Farewell Manchuria

For years, Manchuria was shadowed by the constant fear of being attacked by either the Russians or the Japanese, or by both. 

My grandfather decided to move the family to Shanghai, the largest and most cosmopolitan, coastal city in China, named The Paris or The Pearl of The Orient. So, at the age of around six-month, I was on a ship sailing from Manchuria to Shanghai. My mother told me that the Yellow Sea was so rough that I was seasick all through the journey. I believe that I would have been seasick even the ocean had been calm. Because, as of today, I get seasick on the wharf.
My older brother, Fu, who is 3 years older than I, and me, together with our parents landed in Shanghai in the summer of 1929.

I believe, in the beginning, the whole family lived together in a great big house - my grandparents, my parents, my brother and I, my father's two younger brothers and three younger sisters. I don't have much recollection of my first home in Shanghai. I remember vaguely the huge four-story brick home, with a walled-in garden. I remember vaguely a lily-pad filled pound, and a separate house behind the main house for the cook, maid, nanny, and other servants. I remember vaguely playing in the garden.
One day I sensed that something was wrong. I was too young to really understand what was going on. My nanny did not allow me to go out to the garden. She kept telling me to be quiet when I was restless and fussy. There were a lot of people going in and out of the house.
A lot of commotion was going on. After that day, nanny kept me close to her more than usual.
Years later, mother told me that was the day my brother, Fu, was been kidnapped.
It was total chaos in the household. Somehow, the police managed to get Fu back home unharmed. Fu must be only four or five years old at that time. It probably was terribly traumatic for him. After the kidnapping incident, grandpa hired bodyguards for us. We were somewhat restricted in our outings.

We eventually moved out of my grandparents' home into a two story brick house in the International Settlement.

Part of Shanghai was "leased" to Britain, France, Germany, America, and other countries after the second Opium War. Those parts of Shanghai became what we called Settlements. The Chinese government had no jurisdiction over people who lived in the Settlements. Even policemen were mostly Sikhs from India. The Sikhs were tall, imposing-looking, with their turbans on their heads, and, most of them had bushy beards.They patrolled the city on equally imposing-looking horses.
Outside the Settlements, people who lived there were under the jurisdiction of the Chinese government.
My grandparents eventually moved into a house in the French Settlement, which was next to the International Settlement. 

Grandfather still had part of his business in Mukden. He spent part of the year living in Mukden and part of the year in Shanghai. 

My mother told me, years later, that my grandfather had a mistress, but we never knew for sure. At that time, it was not totally uncommon for a man to have concubines - but I guess my grandmother would not allow it. Therefore, the mistress. However, everyone in the family acted like there was no such happening.

Unlike my grandfather, my mother's Number Four Uncle had a mistress. We all knew where she lived. As a matter of fact, she lived in the same vicinity as my family. When I was a bit older, my younger brother and I would walk over to where Number Four Granduncle's mistress' house was and spy on them. If we saw Granduncle's car parked close-by, we would run home and tell our mother. We thought it was fun. Kids.