Sing Kam Leung's Obituary
“Lived in very interesting times” she tried never to “look back, only look forward”. Sing Kam Leung passed away peacefully in the early hours of Sept 7th, 2017 at her home in Sunnyvale, she was 84 years old. Sing had bravely fought the most aggressive form of brain cancer, glioblastoma. Sing faced her cancer diagnosis as she faced life, with fierce determination and perseverance.Sing was born in Macau, then a colony of Portugal in Aug 25th 1933 . She spent her childhood between Macau and Guangzhou, China and returned to China in 1941 during the brutal Japanese occupation of China. She used to tell her children proudly how she resisted the Japanese during the early years of the war by refusing to learn Japanese in Primary school. Sing and her family survived the famine in China and the bombing of their neighbourhood in Guangzhou which killed their neighbour.“May you live in interesting times”Around the established of the People’s Republic of China in Oct 1949, between 1945-50, Sing resumed her studies to become a teacher. She boarded at her school and was a member of the gymnastics and basketball team. As the eldest girl of 9 children, Sing was expected to stay close to home and help look after the family, but her thirst for adventure and yearn for a more meaningful life led her to join the Air Force in March 1951. Initially disappointed with her enlistment, her mother and family was proud being a “glorious military family”.After a period of political indoctrination and basic training, Sing was sent to Beijing in Jan 1952 to be a literacy teacher. It was during this time Sing met her future husband Dick-Huck Shun, who was also a teacher. They passed the entrance exam for Peking University also known as ‘Beida’ in 1954; him in Physics, and her, in chemistry.As a former military member, she was appointed head of her class and enjoyed basketball. She was 1 of 2 women out of 30 members who were selected to be on the University’s motorcycle team, she eventually became a motorcycle instructor. She was famous for going about in her motorbike black leather jacket on campus. She also came 3rd (** or 2nd) in university wide high jump competition.In spring 1957, the Communist Party solicited intellectuals for criticisms of the socialist system in their “100 Flowers Campaign”. Peking University students took the bait and posted big-character posters, “daizhibao”, on campus where they openly stated their grievances. However, it was a trap and the campaign was met with a swift crackdown, resulting in the incarceration of many intellectuals and the beginning of the Anti-Rightist campaign. Dick-Huck Shun wrote the 2nd dazhibao poster in history called “On Proletarian Pedigree” which complained about his father’s links to the KMT hindered his advancement in the Communist regime. He was immediately labelled as an Extreme Rightist and was sent to labour camp. Sing was offered a way out if she agreed to dump her boyfriend. She refused and therefore was labelled a Rightist. She was shunned by society and classmates at the time. Even though she completed her degree in 1958, Peking University withheld awarding all diplomas to Rightists. (It was only in 1979 when Sing petitioned the Chinese Embassy in London did she received her diploma).In 1958, Sing was exiled to Inner Mongolia to teach Chemistry. Life out there was harsh and famine again struck China in 1959-61. In 1960, she married Dick-Huck and had a daughter Feiyen (Ella). In 1961, Sing left her teaching post. Dick escaped from labour camp and went into hiding in Sing’s family home in Guangzhou. For 9 months, during another great famine, Sing went out with the baby to sell fishing line in the black market (for it weight in gold!) , risking execution if caught by the authorities. With the money earned from the fishing line business, the young family made a daring escape to Hong Kong on a smuggler’s boat. After almost sunk by a storm, their sampan was rescued by a larger fishing boat and then they were arrested by the Hong Kong police.Sing’s quick thinking led her to greet the arresting British sergeant in English with “Good Morning”, helped the British sergeant identify the family as intellectuals and they alone were brought Hong Kong island for questioning. The British wanted to know why there was a sudden, huge, influx of refugees in those few days known as the “Great Escape”. The rest of the refugees on board jumped into the open sea when they heard that they were going to be repatriated to China.Sing had relatives in Hong Kong, but life there was tough for everyone. For years they lived in a rented room less than 100sqft. Dick started working at Hong Kong University in 1964 and he steadily moved up the rank. When three more children, Frank, Doris and Victor arrived in the late 60s, they moved to a larger apartment. Sing worked at a Wig factory as Chief Chemist. In 1974 , Dick took a sabbatical and started a D.Phil. program at Oxford University. In December 1974, the family moved to Oxford, England and resided at the newly opened Wolfson College.Life in England was relatively stable and Sing enjoyed the majestic beauty of Oxford and worked tirelessly on improving her English. Visiting the museums in London and discussion with other Chinese intellectuals in Oxford were major highlights of her life then. Dick finished his D.Phil. in 1978. Sing returned to HK with her younger 3 children in late 1979.Upon the return to Hong Kong, Dick’s mental stability began to erode and Sing’s strength and resolve was tested to the max. In Nov 1980, she was locked out of the family house by Dick and had to fend for herself. Practically homeless, she fought back to get the right to see her children on Sunday each week. A bitter divorce battle ensued.In Aug 1983, Dick took the children to Philadelphia to live with Ella who had found a job at the University of Pennsylvania. Dick left them there and Sing came to the US in late 1983 to be with her children. Her life in the USA was referred to by Sing as her “re-birth”. Life was in the shadows at the beginning, having overstayed her visa and with no medical insurance, she almost died due to uterine hemorrhaging. In 1989 Ella and Sing moved to California and her renewal was well underway. Ella bought the house in Sunnyvale and it had been her base ever since. The garden in Sunnyvale will always benefit from her care and the fruit and flowers the plants bear each year will symbolise her life and love for her adopted country. In 1998, she was proudly became a US citizen.Her most famous cultivation was cymbidiums (蕙兰属). From one plant, she grew hundreds more and gave them to all her friends. When the friend complained about lack of flower, Sing would bring the plant back and give away a new one. Her Epiphyllum oxypetalum (昙花), a large, beautiful, fragrant flower that blooms for one night only, was also legendary. This year, they provided more than 200 blossoms in just a few plants.Sing loved to travel, sometimes by herself even at old age. Some of her most memorable trips included going to Serengeti, Borneo, Hiroshima, Cancun, Bode and Alaska. She made sure she visited her siblings and relatives in Hong Kong and China regularly. Her excellent memory assured her place as the family historian. It is not an easy task given her grandfather had 4 wives and each had huge families.She was an accomplished tailor and she made most of the clothing for the kids when they were young. She knitted professionally and was a great cook. She swam daily all the way into her 80s. One of her major achievements was writing her memoir that documented her interesting life.She loved to learn. In her 60s’, she took a vocational training class in auto mechanics where she cut and pasted two beat up, non-functional Toyota Corollas into one good looking, functional one. In her 70s’, she took up piano lessons and enjoyed playing music.She had a big heart and loved her children and grandchildren more than anything. Looking back on her she considered her children as her biggest success. She was generous with her friends and cared thought often of her brothers and sister in China.“My mom was the heart of the family. She made everything grow around her. Her kids, her plants, her cats, her garden and the people around her … from nothing she brought life. “…Quote from Frank ShumSing is survived by her 4 loving children, Ella, Frank, Doris and Victor; 5 brothers and one sister. She has 6 grandchildren, Hans and Sonya Walker; Matthew and Margaret Seward; and Jason and Clara Shum. Her cat, Pesto, was also a source of comfort in her last months at home.
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