This article was submitted by Linda Huang, daughter of Voy and Fay Wong..
1881-1979
I don’t remember the pictures I used to draw for my Ngin Ngin. I do remember my dad sitting at his old wood desk writing letters and paying the bills. It was the kind of desk that had all sorts of compartments with the front panel folding out to write on. I used to love opening the miniature door, pulling out the little drawers, and taking out the secret compartments that were disguised as columns on each side of the miniature door.
Whenever Dad wrote a letter to his mother, he would ask us to draw something for “Ngin Ngin” too. At the time, I wasn’t really sure who Ngin Ngin was. Dad, a reticent type of person, never talked about Ngin Ngin, at least not to us. Years later, I finally did meet Ngin Ngin when she came to live with us.
Distant, Dignified
In the beginning when Ngin Ngin lived with us, she seemed almost as distant as the person that we used to draw for. She was a tiny woman with bound feet. She had a dignified and stern demeanor that came from years of being an authoritarian mother-in-law in China.
I would have loved hearing Ngin Ngin talk about her life, her history. She was born in 1881 so there would have been much to tell, but Ngin Ngin was not a storyteller.
Ngin Ngin stayed in her room most of the time. It was a small cozy room that was filled with sunshine. It had a No. 4 on the door, a remnant of a time when there were boarders. As we walked past her room to go down the stairs, we always saw her sitting, forming a silhouette against the window of light. She liked to sew and mend clothes so I used to bring her all my skirts that needed to be shortened as the mini-skirt was popular at that time.
Curiosity to Affection
When my friends visited, they were always curious about the occupant of room No. 4. But my friends were as much an oddity to Ngin Ngin as she was to them. She would ask if I really understood what they were saying, if their hair was real, it was so light-colored and curly.
As the years went by, a certain amount of affection developed between Ngin Ngin and us. We called her “Grumps” and tried to make her laugh. She returned our affectation with an art that my mom said only one with bound feet would have time to create in China.
Secret Artistry
One afternoon, we discovered in her room beautiful, intricate paper cutouts of butterflies. We were delighted with them; they were so extraordinary! She cut endless varieties of shapes and patterns: spiders, butterflies that turned into masks, snowflakes, water lilies, classic Chinese symbols, symmetrical designs, and organic patterns that looked like sea creatures. (Her paper cutouts were used for the background of the montage of images above). She cut them out of any type of paper she could find. She mainly used newspapers, but we also found patterns cut into junk-mail advertisements, magazine pages, and even our old homework assignments.
Then one morning, Ngin Ngin fell from her bed. She became paralyzed and had to go into a rest home. She quietly died a few years later. She was 98 years old. She had spent only a fraction of her life with us, but she left us a legacy of her art.
Author’s note
“Ngin Ngin”, See Yung Lee Wong, (1881-1979), was born in Toisan County, Guangdong Province, China. She was the mother of Voy Wong, (1913-1975), and Poy Wong, (1905-1984). Voy and his wife, Fay Hing Lee Wong, (1917-2000), with their 5 children ran the Chungking Restaurant, (1942-1975), in Riverside, California.
See Yung’s husband, Sam Wong, (Wong Chun Yee,1874-1938), was the father of Voy and Poy Wong. Sam was a partner of a mercantile store in San Bernardino, California. Because of the Chinese Exclusion Act, (1882-1943), Sam could not bring See Yung to America. They were separated for most of their married life.
It was not until 1962 that See Yung was able to immigrate to America to rejoin her family. She was 81 years old. She had not seen Voy and Poy in over 25 years. During that time, their families had grown to 6 grandchildren and one great grandchild. The People’s Republic of China probably allowed See Yung to leave China because of her age and bound feet. She would not have been a very productive worker.
Footbinding
See Yung’s bound feet was the result of a foot binding custom that existed in ancient China up to the early 20th century. It was considered a status symbol and the ultimate feminine beauty standard. The tiny feet were an essential condition to marry into a wealthy family and elevate social status. Only the upper class could afford to spare a family member from field labor. Instead, these women were regulated to sedentary handwork.
The foot binding process started when a young girl was about 4 years old. Her feet were continuously bound tightly to deform the growing feet into a 4” size. This extremely painful practice limited the mobility of women and resulted in health risks and lifelong disabilities. The custom was banned after the Nationalist Revolution (1911-12) overthrew the Qing Dynasty and established the Republic of China.
See Yung’s Paper Cut Art Work
