Wu Guo Qiang Brothers

Wu Hua You was born in 1905 and had received 3 years of education. After quitting school, he had worked as a casual labourer. In 1922, he relayed his father as a sailor on the Empress of Russia owned by the Cheong Hing Shipping Co., Ltd. Other Nga Tsin Wai villagers who worked on the ship included Chan Kuen. In 1925, the Canton-Hong Kong strike took place when the ship was on its way from Vancouver to Hong Kong. To support the movement, his father and workmates disembarked at Kobe and staged a strike. His father was born to a poor family. As a radical young man under aware of the exploitation by the imperialists pressure, the nursed nationalistichis sentiment to the country sparked up. when When the Communist Party members in Kobe motivated him to return to Mainland China for a mission. H, he speedily wentreturned to Shanghai and was given the mission to receive the seamen who went on strike. Since then, he became a full-time revolutionist. In December 1925, he became a Communist Party member through under the referral of Chen Chun Lin. He organized a seamen’s club known as Yuxianleshe as cover-up when they actually carried out underground propaganda and organization organizing tasks 

Towards the end of 1938, Wu Hua You had health problems and was deployed to the organization department of the New Fourth Army Command. He requested to be sent to Yanan for training, but Chen Yun decided that the better arrangement would be to deploy him to join the battle in Bei Jiang because he was a Cantonese. His mission was to penetrate into the ninth squad of the Kuomintang Relief Corps and to educate the young people with the anti-Japanese ideology. He had fought the Japanese armies in Niubeiji, Conghua. When the Kuomintang crushed the party’s centre in Northern Guangdong in 1941, Wu Hua You fled to Kowloon and lived in Nga Tsin Wai, where he formed the self-defense squad jointly with Ng Wai Chi and Liu Fat. The squad was not organized under the communist banner. More than 20 young villagers, including Ng Wah Kuen (Wu Hua You’s younger brother), were motivated to join the anti-Japanese battles. As a result, Ng Wah Kuen joined the East River Column. Liu Fat, a Nga Tsin Wai villager, became a communist party member and worked for the provincial survey department. After Hong Kong was occupied, the Japanese armies entered the village and arrested the communist party members. Wu Guo Qiang left Hong Kong for the Mainland and contacted Zeng Sheng the East River Column Commander. Later on, Guo Qiang’s grandmother came with Guo Qiang’s elder sisters to join Wu Hua You. 

During the Japanese Occupation of Hong Kong, Wu Guo Qiang’s grandmother fled to the Mainland with Wu Guo Qiang’s two elder sisters and sought support from Wu Hua You who was serving in the Operation Corps of the East River Column.Zeng Sheng the Commander received them and gave them a place to livestay. Grandmother helped make making meals for the force army in return. After the War, Wu Hua You returned to Hong Kong with his family, but their home in Nga Tsin Wai had been demolished by the Japanese armies. (It was situated outside Nga Tsin Wai, today’s Kai Tak Nullah.) Wu Hua You lived in Hong Kong in the period between 1946 and 1949 when his eldest son Guo Qiang was born. (Wu Guo Qiang had a birth certificate but it was lost). On the eve of the liberation of Guangzhou, his father Wu Hua You was summoned by the South China Regional regional bureau to return to the Mainland and help with the taking over of Guangzhou. But, instead of going through Lo Wu land contro limmigration check points, he crossed the border illegally. Towards the end of 1950, his father Ng Wah You  arranged his mother, wife and children (i.e. Guo Qiang and his two elder sisters) to move to Guangzhou, where the whole family had lived since then. 

The Ng’s Clan in Nga Tsin Wai was divided into 4 branches, with Ng Shing Tat Tso, a member of the 9th generation, recognized as the earliest ancestor. Each branch shall nominate a manager to look after the affairs of Ng Shing Tat Tso trust as a partner. The Ng Shing Tat Tso trust had an own official seal which consisted of 4 parts, with each part kept by the manager of each branch. An official document required a intact seal with all 4 parts together. The sealing procedure was later replaced by handwritten signature. Wu Hua You was born to a family of the eldest branch. As the communists did not endorse clan tradition, he did not take part in the Nga Tsin Wai village affairs. Besides, he seldom mentioned the clan affairs to his son Guo Qiang and Guo Qiang’s younger brothers. When the manager of the eldest branch retired from his job, Wu Hua You succeeded him and kept one of the 4 parts of the trust’s seal. He only explained the clan affairs to the youngest son Wu Guo Fu. In the late 1950s, the British Hong Kong government resumed the land on which the Ng’s Clan’s Ancestral Hall was built. A group of villagers led by Ng Wai Chi came to Guangzhou and sought assistance from Wu Hua You. Wu Hua You told Zeng Sheng about this. At the time, Zeng Sheng was the deputy governor of Guangdong Province and mayor of Guangzhou Municipality (he was also the ex-Commander of the East River Column). He discussed the matter with the Guangdong foreign affairs office and the office reported it to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The matter was eventually resolved through diplomatic means. The British Hong Kong government made concession and agreed to build a new ancestral hall and an ancestral school for Ng Shing Tat Tso.  

Wu Guo Qiang and his younger brothers had never lived in Nga Tsin Wai. Their father seldom told them much about the village, but would occasionally write to his relatives in Hong Kong sending them his regards. He only wrote to his aunt and her family. Among the villagers, Guo Qiang and his brothers had more contact with Ng Wai Chi, as the latter visited their father Wu Hua You in Guangzhou almost every year; sometimes he would come several times in a year. Each visit lasted a few days and he would stay in the New Asia Hotel. Ng Wai Chi only talked with Wu Hua You, but Wu Hua You never told his sons the subjects of the conversations. Ng Wai Chi had one daughter. She was married to a northerner,  a member of the People’s Liberation Army’s Fourth Field Army and used to live in Guangzhou. But, the Wu brothers have lost contact with her now. Ng Wai Chi usually came with Aunt Kam Mui to Guangzhou. Because the Wu brothers were well-acquainted with Aunt Kam Mui since the early years, they would visit her when they came to Hong Kong. Leung Sek Lun is Ng Wai Chi’s sworn son. Since China adopted the open door policy, he had led groups of visitors touring Guangzhou very often. When he came, he would stay in the guesthouse of the provincial investigation department and met the Wu brothers. Ng Chung Yuen was a member of the East River Column during the Japanese Occupation of Hong Kong, but he did not retreat northward with the army when the War was over. He stayed in Hong Kong and worked as a policeman until retired. From 1978 onwards, he came to Guangzhou almost every year to visit Guo Qiang’s father Wu Hua You and other old comrades of the East River Column. Some Nga Tsin Wai villagers were seamen, including Ng Chung Yuen’s elder brother Ng Yung Hing. When their ship docked at Huangpu Port, they would go onshore and visit Wu Hua You. These old friends would meet at the Huangpu seamen’s club.

Wu Guo Jian’s first visit to Nga Tsin Wai was in December 1988 when he by-passed Hong Kong on his way back from France to Guangzhou. He stayed in Hong Kong for about a week. His cousin (grandson of grandmother’s nephew), a Shek O indigenous resident, showed him around. One day, Wu Guo Jian went to Nga Tsin Wai. In those days, the village houses were still there. He stayed in the village for a few hours meeting the village head Ng Kau and making a visit to Aunt Kam Mui at her house. He donated $30 as the incense fee and offered incense at the Ng’s Clan’s Ancestral Hall. He felt excited on his first visit to his homeland because he was eventually able to see it with his own eyes.

Wu Guo Qiang’s first visit to his homeland was in 1998 when he came to Hong Kong to handle some clan affairs in the capacity of the eldest branch’s manager. He planned to sign some documents on behalf of ancestral trust. He applied for departure from Mainland China on the ground of visiting relatives. When he arrived at the immigration control point, the Hong Kong immigration officer noticed from his pass that he was born in ‘Hong Kong’. The officer was confused that as a Hong Kong-born, why Wu Guo Qiang had no Hong Kong identity card. He then asked Wu Guo Qiang about his homeland. Wu Guo Qiang answered Nga Tsin Wai in Kowloon. It was after much questioning that he was allowed to pass the control point. When he first entered the village, he felt as if he was returning home. He chatted with Ng Kau and Leung Sek Lun at the Village Office, also visited Aunt Kam Mui at her home and met the clansmen of other branches.

Wu Guo Qiang and his younger brothers grew up in Mainland China. It was also the place where they worked. In the early years, when they filled out biographical documents, their father would tell them to write ‘Baoan’ instead of Nga Tsin Wai, Kowloon as their place of origin. It was not until the Gang of Four was overthrown that they began to put ‘Nga Tsin Wai in Kowloon, Hong Kong’ as the place of origin. When chatting with friends, however, they usually said their homeland was ‘Hong Kong’. They paid no special attention to Nga Tsin Wai because they seldom wrote to the clansmen in Hong Kong, and they did not have their telephone numbers. They only asked about Nga Tsin Wai in passing when meetiNg’s clansmen who came to Guangzhou to discuss clan affairs.

As to the recently proposed demolition and redevelopment of Nga Tsin Wai, the Wu brothers would like to have their homeland preserved. If it is eventually decided that the village must be demolished, they consider that at least the name of Nga Tsin Wai should be preserved. The Wu brothers have deep affection for their hometown. It is because their ancestors had lived there for a very long time. Besides, Nga Tsin Wai was the base of revolution: their father Wu Hua You, an Nga Tsin Wai villager, had devoted himself to the cause of revolution since his young age, people like him are uncommon in Hong Kong. Now, when the Wu brothers come to Hong Kong to handle clan affairs, they would take their children along, so that they can see their place of origin with their own eyes and offer incense at the ancestral hall. They will tell their descendents: ‘This is our homeland’; ‘The ancestral hall is the place where our ancestors are enshrined and worshipped’. With improved transportation between Hong Kong and the Mainland after 1997, they would like to visit their hometown more often.

The Wu brothers thought that their life in the Mainland was very different from the clansmen’s life in Hong Kong. Despite different ways of expression and writings, they found that they shared similar emotional affection with the village because they were natives with the same hometown. Wu Guo Qiang never cared about the differences between Hong Kong and the Mainland. His father never looked high of Hong Kong although Hong Kong was a wealthier society and Hong Kong people could go to other countries to find career development with more ease. Under his father’s influence, Wu Guo Qiang had no intention to move to Hong Kong even in the 1960s when many Mainlanders crossed the border illegally to Hong Kong. The Wu brothers considered that their father was an upright man who was persistent with his frugal lifestyle and was never keen to strive for fame and material gains. By seniority as a revolution participant, Wu Hua You should have long been promoted to cadre rank of party’s centre.

Wu Hua You joined the Communist Party in 1925. Although he was a cadre at the provincial level in the Red Army, the highest rank he was promoted to throughout his lifetime was the 12th grade of the administration rank. Other comrades who worked with him in the early years, such as Chen Yun and Liu Shao Qi, were appointed to important positions after the liberation.  Guo Qiang and his brothers considered that under the current corrupted bureaucracy in China, their father was a rare example of being an upright officer. He had no greed for money, nor would he take advantage of opportunities to make private profit. Besides, he never arranged privileged job positions for his children . They reflected that their father had great impact on them throughout their lives. The Wu brothers sighed that why an upright person and authentic communist party member as his father could have come from Nga Tsin Wai, Hong Kong.