A new category of activities on Health & Wellness Uplifting is added to BECHA website to reflect increased interests among senior citizens in applying self improvements techniques developed since ancient dynasties in China to live harmoniously with the universe surrounding humanities. Nutritional and other health wellness related topics are also shared in group meetings.
YE2018 Update
Continued in 2018 to provide Taiji Qigong classes at the Walnut Senior Center, as well as group meetings for senior citizens in the community to share and demonstrate health and wellness tips. Also provided information at the Walnut Senior Expo in November.
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1Q2020 Update
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One last group Taiji Qigong exercise before the COVID19 pandemic lockdown in 1Q2020.
In order to identify opportunities to pursue BigBall charity activities in China in accordance with the BECHA (BigBall Earth Caring humanity Association) charter, CEO James Tang visited many cities and villages in various provinces in China from May to August, 2014, including Anhui, Hubei, Henan, Shanxi, Sichuan, Jilin, Liaolin, and Heilongjiang. The trip was eye-opening in realizing the serious environmental problems, particularly smog, throughout China, albeit less severe in the northeastern provinces of Jilin, Liaolin, and Heilongjiang. It was also difficult to find and collect traditional heritage ethnic baby carriers, even in ethnic Korean and Manchurian autonomous administrative districts. With unbelievable luck, however, he was able to find people who could hand-make those traditional baby carriers from their memories and were also willing to help after hearing the BigBall mission of exhibiting extinct art of making heritage baby carriers for the sake of raising public awareness of great motherly love for their children.
1) Ethnic Korean baby carrier custom made by a Korean fabric and clothing store owner in Yanji, a Korean autonomous district city in Jilin province near the North Korean border.
2) Ethnic Manchurian baby carrier custom made by a Manchurian fabric store owner in Qinyuan, a Manchurian autonomous district in Liaolin province.
3) Ethnic Han baby carrier custom made by an elderly Christian lady in the Meiheko city of Jilin province with tradition Han fabric donated by a fabric store owner.
Other activities on behalf of BECHA include:
Donation of a new refrigerator to the home of elderly BigBall supporters in a coal mine town who had suffered stomach problems from leftover food in the hot summer.
Launched a “Saving Little Brother Dragon (LBD)” project in a farmer’s village
During a visit to BigBall supporters in Jilin province, James met this intellectually challenged young man Wang Zhon-Liang（王忠良), nicknamed Little Brother Dragon (小龙哥）by his family. He is a small built young man who has suffered from brain damage since childhood due to eating his parent’s diabetics medicine as candy. His father who was a decent and honest farmer passed away a couple of year ago after a tragic accident involving his farm equipment. His mother is a loving lady who is now working odd farm jobs to care for this son while recovering from the grief of her husband’s passing.
This family is in need of help particularly due to the behavior problems from Little Brother Dragon (LBD) who is apparently in a downward spiral. He started to lie and steal liquor from his family and family friends to get drunk. In early August, he drank too much of the stolen liquor and also took his mother’s medicine to escape from his mental hell. He got so sick and tried to induce vomiting by poking his own throat with a tree branch which caused bleeding from his esophagus and had to be hospitalized with blood transfusion. This also happened twice before during the last 2 years and his bad behavior has caused so much misery to his mother that all her relatives became very angry that they used harsh language and physical punishment at this young man as James observed during hospital visits.
With the approval from the BECHA Board, a proposal was made to LBD’s family to give him a last chance to climb out of his vicious cycle by using positive re-enforcement to reward him for good behavior. A detailed plan was approved by his family and also supported by the village leaders. The goal is to provide positive energy in correcting his behavior problems by giving him small cash rewards (to reduce his need to steal from others) for good behavior and to fine him for bad behaviors. A notebook is used to document his behavior daily and a nightly review is conducted by his mother. Meanwhile, the village leaders are trying to find people who can teach him how to make handicrafts, such as weaving baskets, to be purchased by BigBall for potential exhibitions in the future.
A good talk with LBD to get his agreement before starting this project.
Initial results during the 1st month have been encouraging with LBD’s behavior significantly improved (over 90% of days without any bad behavior while helping his mother with farm work and he has also quit drinking alcohols to save money). We continue to pray for LBD in his success to gain self-respect/confidence and to live a happier life.
December 2014 “Saving LBD Project” Update:
LBD continues to behave well without any incidents of stealing/drinking liquors. He is enjoying the rewards from his good behavior. During the month of November, his mother logged 29 out of 30 days in good behavior, with only 1 incident of asking for a cigarette from another person in the village. He has become a well-mannered young man and proactively helped his mother in the farm work. He also made about 100 pot-cleaning brushes out of the dried sorghum stems after the harvest season for his home and elders in the village. In order to keep him busy during winter time where there is no farm work, he will be encouraged to continue to make more handicrafts for BECHA to buy and to distribute to more village homes where wood burning stoves are used for cooking.
March 2015 Saving LBD Project Update
BECHA CEO James Tang visited LBD’s family and village leaders during the Chinese lunar New Year and was pleased to learn from the village chief Mr. Wang that this project has significantly improved LBD’s behavior problems. He said this has been a good year for LBD since we started the Saving LBD project based on inputs from villagers. He gave a ‘thumb up’ for BECHA to continue this successful project in 2015.
Sharing a story about Mr. Zhang’s family
张鸿武，崔艳娥，及3岁女儿 Mr. Zhang Hong-Wu张鸿武 is in his 40’s and has been handicapped since childhood with his right hand deformed in an porridge cooking burn accident when he was just 3 yrs. of age. His misfortunes worsened 2 yrs ago in another accident when he broke his neck while working on a roof and fell from the ladder. He lost all senses from the neck down and has been laying in bed with his slightly mentally ill wife caring for him and their 3yrs old daughter who is a bright and cheerful little girl.
The good hearted village chief Mr. Wang has been helping this family by obtaining a minuscule social welfare payment for the family as well as by raising money to buy an electric tricycle for Mrs. Zhang to make extra money by hauling goods.
In one of his visits to the farming family of Little Brother Dragon, BECHA CEO James met with the village chief Mr. Wang and was asked to consider helping Mr. Zhang’s family as a new BECHA charity project in China. On March 13, 2015, James went with Mr. Wang to visit Mr. Zhang’s family in Hei Shan Tou( Black Mountain Top) of Dong Feng District in Jilin Province. The Zhang family’s dwelling is a small room about 5 square meters. There is a hospital bed for Mr. Zhang and another bed for Mrs. Zhang and daughter. Then there is hardly any room for visitors to stand inside this room that was provided by the closedown raw steel factory where Mrs. Zhang used to work. This factory was founded as a private enterprise to provide jobs for handicapped people but could not survive the harsh economic conditions for the steel factories in China.
As part of the humanitarian mission in caring for less fortunate handicapped people on behalf of the BECHA Board of Directors, James donated ¥1000 RMB to Mr. Zhang’s family during this visit. He will also monitor future needs for this family via local BECHA supporters as part of the China mission.
May 2015 Update
Another ‘Good Behavior ‘ award was given to LBD for sustaining good behavior in helping his mother with Spring farm work and refraining from stealing liquor and medicines in the village. Also attending this award dinner is the Village Chief Mr. Wang.
Another attempt to collect ethnic baby wrappers took James to Ji-An at the eastern side of Jilin province bordering North Korea. The border line is in the middle of the not-so-wide Yalu River. You can see NK’s border watch shed with bare eyes. Old ladies washing clothes in the river is about the only common life style on both side of the river. After sunsets, there are vibrant lights and hundreds of dancing ‘damas’ at the Ji-An side of the river bank, while a complete darkness painted across the river dabbed with only occasional flash lights from the NK border patrol. No luck with finding traditional baby wrappers this time. The villagers are mainly ethnic Han. They have not used traditional baby wrappers for many years.
July 2015 LBD Update
Another award was presented to LBD in July, 2015 to recognize his continued good behavior during the past 2 months. His mother was pleased to see him working hard to help with the farm work; and there were no incidents of stealing liqors in this period. Also, he helped an elderly couple to trasfer 3500 kg of coal to prepare for the winter and helped another villager to recover a lost wallet with valuables inside, including ID cards and bank cards. He was praised for his successful sustainment of his good behavior and was urged to refrain from asking for cigaretts from other villagers as an area for improvement.
Started to teach ESL in China
开始在吉林省做義工當ESL老师，在易特國际教育學苑帮助25个初中生及小学高年生扎實美语口语，本周课程包括家庭，问候，學校，购物，点菜，學做Salad，等等。我发现这里的孩子们學习興趣高，進步神速，又得到校长及多位本地老师的全力支持，甚感欣慰！BECHA CEO James Tang has started a new volunteer work as an ESL teacher at the Elite International Education Institute in Jiling Province of China. He is helping 25 students (9 – 16 yrs old) to understand and practice speaking American English. For the first week, they covered many topics, including Family, Greetings, School Life, Shopping, Ordering Food, and Making Salad. James is very pleased to see these kids highly motivated and making significant progress in just 5 days, as well as thrilled to have the full support from the Elite Headmaster and several local teachers.
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August, 2015 Updates
美国碧波为张鸿武女儿张旨轩提供三个月上幼儿园的助學金让她的學习不被父亲的伤残而中断。The BigBall Earth Caring Humanity Association（BECHA）provided scholarship to fund 3 months of school costs for Zhang Zhi-Xuan, the 4 yrs old daughter of Mr. Zhang Hong-Wu who was paralyzed from neck down due to an accident while working on a roofing job.
RT more than 3000 KM drive to Hohehot, capital of Inner Mongolia Autonomous region, to look for ethnic traditional baby carriers. Locals were unwilling to sell their treasured old collections, so I had to purchase a traditional young girl’s ceremonial dress and hat as souvenirs. The city of Hohehot was built in 15th century by a direct descendant of Gengis Khan who enabled the harmonious melting pot between the Mongo and the Han people in Mongolia. The Tibetan style Buddhist temple Da Zhao Shi was among the best preserved Tibetan temple in China.
September, 2015 update
回美之前，特地去看看颈以下全部瘫患的张鸿武女儿张旨轩，并再为美国碧波关怀地球人文协会发给她助学金。看到她在幼儿园内快乐的学习成长，非常欣慰！Visited the nursery school where Zhang Zhi-Xuan is learning and playing with other kids and provided another scholarships on behalf of BECHA to support her tuition there. She’s the daughter of Mr. Zhang Hon-Wu who is paralyzed from neck down in a roofing job accident. Very happy to see her enjoying this opportunity to study and grow in such a nice environment.
1Q 2016 Update
Teaching ESL as a volunteer and helping a 13-year old local girl who is a Leukemia M5 patient
我代表美国碧波關懐地球人文协会联合易特国际教育共同为本地白血病患者13歲的管羽丰小妹妹捐出4000元人民币，希望能够抛砖引玉，有更多的善心人士及慈善机构来帮助这个品學兼优的孩子從痛苦的白血病疗程中坚强地走出来，她康复之后，也一定会把爱心传递下去，并且关注生态环境的保护。On behalf of the BigBall Earth Caring Humanity Association in the U.S., I worked with teachers at the Elite International Education in donating 4000 RMB to the local 13-year old girl Guan Yu-Feng who has been a model student but was stricken with Leukemia M5 at the end of 2015. We hope to inspire more generous donations from kind people and charity organizations to help pay for her costly and painful medical treatment. I have no doubt that she will pass on her love and kindness to other people after recovery and will do her best to care for the earth and the environment in which we live.
LBD Update – January 2016
农村青年小龙哥开心地接收美国碧波慈善机构的奖金，继续鼓励他维持良好行为不让妈妈操心。这三个月，小龙哥没向他人要烟抽，帮老妈干活，一个人里外把父亲的三年祭日酒席全部打点，完美得没话说。又学好了用地里收集的擀秸做出扫帚及锅刷。期待他下三个月有更完美的表现。Young farmer LBD happily received a good behavior award from the BigBall charity organization in the U. S. He continued to be motivated by this award to maintain his good behavior in the village to alleviate the burden of his widowed mother. In the past 3 months, he stopped asking for cigarettes from villagers, organized the 3rd year memorial service banquet for his father, and also mastered the toolmaking skills in making brooms and pan cleaning brushes out of dried harvest wastes in the farm. I look forward to seeing a perfect behavior record during the next 3 months.
Zhang Hong-Wu Update February 2016
今天去黑山头探望因做屋顶工摔下而致高位瘫痪的张鸿武，并代表美国碧波慈善机构给他女儿奖学金做为三个月的幼儿园学费。也教他媳妇帮他开始做复健动作，看看能不能把脊椎的神经系统再连接回来。过两个月再评估效果。Visited Mr. Zhang Hong-Wu, a local roof worker who fell off the ladder and has been paralyzed from neck down. Presented tuition scholarship to his daughter on behalf of the BigBall charity organization in the U.S. to allow her attending a nursery school for another 3 months. Also taught his wife to begin a rehab exercise to see if it can help heal his spinal nerve system. Will assess the effectiveness during the next visit in April
March 2016 Zhang Hong- Wu Update
Visited Mr. Zhang Hong-Wu’s family today and very pleased to see his much improved back and arms muscle flexibility after doing 2 months of touching toes exercises. Delivered a six- months tuition scholarship to his daughter Zhi-Xuan on behalf of the BigBall Earth Caring Humanity Association in the US. 今天去看了张鸿武一家，很高兴两个月前教他做的手足交叉运动已有成效地恢复一些背部及手臂的肌肉神经。也代表美国碧波关怀地球人文协会颁给他女儿旨轩六个月的学费。
April 2016 Teaching Kindergarteners English
Successfully completed a new bilingual approach in teaching 30+ kindergarteners oral English, which wouldn’t be possible with English only teaching. Thanks to the Headmistress Ms. Lou for the opportunity at her well-run kindergarten! 顺利完成了一个新的尝试，用双语教30 多个幼稚园的小朋友英语口语。这是单用英语无法教的。感谢总园长刘老师给我的机会在这么好的幼稚园教小朋友！
April 2016 LBD Update He was happy to receive a good behavior award for the last 3 months from the BigBall Earth Caring Humanity Association in the US. Despite a very stressful Chinese New Year period for him, he was determined to regain his strength in order to be able to take care of his mother. Now he is physically strong enough to help with the farm work as the busy Spring time arrives. 小龙哥开心地领取美国碧波人文协会提供的优良品行奖。过去的三个月他的体能受了农历年的压力影响而一直卧病，但他为了要照顾母亲挺了下来。现在已经能够在开春农忙的时候下田干活了！
September 2016 LBD Update
Little Brother Dragon (LBD) happily received his good behaviors award for his zero behavioral mistakes in May-July period – best record since we started the “Saving LBD” project two years ago. 小龙哥今天开心地收到五至七月零缺点奖金，这是两年前开始“拯救小龙哥“项目以来他表现最好的三个月。
October 2016 Zhang Hong-Wu Update
After 6 months of touching toes exercise that I taught him during my last visit, Zhang Hong-Wu, the crippled worker who was disabled from a fall from the roofing work, is now able to move about in an electric wheelchair. What a great miracle! His family welcomed me with joy today when I presented another scholarship on behalf of BECHA to his daughter Zhang Zhi-Xuan to help her continue her attendance in a kindergarten. 六个月前，我曾教过因在做瓦工时摔伤而高位截瘫的张鸿武坐在床上用手交叉握脚趾做复建，现在他已能自己操控电动轮椅出行了，真是一个很棒的奇迹！他的家人今天非常开心的欢迎我再一次的代表美国碧波颁发给他女儿张旨轩上幼儿园的助学金。
September-October 2016 ESL classes in China
Successfully completed this Fall’s volunteer work visit in China which included teaching 3 ESL classes for senior kindergarten students(bilingual method) and senior elementary school students(English only). I was happy to see students all enjoyed interactive teaching methods and showed significant improvement on their oral English skills as well as knowledge on American festivals and folk songs.
Also served as the Chief Judge for an English speech contest and presented the First Place Award.
Highly motivated students at the Elite International Education Institute. Students learned about festivals in the U.S., such as Thanksgiving and Halloween.
November 2016 LBD Update
Met with Little Brother Dragon again before completing this year’s charity work in China. He continued good behaviors and helped his mother in the farm during the busy harvesting season. He was very happy to receive another award for sustaining good behaviors. He then used part of his award to help his grand parents in fighting lung cancer by quitting tobacco smoking, which is a new BigBall project (Saving Lungs) with cash awards as incentives to kick the smoking habit.
Mar – May 2017 LBD Update
Visited with LBD several times and reports from his mother and his village chief have been perfect! He helped his mother with house work and the spring farm work, as well as walked miles to collect recyclables in exchange for additional income for his family. He stopped drinking alcohols and has been trying to quit smoking as well. I was happy to present two perfect behavior awards for the first six months in 2017.
Feb-May 2017 Zhang Hong-Wu Update
The recovery from his spinal injury has been deemed miraculous by the neural surgeons in Beijing. He regained his muscular strength in his arms and hands, but still has no senses in his legs. I taught him and his wife a new way to apply acupressure on locations of his legs to help stimulate the important nerve systems Running down his legs. I will come back to visit him in my next China visit to see if any progress to improve his mobility. I presented two 3-month tuition scholarships for his daughter to continue her schooling.
Apri 2017 Assistance to an Elderly Cancer Patient
The 76-yr old retired coal miner Mr. Boo was not expected to survive his 4th stage lung cancer last year, but his condition has stabilized with the help of some herb medicines as well as the quitting of smoking by his wife under an incentive cash reward provided by BigBall. We also provided a steel frame bedside toilet to avoid risk of going to the out-house.
Spring 2017 Oral English Classes for 5th and 6th Graders
Held two classes to teach these children oral English in various scenarios, American folk songs, and commonly used American slang words. It was a lot of fun to teach those highly motivated students.
YE2018 Update
Continued to provide tuition and fees assistance to Mr. Zhang Hong-Wu’s daughter through 2018. Mr. Zhang has miraculously recovered from most of his disabling spinal cord injury and is able to work as a factory security team leader.
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Also continued to provide good behavior incentive awards to the brain damaged young farmer Little Brother Dragon to encourage him sustain his good behavior in helping his widowed mother in the farm. Continued to receive good reports from his village chief.
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Started to expand charity work, including providing clothes and shoes to children at an orphanage and money to buy food for homeless seniors at a shelter in Jilin Province.
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1Q2019 Update
CEO James visited the orphanage in Dalian in February and donated 25 sets of Chinese Language, Math, and English Language text books for 25 elementary school age kids, as well as some picture books for 27 preschool kids there and was greeted by the director and teachers at the orphanage.
CFO Michael also visited this orphanage in March and donated four cases of whole milk for the preschool children there.
2Q2019 Update
CEO James continued to teach ESL in Liaoning Province for over 200 students as part of the Web International teaching team. Also served as the judge during the advancement assessment.
James also visited southern part of Taiwan in April and demonstrated Taiji Qigong exercises for senior citizens.
3-4Q2019 Update
Continued to provide good behavior incentive awards to young farmer Little Brother Dragon in Jilin province. Started a new project to provide nutritional food supplements to homeless elderly people in Jilin province.
James also taught ESL for about 500 students in Dalian, Liaoning province covering American slangs and proverbs in addition to grammar, pronunciation, and oral English. He also donated needed items for children living in the orphanage. Shown in photos were the orphanage director Mr. Sun and teachers Ms. Ge and Mr. Sun.
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1-3Q 2020 Update
Provided financial help to an elderly farmer in Anhui province to repair the flood damage to his home. This year the heavy rain and the overflow of rivers nearby caused more severe flooding: but he’s safe now with a new roof and new walls.
The English classes have been conducted online on Zoom platform due to COVID19 travel restrictions. More than 200 students attended either the Oral English or the Business English classes as of September, 2020.
3Q2020 LBD Update
It’s heartwarming to hear that our cash award was able to help LBD receive proper medical treatment and he is now fully recovered.
4Q2020 LBD Update
LBD in December 2020 after receiving proper medication. He’s enjoyng a peaceful winter in his village home.
2Q2021 Update
As of June, 2021 LBD has fully recovered from the TB problems has been helping his mother with the farming work. His illness and the treatment also provided the opportunity to appreciate his well being. His good behavior has been sustained for several years now and the Bigballearth board directors have agreed to continue the award program for as long as his good behavior is sustainable.
Online English classes continued in 2021 to provide practices on spoken English dialogues, Business English topics, as well as mock tests for International English Language Testing System (IELTS).
Funding was provided to help pay medical treatment of a patient in Dalian with stomach cancer, as well as an elderly farmer in Anhui province, also in the final stage of stomach cancer.
4Q2021 Update
LBD’s health is back to normal and he’s been helping his mother with farm work, including harvesting the corn crops. His good behavior has been sustained during this period and was awarded additional cash for encouragement. This project has lasted over 7 years now and we’re very pleased to have saved this young farmer from self destruction due to brain damage since childhood.
LBD Good Behavior Award December 2021
Despite the COVID pandemic and travel restrictions, James continued to provide online Business English and Oral English lessons to over 1000 attendees in 2021. Online donation platforms (北京韩红爱心基金会， 水滴筹， etc.) were also used to provide cash donations for the needy.
2Q2022 Update
LBD project update: Little Brother Dragen has completely recovered from Tuberculosis (TB) and continued to sustain 100% good behavior. It’s heart warming to see this brain damaged village boy turned into a handsome young man and working hard to help his widowed mother with farm and house work. We started “Saving LBD project” almot 8 years ago by rewarding his good behavior with cash to buy his own needs instead of begging from other villiagers for cigaretts and petty things. His good behavior needs to be verified by other villagers and the village chief in order to receive the cash award. It has been a very successful project and we will continue to endorse this project.
LBD receives another Good Behavior Award from BigBall Earth on 6-18-2022.
1Q2023 Update
LBD received another good behavior reward to help him sustain his health and welness, as well as his good and responsible behavior to his family and village. The BigBall board of directors has endorsed the funding to continue this successful project started 9 years ago.
LBD has been working hard to help his mother on household and farm work.
West Sichuan Medicine Aid to Children after heart surgery
This is a new project in 2Q2022 approved by the board to provide medicine for children of Tibetan villages in wetern Sichuan province, in collaboration with the Oneworld Holy Missions, our sister BigBall Earth Caring Humanity Association in Taiwan, as well as the local health agency and charity groups. These children were born with heart problems and their lives could only be saved by heart surgeries and medicine to fight high altitude illness afftecting their lungs and hearts… a very expensive undertaking that needs charity donations to sustain. We are heppy to receive many THANK YOU notes from these children.
Heart warming new year wishes and THANK YOU messages from several older children in W Sichuan
2Q2023 Update
Visited LBD and Zhang Hon-Wu in Jilin Province. followed by visits to cultural heritage sites and minority tribes in Yunan Province to assess feasibility of future charity projects.
Attended this MIT D-Lab forum on 12-12-2023 and was impressed with the fascinating stories about how this program got started 20 yrs ago and now a standard program at MIT for students to lean and engage with projects that work with communities in the design and development of tools and equipment to improve the wellness of the people in communities in Haiti, Nepal, India, Ghana, Brazil, Tanzania, etc.. Will continue to donate to this program from my retirement fund and explore opportunities to help rural communities in China….
Continued to help Tibetan children in West Sichuan province with medicine expenses after their congenital heart corrective surgeries in Beijing.
Visited Dalian Orphanage and brought school supplies for 120 older kids…
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Little Brother Dragon (LBD) continued to do well in his behavior and helped his mother, who has been ill, to do house and farm work during the harvest season. He received the Good Behavior Award for 2H2023. Also visited his grandmother and helped her medicine expenses in the hospital after a fall that broke her hip bones.
Continued teaching of American Oral Language online classes for students in Dalian, Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Taipei Taiwan, Manchester UK, and Santiago de Chile.
3000 years ago during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Waring States period, sages and men of virtue began to influence the education and faith of the people and began to form the foundation of the Chinese culture. Qi-Lu area of the now Shandong province became the birth place of Taoism and Confucianism. Visited many intangible cultural heritage sites including Weifang, Zibo, Qufu, Jinan, and Changzhou in order to understand the cultural significance of these places in history.
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1Q-2Q2024 Highlights
Dalian orphanage project –
Visited the orphanage to find out the current needs for the children. Decided to donate 60 boxes of pizza plus chicken wings, etc. as a special treat for more than 50 school age kids on a Saturday afternoon after their sports activities. This unique donation worked very well and was very appreciated by the orphanage. We’ll continue to search for the best way to help those kids in the orphanage. Another inquiry into the possibility of helping a Memphis couple to adopt a kid was not yet allowed at this time due to government policies.
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visit to the ancient town of Dong Yi in the City of Rizhao, Shandong province –
Learned part of the cultural heritage at the Dragon King God Taoist temple in the ancient town of Dong Yi(originated in the Ju State 3000 years ago), Rizhao City, Shandong province. This temple was said to be the first Taoist temple in China, originally built in the Song and Yuan dynasties, worshipping the God of Sea Dragon King, as well as the earliest sages of Taoism. Also learned the proper way to show respect in Taoism. This town also has a Confucian school, worshipping Confucius.
Mr. Chen Xoung-Chi was born on July 7, 1940. His hometown is Nan-Yang, Henan Province, China. He was a 1962 graduate of the Academy of Financial Affaires, the Combined Services of the ROC Ministry of Defense. He had served in the Bureau of Financial Affaires, the headquarters of the ROC Combined Services, the Keelung and Taipei City Committee of the Youth Corps, as well as the Chinese newspaper LA REPUBLICA in Panama. Mr. Chen is a renowned newspaper editor and had authored several books in Chinese.
This book is a collection of his poetry in traditional Chinese rhymed style and format. Mr. Chen has had a profound interest in poetry since childhood, owing to the influence of his parents and family heritage. While being an accomplished writer and newspaper editor since 1980’s, he only became a serious composer of poems after the turn of century at the age of 60. We at BigBall are honored to provide the platform to publish Mr. Chen’s first poetry book in found memory of his beloved mother. Mr. Chen also attached several of his mother’s poems and short articles at the end of this book.
Mr. Chen Xoung-Chi was born on July 7, 1940. His hometown is Nan-Yang, Henan Province, China. He was a 1962 graduate of the Academy of Financial Affaires, the Combined Services of the ROC Ministry of Defense. He had served in the Bureau of Financial Affaires, the headquarters of the ROC Combined Services, the Keelung and Taipei City Committee of the Youth Corps, as well as the Chinese newspaper LA REPUBLICA in Panama. Mr. Chen is a renowned newspaper editor and had authored several books in Chinese.
This book 《Those Stormy Years of My Homeland》, originally written in 2005, was his first attempt in documenting his difficult childhood in the 1940’s. It has been reworked since early 2020 to be ready for publication as a documentary of those difficult years in his childhood that millions of other Chinese people have also suffered through. China was a war-torn battleground in those years, first from the invasion of the Japanese imperialistic army, followed by the in-fight between the Nationalist KMT party and the Chinese Communist Party CCP. Over 2 million people, including KMT soldiers and their families, ended up in exile and settled down in Taiwan, Mr. Chen’s family among them.
My father passed away in January of 2003 in Los Angeles. I was on a company overseas assignment in Asia Pacific at the time and took a family leave back to LA to attend the memorial services with my elder brother Hsiung-Fei, younger brother Der Pu and their families. I was fortunate to have spent the Christmas holidays in LA two weeks earlier with my wife Edie and son Michael and had a nice visit with him for the last time. It’s a Chinese custom, at least in my family, to stay up the whole night in candle lights and burning incense sticks to remember our lives together and to pray for his resting in peace. During that night, my elder brother wrote this article in Chinese and I translated it into English as he finished each paragraph. We were both in tears as we worked through the night. My younger brother printed the brochure over night for the public memorial service in the morning. Eighteen year have passed since then. My memory of that night was still as fresh as yesterday…
Our beloved father, Mr. Chi-Moh Tang, was born on March 16, 1922, in our hometown of the Tang Village, West County, Lu-Chiang District, An-Huei Province, China. Our great-grandfather, Mr. Wen-Pu Tang, was a traditional Chinese scholar and founder of a school with students from all over the neighboring districts. Our grandfather, Mr. Bee-Ting Tang, began a life of public service at the age of 18. His loyalty, honesty, and hospitality was well known in our hometown and he was well loved and respected by the people during his 30 plus years of public service in the district, which included serving as the County Administrative Chief, Bank Manager, and Director General of the Chamber of Commerce. During WW II, he raised funds by selling his belongings in order to help people survive the devastation from the war.
Father had 11 siblings, but only 1 elder brother, 1 elder sister, and 2 younger sisters remained alive after WW II. His elder brother, Mr. Chi-Ding Tang, studied Chinese Literature from the great scholar Mr. Zhang Tai-Yang. Father was also very talented in his studies since childhood. Even when the family was evacuated to western provinces during World War II, he continued his studies in middle and high schools amid hardship in the war-torn country. After the war, father managed to graduate from the National An-Huei University with a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Economics. Soon, however, the hometown was stirred up again from the Communist Revolution and father decided to join the Nationalist army and moved to Taiwan with mother and 2 children, one aged 4 (Hsiung-Fei) and the other in infancy (James Tsung-Ying). Life was very hard in those days and mother became ill from homesickness and poor living conditions. After Der-Pu was born, father decided to request a transfer to a services unit, the Army’s Printing and Engraving Works, in order to be close to mother and the children. He stayed in that unit for 21 years and worked his way up to eventually be promoted to full colonel and plant manager in charge of the Works with more than 500 officers and civilian employees. He received many medals in his military career for his excellent service and accomplishments, including improving safety, efficiency, as well as the product quality and profitability of the Works. When he retired from military service he turned over to his successor over 10 million NT$ net profits, an unprecedented amount in the history of the Works.
After military service, father began his second career by forming a partnership to develop a small farming business and, at the same time, teaching in a business high school in central Taiwan. However, 3 years later, he decided to return to Taipei to be close to grandfather who was over 80 years old and in deteriorating health. Father was a traditionalist and his priority was to serve grandfather until grandfather passed away in 1978 at age 84. After that, father went to the island of Peng-Hu and picked up his teaching career again in the Provincial Peng-Hu High School and served as the Business Manager there for 10 more years. Those were his happier time in life, as he was able to spend his holidays returning to Taipei to enjoy reunions with eldest son Hsiung-Fei, daughter-in-law Hai-Yang, and grandchildren Der-Ron and Der-Chen. After retirement from his teaching career, father traveled to Los Angeles and stayed with his youngest son Der-Pu, daughter-in-law Chi-Lang, and grandchildren Daniel and Diana, to enjoy more retirement life in the United States. Second son Tsung-Ying (James), daughter-in-law Edith, and grandson Michael often came to visit during holidays, even during their 7 years of overseas assignment in Southeast Asia. Father also occasionally returned to Taipei for short visits and even made a trip back to his hometown in China to visit his sisters. These years were the best time in his life until 2 years ago, when his health began to deteriorate due to Alzheimer and Parkinson’s illness. A month ago, father suffered a fall and broke his leg. The anesthetics from the surgery complicated his conditions and required additional surgery and treatment in ICU. His suffering was finally over at around 8 PM on January 9, 2003, when he left this Earth in peace.
Father’s selfless character in caring for others’ needs before his own, his hard working style, and strong will in overcoming hardship have all set a remarkable example for his sons, grandchildren and future generations by living a truthful, meaningful, and beautiful life. His eldest son Hsiung-Fei served in the military for over 30 years and is now serving as the Secretary General of the Li-Ming Cultural Development Foundation in Taiwan, after retiring as a Lt. General. Second son Tsung-Ying (Jim) has worked for ExxonMobil for over 25 years and is now providing technical consulting as a specialist in the Asia Pacific. Youngest son Der-Pu is an expert in color separation technology in the printing process and has established his own company in Los Angeles to provide quality service in the printing industry. All 3 daughters-in-law have worked hard to keep their houses in order and raised well-mannered grandchildren. Father should be able to rest in peace knowing that his baton has and will continue to be passed on to generations to come.
As we hold this memorial service for father, we feel a tremendous loss as we miss him deeply. Mother left us 46 years ago when father was only 36 years old. He had to pack up his sorrow and manage to raise 3 young boys all by himself, in addition to caring for grandfather during the early years in Taiwan when supplies were short. His love for his family and devotion to his work demanded long years of endurance, yet he has never complained about the hardship in his life. In our fond memory, father never considered his personal enjoyment and always loved us not only as a father, but also as mother’s substitute. Father, Dad: you’ll always live in our heart and we’ll always love you in everlasting memory….
To our friends: we are very grateful for your friendship and caring for our father. Your thoughtfulness has warmed our hearts during this time as we hold this memorial service to celebrate father’s life. Our best wishes to you and your loved ones.
Peace and Love in God,
Hsiung-Fei, Tsung-Ying (Jim), and Der-Pu Tang
Photos of our parents during their early years of exile in Taiwan.
About the Author
James Tang was born in 1948 and was an infant when his parents took him and his elder brother in exile to Taiwan during the CPP takeover of his homeland province Anhui. He left Taiwan and came to the U.S. in 1971 after graduating from college in 1970 and spent a year in a compulsory military service as an instructor in the 1st Army NCO academy. He pursed graduate studies at Rose Hulman Institute of Technology and Massachusetts Institute of Technology for his master’s and doctorial degrees. He started working in California as a Professional Engineer in the late 1970s and had a long career with Exxon Mobil for 38 years until his retirement in 2015 as an executive level Senior Engineering Advisor. His work with Exxon Mobil took him and his family to California, Colorado, Thailand, Singapore, Virginia, while providing engineering and optimization support for affiliates in the US, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Australia, Japan, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, and Norway. After retirement, he devoted his time in two charity organizations as Founder and CEO: the BigBall Earth caring Humanity Association and the Oneworld Holy Missions. He studied and obtained a TESOL certificate in order to teach ESL in China as part of his charity projects to help the needy. He has also been teaching Taiji Qigong exercises in the city of Walnut in LA for senior citizens as part of the community service.
The photo below is an attachment of the response from Mr. Ma Qing Sheng.
December 1990 Family Visit in An Qing City, Anhui Province, China
Ms. Karen Huang was born in Jiangsu Province, China in 1948. She completed her elementary school education at the Cheng-Zheng Elementary School while living in the Huang-Pu Military Residential Village-II in the township of Feng-Shan in Taiwan. After graduating from the Soochow University (Taiwan) with a major in Accounting, she worked and moved up to managerial positions in the following firms:
Deloitte Taiwan (1970-1979)
Philips Taiwan (1979-1991)
She emigrated to and lived in Canada from 1995 to 2002 before returning to Taiwan.
This article was her first writing as she wanted to document the remarkable turning points of her father’s life during WWII and the early years of life in Taiwan after being forced to exile, along with 2 million KMT soldiers and their families, due to the CCP takeover of mainland China.
We are honored to publish Ms. Huang’s first writing, in memory of her parents, as part of the BigBall community services.
James Tang
CEO, The BigBall Earth Caring Humanity Association (BECHA)
Mr. Chen Xoung-Chi was born on July 7, 1940. His hometown is Nan-Yang, Henan Province, China. He was a 1962 graduate of the Academy of Financial Affaires, the Combined Services of the ROC Ministry of Defense. He had served in the Bureau of Financial Affaires, the headquarters of the ROC Combined Services, the Keelung and Taipei City Committee of the Youth Corps, as well as the Chinese newspaper LA REPUBLICA in Panama. Mr. Chen is a renowned newspaper editor and had authored several books in Chinese.
This book 《The Honking of Migrant Wild Geese》is his latest writing, documenting what he had encountered while working in Panama. There are two volumes in this book: VOL. 1 includes Chapter 1, the Preface and part of Chapter 2, documenting the diplomatic affairs of the Republic of China in Panama. Through Mr. Chen’s keen journalistic observations and his penmanship, he documented in great details the diplomatic history of ROC in Panama and key players in significant events.
VOL. 2 contains the remaining part of Chapter 2, which covers stories about people served in the ROC embassy in Panama and their life stories. It’s a writing still in progress and the updated versions will be posted as he completes more chapters.
VOL. 2 has been completed and posted on 8.21.2019
VOL. 3, now in progress, is Mr. Chen’s travelling notes spanning over 40 years and will be posted later.
10/12/2020 Update: VOL.3 has been completed and posted below. There are 240,000 chracters in these three volumes all together, which is a marvelous documentation of Mr. Chen’s travel experiences during the past 40 years and covered many countries, including Panama, the United States, China, Italy, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, and Malaysia. Through his writing, you can understand the history and appreciate the cultural background of these places. It is far beyond the eyes of a casual tourist. Most importantly, as he mentioned in the closing article below, the desire to document his life and travel experience for his sons and future generations has provided the drive to undertake such an onerous task in his retirement. As volunteers in the BigBall Earth Caring Humanity Association, we are honored to have the opportunity to provide this platform for his remarkable work!
Mythology started from verbal tales and evolved into written form along with cultural advancement. As I read these mythological tales, I became attracted by the artistic charms coming out of the mysterious images that inspired imaginations in my head. Some of these mythical figures combined both human and animal characteristics and were elevated to divinity. For example, “dragon”, the totem that symbolizes the Chinese people, is seen with many characteristics of other species, such as snake body, beats legs, eagle claws, horse head, snake tail, deer antlers, and fish scales. When all the power of these species combined into one form to represent human, it was then viewed as divinity by our ancestors. These mythical figures helped our ancestors survive in struggles against odds with their high moral standards and commitments. As a modern art creator, cultural heritage is always part of the necessary genes, connotation and temperament. Mr. Yao-Hong You, the sculptor, and I both feel that mythology is the most mysterious and brilliant page of the Chinese culture. Such cultural heritage needs to be passed on with creative elements from generation to generation. We collaborated on the images of mythical figures based on the existing impression and our own imaginations. Mr. You’s master level sculpture work has made these mythical figures remarkably lively with rich expressions, postures, clothing, ornaments, and colors. My hope is that more people, both domestically and internationally, will be attracted to learn the rich, mysterious, and colorful Chinese culture through my collection, narratives, and exhibitions. The following commentary was adopted from Study of Chinese Mythology written by Tan Da-Xian and published by the Commercial Press of Taiwan in 2004: The Chinese mythology is fairly comparable to mythologies from India, Greece, and Egypt. There are more than 50 ethnic groups in China, each with many excellent mythological tales, particularly the Han people. Many of them are very positive, healthy, and beautiful based on their contents and artistic appearance. Mythological tales reflected a brave exploration and naive explanation of natural phenomena by our ancestors, as well as their minds while struggling to survive against the hardships, such as “Shooting down nine suns by Hou Yi” and “Patching up the sky by Nüwa”…….. When fighting began between predators and preys, mythological tales such as “Battles between the Yellow Emperor and Chi You” surfaced to reflect their communities and the struggles among them. Ancient mythology was one of the best weapons of arts by the ancient Chinese ethnic groups. It provided inspiration and courage for them to endure tough and unpredictable struggles against natural hardships and enemies. From these mythological tales, they obtained confidence, wisdom, courage, as well as the fighting will to survive and overcome the odds. Ancient mythology documented some useful knowledge and was used to educate others. They reflected the caring of natural and sociological phenomena by ancient people while inspiring them to search for the truth and to nurture the artistic, healthy, and positive imaginaions.
Mr. Chen Xoung-Chi was born on July 7, 1940. His hometown is Nan-Yang, Henan Province, China. He was a 1962 graduate of the Academy of Financial Affaires, the Combined Services of the ROC Ministry of Defense. He had served in the Bureau of Financial Affaires, the headquarters of the ROC Combined Services, the Keelung and Taipei City Committee of the Youth Corps, as well as the Chinese newspaper LA REPUBLICA in Panama.
Mr. Chen is a renowned newspaper editor and had authored several books in Chinese. This book 《My Father and the Republic of China》is his latest writing in memory of his beloved late father Mr. Chen Qi-Er who would have been 100 years old in 2018.
There are 2 volumes of this book: Vol.1 documented his father’s military career throughout the WWII era while serving as an officer in the ROC Army Telecommunication Corps, witnessing the horrendous suffering of the Chinese people during the Japanese invasion and the joy of the final victory celebration by the Chinese people in 1945.
Vol. 2 will be published on this BigBall website as soon as it is completed and released by the author.
Vol. 2 has been completed with even more moving stories about the author’s father during the internal war between the KMT army and the CCP peoples’s liberation army; and the subsequent career setbacks in Taiwan due to a brief (<48 hours) captivity by the PLA while saving an army general who was chased to the shore by the PLA. Yet his father never lost his loyalty to the KMT and continued to provide honorable services as a distinguished Telecommunication Brigade commander and an outstanding instructor at the Telecommunication Academy of the Army. The author also documented his son’s memorable visit to his hometown in Henan Province to look up those places that he had heard throughout his upbringing.
What a wonderful story by such an elegant writer Mr. Chen Xoung-Chi!
Why painting cats according to Hsu Rue(为什么画猫呢-徐瑞的解释）
I’ve always used cats as symbol of my art work. Like humans, cats are full of expressive body language which are ideal in exhibiting my thoughts and feelings. You could say that, in my art work, I AM the cat or the cat IS me.
Last Updated: July 1, 2020 by BECHA Leave a Comment
Health Wellness Uplifting
A new category of activities on Health & Wellness Uplifting is added to BECHA website to reflect increased interests among senior citizens in applying self improvements techniques developed since ancient dynasties in China to live harmoniously with the universe surrounding humanities. Nutritional and other health wellness related topics are also shared in group meetings.
YE2018 Update
Continued in 2018 to provide Taiji Qigong classes at the Walnut Senior Center, as well as group meetings for senior citizens in the community to share and demonstrate health and wellness tips. Also provided information at the Walnut Senior Expo in November.
1Q2020 Update
Last Updated: August 25, 2023 by BECHA Leave a Comment
Highlights from China Charity Volunteer Work 2014 – 2Q2023
In order to identify opportunities to pursue BigBall charity activities in China in accordance with the BECHA (BigBall Earth Caring humanity Association) charter, CEO James Tang visited many cities and villages in various provinces in China from May to August, 2014, including Anhui, Hubei, Henan, Shanxi, Sichuan, Jilin, Liaolin, and Heilongjiang. The trip was eye-opening in realizing the serious environmental problems, particularly smog, throughout China, albeit less severe in the northeastern provinces of Jilin, Liaolin, and Heilongjiang. It was also difficult to find and collect traditional heritage ethnic baby carriers, even in ethnic Korean and Manchurian autonomous administrative districts. With unbelievable luck, however, he was able to find people who could hand-make those traditional baby carriers from their memories and were also willing to help after hearing the BigBall mission of exhibiting extinct art of making heritage baby carriers for the sake of raising public awareness of great motherly love for their children.
1) Ethnic Korean baby carrier custom made by a Korean fabric and clothing store owner in Yanji, a Korean autonomous district city in Jilin province near the North Korean border.
2) Ethnic Manchurian baby carrier custom made by a Manchurian fabric store owner in Qinyuan, a Manchurian autonomous district in Liaolin province.
3) Ethnic Han baby carrier custom made by an elderly Christian lady in the Meiheko city of Jilin province with tradition Han fabric donated by a fabric store owner.
Other activities on behalf of BECHA include:
Donation of a new refrigerator to the home of elderly BigBall supporters in a coal mine town who had suffered stomach problems from leftover food in the hot summer.
Launched a “Saving Little Brother Dragon (LBD)” project in a farmer’s village
During a visit to BigBall supporters in Jilin province, James met this intellectually challenged young man Wang Zhon-Liang（王忠良), nicknamed Little Brother Dragon (小龙哥）by his family. He is a small built young man who has suffered from brain damage since childhood due to eating his parent’s diabetics medicine as candy. His father who was a decent and honest farmer passed away a couple of year ago after a tragic accident involving his farm equipment. His mother is a loving lady who is now working odd farm jobs to care for this son while recovering from the grief of her husband’s passing.
This family is in need of help particularly due to the behavior problems from Little Brother Dragon (LBD) who is apparently in a downward spiral. He started to lie and steal liquor from his family and family friends to get drunk. In early August, he drank too much of the stolen liquor and also took his mother’s medicine to escape from his mental hell. He got so sick and tried to induce vomiting by poking his own throat with a tree branch which caused bleeding from his esophagus and had to be hospitalized with blood transfusion. This also happened twice before during the last 2 years and his bad behavior has caused so much misery to his mother that all her relatives became very angry that they used harsh language and physical punishment at this young man as James observed during hospital visits.
With the approval from the BECHA Board, a proposal was made to LBD’s family to give him a last chance to climb out of his vicious cycle by using positive re-enforcement to reward him for good behavior. A detailed plan was approved by his family and also supported by the village leaders. The goal is to provide positive energy in correcting his behavior problems by giving him small cash rewards (to reduce his need to steal from others) for good behavior and to fine him for bad behaviors. A notebook is used to document his behavior daily and a nightly review is conducted by his mother. Meanwhile, the village leaders are trying to find people who can teach him how to make handicrafts, such as weaving baskets, to be purchased by BigBall for potential exhibitions in the future.
A good talk with LBD to get his agreement before starting this project.
Initial results during the 1st month have been encouraging with LBD’s behavior significantly improved (over 90% of days without any bad behavior while helping his mother with farm work and he has also quit drinking alcohols to save money). We continue to pray for LBD in his success to gain self-respect/confidence and to live a happier life.
December 2014 “Saving LBD Project” Update:
LBD continues to behave well without any incidents of stealing/drinking liquors. He is enjoying the rewards from his good behavior. During the month of November, his mother logged 29 out of 30 days in good behavior, with only 1 incident of asking for a cigarette from another person in the village. He has become a well-mannered young man and proactively helped his mother in the farm work. He also made about 100 pot-cleaning brushes out of the dried sorghum stems after the harvest season for his home and elders in the village. In order to keep him busy during winter time where there is no farm work, he will be encouraged to continue to make more handicrafts for BECHA to buy and to distribute to more village homes where wood burning stoves are used for cooking.
March 2015 Saving LBD Project Update
BECHA CEO James Tang visited LBD’s family and village leaders during the Chinese lunar New Year and was pleased to learn from the village chief Mr. Wang that this project has significantly improved LBD’s behavior problems. He said this has been a good year for LBD since we started the Saving LBD project based on inputs from villagers. He gave a ‘thumb up’ for BECHA to continue this successful project in 2015.
Sharing a story about Mr. Zhang’s family
张鸿武，崔艳娥，及3岁女儿
Mr. Zhang Hong-Wu张鸿武 is in his 40’s and has been handicapped since childhood with his right hand deformed in an porridge cooking burn accident when he was just 3 yrs. of age. His misfortunes worsened 2 yrs ago in another accident when he broke his neck while working on a roof and fell from the ladder. He lost all senses from the neck down and has been laying in bed with his slightly mentally ill wife caring for him and their 3yrs old daughter who is a bright and cheerful little girl.
The good hearted village chief Mr. Wang has been helping this family by obtaining a minuscule social welfare payment for the family as well as by raising money to buy an electric tricycle for Mrs. Zhang to make extra money by hauling goods.
In one of his visits to the farming family of Little Brother Dragon, BECHA CEO James met with the village chief Mr. Wang and was asked to consider helping Mr. Zhang’s family as a new BECHA charity project in China. On March 13, 2015, James went with Mr. Wang to visit Mr. Zhang’s family in Hei Shan Tou( Black Mountain Top) of Dong Feng District in Jilin Province. The Zhang family’s dwelling is a small room about 5 square meters. There is a hospital bed for Mr. Zhang and another bed for Mrs. Zhang and daughter. Then there is hardly any room for visitors to stand inside this room that was provided by the closedown raw steel factory where Mrs. Zhang used to work. This factory was founded as a private enterprise to provide jobs for handicapped people but could not survive the harsh economic conditions for the steel factories in China.
As part of the humanitarian mission in caring for less fortunate handicapped people on behalf of the BECHA Board of Directors, James donated ¥1000 RMB to Mr. Zhang’s family during this visit. He will also monitor future needs for this family via local BECHA supporters as part of the China mission.
May 2015 Update
Another ‘Good Behavior ‘ award was given to LBD for sustaining good behavior in helping his mother with Spring farm work and refraining from stealing liquor and medicines in the village. Also attending this award dinner is the Village Chief Mr. Wang.
Another attempt to collect ethnic baby wrappers took James to Ji-An at the eastern side of Jilin province bordering North Korea. The border line is in the middle of the not-so-wide Yalu River. You can see NK’s border watch shed with bare eyes. Old ladies washing clothes in the river is about the only common life style on both side of the river. After sunsets, there are vibrant lights and hundreds of dancing ‘damas’ at the Ji-An side of the river bank, while a complete darkness painted across the river dabbed with only occasional flash lights from the NK border patrol. No luck with finding traditional baby wrappers this time. The villagers are mainly ethnic Han. They have not used traditional baby wrappers for many years.
July 2015 LBD Update
Another award was presented to LBD in July, 2015 to recognize his continued good behavior during the past 2 months. His mother was pleased to see him working hard to help with the farm work; and there were no incidents of stealing liqors in this period. Also, he helped an elderly couple to trasfer 3500 kg of coal to prepare for the winter and helped another villager to recover a lost wallet with valuables inside, including ID cards and bank cards. He was praised for his successful sustainment of his good behavior and was urged to refrain from asking for cigaretts from other villagers as an area for improvement.
Started to teach ESL in China
开始在吉林省做義工當ESL老师，在易特國际教育學苑帮助25个初中生及小学高年生扎實美语口语，本周课程包括家庭，问候，學校，购物，点菜，學做Salad，等等。我发现这里的孩子们學习興趣高，進步神速，又得到校长及多位本地老师的全力支持，甚感欣慰！BECHA CEO James Tang has started a new volunteer work as an ESL teacher at the Elite International Education Institute in Jiling Province of China. He is helping 25 students (9 – 16 yrs old) to understand and practice speaking American English. For the first week, they covered many topics, including Family, Greetings, School Life, Shopping, Ordering Food, and Making Salad. James is very pleased to see these kids highly motivated and making significant progress in just 5 days, as well as thrilled to have the full support from the Elite Headmaster and several local teachers.
August, 2015 Updates
美国碧波为张鸿武女儿张旨轩提供三个月上幼儿园的助學金让她的學习不被父亲的伤残而中断。The BigBall Earth Caring Humanity Association（BECHA）provided scholarship to fund 3 months of school costs for Zhang Zhi-Xuan, the 4 yrs old daughter of Mr. Zhang Hong-Wu who was paralyzed from neck down due to an accident while working on a roofing job.
来回三千多公里到内蒙寻找蒙族的传统背儿带。内蒙首府青城-呼和浩特，明朝阿拉坦汗（成吉思汗十四世孙）建城，开蒙汉两族親合之风。大召寺又名無量寺，是喇嘛黄教名寺，青城的最有名景点。大雄宝殿内佛像历450年不坏，寺内建筑按藏式设计，保护良好。实在找不到蒙族的传统背儿带，只有买一件小女孩庆典穿的传统服装和帽子做个记念。
RT more than 3000 KM drive to Hohehot, capital of Inner Mongolia Autonomous region, to look for ethnic traditional baby carriers. Locals were unwilling to sell their treasured old collections, so I had to purchase a traditional young girl’s ceremonial dress and hat as souvenirs. The city of Hohehot was built in 15th century by a direct descendant of Gengis Khan who enabled the harmonious melting pot between the Mongo and the Han people in Mongolia. The Tibetan style Buddhist temple Da Zhao Shi was among the best preserved Tibetan temple in China.
September, 2015 update
回美之前，特地去看看颈以下全部瘫患的张鸿武女儿张旨轩，并再为美国碧波关怀地球人文协会发给她助学金。看到她在幼儿园内快乐的学习成长，非常欣慰！Visited the nursery school where Zhang Zhi-Xuan is learning and playing with other kids and provided another scholarships on behalf of BECHA to support her tuition there. She’s the daughter of Mr. Zhang Hon-Wu who is paralyzed from neck down in a roofing job accident. Very happy to see her enjoying this opportunity to study and grow in such a nice environment.
1Q 2016 Update
Teaching ESL as a volunteer and helping a 13-year old local girl who is a Leukemia M5 patient
我代表美国碧波關懐地球人文协会联合易特国际教育共同为本地白血病患者13歲的管羽丰小妹妹捐出4000元人民币，希望能够抛砖引玉，有更多的善心人士及慈善机构来帮助这个品學兼优的孩子從痛苦的白血病疗程中坚强地走出来，她康复之后，也一定会把爱心传递下去，并且关注生态环境的保护。On behalf of the BigBall Earth Caring Humanity Association in the U.S., I worked with teachers at the Elite International Education in donating 4000 RMB to the local 13-year old girl Guan Yu-Feng who has been a model student but was stricken with Leukemia M5 at the end of 2015. We hope to inspire more generous donations from kind people and charity organizations to help pay for her costly and painful medical treatment. I have no doubt that she will pass on her love and kindness to other people after recovery and will do her best to care for the earth and the environment in which we live.
LBD Update – January 2016
农村青年小龙哥开心地接收美国碧波慈善机构的奖金，继续鼓励他维持良好行为不让妈妈操心。这三个月，小龙哥没向他人要烟抽，帮老妈干活，一个人里外把父亲的三年祭日酒席全部打点，完美得没话说。又学好了用地里收集的擀秸做出扫帚及锅刷。期待他下三个月有更完美的表现。Young farmer LBD happily received a good behavior award from the BigBall charity organization in the U. S. He continued to be motivated by this award to maintain his good behavior in the village to alleviate the burden of his widowed mother. In the past 3 months, he stopped asking for cigarettes from villagers, organized the 3rd year memorial service banquet for his father, and also mastered the toolmaking skills in making brooms and pan cleaning brushes out of dried harvest wastes in the farm. I look forward to seeing a perfect behavior record during the next 3 months.
Zhang Hong-Wu Update February 2016
今天去黑山头探望因做屋顶工摔下而致高位瘫痪的张鸿武，并代表美国碧波慈善机构给他女儿奖学金做为三个月的幼儿园学费。也教他媳妇帮他开始做复健动作，看看能不能把脊椎的神经系统再连接回来。过两个月再评估效果。Visited Mr. Zhang Hong-Wu, a local roof worker who fell off the ladder and has been paralyzed from neck down. Presented tuition scholarship to his daughter on behalf of the BigBall charity organization in the U.S. to allow her attending a nursery school for another 3 months. Also taught his wife to begin a rehab exercise to see if it can help heal his spinal nerve system. Will assess the effectiveness during the next visit in April
March 2016 Zhang Hong- Wu Update
Visited Mr. Zhang Hong-Wu’s family today and very pleased to see his much improved back and arms muscle flexibility after doing 2 months of touching toes exercises. Delivered a six- months tuition scholarship to his daughter Zhi-Xuan on behalf of the BigBall Earth Caring Humanity Association in the US.
今天去看了张鸿武一家，很高兴两个月前教他做的手足交叉运动已有成效地恢复一些背部及手臂的肌肉神经。也代表美国碧波关怀地球人文协会颁给他女儿旨轩六个月的学费。
April 2016 Teaching Kindergarteners English
Successfully completed a new bilingual approach in teaching 30+ kindergarteners oral English, which wouldn’t be possible with English only teaching. Thanks to the Headmistress Ms. Lou for the opportunity at her well-run kindergarten!
顺利完成了一个新的尝试，用双语教30 多个幼稚园的小朋友英语口语。这是单用英语无法教的。感谢总园长刘老师给我的机会在这么好的幼稚园教小朋友！
April 2016 LBD Update
He was happy to receive a good behavior award for the last 3 months from the BigBall Earth Caring Humanity Association in the US. Despite a very stressful Chinese New Year period for him, he was determined to regain his strength in order to be able to take care of his mother. Now he is physically strong enough to help with the farm work as the busy Spring time arrives. 小龙哥开心地领取美国碧波人文协会提供的优良品行奖。过去的三个月他的体能受了农历年的压力影响而一直卧病，但他为了要照顾母亲挺了下来。现在已经能够在开春农忙的时候下田干活了！
September 2016 LBD Update
Little Brother Dragon (LBD) happily received his good behaviors award for his zero behavioral mistakes in May-July period – best record since we started the “Saving LBD” project two years ago. 小龙哥今天开心地收到五至七月零缺点奖金，这是两年前开始“拯救小龙哥“项目以来他表现最好的三个月。
October 2016 Zhang Hong-Wu Update
After 6 months of touching toes exercise that I taught him during my last visit, Zhang Hong-Wu, the crippled worker who was disabled from a fall from the roofing work, is now able to move about in an electric wheelchair. What a great miracle! His family welcomed me with joy today when I presented another scholarship on behalf of BECHA to his daughter Zhang Zhi-Xuan to help her continue her attendance in a kindergarten. 六个月前，我曾教过因在做瓦工时摔伤而高位截瘫的张鸿武坐在床上用手交叉握脚趾做复建，现在他已能自己操控电动轮椅出行了，真是一个很棒的奇迹！他的家人今天非常开心的欢迎我再一次的代表美国碧波颁发给他女儿张旨轩上幼儿园的助学金。
September-October 2016 ESL classes in China
Successfully completed this Fall’s volunteer work visit in China which included teaching 3 ESL classes for senior kindergarten students(bilingual method) and senior elementary school students(English only). I was happy to see students all enjoyed interactive teaching methods and showed significant improvement on their oral English skills as well as knowledge on American festivals and folk songs.
Also served as the Chief Judge for an English speech contest and presented the First Place Award.
圆满结束了本次秋季访华访问的义工服务，包括教了三个班的英语口语，一个是幼稚园大班（汉英双语）， 两个是语言学校的五，六年级的学生（全英语）。很高兴看到学生们都喜欢互动式的教学，都在口语上有显著的提高，也增进了对美国节日及民歌的熟悉度。
Highly motivated students at the Elite International Education Institute. Students learned about festivals in the U.S., such as Thanksgiving and Halloween.
November 2016 LBD Update
Met with Little Brother Dragon again before completing this year’s charity work in China. He continued good behaviors and helped his mother in the farm during the busy harvesting season. He was very happy to receive another award for sustaining good behaviors. He then used part of his award to help his grand parents in fighting lung cancer by quitting tobacco smoking, which is a new BigBall project (Saving Lungs) with cash awards as incentives to kick the smoking habit.
Mar – May 2017 LBD Update
Visited with LBD several times and reports from his mother and his village chief have been perfect! He helped his mother with house work and the spring farm work, as well as walked miles to collect recyclables in exchange for additional income for his family. He stopped drinking alcohols and has been trying to quit smoking as well. I was happy to present two perfect behavior awards for the first six months in 2017.
Feb-May 2017 Zhang Hong-Wu Update
The recovery from his spinal injury has been deemed miraculous by the neural surgeons in Beijing. He regained his muscular strength in his arms and hands, but still has no senses in his legs. I taught him and his wife a new way to apply acupressure on locations of his legs to help stimulate the important nerve systems Running down his legs. I will come back to visit him in my next China visit to see if any progress to improve his mobility. I presented two 3-month tuition scholarships for his daughter to continue her schooling.
Apri 2017 Assistance to an Elderly Cancer Patient
The 76-yr old retired coal miner Mr. Boo was not expected to survive his 4th stage lung cancer last year, but his condition has stabilized with the help of some herb medicines as well as the quitting of smoking by his wife under an incentive cash reward provided by BigBall. We also provided a steel frame bedside toilet to avoid risk of going to the out-house.
Spring 2017 Oral English Classes for 5th and 6th Graders
Held two classes to teach these children oral English in various scenarios, American folk songs, and commonly used American slang words. It was a lot of fun to teach those highly motivated students.
YE2018 Update
Continued to provide tuition and fees assistance to Mr. Zhang Hong-Wu’s daughter through 2018. Mr. Zhang has miraculously recovered from most of his disabling spinal cord injury and is able to work as a factory security team leader.
Also continued to provide good behavior incentive awards to the brain damaged young farmer Little Brother Dragon to encourage him sustain his good behavior in helping his widowed mother in the farm. Continued to receive good reports from his village chief.
Started to expand charity work, including providing clothes and shoes to children at an orphanage and money to buy food for homeless seniors at a shelter in Jilin Province.
1Q2019 Update
CEO James visited the orphanage in Dalian in February and donated 25 sets of Chinese Language, Math, and English Language text books for 25 elementary school age kids, as well as some picture books for 27 preschool kids there and was greeted by the director and teachers at the orphanage.
CFO Michael also visited this orphanage in March and donated four cases of whole milk for the preschool children there.
2Q2019 Update
CEO James continued to teach ESL in Liaoning Province for over 200 students as part of the Web International teaching team. Also served as the judge during the advancement assessment.
James also visited southern part of Taiwan in April and demonstrated Taiji Qigong exercises for senior citizens.
3-4Q2019 Update
Continued to provide good behavior incentive awards to young farmer Little Brother Dragon in Jilin province. Started a new project to provide nutritional food supplements to homeless elderly people in Jilin province.
James also taught ESL for about 500 students in Dalian, Liaoning province covering American slangs and proverbs in addition to grammar, pronunciation, and oral English. He also donated needed items for children living in the orphanage. Shown in photos were the orphanage director Mr. Sun and teachers Ms. Ge and Mr. Sun.
1-3Q 2020 Update
Provided financial help to an elderly farmer in Anhui province to repair the flood damage to his home. This year the heavy rain and the overflow of rivers nearby caused more severe flooding: but he’s safe now with a new roof and new walls.
The English classes have been conducted online on Zoom platform due to COVID19 travel restrictions. More than 200 students attended either the Oral English or the Business English classes as of September, 2020.
3Q2020 LBD Update
It’s heartwarming to hear that our cash award was able to help LBD receive proper medical treatment and he is now fully recovered.
4Q2020 LBD Update
LBD in December 2020 after receiving proper medication. He’s enjoyng a peaceful winter in his village home.
2Q2021 Update
As of June, 2021 LBD has fully recovered from the TB problems has been helping his mother with the farming work. His illness and the treatment also provided the opportunity to appreciate his well being. His good behavior has been sustained for several years now and the Bigballearth board directors have agreed to continue the award program for as long as his good behavior is sustainable.
Online English classes continued in 2021 to provide practices on spoken English dialogues, Business English topics, as well as mock tests for International English Language Testing System (IELTS).
Funding was provided to help pay medical treatment of a patient in Dalian with stomach cancer, as well as an elderly farmer in Anhui province, also in the final stage of stomach cancer.
4Q2021 Update
LBD’s health is back to normal and he’s been helping his mother with farm work, including harvesting the corn crops. His good behavior has been sustained during this period and was awarded additional cash for encouragement. This project has lasted over 7 years now and we’re very pleased to have saved this young farmer from self destruction due to brain damage since childhood.
Despite the COVID pandemic and travel restrictions, James continued to provide online Business English and Oral English lessons to over 1000 attendees in 2021. Online donation platforms (北京韩红爱心基金会， 水滴筹， etc.) were also used to provide cash donations for the needy.
2Q2022 Update
LBD project update: Little Brother Dragen has completely recovered from Tuberculosis (TB) and continued to sustain 100% good behavior. It’s heart warming to see this brain damaged village boy turned into a handsome young man and working hard to help his widowed mother with farm and house work. We started “Saving LBD project” almot 8 years ago by rewarding his good behavior with cash to buy his own needs instead of begging from other villiagers for cigaretts and petty things. His good behavior needs to be verified by other villagers and the village chief in order to receive the cash award. It has been a very successful project and we will continue to endorse this project.
1Q2023 Update
LBD received another good behavior reward to help him sustain his health and welness, as well as his good and responsible behavior to his family and village. The BigBall board of directors has endorsed the funding to continue this successful project started 9 years ago.
West Sichuan Medicine Aid to Children after heart surgery
This is a new project in 2Q2022 approved by the board to provide medicine for children of Tibetan villages in wetern Sichuan province, in collaboration with the Oneworld Holy Missions, our sister BigBall Earth Caring Humanity Association in Taiwan, as well as the local health agency and charity groups. These children were born with heart problems and their lives could only be saved by heart surgeries and medicine to fight high altitude illness afftecting their lungs and hearts… a very expensive undertaking that needs charity donations to sustain. We are heppy to receive many THANK YOU notes from these children.
2Q2023 Update
Visited LBD and Zhang Hon-Wu in Jilin Province. followed by visits to cultural heritage sites and minority tribes in Yunan Province to assess feasibility of future charity projects.
Posted: October 27, 2023 by BECHA Leave a Comment
Soldier, Journalist, Spokesman（军人，新闻人，发言人）
Author: Major General Huang Sui-Sheng, retired Defense Ministry Spokesman, Republic of China黄穗生少将，中华民国国防部发言人退休
Last Updated: March 27, 2024 by BECHA 2 Comments
Highlights from China Charity and Cultural Projects 3Q2023 –
4Q2023 Highlights
Attended this MIT D-Lab forum on 12-12-2023 and was impressed with the fascinating stories about how this program got started 20 yrs ago and now a standard program at MIT for students to lean and engage with projects that work with communities in the design and development of tools and equipment to improve the wellness of the people in communities in Haiti, Nepal, India, Ghana, Brazil, Tanzania, etc.. Will continue to donate to this program from my retirement fund and explore opportunities to help rural communities in China….
Continued to help Tibetan children in West Sichuan province with medicine expenses after their congenital heart corrective surgeries in Beijing.
Visited Dalian Orphanage and brought school supplies for 120 older kids…
Little Brother Dragon (LBD) continued to do well in his behavior and helped his mother, who has been ill, to do house and farm work during the harvest season. He received the Good Behavior Award for 2H2023. Also visited his grandmother and helped her medicine expenses in the hospital after a fall that broke her hip bones.
Continued teaching of American Oral Language online classes for students in Dalian, Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Taipei Taiwan, Manchester UK, and Santiago de Chile.
Visited Qi-Lu Chinese cultural birthplaces
3000 years ago during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Waring States period, sages and men of virtue began to influence the education and faith of the people and began to form the foundation of the Chinese culture. Qi-Lu area of the now Shandong province became the birth place of Taoism and Confucianism. Visited many intangible cultural heritage sites including Weifang, Zibo, Qufu, Jinan, and Changzhou in order to understand the cultural significance of these places in history.
1Q-2Q2024 Highlights
Dalian orphanage project –
Visited the orphanage to find out the current needs for the children. Decided to donate 60 boxes of pizza plus chicken wings, etc. as a special treat for more than 50 school age kids on a Saturday afternoon after their sports activities. This unique donation worked very well and was very appreciated by the orphanage. We’ll continue to search for the best way to help those kids in the orphanage. Another inquiry into the possibility of helping a Memphis couple to adopt a kid was not yet allowed at this time due to government policies.
visit to the ancient town of Dong Yi in the City of Rizhao, Shandong province –
Learned part of the cultural heritage at the Dragon King God Taoist temple in the ancient town of Dong Yi(originated in the Ju State 3000 years ago), Rizhao City, Shandong province. This temple was said to be the first Taoist temple in China, originally built in the Song and Yuan dynasties, worshipping the God of Sea Dragon King, as well as the earliest sages of Taoism. Also learned the proper way to show respect in Taoism. This town also has a Confucian school, worshipping Confucius.
Last Updated: April 26, 2021 by BECHA Leave a Comment
律韻情深 – 陳昌智
About the Author
Mr. Chen Xoung-Chi was born on July 7, 1940. His hometown is Nan-Yang, Henan Province, China. He was a 1962 graduate of the Academy of Financial Affaires, the Combined Services of the ROC Ministry of Defense. He had served in the Bureau of Financial Affaires, the headquarters of the ROC Combined Services, the Keelung and Taipei City Committee of the Youth Corps, as well as the Chinese newspaper LA REPUBLICA in Panama. Mr. Chen is a renowned newspaper editor and had authored several books in Chinese.
This book is a collection of his poetry in traditional Chinese rhymed style and format. Mr. Chen has had a profound interest in poetry since childhood, owing to the influence of his parents and family heritage. While being an accomplished writer and newspaper editor since 1980’s, he only became a serious composer of poems after the turn of century at the age of 60. We at BigBall are honored to provide the platform to publish Mr. Chen’s first poetry book in found memory of his beloved mother. Mr. Chen also attached several of his mother’s poems and short articles at the end of this book.
【律韻情深】之路匍匐行(序）
民國32年，抗戰進入最艱困時期。家住四川省榮昌縣鄉下，是一個春末夏初的季節，竹林裡傳來陣陣黃鸝鳥兒的鳴聲，百囀千回，婉轉悽惻。姥姥思念失蹤的外公，情不自禁地吟誦金昌緒的「春怨」：「打起黃鶯兒 ，莫教枝上啼。啼時驚妾夢 ，不得到遼西。」這是我初次接觸到唐詩，雖經母親解說，仍然懵懂不明。
唸初中時，國文老師丘東旭，講解蘇軾的「赤壁懷古」，深入淺出，清清楚楚地解釋了詞的內容，明明白白地了解到蘇軾作這首「念奴嬌」的時代背景，無疑給我開了一扇詩的大門。從此，我對詩詞有了進一層的認識和愛好。
民國43年的暑假，家裡訂了一份「青年戰士報」，每天下午由郵差派來，我是第一個瀏覽的人，輪流看完後，成了我的專屬。副刊必讀，內容豐富遍及散文、小說、現代詩及古典詩詞欣賞，執筆者多為軍中作家。
看過的報紙不忍丟棄，將喜愛的文章剪貼在一本簿子上，以備隨時翻閱背誦。我把詩詞貼成專册，詳盡的賞析解說，幫助我了解到，詩中有無盡的深情和道不盡的意境之美。(1）
我對詩詞的愛好，數十年如一日。詩的種子埋在地下已有多時，總想有一天能有作品出現，讓它穿破地表迎向陽光。
1979年10月，我遠赴中美洲巴拿馬，出任一間僑報的編輯，外行人做了內行事，編輯撰寫兼行政，一待就是十九年，自嘲為蘇武牧羊。
我對充實副刊內容，不遺餘力。詩詞來稿不乏佳作，常與作者談詩會友，從中學習領會了一些創作技巧。偶爾也提筆賣弄一番，覺得牛頭不對馬嘴，最終成了垃圾廢物。
2006年4月，我與妻旅次科羅拉多州丹佛市郊布倫菲爾小鎮，探望在該鎮科學園區工作的小兒Anderson 。宿舍小樓位於一座山坡之上，視野遼闊，大片草原遠及數里，遠方落磯山脈盡收眼底。四月天已是碧草如茵，草原上的湖泊可見天鵝雁鴨戲水。蜿蜒的山路兩旁，杜鵑花盛開，欣逢四月飄雪，更是驚艷。
如此明媚風光良辰美景，耐不住春的誘惑，有了寫詩的念頭。生平第一首不算詩的詩，「春入草原」七絕，在改了又改，琢磨又琢磨之下，終於完成，吾妻成了第一位讀者，給了一個「馬馬虎虎」的評語。往後每完成一首，都會電話台灣，朗誦給母親聽，反正娘不嫌兒醜。（2）
在母親的加持勉勵下，詩興泉湧而至，始料未及三年之內，竟然完成近80首創作，其中有12首詞。包括思鄉的、勵志的、送別的、悼亡的、嘲諷的、懷人詠事詠物的，也有一些打油詩。
2009年9月，我因心梗做了搭橋手術，醫囑靜心療養，詩作暫告一段落。往後各年，偶有即興之作。
2013年1月31日癸巳年陰曆除夕，寫了一首「除夕作」，表達當時的心情曰：客鄉除夜有溫暖，樽前圍爐閤家歡。樂天知命心隨缘，豁然達觀又一年。
完成這首「除夕作」後，專注散文書寫。詩詞原稿封塵至今，日前興致盎然，翻閲再謮。
中國自古以來就是詩的國度，也是國人身分的文化符號。幸得詩緣，自勉潛心修練，能夠續筆提作，用寧謐的心境，詩筆出更廣闊的生活領域。感恩母親為詩集取名為「律韻情深」，谨以此文作为前頭語，並慰先慈在天安息。
2021年2月11日 庚子年除夕于洛杉磯（3）
【寫在律韻情深
詩詞選集之後】
2020年歲序庚子，COVID-19肺炎肆虐全球，造成人類生活上翻天覆地的改變，世界各地執行嚴格管控，居家隔離。
我深居庭院，足未出戶逾一年之久，是人生中一次艱鉅的生活考驗。
2021辛丑年春節過後，百無聊賴，有了整理十年前費時三年寫成的詩詞草稿，做一番修飾整理的念頭。
自2月15日正月初四開始，每日整理一至二首，至4月17日，在近80首中，篩選出65首，約二萬四千字，完成第一階段的詩作，自認還有生命的餘輝，想繼續書寫，給人生留下一點色彩。
我三歲聽詩，五歲讀詩，直到五十歲才深入去了解詩，六十歲才開始寫詩，全是對詩詞的喜愛，也得自於先慈的啓蒙。母親也有一些極少數的幾首詩作，這是她的心泉之歌，我用了一點時間整理出來，作為夲詩詞集的附錄。詩詞創作，不僅發揮了中國文字的音樂潛能，所謂詩中有歌，歌中有詩。也展現出抒情傳統的魅力。
2021年4月19日寫於
洛杉磯
【 附 錄 】
母親學歷不高，抗戰時期在湖南祁陽，僅讀到初中二年級。背着外婆讀「紅樓夢」和「西廂記」，並且讀完「全唐詩」，「水滸傳」和「三國演義」，可說是一位文學愛好者。到了台灣，興之所至寫了一些小詩，但不知流落何方。
母親有一些詩的佳作，都寫在民國90年家遷南港國宅之後。
按時序分列：
1，【庭院深處】
簡居木屋精舍裡，
庭院深處一樂天。
鳥語花香景宜人，
四季鮮果喜採擷。
水塘魚池相對映，
後庭又見小農軒。
荷鋤養花逍遙在，
吟詩弄文似神仙。
註釋：
樂天：樂天知命
背景：
2003年5月，父母親曾來美探望子女，適逢我搬遷新居，父母親對這裡的居家環境，留下美好記憶。回台後，母親寫七律一首如上。
2，【天賜姻緣】
桂林山水初相識，
遵母宜家結姻緣。
抗戰內戰飄泊行，
生活貧困不畏艱。
相依相偎六八年，
奈何離我獨神仙。
兒孫滿堂雖感足，
愁緒萬縷不成眠。
註釋：
六八年：父母親在桂林相識，民國28年在重慶結婚，民國96年父親在台北去世，夫妻恩愛情深68年。
背景：
父親於民國96年10月9日去世，母親一生中的摯愛走了。母親處孤室而淒愴，睹遺物而神傷。12月22日冬至夜，她寫了這首七律悼亡詩。
3，【虔求聖母】
聖母亭前站，
慈光眼前顯。
閉目虔誠求，
家人永平安。
背景：
台北市延吉街天主教聖母顯靈聖牌堂，堂院內矗立一尊石雕聖母像，栩栩如生，慈光四射。
母親帶領家人至此彌撒禮拜，已有30年，進堂前援例立於聖母像前默禱。
這一天寒風細雨，是父親去世後首次進堂禮拜，母親悲從中來，淚流滿面。這夜母親作了一首五絕詩，留下了這段記憶。
4，【思思念念】
今年除夕眸潸漣，
天地寂寂心悽然。
萬千悲緒千斤重，
思思念念淚滿衫。
昔日情景清䀿現，
怎奈人隔萬重天。
午夜寄盼夢中見，
竟是無語問蒼天。
背景：
民國97年2月6日，適逢丁亥年隂曆除夕，父親去世已有四個月。
這是自民國45年連續兩年，父親擔任部隊主管，與同袍弟兄在營過年外，52年來首次不見父親在家，與家人共度除夕。母親仍然不能走出喪夫之痛，除夕夜寫了以上詩句。
6，【寄不出的簡訊】
2010年10月9日，是爸爸媽媽結婚71週年紀念日，母親給父親寫了一封「寄不出的簡訊」：
老伴，今天是我倆結婚七十一週年紀念，也是你離開家人遠行的日子。你就那麼無憂無慮瀟灑地走了，一轉眼就三年了。
在這思念的日子裡，我已經從悲痛中走了出來，因為我知道，你已經伴隨在天父的身邊，快樂愉悅地生活著，我好為你高興。等我走到人生旅途的盡頭時，我們再碰面吧。
思念你的老伴
民國99年10月9日
(律韻情深詩詞選輯
全章完）
Last Updated: April 9, 2021 by BECHA Leave a Comment
江山風雨 – 陳昌智 Those Stormy Years of My Homeland – by Chen Xoung-Chi
About the Author
Mr. Chen Xoung-Chi was born on July 7, 1940. His hometown is Nan-Yang, Henan Province, China. He was a 1962 graduate of the Academy of Financial Affaires, the Combined Services of the ROC Ministry of Defense. He had served in the Bureau of Financial Affaires, the headquarters of the ROC Combined Services, the Keelung and Taipei City Committee of the Youth Corps, as well as the Chinese newspaper LA REPUBLICA in Panama. Mr. Chen is a renowned newspaper editor and had authored several books in Chinese.
This book 《Those Stormy Years of My Homeland》, originally written in 2005, was his first attempt in documenting his difficult childhood in the 1940’s. It has been reworked since early 2020 to be ready for publication as a documentary of those difficult years in his childhood that millions of other Chinese people have also suffered through. China was a war-torn battleground in those years, first from the invasion of the Japanese imperialistic army, followed by the in-fight between the Nationalist KMT party and the Chinese Communist Party CCP. Over 2 million people, including KMT soldiers and their families, ended up in exile and settled down in Taiwan, Mr. Chen’s family among them.
【 江 山 風 雨】
懷念那段山河蹂躪
國難未斷的日子
(代序)
我的一生是一部移民的故事，是大時代萬千例子中的一個。前十年在原鄉中國大陸，後三十年在故鄉台灣，1980年舉家移居海外迄今四十年。原鄕、故鄉、僑鄉都是我的所愛，我的家。
回顧大陸十年，走過的中國是一個顚簸流離，烽火連天，戰爭不息的十年。秦關月，楚天雲，長江淮河，鄱陽洞庭，黑水長白，嶺南風情，南海椰林，都留下了童年深刻的烙印。
先父對原鄉愛得深沉，對隨軍播遷台灣前的十年，發出唈歎：「十年流離印痕，江河退逝年光。歴史消磨古今，看盡世事滄桑。」那是一個山河蹂躪國難未斷的年代。正因為有如此深刻的感受，促使我寫了我的第一部著作「江山風雨」，於2005年5月完成書稿。隨後又陸續寫完「日照紅樓」、「陌麈落地」、「羈旅雁鳴」，敍述家事、國事、天下事的文章，約60萬字。「日照紅樓」及「陌塵落地」分別於2017年12月及2020年2月，付印出版。「羈旅雁鳴」字約24萬字，全書發表於碧波網站，歷時近三年，於2020年10月刋登完畢。三部著作能夠得到正面回應，頗感欣慰。於是想到塵封已久的「江山風雨」，有公開發表的必要。找回1940年後十年，在中國大陸誕生的一代，共同的記憶。
全書分三章53節，約7萬字，第一章抗戰，第二章復元，第三章內戰。
寫在江山風雨書後
西元前2697年，是黃帝紀元元年，迄今西元2021年(中華民國110年），開國已有4718年。
歷史承先啓後，源遠流長。1940至1950，在歷史的長河中，卻是江山社稷，炎黃世胄關鍵的十年。
從抗日戰爭勝利到國共內戰至兩岸分治，變化之大，歷史罕見。慶幸我成長在這個年代，經歷過苦難中國，風風雨雨的十年。
先父叮嚀，將這段歷史紀錄下來，見證那個年代，我們走過的路，以史為鑑，可知興替。
父親還取了一個書名叫「十年流離看山河」，母親卻建議改為「江山風雨」，深思其義，中國大地風風雨雨何止十年。
2020年10月，定稿「江山風雨」，總想續寫兩岸分治後的江山風雨，感覺力不從心。祈求上主恩賜我一個健康的身體，提供一個更好的寫作環境。2021年2月6日
於洛杉磯
Last Updated: March 30, 2021 by BECHA 1 Comment
An Everlasting Memory
My father passed away in January of 2003 in Los Angeles. I was on a company overseas assignment in Asia Pacific at the time and took a family leave back to LA to attend the memorial services with my elder brother Hsiung-Fei, younger brother Der Pu and their families. I was fortunate to have spent the Christmas holidays in LA two weeks earlier with my wife Edie and son Michael and had a nice visit with him for the last time. It’s a Chinese custom, at least in my family, to stay up the whole night in candle lights and burning incense sticks to remember our lives together and to pray for his resting in peace. During that night, my elder brother wrote this article in Chinese and I translated it into English as he finished each paragraph. We were both in tears as we worked through the night. My younger brother printed the brochure over night for the public memorial service in the morning. Eighteen year have passed since then. My memory of that night was still as fresh as yesterday…
An Everlasting Memory
Eulogy For Our Beloved Father
Our beloved father, Mr. Chi-Moh Tang, was born on March 16, 1922, in our hometown of the Tang Village, West County, Lu-Chiang District, An-Huei Province, China. Our great-grandfather, Mr. Wen-Pu Tang, was a traditional Chinese scholar and founder of a school with students from all over the neighboring districts. Our grandfather, Mr. Bee-Ting Tang, began a life of public service at the age of 18. His loyalty, honesty, and hospitality was well known in our hometown and he was well loved and respected by the people during his 30 plus years of public service in the district, which included serving as the County Administrative Chief, Bank Manager, and Director General of the Chamber of Commerce. During WW II, he raised funds by selling his belongings in order to help people survive the devastation from the war.
Father had 11 siblings, but only 1 elder brother, 1 elder sister, and 2 younger sisters remained alive after WW II. His elder brother, Mr. Chi-Ding Tang, studied Chinese Literature from the great scholar Mr. Zhang Tai-Yang. Father was also very talented in his studies since childhood. Even when the family was evacuated to western provinces during World War II, he continued his studies in middle and high schools amid hardship in the war-torn country. After the war, father managed to graduate from the National An-Huei University with a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Economics. Soon, however, the hometown was stirred up again from the Communist Revolution and father decided to join the Nationalist army and moved to Taiwan with mother and 2 children, one aged 4 (Hsiung-Fei) and the other in infancy (James Tsung-Ying). Life was very hard in those days and mother became ill from homesickness and poor living conditions. After Der-Pu was born, father decided to request a transfer to a services unit, the Army’s Printing and Engraving Works, in order to be close to mother and the children. He stayed in that unit for 21 years and worked his way up to eventually be promoted to full colonel and plant manager in charge of the Works with more than 500 officers and civilian employees. He received many medals in his military career for his excellent service and accomplishments, including improving safety, efficiency, as well as the product quality and profitability of the Works. When he retired from military service he turned over to his successor over 10 million NT$ net profits, an unprecedented amount in the history of the Works.
After military service, father began his second career by forming a partnership to develop a small farming business and, at the same time, teaching in a business high school in central Taiwan. However, 3 years later, he decided to return to Taipei to be close to grandfather who was over 80 years old and in deteriorating health. Father was a traditionalist and his priority was to serve grandfather until grandfather passed away in 1978 at age 84. After that, father went to the island of Peng-Hu and picked up his teaching career again in the Provincial Peng-Hu High School and served as the Business Manager there for 10 more years. Those were his happier time in life, as he was able to spend his holidays returning to Taipei to enjoy reunions with eldest son Hsiung-Fei, daughter-in-law Hai-Yang, and grandchildren Der-Ron and Der-Chen. After retirement from his teaching career, father traveled to Los Angeles and stayed with his youngest son Der-Pu, daughter-in-law Chi-Lang, and grandchildren Daniel and Diana, to enjoy more retirement life in the United States. Second son Tsung-Ying (James), daughter-in-law Edith, and grandson Michael often came to visit during holidays, even during their 7 years of overseas assignment in Southeast Asia. Father also occasionally returned to Taipei for short visits and even made a trip back to his hometown in China to visit his sisters. These years were the best time in his life until 2 years ago, when his health began to deteriorate due to Alzheimer and Parkinson’s illness. A month ago, father suffered a fall and broke his leg. The anesthetics from the surgery complicated his conditions and required additional surgery and treatment in ICU. His suffering was finally over at around 8 PM on January 9, 2003, when he left this Earth in peace.
Father’s selfless character in caring for others’ needs before his own, his hard working style, and strong will in overcoming hardship have all set a remarkable example for his sons, grandchildren and future generations by living a truthful, meaningful, and beautiful life. His eldest son Hsiung-Fei served in the military for over 30 years and is now serving as the Secretary General of the Li-Ming Cultural Development Foundation in Taiwan, after retiring as a Lt. General. Second son Tsung-Ying (Jim) has worked for ExxonMobil for over 25 years and is now providing technical consulting as a specialist in the Asia Pacific. Youngest son Der-Pu is an expert in color separation technology in the printing process and has established his own company in Los Angeles to provide quality service in the printing industry. All 3 daughters-in-law have worked hard to keep their houses in order and raised well-mannered grandchildren. Father should be able to rest in peace knowing that his baton has and will continue to be passed on to generations to come.
As we hold this memorial service for father, we feel a tremendous loss as we miss him deeply. Mother left us 46 years ago when father was only 36 years old. He had to pack up his sorrow and manage to raise 3 young boys all by himself, in addition to caring for grandfather during the early years in Taiwan when supplies were short. His love for his family and devotion to his work demanded long years of endurance, yet he has never complained about the hardship in his life. In our fond memory, father never considered his personal enjoyment and always loved us not only as a father, but also as mother’s substitute. Father, Dad: you’ll always live in our heart and we’ll always love you in everlasting memory….
To our friends: we are very grateful for your friendship and caring for our father. Your thoughtfulness has warmed our hearts during this time as we hold this memorial service to celebrate father’s life. Our best wishes to you and your loved ones.
Peace and Love in God,
Hsiung-Fei, Tsung-Ying (Jim), and Der-Pu Tang
Photos of our parents during their early years of exile in Taiwan.
About the Author
James Tang was born in 1948 and was an infant when his parents took him and his elder brother in exile to Taiwan during the CPP takeover of his homeland province Anhui. He left Taiwan and came to the U.S. in 1971 after graduating from college in 1970 and spent a year in a compulsory military service as an instructor in the 1st Army NCO academy. He pursed graduate studies at Rose Hulman Institute of Technology and Massachusetts Institute of Technology for his master’s and doctorial degrees. He started working in California as a Professional Engineer in the late 1970s and had a long career with Exxon Mobil for 38 years until his retirement in 2015 as an executive level Senior Engineering Advisor. His work with Exxon Mobil took him and his family to California, Colorado, Thailand, Singapore, Virginia, while providing engineering and optimization support for affiliates in the US, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Australia, Japan, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, and Norway. After retirement, he devoted his time in two charity organizations as Founder and CEO: the BigBall Earth caring Humanity Association and the Oneworld Holy Missions. He studied and obtained a TESOL certificate in order to teach ESL in China as part of his charity projects to help the needy. He has also been teaching Taiji Qigong exercises in the city of Walnut in LA for senior citizens as part of the community service.
The photo below is an attachment of the response from Mr. Ma Qing Sheng.
Last Updated: March 30, 2021 by BECHA Leave a Comment
Turning Points in Life 生命轉折處
Ms. Karen Huang was born in Jiangsu Province, China in 1948. She completed her elementary school education at the Cheng-Zheng Elementary School while living in the Huang-Pu Military Residential Village-II in the township of Feng-Shan in Taiwan. After graduating from the Soochow University (Taiwan) with a major in Accounting, she worked and moved up to managerial positions in the following firms:
Deloitte Taiwan (1970-1979)
Philips Taiwan (1979-1991)
She emigrated to and lived in Canada from 1995 to 2002 before returning to Taiwan.
This article was her first writing as she wanted to document the remarkable turning points of her father’s life during WWII and the early years of life in Taiwan after being forced to exile, along with 2 million KMT soldiers and their families, due to the CCP takeover of mainland China.
We are honored to publish Ms. Huang’s first writing, in memory of her parents, as part of the BigBall community services.
James Tang
CEO, The BigBall Earth Caring Humanity Association (BECHA)
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《生命轉折處》
黃可人 2021-3
每個家庭都有可說的故事，它顯示了個人生命如何受制於大時代的影響，以及掙扎向善的努力過程。
父親，黃耀華(1920-1999)，生於上海，工程公司負責人。
母親，徐菊芬(1924-2018)，生於江蘇，國中老師退休。
抗日淞滬之戰發生於1937年8月13日至11月26日之間，日本轟炸上海，中國人傷亡30萬人，日本人傷亡4萬人。
父親當時還未滿18歲，他顧不得自己尚未取得駕照(大伯經營汽車維修廠，所以父親會開車)，就和其他童子軍共同搬運街上的傷患，開公車送到醫院。由於不知道法國製公車如何倒檔，只好一直右轉繞圈圈，車子沒有油了，就換另一輛公車。從此，他走向了停學、逃難、戰爭的十年路。
父親和同學一起逃到南京，在南京淪陷前一天，半夜游泳越過長江，後面還有日本兵掃射，很多同學都遇難於江中，他感覺自己是最後一個死裡逃生的人。
在逃難途中，父親看見被遺棄的嬰兒，他還抱起來走了一段路，想到自己都自顧不暇了，又將嬰兒放下來。在殘酷的戰爭之下，真不知道個人的命運將會如何？
(1955年，父親看到報上有棄兒的新聞，他買了奶粉，到鳳山警察局認領了女嬰回家，當時母親尚未下班，便將女嬰寄放在鄰居家。鄰居媽媽沒有女兒，看到女嬰大眼可愛，照顧了兩天後，決定收養。45年後，養女住在醫院4年，照顧84歲的植物人養母直到過世。)
1942年，父親加入了中國印緬遠征軍，當時美國提供軍備，並送了兩部吉甫車，而部隊裡只有兩人會開車，父親是其中之一，所以就管理車輛，並為孫立人將軍 (1900-1990) 提供駕駛服務。
孫將軍比父親大二十歲，自奉甚儉，教導部下非常嚴格，同時又對人關懷、慈祥，深受大家的愛戴，袍澤感情深厚，從此父親一路跟隨，受孫將軍教誨，對一生的影響甚深。
有一次，孫將軍去遠處與盟軍開會，回程時，公路已被日軍切斷，當時的指揮部非常擔心，沒想到父親看到路標，兩人都同意改道試試，結果從後方繞回來，逃過一劫。
孫將軍拯救了英緬軍七千多人，名揚海外。後來盟軍準備撤退到印度重新整隊，要求38師負責殿後。父親與同袍共12人負責銷毀重武器(防止日軍使用)，只帶了糧食放在象背上走人，結果在路上遇到日本兵，人躲起來了，而糧食與象都被牽走，有同袍不甘心而去找象，就沒有再見到面了。當父親趕上部隊時，只剩下3人。孫將軍對父親說：「我以為會看不到你了」。
父親在叢林裡翻山越嶺，途中患了瘧疾，發著高燒，完全依靠當地人 (當地人逃難，亦受到國軍的保護。) 抬著走，總算度過了危險期。
父親智齒橫長在牙根下，造成發炎疼痛，外國醫生從臉頰外開刀進去，以鐵鎚敲打牙根，結果腫了很大，非常疼痛。(我和兒子也遺傳了智齒橫長，經歷一口氣連拔四棵牙齒的手術。)
1945年5月，孫將軍應艾森豪將軍之約，去歐洲訪問兩個月，父親則得到了天賜良緣，有機會在雲南大學碰到常州的大家閨秀，父親衣著整齊 (受孫將軍影響)，風度翩翩 ，說話風趣，很快就得到母親的芳心。
父親曾對母親說，如果妳要繼續讀大三，就會有三張證書 (結婚、畢業、離婚證書)。
為愛結婚的母親，時年21歲，以前連手帕都不洗的大小姐，後來成為能幹又辛苦的軍人老婆。
抗日戰爭勝利後，新一軍調往廣州、上海，準備接收日本投降，又從上海乘軍艦登陸秦皇島，暈船的人很多，甲板上都是滾動的頭盔，不知道中共與蘇聯已經裡應外合，接收了大量的武器，而國民政府軍卻遭美國武器禁運 (直到1950年秋，韓戰爆發之後，美國開始共同協防台灣海峽)，這樣可悲的國共內戰，改變了雙方的輸贏，四年下來，造成數百萬人員傷亡。
1947年春，父親駐守長春時，用4兩黃金買了一幢日本軍官的別墅，準備長住東北，母親也從娘家到長春住了半年，懷了我之後，又回到娘家待產。
1948年夏，國共內戰已趨激烈，父親在長春送朋友上飛機去北平，臨時接受朋友的勸告，也上了飛機，長春的成家夢想，同時破滅。回到常州母親家時，連三輪車錢都要靠母親支付。
父親飛抵北平時，看到街上出售漂亮的日本武士刀，決定買了送給小舅。解放軍進城後，據說家人嚇得將武士刀投入井中，後來又撈出來上繳。海外關係還成為家人的負擔。
父親同時也為自己買了一把漂亮的手槍，放在枕頭下防身用。(1951年，三歲的我與大弟坐在床上玩槍，我用真槍，大弟用槍套，彼此對打，結果槍太重，床舖被我打了一個洞，差一點就出人命，後來手槍也按規定上繳。)
1947年6月，孫將軍被調往台灣鳳山訓練新兵，據說，曾被孫將軍打到松花江北邊的中共將領林彪為此非常高興!
1948年6月，父親想要去投靠孫將軍，母親也因為曾在江北鄉下逃難時，對共產黨的政治活動有相當的認識，決定全家一起去台灣，否則我可能跟表哥一樣，一度成為紅衛兵，並與家人劃清界線。
全家來到鳳山誠正新村(日本留下的軍官宿舍，後來孫將軍被軟禁後，改名為黃埔新村)，當時已經客滿，父親只好帶人去整理荒草蔓延的二村(日本兵宿舍及馬房)，接電、開井、修路，建立家園。
接著各省籍的軍人陸續抵達，生活雖然清苦，大家都互相幫助，鄰居感情尤其深厚。(直到現在，二村已經拆光多年，笫二代如同兄弟姊妹，還彼此交流不斷。)
1949年的大移民，台灣人口從600多萬人增加為800萬人。1947年二月曾發生二二八事件，本省人仇視外省人，陸續成立的幾百個眷村，幾乎都與本省人之間，形成隔離的狀態。
當時政府雖然忙著土地改革，實行耕者有其田，以及執行地主土地換股票等政策。然而對我們生活在眷村的人來說，是沒有什麼影響，各家都忙著生養孩子，上陸軍子弟小學，吃外省菜，不會說台語，看村裡放映的戶外電影。除了小孩讀書，沒有什麼大事，小孩也是自由發展，愛讀書的讀書，不愛讀書的就進軍校。大家都沒有資金或土地可為依靠。
1955年，孫將軍因下屬郭廷亮被污陷為匪諜而被迫辭職，並被軟禁在家。父親有很多朋友都受到牽連，大家噤聲不談。(郭的遭遇及受害，更是讓人領受到當年的恐怖手段。)
軟禁三十三年之後，蔣經國總統過世，事件獲得平反，父親才有機會再去探望老長官，並參加孫將軍的九十大壽活動。孫將軍在軟禁期間，教育了四位非常優秀的兒女，個個清華大學畢業，真是大大的安慰啊!
父親負責的車輛營成功將兩部報廢的四分之三噸卡車合併成一部，因而當選為1951年的克難英雄。
1958年，父親被調往台北國防部交際組，出任陸軍總司令彭孟輯將軍的參謀官，任內廉潔自守。雖然連升兩級，薪俸卻只夠自己用，家用全靠母親當老師的8百元月薪。
1964年，父親申請退役，理由是: 軍人收入不足以養家。
二十五年的軍人生涯，領了八萬元退休金，得以和朋友合夥成立工程公司。
1965年，台灣開始十大建設工程，父親靠新一軍的好朋友嚴孝章(榮民工程處處長)的幫忙，開始承包高雄港拋石工程。他每日清晨五點騎單車去港口，賺了錢後，陸續買了摩托車、汽車及公寓。1968年，舉家遷往台北。
父親曾經幫助一個患肺結核病的小兵，開車送他到台南療養院治療，並常去探望他。小兵病好之後，跟父親跪拜磕頭。
1968年，父親的軍中同袍罹患胰臟癌過世，他捐給遺眷一萬元。(當時台北公寓的買價是13萬元。)
父親定期捐款給孤兒院，並帶我們去探訪，也帶小朋友來家裡留宿。
有一次清晨，父親開車到高雄工作，正好一輛摩托車從巷口衝出來，撞毀了右車門，他立刻開車送受傷的年青人到醫院，並且代付住院押金三萬元。
還有一次，高速公路上發生連環車禍，只有父親迅速的左轉切入備戰車道，前後車輛都撞在一起。
最後一次知道的故事是發生在
1999年，有醫生全家三代五口從美國來溫哥華看病重的父親，還要六歲的小女兒為父親演奏小提琴。原來多年前父親在大陸旅遊時，認識了當導遊的醫學生，父親資助她三千美金，成功赴美深造。
父親給子女的教訓就是: 己所不欲，勿施于人。吃虧就是便宜。 聖經上說: 上帝已經給我們足夠的恩典了，為什麼我們不能吃一點虧呢?
母親江蘇常州人，生長在有五進36間房的豪宅裡。外公是畫家，有八位子女，母親排名老六。祖上留下的中葯店及煙店都由別人經營，以致常常虧損。家族從1916年起，就已經因為富不過三代，一直爭扎於各種困難中，加上逃難時黃金及首飾被搶，戰火燒光店面，母親體諒外婆的困難，沒有要求嫁妝。
共產黨入城之後，葯廠、煙店充公，家裡被紅衛兵抄家二次，紅木家俱搬走，外公被迫遊街示眾，子女成為黑五類，不准讀書。老宅裡住了十七戶人家。(1998年，老宅被拆除，成為公園的一部份。)
1989年，母親退休後返鄉，在外公外婆墓前痛哭失聲，一別就是四十一年。
1937年，母親13歲，與家人躲到鄉下讀初中，遇到好老師，每天為她修改一篇英文作文。
1941年，考上以英語教學的上海私立天主教高中。12月，日本偷襲珍珠港後，美國參戰，日本人關閉了教會學校，並遣返外籍修女。剛剛讀了半年高中的母親只好回家，隨後她憑著自修考上雲南大學，並靠國家補助金過日子，之後還簽署十萬青年十萬軍。若不是跌進情網，不知道會走往向何方？
1955年，小弟三歲時，為愛結婚沒有大學畢業的母親，有機會去初中當英文代課老師，兩年後又去台中參加資格鑑定考試，成為正式的生物老師。
母親是我們家的靈魂人物， 她能力強，手腳快，努力家務之外，忙四個小孩已經很不容易，卻從不大聲說話，總是把父親當壞人，一聽到父親騎著哈雷機車(美軍贈送的軍車)回家的噗、噗聲，大家都乖乖坐好，輪流洗澡，分配家事，每人用西餐盤吃飯，成績優秀者，還可以領取掛在牆壁上的現金作為獎勵。父親更是常買整捆的甘蔗、整簍的柳丁(上海人的大手筆! )，供我們無限享用。
父親的一生很有福氣，遇事總能夠逢凶化吉，他趕上台灣的經濟起飛，又有老朋友的幫助，背後還有母親做後盾，沒有後顧之憂，兒女對父親敬畏有加，朋友欠錢免追討，實在很幸福圓滿了!
母親則是我們的榜樣，能幹又顧家，是凝聚我們在一起的力量。父親能娶到這樣內外兼顧的母親，是我們一生幸福的保障!
藉著回憶這些小故事，我感謝父母的養育之恩，也感恩老天爺的厚愛! 若不是因韓戰的爆發，中華民國很可能不保，後來又受益於越戰及美援貸款，經濟得以順利起飛。看見那厚愛的大手了!
父母這一輩受了戰爭及匱乏之苦，卻讓我們子女一輩在愛中成長，然而，世界上的苦難仍然很多，願人人都可以秉持慈悲之心，寬厚待人，讓和平幸福臨到世人。
黃可人 2021-3
作者簡介
1948年生於江蘇常州
1970年東吳大學會計系畢業
勤業會計師事務所(1970-1979)台灣飛利浦公司(1979-1991)
移民加拿大(1995-2002)
2002年回流台北
Karen Huang
Born in 1948, Jiangsu Province, China
Graduated from Soochow University, majored in Accounting
Previously served in
Deloitte Taiwan (1970-1979)
Philips Taiwan (1979-1991)
Emigrated to and lived in Canada (1995-2002)
Returned to Taipei, Taiwan (2002)
Last Updated: October 15, 2020 by BECHA Leave a Comment
羈旅雁鳴 The Honking of Migrant Wild Geese
About the Author
Mr. Chen Xoung-Chi was born on July 7, 1940. His hometown is Nan-Yang, Henan Province, China. He was a 1962 graduate of the Academy of Financial Affaires, the Combined Services of the ROC Ministry of Defense. He had served in the Bureau of Financial Affaires, the headquarters of the ROC Combined Services, the Keelung and Taipei City Committee of the Youth Corps, as well as the Chinese newspaper LA REPUBLICA in Panama. Mr. Chen is a renowned newspaper editor and had authored several books in Chinese.
This book 《The Honking of Migrant Wild Geese》is his latest writing, documenting what he had encountered while working in Panama. There are two volumes in this book: VOL. 1 includes Chapter 1, the Preface and part of Chapter 2, documenting the diplomatic affairs of the Republic of China in Panama. Through Mr. Chen’s keen journalistic observations and his penmanship, he documented in great details the diplomatic history of ROC in Panama and key players in significant events.
VOL. 2 contains the remaining part of Chapter 2, which covers stories about people served in the ROC embassy in Panama and their life stories. It’s a writing still in progress and the updated versions will be posted as he completes more chapters.
VOL. 2 has been completed and posted on 8.21.2019
VOL. 3, now in progress, is Mr. Chen’s travelling notes spanning over 40 years and will be posted later.
10/12/2020 Update: VOL.3 has been completed and posted below. There are 240,000 chracters in these three volumes all together, which is a marvelous documentation of Mr. Chen’s travel experiences during the past 40 years and covered many countries, including Panama, the United States, China, Italy, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, and Malaysia. Through his writing, you can understand the history and appreciate the cultural background of these places. It is far beyond the eyes of a casual tourist. Most importantly, as he mentioned in the closing article below, the desire to document his life and travel experience for his sons and future generations has provided the drive to undertake such an onerous task in his retirement. As volunteers in the BigBall Earth Caring Humanity Association, we are honored to have the opportunity to provide this platform for his remarkable work!
From Mr. Chen: 陳昌智老先生的書后語：
在撰寫「江山風雨」期間，我不時以越洋電話向父母禀告寫作進度，並請益內容是否符合事實，隨時加以修正。
經過兩年的切磋琢磨，閲讀過不少相關書籍，得到了一些書寫運作的要領，增加了寫作的興趣。先後完成了「江山風雨」、「陌麈落地」、「羈旅雁鳴」、「日照紅樓」的書稿。
「日照紅樓」是敘述母親家族的故事，「陌麈落地」是我們家族成員在台灣這塊土地上70年來的生活寫照，分別於2017年12月及2020年2月付印出版。
「陌麈落地」及「羈旅雁鳴」得力於美籍華裔科技文化界先進唐宗英先生鼎力相助，發表於碧波網站( BigBall Earth)及Google網路。
「羈旅雁鳴」是我的家庭僑移海外40年來的生活歴程，包括旅遊記録，於今年(2020年)10月10日，完成碧波網站PO文。
謹此誠摯感謝新聞界的舒立彥先生，企業界的沙牧天先生，醫界的鍾召民女士，兩岸教育界的王瑩、王陽光女士及唐宗英先生。
2020年10月10日
於洛杉磯
《羈旅雁鳴》
壹：回首羈旅路 猶聞雁鳴聲 (代序) 《詩經》小雅．鴻雁，有《鴻雁于飛，肅肅其羽。鴻雁于飛，集于中澤。鴻雁于飛，哀鳴嗷嗷。》之句。
鴻與雁通，比喻流民。肅肅，形容鴻雁飛行發出的聲音。中澤，棲息之地。嗷嗷，流民等待救濟之意。可見西元前八百年，人類就有了移民現象。遊牧民族，如鴻雁一般，逐水草而居，是標準的移民形態。 因各地區不同的社會現象，如宗教、政治、經濟、種族迫害等原因，而離開本土，遷移他鄉者。如愛因斯坦，因政治追殺而移民美國，華僑因家鄕生活艱難，而奔走海外。1949年，200萬軍民隨國民政府遷台，又是史上最大一次的移民。(1)
民國68年(1979年），美國承認中華人民共和國，父親的生意陷入困境，兩個稚幼的孩子面臨升學壓力，個人的經濟拮据，妻子自幼僑居越南適應海外生活，內兄在中華民國駐巴拿馬共和國大使館擔任僑務秘書，我還年輕未及四十，以及中國國民黨中央評議委員陳奉天先生推薦，擔任駐巴拿馬黨支部秘書，有一份可以維持基本生活的工作。 諸多原因促成了一生中最大的一次賭注，早眷屬八個月，於這年10月30日，像一隻單飛的孤雁，跨越太平洋，前往中美洲的巴拿馬，當了華僑。(2)
到達巴拿馬的那一天(1979年10月31日)，正逢蔣中正總統92歲誕辰，晩間參加巴拿馬僑界在中華總會舉行的《紀念蔣公誕辰大會》，主持人中華民國制憲國民大會代表鄭華秋先生，介紹我給僑胞們見面，開始我在巴拿馬的頭一天活動。
第二天上午，由僑務秘書吳光定陪同，前往大使館晉見曾憲揆大使及館內同仁。隨後晉謁國民黨中評委陳奉天先生，並接受兼辦僑報《共和報》編輯任務。
次年6月初，妻吳秀蓮女士攜子到達巴拿馬團聚，並謀得僑立國民小學教師一職。從此夫唱婦隨，胼手胝足，服務僑社長達十九年，二十個年頭。民國87年(1998年)10月11日，星期天，離開巴拿馬，移民美國，入境休士頓。1999年12月31日，我們在洛杉磯，迎接21世紀的頭一天。我們一家四口，由巴拿馬綠卡身分，變成了美籍華人。(3）
我和妻由於職務上的關係，每天面對的是服務僑社的工作，做凝聚僑心的活動。不但參與，更要絞盡心思，充實活動內容，主辦活動，支援活動。
我們這一家，迄今海外生活近四十年，就是一部移民家庭的縮影。在巴拿馬期間，更是一生中最值得記述的一段時光。有執着、有歡樂、有欣慰、也有失落。
去年（2017年)遵從母命，完成母親家族歴史，故事體散文著作《日照紅樓》。今年(2018年)接續完成，包括《父親與民國》在內的，家族四代人的故事《陌塵落地》。
在至親摯友長輩前輩的鼓勵下，期勉自己，能在一年之內，完成這部《羈旅雁鳴》。這段歷史是千千萬萬個移民家庭，有血有淚的故事。回首羈旅路， 猶聞雁鳴聲。(4，完)
Last Updated: January 23, 2019 by BECHA Leave a Comment
Ancient Chinese Mythological Figures
Curator and author: Rue Hsu
Sculptor: Yao Hong You
English translation: James Tang
Mythology started from verbal tales and evolved into written form along with cultural advancement. As I read these mythological tales, I became attracted by the artistic charms coming out of the mysterious images that inspired imaginations in my head. Some of these mythical figures combined both human and animal characteristics and were elevated to divinity. For example, “dragon”, the totem that symbolizes the Chinese people, is seen with many characteristics of other species, such as snake body, beats legs, eagle claws, horse head, snake tail, deer antlers, and fish scales. When all the power of these species combined into one form to represent human, it was then viewed as divinity by our ancestors. These mythical figures helped our ancestors survive in struggles against odds with their high moral standards and commitments.
As a modern art creator, cultural heritage is always part of the necessary genes, connotation and temperament. Mr. Yao-Hong You, the sculptor, and I both feel that mythology is the most mysterious and brilliant page of the Chinese culture. Such cultural heritage needs to be passed on with creative elements from generation to generation. We collaborated on the images of mythical figures based on the existing impression and our own imaginations. Mr. You’s master level sculpture work has made these mythical figures remarkably lively with rich expressions, postures, clothing, ornaments, and colors. My hope is that more people, both domestically and internationally, will be attracted to learn the rich, mysterious, and colorful Chinese culture through my collection, narratives, and exhibitions.
The following commentary was adopted from Study of Chinese Mythology written by Tan Da-Xian and published by the Commercial Press of Taiwan in 2004:
The Chinese mythology is fairly comparable to mythologies from India, Greece, and Egypt. There are more than 50 ethnic groups in China, each with many excellent mythological tales, particularly the Han people. Many of them are very positive, healthy, and beautiful based on their contents and artistic appearance.
Mythological tales reflected a brave exploration and naive explanation of natural phenomena by our ancestors, as well as their minds while struggling to survive against the hardships, such as “Shooting down nine suns by Hou Yi” and “Patching up the sky by Nüwa”…….. When fighting began between predators and preys, mythological tales such as “Battles between the Yellow Emperor and Chi You” surfaced to reflect their communities and the struggles among them.
Ancient mythology was one of the best weapons of arts by the ancient Chinese ethnic groups. It provided inspiration and courage for them to endure tough and unpredictable struggles against natural hardships and enemies. From these mythological tales, they obtained confidence, wisdom, courage, as well as the fighting will to survive and overcome the odds.
Ancient mythology documented some useful knowledge and was used to educate others. They reflected the caring of natural and sociological phenomena by ancient people while inspiring them to search for the truth and to nurture the artistic, healthy, and positive imaginaions.
Last Updated: July 13, 2018 by BECHA Leave a Comment
父親与民國(My Father and the Republic of China)
About the Author
Mr. Chen Xoung-Chi was born on July 7, 1940. His hometown is Nan-Yang, Henan Province, China. He was a 1962 graduate of the Academy of Financial Affaires, the Combined Services of the ROC Ministry of Defense. He had served in the Bureau of Financial Affaires, the headquarters of the ROC Combined Services, the Keelung and Taipei City Committee of the Youth Corps, as well as the Chinese newspaper LA REPUBLICA in Panama.
Mr. Chen is a renowned newspaper editor and had authored several books in Chinese. This book 《My Father and the Republic of China》is his latest writing in memory of his beloved late father Mr. Chen Qi-Er who would have been 100 years old in 2018.
There are 2 volumes of this book: Vol.1 documented his father’s military career throughout the WWII era while serving as an officer in the ROC Army Telecommunication Corps, witnessing the horrendous suffering of the Chinese people during the Japanese invasion and the joy of the final victory celebration by the Chinese people in 1945.
Vol. 2 will be published on this BigBall website as soon as it is completed and released by the author.
父親与民国（上）-陈昌智
Updated on July 10, 2018
Vol. 2 has been completed with even more moving stories about the author’s father during the internal war between the KMT army and the CCP peoples’s liberation army; and the subsequent career setbacks in Taiwan due to a brief (<48 hours) captivity by the PLA while saving an army general who was chased to the shore by the PLA. Yet his father never lost his loyalty to the KMT and continued to provide honorable services as a distinguished Telecommunication Brigade commander and an outstanding instructor at the Telecommunication Academy of the Army. The author also documented his son’s memorable visit to his hometown in Henan Province to look up those places that he had heard throughout his upbringing.
What a wonderful story by such an elegant writer Mr. Chen Xoung-Chi!
父親与民國（下）- 陳昌智
Last Updated: November 13, 2017 by BECHA Leave a Comment
Painting of Cats by Hsu Rue(画家徐瑞大师的猫画作）
Link to Hsu Rue’s website(点击进入徐瑞的网站,之后展开请按右上角三横）==》https://www.hsuruethecat.com/
About the Author
徐瑞簡歷 英文2017
作者简介
徐 瑞 簡歷2017
Why painting cats according to Hsu Rue(为什么画猫呢-徐瑞的解释）
I’ve always used cats as symbol of my art work. Like humans, cats are full of expressive body language which are ideal in exhibiting my thoughts and feelings. You could say that, in my art work, I AM the cat or the cat IS me.
一直都以貓做為我的創作符號，貓的表情與肢體語言豐富，像人。可以很貼切呈現我的所思所感。在作品中，若說我即貓或貓即我亦無不可。
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