My Mother, Wong Mui

My name is Karen Jayne Stockreisser and I work for the boutique education company, British Tutors. We provide tailored education services all over Hong Kong, in the UK and Mainland China.

I love my job as a private tutor because I meet so many different types of families and have the privilege of listening to them talk about their lives. This piece was written by an adult student of mine (who would prefer not to be named, but has consented to this entry). I feel it shows the diverse and unique nature of Hong Kong, where people can move from the gutter to the stars in less than a lifetime.

Wong Mui was a very ordinary female, born in the 1920s—a tumultuous time—in China. In the early part of her life, she experienced the downfall of the Qing Dynasty, civil war, the establishment of the People’s Republic of China and the Cultural Revolution. Like many others at that time, she was uneducated and practically illiterate. Simply based on her name, you knew that she came from a family of lower class; Mui simply means “girl.”

She was sold by her parents, as a maid, to a wealthy family when she was around 11 years old. Due to the chaotic environment in China, she followed her host family to Vietnam and then Hong Kong, where she met her husband-to-be, a recent widower. To reward Wong Mui’s hard work and good performance, her host family was kind enough to release her to get married. She went on to give birth to seven children.

When Wong Mui arrived in Hong Kong, the city was still a developing society, transforming from a fishing port to an entrepôt. The economy was weak and people were generally poor. In order to feed eight children (seven of her own plus one from her husband’s previous marriage), she worked every waking minute. She operated a small stall with her husband selling congee early in the morning and herbal teas during the day and into the night. Simultaneously, she managed to do all household work—cooking, washing and cleaning (bearing in mind that electrical appliances were either uncommon or unavailable at that time). In order to save on food costs, she went to the market in the evening to collect disposed food that was still edible. To save on fuel costs, she went to timber shops, at a distance, to collect scraps of wood. It was a very tough life, but she just worked diligently without complaint.

Wong Mui did not have any grand theory to teach her children. She told them to study hard and to strive to get into university. She, by herself, is great role model for hard work, integrity, thriftiness and adaptability. Despite her difficult situation, she managed to produce one scientist, one social worker, two teachers and one professional accountant.

Wong Mui, superficially, was a very ordinary housewife. But deep down, it is exactly this kind of person who makes the biggest contribution to society and makes a city like Hong Kong thrive.   


The author of this piece is now the Company Secretary of one of the largest companies in Hong Kong.