Prologue

This is a blog about a house that was once the home of my Dad's father...

Though no one by the name of Yin (尹 - Wan) has lived at 68 Shan Feng Jie for a long time, there still exists at least one very prominent sign of their presence -- a plaque in the parlor for Grandmother Wan and All Wans.  Sitting on any chair or on the bench there, you will face it.  Sitting on the couch, you will be beside it.  There, within a tidy, decaying, old house, is a place where the living are to return and attend to the spirits of their ancestors.

An ancient Chinese belief, one held by Daoists (Taoists), is that it is the nature of all things to return.

Returning is the movement of the Dao,
And yielding is the method the Dao.
The myriad of creatures in the world
Are born from Something,
And Something from Nothing
                                             -- Laozi, #40¹

I imagine asking the Old Master whether one can return and not be at the starting point.  I imagine he would shrug, suggesting the obvious answer.  It's as simple as a Grandchild's rhyme (孫子的韻):

There was then and here is today --
有過去與這裡今天 –
South China Sea and San Francisco Bay.
中國海海與舊金山灣.

Levied delta isles on the Pearl and the Sacramento,
堤防三角洲群島上的珠江與薩克拉門托,
The Chinese built where muddy waters flow.
在中國搭建在泥濘的河水流量.

Mango, lychee, and many fragrant teas;
芒果與荔枝與許多茶香味;
Asparagus, corn, and bartlett pear trees.
蘆筍與玉米與巴特利特梨樹.

There he left and here he came.
他離開那裡與他來到這裡.
Later, two left here and four returned again.
後來兩個離開這裡與四再次返回.

Here he left and there he died
他離開這裡與他死在那裡.
With two more wives, I'm sure they cried.
加上兩個額外的妻子, 我相信他們哭了.

Here is like there and no matter what place we stay,
這裡是相似到那裡與無論什麼地方，我們留,
We, like water, will go and find our way.
我們像水，將去尋找我們的道.

                                                                         -- 尹秀強



This web log is dedicated to Gao Lin Ya (高林雅 - Gou Lam Ngaa or "Grace Lam Gou") who, with her son-in-law, Lu Jin Yuan (呂錦源 - Leoi Gam Jyun) (and probably others), have tried to preserve and maintain the Phoenix Street House, along with the Wan Family name within it, since 1989 as a result of a promise.

Gou Lam Ngaa, Leoi Gam Jyun, and Dad.

FOOTNOTES

1   From two translations:
Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, translated by David Hinton, Counterpoint, Berkeley, CA, 2000, 97pp.
Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, translation by D. C. Lau, Penguin Classics, May 1964, 176pp.