Digging up the family roots

Success story

The Fong family saga is a success story. Unlike many of his first-generation immigrant peers in North America, who toiled to build the transnational railways, Fong's grandfather served as an interpreter between the laborers and their employers, having probably learned English from Jesuit missionaries who preached and opened schools in China. Fong's father studied at a university in Montreal, and later became associate chief engineer of the Quebec Hydro-Electric Commission. Fong himself became an academic and writer.

"Up until his retirement, my father was the company's only employee of Chinese descent," he said. "But we very rarely talked, so for me the trip was to make up for our lost conversations."

Looking back, Lie said two things about his family history really impressed him. The first was the discovery that his parents were very distant blood relatives, although they had absolutely no idea of that. The other was the complete lack of surprise shown by the locals when he visited his ancestral village.

"Why should they be surprised? When my ancestors left China, they never thought it would be forever," he said. "A homecoming is a must. It may be postponed, for one reason or another, but it's only a matter of time."