oral histories

What do you remember of growing up in Richmond?

Stephen: I still remember the distinct smell. Richmond is so unique with its bogs, dikes, and little canals. Montessori was on a little canal near a big wooded forest. I remember seeing lots of ducks, frogs, bulrushes, and I loved that. One of the earliest hobbies I had was to draw and I would always draw ducks and frogs and bulrushes.

What do you remember of going to Chinese school?

Timothy: We had Chinese school at some school here in Richmond on Tuesday night. At the school, we would learn Chinese and learn how to write Chinese with our cousins and with other peers. Around Chinese New Year, they would have drawing contests. They would encourage us to draw and submit our work. I remember drawing dragons. We would submit it and see if we can get an honourable mention or something like that. They also had more academic contests, where everyone had to write or memorize a Chinese poem. I thought the person who would win would just be the person who scribbled it the fastest, but you actually had to make sure it was neat, almost like a font. That was when I first realized Chinese writing is actually an art form. Whether it’s a pictograph or symbolism in your work, it was very much an art form and that was a nice part of our education.

Where did your parents grow up?

Stephen: My mom and dad were immigrants, but they came to Canada and the U.S. quite early. My dad went to university in the States and my mom actually attended Winston Churchill High School here in Vancouver. So both of them raised us in English and they were very in tune into the culture.

How did your father’s medical practice affect your family?

Timothy: We grew up in a household of health, so we had our own pharmacy. We never saw a doctor. We just saw our dad if we had a headache or scraped our knee or something.

I remember hearing the garage door open in the middle of the night because he would have to go and deliver a baby at Richmond General Hospital. Back then, I had no idea what that meant. I actually thought he delivered babies like how people delivered pizza, like he would drive the baby back to their house. After medical school, I realized what it meant.

Why did your mother change from a career in real estate to finance?

Timothy: After Grace and Lauren were born, our twin sisters, our mother realized she wanted to spend more time with her children and have a job that didn’t involve her weekends being taken up by open houses, so she switched jobs. She became a financial advisor at Canada Trust. That’s something I really appreciate. My parents sacrificed by changing their careers so that they could spend more time with us on the weekend.

How did your grandfather influence your involvement with the coin design contest?

Stephen: Our grandpa is our inspiration. He’s our hero. He’s our role model. Our grandfather was a coin collector. He knew all thirteen of his grandchildren’s birthdays and on every birthday, he would give his grandchild a gold Canadian Mint collector’s edition coin. With every birthday, we’d get a coin, and we ended up becoming coin collectors ourselves.

Why did your grandfather leave his family’s farm in central China?

Stephen: My grandfather’s mother saw no future for my grandpa at the farm. She wanted him to make something of himself and of the family. Grandpa also, himself, dreamed of a world that was larger than his own. He dreamed of distant lands. He dreamed of opportunities far away.

At the age of twelve, my grandpa left the farm to seek an education in the city. He did that with the encouragement of his mother, but against the will of his own father, who really wanted him to stay on the farm. The night before my grandpa left the farm, his mom gave him all the possessions my grandpa left with — three coins, a sturdy bamboo pole, and a hug. The bamboo pole was about six feet tall — that signified the height of a fully grown man.

What did your grandfather do during the Second World War?

Stephen: When Japan invaded China, my grandpa quit school and he enlisted in the army. The commander of the Chinese forces, Chiang Kai-Shek, predicted that China wouldn’t win the war against Japan unless it had air power. But China had no airplanes. Because my grandpa excelled when he was in the army, and also because he could speak some English, he was promoted to join the air force and was sent to the United States to train as a pilot, with the responsibility of leading a delegation to fly a bunch of bombers back to China for them to use.

Why did your grandfather leave China after the civil war?

Stephen: His past connections with the former regime caught up to him. People started suspecting he might have been the personal pilot for the previous president and was in the military. So my grandpa and my grandma and my two-year-old father packed up all their stuff and fled as refugees to the nearest British colony, which was Hong Kong.

Why did your grandfather come to Canada?

Stephen: In the ‘60s in Hong Kong, the political climate was quite unstable. So my grandpa was looking to move his family elsewhere. One day on his commute to work, he saw a hitchhiker stranded on the side of the road. My grandpa was like, “Let me drive you where you need to go.” It turned out that man was the Canadian Consul General. With that, in 1968, my grandpa and his family moved to British Columbia.

What did your grandfather like about Richmond?

Stephen: My grandpa loved the combination of farmland and rivers. He was happy to have his family raised here. He was happy to have his kids go on to raise their kids here, too. He was an active guy, so even in his 60s and 70s, Grandpa loved how his first house in Richmond had a backyard pool and his family could swim in there. He also took full part in community life. He swam every day at Minoru pool, ran every day on Minoru track. And having the experience he had as a kid having to pay for school, he started giving out scholarships to students.

What did you learn from your grandfather?

Stephen: Don’t be afraid of hardship and adversity — that’s a golden opportunity for developing character. There’s no secret to success except to work hard, set goals, stay focused, and have faith in God. And when you’ve made it, remember to give thanks and help others in need.