After I interviewed my grandfather, I know more better about my great grandfather and my family.Especially after I heard of my great grandfather’s dreams and his perfection. It deeply touched me a lot. “The things what you wanted might not be the best.”was my great grandfather’s motto all the time.From now on, it will be mine too. Because I have never seen my great grandfather before, I actually didn’t know him very well. But after my interviewing, I realized my great grandfather is a good model for me to learn. My grandfather was also glad to share the story with me. Besides the story about my great grandfather, he also shared some childhood’s memories with me. We all thank for having the chance to talk about our family together. My grandfather said our life is happier than before. We should treasure every moment we lives so as to create brighter future.
The Kindred Project─My Great Grandfather
I am going to tell a story about my great grandfather.His name is ChouWang Huang and he has no nickname. He passed away before I was born.I have never seen him before. So I could only know him through my grandfather.
The story can date back to Ching Dynasty. My great grandfather was born in 1900─the beginning of 20 century. He was born in Chung─hua . At that time, Taiwan was a part of China. According to the history, the poeple living at that time had to sport hair. So my grandfather had long hair. At the end of Ching Dynasty, the government had no force to against foreign countries. In no time, a part of China─Taiwan, was conquered by Japen. My great grandfather became a Japanese. Japan’s government forced people living in Taiwan to change their names into Japanese names. However, most people didn’t want to do this. So, many people have at least two names of their own. And we can see them wearing Japanese clothing in the pictures.
My great grandfather was in a big family. He had twenty brothers and sisters because his father has four wives！However, his brothers and sisters didn’t have many children. It seems that he didn’t get along with his brothers and sisters. And he didn’t have many happy memories.Our family has a naming tradition. For example, we gave the word ”竹” to my great grandfather’s generation,the word “紹”to my father’s generation and the word “世” to my generation.
My great grandfather’s achievement is very good. He entered an excellent college named MingZhi in Japan. He is good at law. He also studued law in high school and even in college. However, he didn’t practice law after he graduated. The reason why he didn’t practice law was that he couldn’t pass the law’s exam. This is the thing that he regreted most.
In 1945, after world war II end. Taiwan was restored to China’s government.
An important event happend ： Guangdao was attacked by America. America shot atom bomb to Guangdao. My great grandfather used to study in there but soon he moved to Taiwan where he lives with his family when Guangdao was attacked. So he wasn’t involve in the attack.
The other important event that happend in Taiwan was 228 event. Then, many people like lawyers,writers,teachers and even college students were arrested by the government. Due to my great grandfather’s career as a public servant, he were not arrested. At that time, it was lucky enough for him.
My great grandfather usually telled my grandfather that although his dream was to be a lawyer, study for law, but the the reason why he can survive was that he were not a lawer.Otherwise, he might have been dead during 228 event. It gives me an lesson that the thing what you wanted most might not the best.In the society is full of disorder, it is difficult to have good times let alone your dreams.
