My Days in Junior High School 1964 -1966

This might be the only picture I had during the three year junior high school days. I am the one standing at four from the right of the second row from the back.

It was shot a few days before the graduation ceremony was held in June 1966. The scene was in front of the newly built hall of Ching Shui High School located by the state highway in Ching Shui township of Taichung County, Taiwan.

From the picture, you can summarize the features of the high school in those days. 1) big student number per class, there were 54 in our classroom. 2) all the students had to wear uniform. 3) all the boys had to be bald-headed. 4) opposite sex in separate class.

You are right, all the four points hit the spot! I'd like to share one of the dramas about me occurred during the three school years.

Each year, the school held a model student election activity. Each class must nominate a candidate through their in-class democratic process to the student activity administration office to involve in the final model student election.

Of course that was just a way of democracy education through practice. But we all took it seriously hoping the candidate of our own class would be elected so that we could share his honor.

I , being a quiet and shy boy in the class, never expected that I was nominated in the in-class selection and, even could not believe, won the top number in favor of me. I was scared my head off as a year one junior high school student with the unexpected result. But our class teacher, Chen Yao-tang (陳瑤塘)﹐assured me that the whole class would back me up in the in-school election campaign.

The next day, the whole school began to be bustling with vote inviting activity, poster hanging, and etc, My friend's neighbor was a printer who printed 500 pieces of bookmark with my profile on one side and a blank class timetable on the other for distributing to the voters in the vote inviting activity. I remembered it cost me $10. My friend told me that I could pay it with the $50 award when I was elected as model student of the year. It seemed as if he could foresee the election result that I would win the 50 bucks.

After one whole week of campaigning activities, there came the voting day. Most of my classmates were in the school hall watching the votes being called out and added to the corresponding candidate on the blackboard, but I was too nervous about the result that I hid myself in our classroom. Once a while, one of the very enthusiastic mates would rush back to report the update. As the vote calling was going on, these messengers ran back and forth the classroom and the hall excitedly with the latest accumulated votes casted to me.

By the time the sun was to set, all the votes were cleared from the boxes. The result showed that I was among the school model students of the year.

I told mum and dad after returned home about the news that day. They were very proud of me being a model student,

The big brother of my neighbor who was a profound calligrapher wrote a few posters of 銘謝當選, "thanks for voting me" for me to hang on some corners of the school yard the next day.

At the nearest morning school assembly after the voting day, a certificate of model student, award of $50 and a medal were handed down by the principal.

That had occurred in the first year of my junior high school days. Never had I thought that I could be so popular in the school as a introvert boy, that in the next year, the same process repeated once again, I was elected as model student for the second time.

Believe or not, but it was true, I was selected as candidate for the third time in a row during my three year junior high school period. But this time I did not win in the final election.

In Remembrance of My Aunt

A few weeks ago, Aunt came to my dream. She quietly looked at me with a kind expression as she usually did when she was alive. The dream was quite clear, and it was the first time that aunt ever appeared in my dream since she died in 1984. So I reflected upon the dream a lot after I woke up.

Aunt was born in 1914 in a small town called Ching Shui in the Taichung County of Taiwan. She was named Jioa (招仔), meaning inviting a brother, by her parents. She was the only daughter in the Lee family. Her younger brother was actually adopted by her parents for the sake of having a son to carry on the family name. That was why her given name, Jioa, contained a meaning of inviting because her parents hoped that this daughter would be inviting a boy to be born in this family. So I guess her parents must have experienced infertility problem before given birth to aunty.

According to my cousin Chai Hsia, aunty's youngest daughter, aunty was famous of her good look in the town and was nicknamed "Ching Shui Beauty".

Aunty's maiden home was located at a road nearby the water supply stream called Biakau (埤仔口). This stream was formed by a spring gushing up steadily from the ground. In early 1960's, though at that time all the families in Ching Shui already had tap water run to their homes, people living nearby Biakau still liked to fetch drinking water from the stream or even washed their laundry there. During my childhood, I often played in the shallow part of the stream while my mother did the laundry there.

In early 1930's, when uncle was at his teens, he was assigned by his father to fetch water for the family. Due to this daily task which required him to pass by where Jioa lived several times a day, uncle noticed this beautiful girl. He himself was tall, handsome, and very talkative, so I believed Jioa must have good impression on this guy. Soon, my grandfather sent match-maker over to Lee family to propose a marriage and this good looking couple were married.

After she was married into Chen family, my grandfather thought her original name Jioa was not very graceful, so he renamed her Chen Lee Yu Ying (陳李玉英), meaning jade heroine.

About ten years after their marriage, uncle left his family to the care of my father and headed for Japan to try his luck in small business of pearl trade. So aunty was virtually widowed since mid 1940's. Although uncle did come back to visit his family after his departure, but those couple of visits were only short stays and eventually there was no more visits at all. Later, aunt was told by fellow Taiwanese immigrants that uncle had relationship with a Japanese woman. Aunt's hope of seeing her husband back with a big fortune was shattered.

Aunt was a good singer. When I was a small child, I liked to be around her and often heard her singing pop songs. The songs she frequently sang were almost those about missing of the loved one. As I recall these past views now, I can appreciate how hard a time she had been through that she had to alleviate the stress by singing songs to herself so often.

Because of her ill fated marriage, she advised her junior generation to be careful with making friends of opposite sex. Once my 4th sister told aunt that she was in love with a man whom my sister described to aunt as generally a good man but not tall and handsome. Aunt said to her the inner quality was most important. She said, "look how handsome and tall your uncle is, and now where has he gone?". My sister bore aunty's advice in mind and later accepted that man's proposal.

Aunty raised up two sons and three daughters all by herself. With the unsteady money that uncle sent back for the family, aunty did job for a local straw hat weaving factory to earn a bit more money. I used to be observing how aunty did the job, and soon I learned how to do the job. So sometimes, I came to do the job with aunt, and this little help won her constant praising.

Aunt was very kind. Up to mid 1965, there were still seen beggars begging for food door by door. For a few times I witnessed aunt gave food or coins to beggars turned up at the doorway.

When I got sick, she always came to sit by my bedside and said kind words to me. I cherished her gentle touch over my forehead and her sympathizing words whenever I was sick in bed having fever.

Aunty's health had never been good. Many times during my childhood, I saw her staying in her bedroom alone, getting up, walking to the medicine bag to get a sachet of pain killer and gulped it down with water. She had been bothered by frequent headache. Once she also showed her lower leg and pressed a couple of spots. I saw the skin sank and formed a hollow. I pressed mine and it bounced back instantly. Later I learned from school it was symptom of Beriberi disease indicating the body was short of Vitamin B.

In 1984, aunty's health deteriorated sharply. Once upon hearing of her being unwell, I took a day off and came down from Taipei to Ching Shui to see her. Chai Hsia, my cousin, was looking after her by the bed. I saw my very thin and pale aunt lying in the bed with nostrils hooked up with oxygen tubes. She struggled to get up to greet me, tears streamed down her face. She said to me, "Ahsen, I'm afraid I am dying this time...". I felt tears welled up my eyes and found no better words to console her than "no, you are not, as the mercy Buddha will bless you...".

That was the last time I met with my dear aunt as a few weeks later she passed away. Chai Hsia was very sad, she commented by aunty's tomb yard, "this is the end of this Ching Shui Beauty's life...".

Right after the meeting with aunty in the dream, I have included her in my pray list when I do my daily spiritual service in the early morning. May aunty's soul gets full rest and enlightened.