heritage paper

Many adults tell stories of their experiences when they were a child and stories that were told to them, to their children. Why, you would ask, would they ever want to tell you those long, boring, stories that never seem to end? Stories that never seem to apply to what you’re doing? They always tell them for a reason. If you take some time and look deeper into the story, you will find their hidden message. You will find that when you grow up and are as old as your parents, you will tell many similar stories to your children as they had told you.
One of my uncles, Uncle Wallace, came to Hawaii over winter break. His mission was to find more information about my great-grandfather, Soong Shiu Kwai, who helped Doctor Sun Yat Sen, who is known as the father of the Republic of China, overturn the Qing Dynasty. The Qing dynasty had corrupt politics and was very conservative. They created more taxes so they could pay the expenses of war. This was an unbearable burden for the people. Doctor Sun Yat Sen disliked this and decided to overturn the dynasty.
I had never known that I had a great-grandfather who had lived in Hawaii, much less help overturn the Qing Dynasty with the famous Sun Yat Sen, whose statue resides in Chinatown by River Street. Soong Shiu Kwai sounded like a very interesting person, so I decided to ask Uncle Wallace about him.
“Uncle!” I said, “What was Soong Shiu Kwai like?” He was shocked that I would ask him such a question. I think it was partially because he didn’t quite know me yet and because he thought my father would have at least told me something like that.
“Soong Shiu Kwai was a very great man,” he said. “He was very brave and did not fear death.”
I asked him, “Really? How so?” I could see the eagerness in his eyes to tell the story.
This is how it went:
“Your great-grandfather was arrested by the Qing Dynasty on November 7, 1914 because he was helping Doctor Sun Yat Sen. Even though no charges were booked against him, He was locked up in the Hong Kong jail, not permitted to communicate with anyone. The guard felt sorry for him and decided to help him out by delivering a Chinese Pin Yin letter for him to the newspapers. The letter was published the next day. As soon as his father, Soong Chu Jen, read it, he dashed to the American Consulate with his American birth certificate and citizenship papers begged the American consul-general for help. The consul-general called the governor of the jail and asked what the charges against him were. The governor told the general that it was nothing serious and that everything could be solved without their help. The next day, the governor told Soong Shiu Kwai that he would be sent to Canton as a traitor. British law prohibited him from being extradited without being given a hearing on the charges that were made against him. He told the governor this, but the governor only mocked him.”
At this moment in the story, Uncle Wallace sat up straighter and looked me in the eye, “Since your great-grandfather knew that he would most likely be sentenced to death no matter what he did, right when the governor turned to face the window, he ran to the governor’s desk, grasped the heavy water bottle that stood there and brought it down as hard as he could on the governor’s head. He stared at the broken glass for a moment and then hurled what was left of the bottle at the bloody face. The sharp edges of the glass cut him even more deeply than it had before and as the blood came gushing out, the governor ordered his men to put him in chains. Even though this seemed very extreme, your great-grandfather did this for a reason. Because attacking a governor was against the law, he had hoped it would get himself into the local courts in Hong Kong, where he could show the others what the true complaint of him was. But, his cunningness brought him no luck and he was shipped to Canton the next day. While he was at the Canton jail, he recognized the jailor as one of his previous comrades. The soldier was still loyal to him and helped him deliver an English letter to the American Consul in Canton. The letter eventually got telegraphed to the American consul- general in Hong Kong, and all sentences were suspended until there was a hearing. The Canton consul protested and demanded his release. The release it was granted. He refused to leave the jail until the authorities provided him with a ferry to the American consulate, because he knew the moment that he was released from jail, he would be arrested again. After having met the consul, he was advised to not go back to Hong Kong because assassins would try to assassinate him. He was then sent to Macao. He talked to the American consul-general in Hong Kong and was given the advice to take a ship to Honolulu, Hawaii. He decided to go and the official paid for the passage.”

This story has inspired me to believe and to do what I think is right. You shouldn't give into peer pressure from others because it is not nearly as important as what you believe yourself. Always do what you think is right and everything including all the problems will eventually work out.