Wong, Ching Ha
Over 130 interviews with Chinese Canadian women were conducted for the book Jin Guo: Voices of Chinese Canadian Women. Produced in 1992 by the Women’s Book Committee of the Chinese Canadian National Council, Jin Guo was intended to fill the gap in historical accounts of Chinese Canadian women’s history. Researchers traveled across Canada to interview Chinese Canadian women of various ages and backgrounds. The book’s authors, Amy Go, Winnie Ng, Dora Nipp, Julia Tao, Terry Woo and May Yee, organized the book around themes and patterns that emerged across multiple interviews – feelings of isolation and culture shock upon arrival in Canada, memories of parent-child relationships, the importance of education, the working lives of women, discrimination, cultural identity, marriage and dating, family life, perspectives on aging and retirement, and examples community activism. The interviews conducted for this project are stored at the Multicultural History Society of Ontario’s archives. This collections database includes a large cross-section of interviews conducted for Jin Guo – in English, Cantonese and Mandarin.
In this interview, Ching Ha Wong describes her life in Hong Kong, including her wartime hardships, as well as her life in London, Ontario.
Ching Ha Wong was born in China in 1909, moved to Hong Kong as an infant, and immigrated to Canada in 1976. She recalls a work stoppage during her childhood at the Hong Kong Harbour that caused her family to move back to China for a time. She also recalls some stories about her schooling in Hong Kong.
Ching Ha got married at the age of twenty, and worked as a teacher. She preferred to stay home with her children after they were born, rather than leave them with a nanny.
She describes the hardships she faced during World War Two, with no money, resource shortages, and a family to support. She explains that this was a difficult time for everyone in Hong Kong.
Ching Ha believes that in general, fathers are under more pressure than mothers, since women’s role is limited to family affairs. She explains that because her husband died young, she was forced to take on the father’s role as well as the mother’s. She opened a tailoring shop before her husband died, and continued to run it with the help of her sons and daughters.
She speaks positively about her experiences in London, Ontario. She describes her attempts to learn English, both in classes and on her own. She describes her leisure activities.
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