Great Grandfather

Many of you have read in previous blogs, that my great grandfather (on my mother's side), was the first to move from Fu-zhou province to Taiwan.

You may also recall from some of my posts that my mother lived through Japanese occupation of Taiwan when she was a little girl. Taiwan was occupied by Japan from 1895 to 1945, when Japan was defeated in 2nd World War.

My great grandfather lived in Taiwan during Japanese occupation, having started the watch and clock factory that my mom's family is well-known for running.

My mother recalls that everyone told my great-grandfather not to speak Taiwanese, since it would be obvious he wasn't from Taiwan, with his Fu-zhou dialect accent. The family was scared if the Japanese found out he was from the mainland, they would arrest him and take him away. So my great-grandfather remained anonymous and quiet.

My mother also recalls that they had to keep alcohol (most likely some form of rubbing alcohol) hidden, as they used to clean the watch and clock faces, but the alcohol was considered a valuable resource to the Japanese, and they didn't want the Japanese to find their stock of alcohol.

That seems like such a different time, a time when you had to worry that what you sounded like may give you away to the authorities, that you had to hide basic necessities to prevent them from being appropriated.