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Ou Shee, also known as Mary Ou Shee Ngan, was born in 1917 in Singapore. When she was 12, she moved to her family village Sel Goong (Sou Gau Leng), in Poon Yue County, Canton.
Ou Shee was only 14 when she became the third wife of Ngan Kwang 顔挺光 from Sha Choong and Yuen Har, Poon Yue. Ngan Ting was in his forties, a 'New Gold Mountain Man' working as a fruiterer in Wellington.
Known as the Canton Operation, the Japanese invade southern China between October and December 1938. Sha Choong village is only about 10 kilometres from the port.
Ou Shee and her stepson Sui Foong hear the planes overhead; they can see palls of smoke and hear the bombing of Canton's railway station, the port, and factories in the distance!
Ou Shee gives birth to a baby boy during this time. They can't get medical care for the baby because of the turmoil. Dai Ma (grandmother) advises Ou Shee to go to the Buddhist temple to pray and give offerings, but the baby dies when he is 40 days old. He is unnamed as Ou Shee must wait for her husband to return from New Zealand to name him.
Most leave the village to live further inland, to escape the fighting. It's no place for young women and children. They're terrified of the Japanese. The family decide to leave for Yuen Har. Ou Shee goes to one of the older sisters living even further out in a village called Yiel Toi 瑶 台.
Everyone leaves Sha Choong except for the family matriarch, Dai Ma, and their family dog. Ou Shee can't say how Dai Ma dies, but they learn that the Japanese ate their dog.
The family manage to escape to Hong Kong and flee by ship to New Zealand. Ou Shee arrived in Wellington onboard the Awatea on 23 January 1940, aged 19, with her stepson, Ngan Sui Foong 顏瑞峯 (10), who entered on a student permit; her mother-in-law, Ngan Lee Gin; and stepsister-in-law Ivy Ngan.
On official documents, Ou Shee's birthdate is given as 4 April 1917. Her age is given as 23, four years older than she was, to increase the age between her and Sui Foong, who was 10.
Chinese women are granted only two years' temporary stay by the New Zealand Government, after which they must return to China with their children. Their husbands must also pay a £200 deposit for their entry and a £500 bond -- forfeited if any other child is born during the two-year stay.
After an anxious seven-year wait, Ou Shee, Ngan Ting, and their four children (Peter, Margarita, Lorna, and Helen) are granted permanent residency on 23 October 1947. Ou Shee's stepson, Ngan Sui Foong, is granted permanent residency on 9 February 1948, and Ivy Ngan on 15 September 1947.
They celebrate when the whole family are granted New Zealand citizenship in 1952.
Director Lynda Chanwai-Earle (herself a descendent of Chinese refugees) meets Ou Shee's daughter, Lorna Wong, to learn about growing up in the 'Chinatown of Wellington,' Haining Street, during the 1940s.
Photo: NZ On Air
