-
Ah Ying
Ah Ying
Retired garment worker
Sex: Female Birthyear: 1942 Age at Interview: 68 Education: Primary Occupation: Garment worker Theme: Social Life, Education, Industry Ah Ying did not have much leisure in her school days. At home, her household chores were endless as she had to carry her younger brother around the house all day. Her mother also told her to be ready to run for chores such as buying grocery in Ningbo Street. When she had to carry her younger brother, Ah Ying couldn’t play hopscotch or rope skipping with the local kids. Even when her neighbours had volunteered to take care of the baby boy on Ah Ying’s back, Ah Ying was still worried of being found and scolded by her mother. Her mother would come out of the house to check on her regularly and scold her if she was not seen around.
Title Doing endless household chores in her school days Date 29/04/2010 Subject Social Life Duration 2m35s Language Cantonese Material Type Audio Collection Oral History Archives Repository Hong Kong Memory Project Note to Copyright Permission for use is given by Ah Ying Accession No. LKF-LKY-HLT-001 When Ah Ying worked in wool factory, she attended BGCA Free School at night. She had no time to sit quietly and do revision at home after school as her mother often shouted at her and ordered her to do household chores. In Ah Ying’s mother’s eyes, reading was regarded as slacking and would give her something to busy with. While Ah Ying worked, she had only three or four days’ holiday in a year at times such as Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival and the winter solstice. The wool factory she worked for was a small workshop and seldom approved her more holidays. When Ah Ying was fortunate enough to have a holiday, she would sleep late and her mother would scold her for being lazy! She was responsible for heavy chores such as fetching water, doing the laundry and burning sawdust for cooking. As doing homework could only be started when all the chores were finished it was difficult for Ah Ying to catch up with her Primary 4 course. Ah Ying complains about her mother to this day, saying that “she always had to find something for you to do!”
Title Mother did not allowed her to sit quietly and do revision Date 29/04/2010 Subject Social Life Duration 3m29s Language Cantonese Material Type Audio Collection Oral History Archives Repository Hong Kong Memory Project Note to Copyright Permission for use is given by Ah Ying Accession No. LKF-LKY-HLT-002 While glad that she had the opportunity to study, Ah Ying laments that hardship at life made it difficult to be happy in those days. Her favourite teacher at BGCA Free School was called Mr. Law. He held meal gatherings for students once every one to two months at his own expense. Once, having strong desire to try the food, Ah Ying went back to the school without having signed up for the day’s meal gathering. Mr Law kindly offered to share his own portion of food with her. Ah Ying says she still feels grateful to this treat and regretful of her misdeed! Back then, she pretended that she could not finish the food and took the leftovers back home to share with her younger siblings.
Title A free school teacher who held meal gatherings for his students Date 29/04/2010 Subject Education Duration 4m21s Language Cantonese Material Type Audio Collection Oral History Archives Repository Hong Kong Memory Project Note to Copyright Permission for use is given by Ah Ying Accession No. LKF-LKY-HLT-003 At the night of squatter fire in Lo Fu Ngam, Ah Ying’s father had to go register with the victim registration to be eligible for future government relief and resettlement. Ah Ying sat alone in the vegetable field to look after the family’s few belongings. She was cold, hungry, tired, and also soaked in rain. Her feet became numb and could not move after running and carrying all of the family stuff. She felt like weeping but had no tears left to cry. In the middle of the night, her father returned to the field after completing the registration. He had just 30 cents in his pocket to buy a bowl of wonton noodles for Ah Ying from a hawker. As Ah Ying and her father had no money to pay the deposit for the bowl, the hawker just put the noodles in an enamel basin which restaurants used for cup washing! Ah Ying was so exhausted that she did not care about hygiene, eating her first ever bowl of wonton noodles which she still remembers fondly to this day!
Title Eating her first ever bowl of wonton noodles Date 29/04/2010 Subject Social Life Duration 2m36s Language Cantonese Material Type Audio Collection Oral History Archives Repository Hong Kong Memory Project Note to Copyright Permission for use is given by Ah Ying Accession No. LKF-LKY-HLT-004 Ah Ying got married in the early 1960s. She was eager to apply to the Housing Department to have a separate unit for her own family. A friend suggested Ah Ying sought help from Elsie Elliott. Ah Ying appreciates the fact that Elsie Elliott took the time to meet personally members of the public and thinks that she was kind and sincere in making effort to help the poor. While Ms. Elliott did not speak Cantonese, her assistant helped in instant interpretation. Ms Elliott would listen carefully and occasionally asked questions. During her meeting with Ah Ying, she did not bother about the time insisting that the meeting would only finish when all matters had been properly discussed. Ah Ying met Ms. Elliott many times. Sometimes when they finished the meeting, it was already late night at 11:00 pm or 12:00. Afterwards Ms. Elliott wrote a letter to the Housing Department immediately afterwards, and informed Ah Ying of the results at a later date. Frustratingly, Ah Ying’s initial application was unsuccessful. She cried bitterly upon hearing the bad news.
Title Seeking help from Ms. Elliott to apply a separate unit from Housing Department for her own family Date 01/06/2010 Subject Social Life Duration 2m22s Language Cantonese Material Type Audio Collection Oral History Archives Repository Hong Kong Memory Project Note to Copyright Permission for use is given by Ah Ying Accession No. LKF-LKY-HLT-005 Ah Ying and her family lived in a four-person unit in Shek Lei Pui Estate, which together with its kitchen had an area of around 200 sq. ft., similar to the unit at Tai Hung Tung. At first, her husband did not want to move because he thought the place was too remote. He also complained that the unit was too small, and his head would hit the ceiling if he stayed on the upper level of a bunk bed! Ah Ying designed her own bunk bed, paying a higher price to have it custom-made. The railing of the upper bunk was extended to the ceiling with a door installed so that her sons could live in this “cockloft”. Ah Ying and her husband slept on the lower bunk, so it was easy for them to watch over the kids. When her eldest son grew bigger, he did homework in the cockloft with a stool. Ah Ying even installed a desk lamp in the cockloft for him to study.
Title Trying to build a home of her own in Shek Lei Pui Estate Date 01/06/2010 Subject Social Life Duration 4m8s Language Cantonese Material Type Audio Collection Oral History Archives Repository Hong Kong Memory Project Note to Copyright Permission for use is given by Ah Ying Accession No. LKF-LKY-HLT-006 When she was 17, Ah Ying changed her career to sewing, believing that working in the metal industry did not offer her good prospects and her hands were frequently hurt. Sewing, on the other hand, required a higher degree of craftsmanship and could be regarded as a skilled trade. Best of all, married workers could stay home and continued to work for income. Ah Ying did not learn sewing in workshops, but at her cousin’s house where she installed several sewing machines. Ah Ying’s cousin taught her all she knew and was appreciative of Ah Ying’s positive learning attitude. So she did not charge Ah Ying any apprentice fees. There were no time limits for such apprenticeship which generally ended when the apprentices were seen able to master the skills.
Title Changing her career to sewing in order to have a better prospects Date 07/06/2010 Subject Industry Duration 3m40s Language Cantonese Material Type Audio Collection Oral History Archives Repository Hong Kong Memory Project Note to Copyright Permission for use is given by Ah Ying Accession No. LKF-LKY-HLT-007 Ah Ying worked in the fashion industry and later set up her own business. Ah Ying believes that the operation of her sewing workshop rested with her personal efforts and trustworthiness. Although she never got much help from society, Ah Ying believes that public housing was the Government's greatest contribution to her livelihood. The cheaper rents greatly reduced her financial burden. When she applied for public housing by asking for help from Elsie Elliott, she had several setbacks and had to fight through all the way. When young, Ah Ying received little support but plenty of scolding from her parents and husband. The fact that her husband initially opposed moving to Shek Lei Pui Estate still makes Ah Ying feel sad to this day.
Title Everything rested with personal efforts Date 07/06/2010 Subject Social Life Duration 4m5s Language Cantonese Material Type Audio Collection Oral History Archives Repository Hong Kong Memory Project Note to Copyright Permission for use is given by Ah Ying Accession No. LKF-LKY-HLT-008