Taipei

Taiwan

1949

Taiwan, approx 1949.

This American story has already begun. It follows a family of 7, soon to be 8 on a boat ride out of Qingdao, China, helmed by American navy men. One of the last boats. A family who has already weathered the Civil War and has found themselves, improbably, in front of a cameraman in Taipei, Taiwan. How he got all those children to look at the camera in unison is lost to history.

The Chengs.

Cheng Tsao Liu “William,” the grander than life tall man at the back and Liu In Shan “Pearly,” the beauty with the low-key victory rolls have shuffled their litter across an ocean to tenuous safety. The little one, searching the camera, thumb in her mouth, just like my daughter, is my mother.

This is a love story about an American family. It is a parsing of generational stewardship led by women whose wisdom and voices are carried forward by us, the descendants.

This is the journey of one family but it is the journey that thousands took.