Jung Family History:August 17, 2008
The History of the Family of Tong Jung
Compiled by Him Mark Lai from information provided by Horatio, Sr. and Laura and other members of the Jung family and their relatives.
The history is a story of how members of the Jung (Cheung, Jeung) family with humble beginnings in rural South China emigrated abroad, overcame difficulties, and established homes for themselves and their descendants.
The Chinese surname of the family is Cheung (Jeung) 張, one of the three most numerous surnames in China.[1] The lineage can only be traced as far as Cheung (Jeung) Soong Naam 張崧南[2](known as Ancestor Soong Naam 崧南公), the great grandfather of Horatio Jung, Sr. Cheung (Jeung). Soong Naam lived during the Qing 清 dynasty in Ah Gong 鴉崗 (crow hill) Village located in the southeastern part of Saam Heung 三鄉 (three villages) Township[3] in the southern part of Zhongshan 中山. An inter-village feud erupted during which the villages of Ping Laam 平嵐 and Woo Seik 烏石 in Saam Heung Township combined forces to attack Ah Gong Village. The numerically inferior Ah Gong villagers were defeated, after which Cheung (Jeung) Soong Naam decided to move and established Bo Tsai (pronounce Boo Tsai 埔仔 by villagers; population 78 in 1980s),[4] a small village in a poor hilly area in the northwestern part of the present Zhuhai 珠海. Many from the Saam Heung region eventually moved to this area, for the villages of Boo Tsai, Wong Ning Tong 黃寧塘, and Lo Mei Shan 老尾山 in the region became known as the "Little Saam Heung."
Connections to Peru and America
Cheung (Jeung) Soong Naam was alleged to be an opium addict. He had five sons all with the generational identifier Baak 伯 (homonym of Bai 百). The oldest son Cheung (Jeung) Baak Yin 張伯延 (known to Horatio Jung, Sr. as Dai Baak Goong 大伯公 or First Grand Uncle) immigrated to Peru. When he became established he helped his brothers to immigrate. However, only the third son Cheung (Jeung) Baak Wing 張伯榮 and fifth son Cheung (Jeung) Baak Cheung 張伯昌 went to Peru, as the fourth son died in Hong Kong before he could embark.
The second son Cheung (Jeung) Baak Hing 張伯慶 (Horatio Jung, Sr.'s grandfather) remained in the village. He married Tong Shee 唐氏 from Gai Paak 雞柏 (village name changed officially to Gai Saan 雞山 after 1949; population about 500 in 1980s), a village about 4.5 miles south of Boo Tsai. Tong Shee gave birth to two daughters--Cheung (Jeung) Yee 張意 and Cheung (Jeung) Gaan 張間, before giving birth to their first son Cheung (Jeung) Tong Wai 張棠惠 (the father of Horatio Jung, Sr.) on September 4, 1897. The couple also had a younger son who was killed by bandits around the age of eighteen.
After the death of his youngest son, Cheung (Jeung) Baak Hing sought a safer place to live and moved to Tong Gaa 唐家, a large village (population 5,177 in 1980s) about 2.5 miles east southeast of Boo Tsai near the coast; however, he still retained title to his house in Boo Tsai that later was inherited by his son. He found work with wealthy landowner Tong Soey Jee 唐瑞芝,[5] who was favorably impressed with his trustworthiness and honesty and rented him 80 mu of rice fields to cultivate.
Cheung (Jeung) Baak Yin had intended to take Cheung (Jeung) Baak Hing's son Cheung (Jeung) Tong Wai (Horatio Jung, Sr.'s father) to Peru. Thus Cheung (Jeung) Tong Wai left the village for Hong Kong when he was 16 or 17 years old to prepare for the voyage; however, Cheung (Jeung) Baak Yin became ill and passed away in Hong Kong before he could implement his plan. Faced with the need to support himself, Cheung (Jeung) Tong Wai signed on as a seaman on ships sailing to Siam while looking for another opportunity to go abroad. Chun Haam 陳涵, comprador at the "Blue Funnel" Steamship Line, took a liking to the hardworking and clean-living Cheung (Jeung) Tong Wai and took him on as his god-son. It so happened that Tong Jung met with an accident and broke his leg. While he was convalescing in Hong Kong, his brother-in-law Tong Yee Kun 唐貽勤 found that Jung Chong 鄭昌, a Chinese from America, had a U.S. citizen slot for sale.
Jung Chong was the paper name of Look Duck Boon 陸德本, aka Look Lai 陸禮 from Gum Jook Mei 金竹尾, a small village (population 64 in 1980s) in northwest Zhuhai about 2.5 miles northwest of Boo Tsai. The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), however, alleged that he was a native of Yeung Chun Po 楊春埔, a small village (population 87 in the 1980s) a short distance to the west of Gum Jook Mei.[6] Look had probably claimed US birth and assumed the name Jung Chong after birth records in San Francisco had been destroyed during the 1906 earthquake and fire. Although he was said to be a bachelor all his life, Jung Chong had reported the birth of four sons to immigration officers after his return from trips to China.
Thus, Cheung (Jeung) Tong Wai sailed on the S. S. Golden State and was landed in San Francisco on October 25, 1921 as Jung Tong 鄭桐 (better known as Tong Jung in America), second son of Jung Chong. He was 25 years old at the time. As for the rest of the slots, Wong Fai 黃輝 became the oldest son Jung Fai 鄭輝, and Wong San 黃琁 became Jung San 鄭琁, the third son. The fourth slot was never used.
Separate Lives
For a short period after he entered the US, Tong Jung harvested asparagus in the fields near Isleton. He told his children long afterwards that the cutting of the vegetables close to the ground was very hard on the back. Soon afterward he found employment as a family cook. The wages were low, but Tong Jung was a thrifty, hardworking young man who stayed away from tobacco, liquor, and gambling. Moreover, he lived at his place of work. Thus, by 1927 he was able to save enough to return to China to marry Chuck Yook King 卓玉瓊 on June 15, 1927. She was from Gwoon Tong 官塘, a large village (population 2,500 in 1980s) in northwestern Zhuhai about three miles west northwest of Tong Gaa. She together with her older sister 鏞好 had spent several years in the Cantonese community in Shanghai.
After the wedding Tong Jung changed his Chinese name to Cheung (Jeung) Jee Ping 張智平.[7] At the same time he also began building a two-storied concrete house in the Yut Bo 一堡 Section of Tong Gaa Village. At the time there were few two-storied buildings in the village and Tong Jung's neighbors complained that the second story of the new building was blocking their feng-shui風水. However, Tong Jung was able to get the influential Tong Siu Yee 唐紹儀[8]to mediate and dissuaded the neighbors from demolishing the second story.
In January 10, 1929, Tong Jung's first-born Chung Ming 頌明 ("eulogy to brightness") (Horatio, Sr.) came into this world in the new house, after which Tong Jung returned to the U.S. However, in order to create an additional slot, Tong Jung changed Chung Ming's (Horatio, Sr.) birthday to February 6 (5th day of the 1st moon), 1928 and then reported the birth of a fictitious second son on February 22 (2nd day of the 2nd moon), 1929.
Tong Jung returned to China again in 1932 and a daughter was born on January 7 (12th day of the 12th moon), 1933. Tong Jung's mother called her Gum Ying 金英 ("golden flower"); Chuck Yook King named her Pui Ying 佩英 ("ornamental flower"), and Tong Jung gave her the name Yook Ying 玉英 ("jade flower"). As a child she answered to all three names, but as she grew older the name her father bestowed upon her became the preferred one. The year 1933 was during the depths of the Great Depression, but the thrifty Tong Jung was able to have enough savings to purchase a three-story building in Hong Kong on Fook Wing Street 福榮街 for HK $8,000. Tong Jung then departed and arrived in San Francisco on the S. S. President Coolidge on May 15 1933. Departing from the practice of many returning immigrants, he reported the birth of his daughter rather than substituting a son in her slot.
Tong Jung periodically remitted money from America for family support through Cheung Shing Tat 張成達, a distant relative working at Hong Kong's The Sun 大新 department store. Tong Jung’s thrifty wife living in the village handled the family finances and was able to save enough to purchase over a period of time 40 mu of rice fields. Her capable management of the family's finances enabled them to live under fairly comfortable circumstances. The household included Tong Jung's mother, wife, two children as well as two mui-tsai[9]妹仔-- Shun Ho 順好, who left the family soon after the outbreak of Sino-Japanese War, and Lin Ho 蓮好, who left soon after the end of World War II.
A few years afterward, the Sino-Japanese War erupted in July 1937. The Japanese captured Guangzhou in October 1938. Tong Jung's wife scraped up what money she had and sent Chung Ming (Horatio, Sr.) to Hong Kong, where he lived with Fifth Grand Uncle at Cheung Sha Wan Road 長沙環道 in Sham Shui Po 深水埗, Kowloon. After her mother-in-law passed away, Chuck Yook King with daughter Yook Ying (Laura) also left the village for Hong Kong in summer 1939. The family then moved to Tong Jung's property at Fook Wing Street. Fifth Grand Uncle and his family also moved in.
Chung Ming (Horatio, Sr.) and Yook Ying (Laura) attended Kowloon Tong Primary School 九龍塘小學 for about a year. Their education was interrupted when the Japanese attacked and captured Hong Kong in December 1941 after they had wiped out most of America's Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor.
The family then returned to Tong Gaa, which had in the meantime been occupied by the Japanese since February 1940. The family managed to survive with rent collected from the rice fields that Chuck Yook King had previously purchased. The family also maintained a stall opposite the front of the house peddling fruits, candies and cigarettes to help with the family income, although it also served the purpose of diverting envious eyes away from the family's comparatively comfortable circumstances. Tong Jung's wife also was able to dole out assistance to the families of her brother and widowed older sister as well as to the family of Tong Jung's older sister during the war years. The children continued their interrupted education and attended classes taught by Leung Mun Wong 梁文旺 (Ben Jung’s older brother) in one of the village's ancestral temples. They sometimes were picked upon by classmates since the family belonged to the small minority with other surnames in a village where most of the population belonged to either the Tong or Leung clans. During these years Yook Ying was a sickly child and missed many classes. At other times she would cut classes to dig for oysters at the water's edge with the family's mui tsai.
Across the Pacific Tong Jung and two partners had opened Tong's Inn Restaurant 唐園 in Tracy, California, during World War II. Business was excellent during the prosperity brought on by the war. It also enabled his nephews Tommy and Yet Tong and niece Kay Tong, who had immigrated into the US, to have part time jobs at the restaurant while they attended school. However, the work was hard and hours long. That plus anxiety over his family stranded in China caused Tong Jung to suffer from insomnia for a lengthy period, which seriously undermined his health.
Broken Dreams
After the war ended, Chuck Yook King sent her son Cheung (Jeung) Chung Ming (Horatio, Sr.) to Hong Kong in October 1945 to avoid the chaos of the Chinese civil war. She and Yook Ying (Laura) followed in the summer of 1946. The family lived at Fook Wing Street, Sham Shui Po in Kowloon in the house purchased with money remitted by Tong Jung. Fifth Grand Uncle and his family also lived in the same house. The children continued their schooling at Kowloon Tong School, where they maintained excellent scholastic records.
Tong Jung was soon reunited with the family. He had sold Tong's Inn soon after the war ended and hastened to depart on the S.S. Marine Adder on Dec. 23, 1946 to Hong Kong. This was the first time that Cheung (Jeung) Yook Ying (Laura) met her father. Another son William Kwok Yin Jung 張國賢 was born on December 6 (24th day of the 10th moon), 1947 during Tong Jung's sojourn in Hong Kong. The youngest son Albert Kwok Sin Jung 張國善, however, was born on July 4, 1949 after Tong Jung had left for America on the S.S. President Wilson and arrived at San Francisco on May 14, 1949.
In 1947 as the political situation in China was deteriorating rapidly, Tong Jung had purchased at low prices a four-storied building at 40 Sin Kee East Street 冼基東街 in the central part and the Oi Wah [love China] Confectionary Plant 愛華餅乾厰on Kong Yat [resist Japan] West Road 抗日西路in the Sai Gwan [west gate] 西關 district in the western part of Guangzhou. Jung Wai Lo 鄭惠羅, husband of 陳淑珍, daughter of Tong Jung's godfather Chun Haam, and a Chinese who had lived in the Philippines, became the manager of the plant. Tong Jung had deep feelings for his native land and his investments were intended for his retirement in China and an inheritance for his children.
Tong Jung also began the process of filing documents for his two older children to emigrate to America to experience life and society in preparation for adulthood. At that time he had intended for them to return to Hong Kong after five years to help manage his businesses and investments. He also filled the slot that he had created with Horatio Jung, Sr.'s second cousin, Leung Mun Ping 梁文平, who now became Bing Wing Jung 鄭炳榮 (later he took the name Bennett Jung in America), "second son" of Tong Jung. In preparation for their lives in America, Chung Ming chose the western name Horatio and Yook Ying the name Laura. Horatio and Laura also changed their family name in the records of Kowloon Tong School from Cheung (Jeung) 張 to Jung 鄭, which must have seemed strange to their classmates.
During this period there was a great demand for the limited number of immigration visas to America available to Chinese. Tong Jung had to resort to bribery through intermediaries to facilitate the paperwork. In late September 1949 the trio boarded the S.S. President Wilson and embarked on the voyage that would determine their future. They booked passage in the special third class section for $350 each and survived seasickness during the 18-day voyage to arrive in San Francisco in early October. They were detained for a week awaiting interrogation by INS officials. During that period the victorious Communist armies entered Guangzhou. All three of the Jung’s were officially admitted to the US on October 14, 1949. They were among the 240 Chinese who were children of US citizens admitted to the US in 1949. Chuck Yook King, together with infant sons William and Albert, finally arrived in America in September 1952, and for the first time, Tong Jung enjoyed normal family life in America.
Political changes in China upset Tong Jung's plans for retirement. During the early 1950s Tong Jung's rice fields at Tong Gaa were confiscated during the land reform although title to the houses in Boo Tsai and Tong Gaa remained his. During the late 1950s the Confectionary Plant in Guangzhou was merged with other plants to form the South China Confectionary Plant 華南餅乾厰. Although dividends continued to be paid on the business and rent collected on the house in Guangzhou, the money could not be remitted out of China.
Tong Jung started from scratch to prepare for his retirement. He was a shrewd businessman and in little more than a decade his investment in Hong Kong utility stocks had built up a substantial portfolio. He also purchased a hotel on Broadway for $70,000 in 1959 that was sold in 1961 to purchase the apartment building at 1754 Stockton Street.
Readjustment of Citizenship Status
During the 1950s the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) had been investigating and prosecuting Chinese immigration fraud. By the end of the decade it began to move against the Jung family in earnest. In 1959 a car containing Laura, her husband and friends were flagged down by INS officials soon after they had reentered the US on a visit to Vancouver, Canada, to establish the fact that she had left the country. In 1961 an immigration inspector visited Fai Jung, Tong Jung's paper brother, telling him to confess his fraudulent status, and that Tong Jung had already confessed. The frightened Wong broke down and signed a confession, after which he phoned the Jung family. Since Tong Jung had not confessed, he decided to depart for Hong Kong in order to protect the citizenship status of his children. He purchased an apartment at Flat A, Ninth Floor, Lake Side Building 湖邊大廈, Causeway Bay 銅鑼灣, Victoria, in preparation for his retirement. However, he could not obtain permanent residence in Hong Kong and temporarily had to live in Macao with the family of Fifth Grand Uncle's daughter Gum Yook 金玉 and her husband Siu Duck Sung 蕭德生, and commute to Hong Kong weekly. Fifth Grand Uncle and his family and Tong Jung's god-sister and her family were invited to share the Hong Kong apartment.