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Lily Pond's avatar

What a riveting essay! And what a fascinating parallel between the two fathers as they expressed how they missed their respective child. I read both with a pang in my heart as the sentiment mirrored my own father's during the long periods we were living in different countries and were estranged. Your great grandfather's tone was really harsh and gave the impression of a man steeped in misogyny (which was probably true of all men at that time period? Sorry about making this assumption) -- e.g. giving Dolly a spanking and blaming the woman for choosing the wrong man (something my mom used to do!).

I am very curious about the original Chinese letter written by your grandfather to your dad. The photo here shows a cropped part of the letter. Would you mind sharing the entirety of it so I can study the content and the penmanship? The sentence structure and the punctuation are different from the modern Chinese language, but typical of the pre-Communist era.

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Lisa Maguire's avatar

Beautiful essay. Connecting the universal experiences of parents and children with your own unique and remarkable family.

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