Dr. John Hu, M.C.Reading Dr. Victor Hu's Letter:
August 5, 2006
Dear Auntie Alice, Auntie Martha, Auntie Beverly, Uncle Paul and
cousins, nephews and nieces and all the relatives of the Yeh Family:
We have the pleasure of asking John to read this message for us. First of all, the family of the Hu's wish to thank you, Uncle Paul, and all of our cousins whole heartedly for organizing this meaningful Yeh family reunion. Obviously, the idea behind this reunion is to remember the past, to touch base with each other in the present, and to work together for the future. In commemorating our beloved grand or great-grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Yeh Ching-Chung, we are also implementing the Chinese virtue of Yin-Shui-Si-Yuan (drinking water while appreciating its source). Although I have difficulty coming again to North America this month due to the nature of my busy work here (we already had to take leave to fly to New York in June-July for the wedding of Victor Hu, our eldest son), Hui-ying and I would like to extend to you our warm greetings with love.
We had the fortune of seeing Auntie Beverley and Uncle Paul last month in New Jersey, but we do hope to see Auntie Alice and Auntie Martha soon. Hui-ying especially treasures the fond memories of the many happy conversations with you both many years ago.
Auntie Alice, the memories we have of you and Uncle Tin's visit to Taiwan in the 1950s especially our laughter, the Christmas gifts you generously gave us, as well as Uncle Tin and Uncle Pei trying to play with me, are still vivid in my heart. Not only that, when I hark back, I do remember how our beloved Grandma looked after me during my parents' absence when I was young, and how she even protected me from my mother's punishment over my naughty behavior.
The Yeh family has now grown big and strong after many decades. From the information we have gotten so far, we are indeed happy to learn that all the members of the family are doing well, proudly carrying the honor and excellent tradition left behind by our grand or great grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Ching-chung Yeh. Only last month, when the Singapore Chapter of the Tung-Mung-Hui (Alliance Association, the revolutionary organization founded by Dr. Sun Yat-sen at the turn of the last century) marked its 100th anniversary with a grand commemorating ceremony here in Singapore, I was proud to announce to the participants, including the Singaporean Foreign and Defense Ministers and the visiting Honorary Chairman of the KMT, Dr. Lien Chan from Taiwan, that my grandfather, Mr. Yeh Ching-chung, also joined the organization and became a member of the Tung-Mung-Hui in the early years of the 20th century when he was pursuing his studies in Japan. Therefore the commemoration was also my family's business.
With respect to our family business, I believe we need a record of our family tree. We also need to tell our descendants about our family history. One of the most important printed records of our family's history is the memoir of my late mother, Hsia-ti, in the book entitled Tien-Ti-Yu-Yu in which she beautifully portrayed the life of my father, Gen. Hu Tsung-nan, and their love story against the background of modern Chinese history. Auntie Yue-ti, Uncle Chen, Uncle Tin, Uncle Pei, Auntie Jean as well as Uncle Paul all appeared in her book.
The book was first published over 40 years ago in Taiwan and made a big impact, touching many hearts. A few more editions were published and the last one was released in 1989 in Taipei by Yu-Shih Company. Since the young people in Taiwan nowadays know very little of the story of that generation, i.e. about the era when the Nationalist government was still on the mainland, we have approached and gotten the consent of Yu-shih Company to print the book again, completely at our own cost, and will distribute it as souvenirs to libraries and schools and friends simply for educational purposes. According to my face-to-face discussion with the publishers in Taipei, the work will be done by September 28th, Teachers Day, of this year, to commemorate Dr. Hsia-ti Yeh Hu as a great educationalist. I also made an attempt to have the book printed in the Chinese mainland; I had approached a major publisher in Taiwan who is also expanding into the mainland. But so far we have not yet made inroads.
On the other hand, we are pleased to inform you that the English translation of the book is about 80% completed, with the translation being done by Esther, our eldest daughter, who is an English Literature Ph.D. holder from Cornell University. What we need to do now is to find a proper publisher in the U.S. and to discuss cost and distribution. We hope Uncle Paul and other relatives can give us some good practical advice.
Esther herself cannot attend the reunion this time because of her working schedule. Likewise, Victor Hu Jr, who graduated from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania this past May with an MBA (he already has a J.D. from Harvard and three year's working experience as a lawyer) has to begin work at his new company, Goldman Sachs, on July 31st. Both Esther and Victor and their spouses and Catherine (who just graduated from Middlebury College, and is now in Singapore) and James Hu (16 years old, attending High School in Singapore) wish to send their warm regards to you all.
This reunion is indeed a good opportunity to exchange ideas and views on many things relating our family. In order to express our support, we will join John and Mary in treating the whole family to a meal, and have enclosed a check with this letter. We hope to travel to North America to see you when we can. Moreover, when your travel plans bring you to this part of the world, you are most welcome to come to visit us in Singapore.
Please keep in touch (email yeh0416@hotmail.com), and we wish you all good health and continued success. May God bless you.
With love, Victor Wei-jen and Hui-ying Hu
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