I wrote about my paternal grandmother recently.
I had never met my grandmother. I was the No 9 child, the youngest. I didn’t get the luck to meet any of my grandparents. My grandmother’s name was Chinese Cabbage Lady （白菜娘）.
I learnt about a story about Jade（玉）.
Now I know why I was named Jade in Chinese. Now I know why all 5 sisters were named Jade. (Note: Our name formation: Surname + Jade + different character)
Here is her story in a picture.
My grandmother’s Jade Bangle found.
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Beautiful story, Janet. I was lucky and knew my grandmother very well, living with her for weeks at a stretch when I was a young girl. I do not carry her namesake, but I believe that her character traits are deeply enmeshed with who I am.
Dear Cheryl,
Thank you for sharing your story with us. I’m the youngest of a huge family. Thought without grandparents, I was surrounded by endless aunties, uncles, siblings and distant family and many of them are still in China. My grandmother had bound feet (In Chinese, bound feet are glorified as “a 3 inch golden lotus”). Her bound feet made her life more fascinating to me.