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Post by Woodson on May 3, 2010 14:33:09 GMT -5
Take another trip down memory lane with a couple of videos of Nancy Kwan. She is a bit before my time. Her big hits, The World of Suzie Wong and Flower Drum Song, happened when chasing down a puck on a frozen sheet of ice casted a great spell than the female form. The videos bring back memory of the carefree days: dailyqi.com/?p=17631
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Post by douglaslam on May 6, 2010 1:00:02 GMT -5
Yes, I remember The World of Suzie Wong well when it was filmed and then released in Hong Kong. There was a big press coverage throughout. It was released about a year before my departure for Australia. Quite a buzz it was. Thanks to youtube, I can now watch excerpts on youtube. They brought back memories of HK of yesteryear. For those who are nostalgic for Hong Kong of decades gone, Michael Rogge, the Dutch photographer posted a large selection of his work on youtube. They too, give me much viewing pleasure. Memories come flooding back when I see the children of old Hong Kong. Young boys and girls are entrusted with the onerous task of caring for their younger siblings while their parents are doing it tough to make a living, as shown in the clip. The children ask for little and make do with even less. I had done exactly what those young kids are doing, reading comics ( for a fee) from a street stall, and attending unregistered schools. I had an old world education of sort because we were required to write with ink and brush, and working the abacus was one of the subjects.
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Post by Woodson on May 6, 2010 10:44:39 GMT -5
I remember those black-and-white comic books. Can read them on the side only because the adults considered them to be bad influence. The school I went to didn't registered all its students. These students had to make a run for it whenever government officials visited. Don't think the students minded too much because it amounted to time off from class.
I think writing with the brush and learning the abacus were still the standard then. Don't knock it, still remember enough of the abacus rules to do multiplications.
The deepest memory is the shanty town on the hillside and the tragedies with each rain or wind storm.
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Post by douglaslam on May 9, 2010 2:11:01 GMT -5
For those of us of the baby boomer generation who had lived in Hong Kong in the the '50s, will always carry the indelible images of the era. How could we forget the strict water restrictions, the long queues at the street public communal taps to obtain water ? I was fortunate enough not have lived in hillside shanty towns or resettlement estates. We treasure the memories of the games we played, the Saturday afternoons spent at the herbal tea shop ( for 5 cents) watching Rediffusion cable television, to see Wong Fei Hung 黃飛鴻 doing battle against the baddies. If we had a spare 5 cents, we watched cartoons or Roger Moore in Ivanhoe after school. And the schools were so different from what we have here. In the resettlement public housing, some schools were on the top floor, and the roof top was the playground. Because of population density, some schools operated two shifts, the morning classes and afternoon classes.
Hong Kong people of that generation are justifiably proud of the resilience, resourcefulness, and the hardship they endured. It is all part of our makeup which stands us out anywhere we settled.
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Post by Ah Gin on May 9, 2010 5:56:16 GMT -5
Woodson, Douglas et al, Ah memories of the World Of Suzie Wong. and WFH. And later Flower Drum Song. I grew up in the jungle and always looked up to HK as the urbane destination that I must visit when I grew up. But as a baby boomer, living in the jungle, with mosquitoes as constant companions ;D, I can only dream of HK life, viewing pictures of HK on the silver screen, listening to Shanghai classical songs by Chow Sim (spelling?). That said, it was not long before I was actually exposed to HK culture and HK life. I had the pleasure of living in a HK flat off and on in the 80s, but must admit that the flat was not exactly small, nor the location (Causeway Bay), that poor. All the same, it gave me a glimpse of life that was not quite I imagined. Diamond Hill in the mid 60s was still a village and I had enough stories of growing up in a village, HK style. Baby boomers growing up in an "overseas" location such as South Ocean aka Nam Yung was exposed to Chinese culture of a modified, arguably, caught in a time warp. Some said that overseas Chinese are more Chinese than Chinese. But I don't wish to start an argument . I too had the pleasure of learning to use the brush, for Big Script and Small Script. And my hand writing was and is still quite terrible. I stumble using the abacus; did my multiplication tables in Mandarin, which by the way no one in China would understand as I can hardly speak Cantonese, let alone Mandarin . But I am grateful I was exposed to the Chinese language, enough to know when I am making a fool of myself. Yet, growing up "overseas" and now found direct links back to the ancestral home and contributing to the work of our clan in San Francisco is everything I can wish for. Regards, Ah Gin
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Post by lachinatown on Aug 20, 2011 13:09:45 GMT -5
"TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: KA SHEN’S JOURNEY" was released and shown recently in the Southern California area. What a wonderful story about Nancy Kwan, her movie career and her sad personal life. Everyone should see it! kashensjourney.com/index.htm
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Post by lachinatown on Aug 20, 2011 13:19:53 GMT -5
There was a special screening of the documentary and the film "Flower Drum Song", on August 11 at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood.
Between films, there was a discussion with actress Nancy Kwan and director Brian Jamieson. Plus, cast reunion of FLOWER DRUM SONG! James Shigeta was reportedly there too.
And this ...
Celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Honoring Nancy Kwan’s 50th Anniversary in Show Business, Sunday, May 22, 2011 SCREENING & BANQUET with Live Auction, 2:00 pm “The World of Suzie Wong” starring Nancy Kwan & William Holden, 4:30 pm “To Whom It May Concern Ka Shen’s Journey” a new feature docu-drama about the life of Nancy Kwan produced and directed by Brian Jamieson. Nancy Kwan will be signing program books and copies of the DVD that will be on sale at the AMC Theatre.
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