3 posts tagged “wwii”

Dan Chan funeral order of service

I learned quite a few things about Dan Chan at his funeral last Wednesday in the eulogy delivered by historian Dr James Ng.
   Dan was born in China in 1907 but was educated in Australia, where his father worked, from 13—both at a state school in NSW and Scotch College in Melbourne. This was, as James told us, unusual in its day as most Chinese fathers of Dan’s era would have sent their children back to the old country.
   This foreign education meant that Dan was bilingual and a very well versed and philosophical writer. He had returned to China and Hong Kong to set up a business there but the Japanese invasion meant that he and his family had to flee to the antipodes.
   His education meant that he could stay in New Zealand because his work was needed in editing a magazine for expatriates here and Dan also helped members of the diaspora get money back to the old country (one of his proud accomplishments being the mastering of a code to aid the transfers).
   However, his business in New Zealand, as I knew it, was in the restaurant trade—back in those postwar days it was rare to see anyone other than Anglo New Zealanders in white-collar professions.
   This did bring his family some security and Dan was a great benefactor in the old country, even having a high school built.
   His contributions to New Zealand society were awarded with a Queen’s Service Medal and he was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, which I understand equates roughly to an OBE.
   His driving licence was apparently still valid at the time of his passing. He was so alert and capable that instead of having an annual renewal—which is necessary for people at his age—he was given his for two years at age 99. He gave up driving voluntarily.
   As I said in my earlier tribute, he had a better memory for faces and people at age 100 than I do today.
   When you hear this history you come to realize that men like Dan, whom I knew more as being active in the Chinese New Zealand community, were actually the trailblazers who bridged the gulf between the émigrés and mainstream Kiwis.
   He was respected in legal circles, a recent conference only being funded because someone had made a large donation in his honour.
   The Otago University library holds Dan’s papers, a collection of writings between 1939 and 1999, often dealing with philosophy, not just Chinese issues.
   At his funeral, even former restaurateur and City Missioner Father Des Britten attended, along with engineer, blogger and historian Steven Young.
   Without his contribution and his readiness to work with institutions to help Chinese people in New Zealand, we would have been much the poorer. Dan was a great advocate.
   Although Dan had made it into the MSM when his ONZM was bestowed on him with the 2007 New Year honours, I found it a great surprise that the media missed his passing and a well attended funeral at Old St Paul’s.
   It may be a slight exaggeration to say that we would still be expected to run Chinese takeaways, laundromats and groceries—when you think about it, those days were within the lifetimes of many of us reading this post today. But certainly the idea of the well versed, professional Chinese New Zealander might not have been as well cemented, because the cultural gulf would not have been bridged as successfully.
   Those of us who enjoy professional positions today owe a debt of gratitude to men like Dan Chan. God bless you.

Here’s an audience favourite from New Zealand, advertising the state-run lottery.

Un pub pour la loterie en Nouvelle-Zélande, avec la chanson plus célèbre d’Edith Piaf (‹La vie en rose›, mais en anglais).

My Facebook friend Andrew Lau, who heads several Chinese groups, reminded me of a tragic anniversary on December 13: the Rape of Nanking, when Japanese forces killed hundreds of thousands (300,000 to 600,000) as they advanced on the Chinese city. He and others suggest wearing red on this date.
   A bit of history:

The six weeks of carnage would become known as the Rape of Nanking and represented the single worst atrocity during the World War II era in either the European or Pacific theaters of war.

   On the event wall at Facebook, this comment from Jack He of Toronto, Ont. is important:

The purpose of remembering this event is to prevent such atrocities from happening in the future. However, in this event and the Nazi Holocaust, people become angry and vent their emotions on people around them. In some places Germans are still prejudiced against.
   Please keep that in mind. Most, if not all soldiers who commited these atrocities are long dead. Their children are not responsible for their actions. Keep this a peaceful demonstration.

   I can’t help but not the timing, how this 70th anniversary comes in the week right after Chiang Kai-shek’s name was removed from his memorial, downplaying his and the Allied contribution in winning the war.
   Prayers for the memories of the families affected, on both sides of the war, are welcome. It is clear that people have not healed from this brutal period in history.