1. Prologue

Where did we come from?

Dong Hin (February 4, 1890).

How did we come to be where we are?

(l-r, back) Geoff, Cheryl, Brandon, Aaron, Ryan, Trevor, Derek, Leigh, (l-r, front) Scott, Mark, Nicolas, Kiana (September 17, 2005, T. Avila).

I've often wondered how our family became Americans, how a Chinese teenager can cross the wide expanse of the Pacific Ocean to start a new life and family in a new country. But America is a culture that often looks forward but rarely backwards. So as the generations pass and the pull of assimilation into our adopted home continues to tug at us, we begin to lose touch with the people who pioneered the way for us and their stories.

(a, l-r) Paul, Mok Shee, and Richard; (b) Ron and friend Lawrence Chan (approx. 1937); (c, l-r, back) Joe, Harry, (l-r, front) Paul, and Richard.

Yet as the years go by, the answers to these questions become increasingly important as we seek to understand our identity and place in society. We didn’t just show up and fit it. Like so many immigrants to America, our family today is the result of the countless struggles and ceaseless efforts of those who went before us.

This is a modest attempt to begin to tell the story of the Dong Family in America. And like any good story, we need to start from the beginning...