictues... she said it was exactly how she remembered Lolo and it didn't surprise us that how she described Lolo as a young man in Shanghai is how we knew him.

After that experience, I felt that a portion of my life was filled. I realized that I wouldn't have existed if my Lolo didn't make that decision to leave. It was indeed God's purpose for that to happen and I'm thankful to have known more about my roots. The best part of this for me is that I got to know what Lolo's real name is in Chinese... a perfect car design or a tatoo for the beach. ;-)


*** will share more about the other parts of the trip some other time ***