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Profile | Dad ‘doused me in kerosene’: Christina Chung on her abusive father, rebellious daughters and her return to modelling at 50
- Growing up in Hong Kong as the fifth of eight children – and the youngest daughter – Christina Chung was abused by her father and made to feel worthless
- She talks to Kate Whitehead about leaving home at 16, giving up her first child, then remarrying and having six more, and why at 50 she returned to modelling
Reading Time:5 minutes
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My parents are Chiu Chow from Swatow [in southern China]. My father was shot twice by the Japanese and was lucky to survive. He had an arranged marriage to my mother, and they came to Hong Kong in the late 1940s.
He wasn’t well educated and worked as a labourer, we were extremely poor. I was born in 1966, the fifth of eight children – four boys and four girls. Chiu Chow culture is very male-dominated and as the youngest daughter I was worth nothing to them.
Until I was six, we lived near Yau Tong in government housing – it was a small flat in a seven-storey walk-up with a communal bathroom and kitchen. Then we moved to a better estate in Lam Tin. I was anxious to get good grades and studied after my father went to sleep because I didn’t want to disturb him.
He hated me studying. He thought that, as a girl, I didn’t need to study, I could work in a factory and make money for the family. He used to hit and kick me, and one time doused me in kerosene and threw a match at me. Luckily, the flame went out and I ran for my life.
I was bullied and assigned to do the household chores with my mother. I was a very timid girl, I was miserable and thought I was worth nothing.
Kicked out
Kate Whitehead is a journalist and author of two Hong Kong crime books, After Suzie and Hong Kong Murders. She is also a qualified psychotherapist and recently won the MIND Media Award for the second consecutive year.
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