usadeepsouth.com Pilgrimage to China by Beth Boswell Jacks  J. G. Moon entered the United States in 1905 as a "paper son," an illegal immigrant whose papers and false birth certificate were bought with a pouch of hard-earned money--fifteen hundred dollars. Traveling by "slow boat" from China, the seventeen-year-old Moon knew not one word of English but found work on a farm in California, where the farmer's wife gave him newspapers, tutoring, and encouragement.In the 1920s, Moon relocated to the Mississippi Delta to join several cousins in the grocery business. Over the next few years he made trips back to the Hoi-Ping village of Gor Doi Long in South China. During one of these sojourns, he met and married his first wife who remained in China as her husband traveled between the two countries. Left in 1935 with an infant daughter following the death of his wife in childbirth, Moon found a "replacement wife" in China in nearby Wong Village. He married Sue Wong in 1936, and they lived in Gor Doi Long village four years. In 1939, sensing that World War II was imminent, Moon moved his family (grown now to include two more children) to the Mississippi Delta. More children followed--including Bobby in 1944 --and the grocery business prospered. Mary Jane Mullins Ervin shares this memory of growing up in the tiny town of Boyle, Mississippi, where her family depended on the largess of the Moons and their grocery. "J. G. Moon always let our family charge groceries until Daddy got paid. (Mother did not work in the early years. Those were good years even being poor.) "In the fifth grade and 4-H at Boyle Elementary, I had to have some material and items for a sewing box and some material to make an apron for my 4-H project. J. G. Moon had it all. I can remember his wife (I didn't know her name except for Mrs. Moon) helping me pick out needles, tape measure, thimble, scissors, thread and some beautiful blue material with strawberries on it. Usually Daddy charged only food items at the grocery store, but this was something I really needed. Thank goodness for J. G. Moon and Sons in Boyle, Mississippi. I got a blue ribbon . . . and a special memory." Truly the Moons had found their Gim Sahn in the Mississippi Delta, and the Delta, over the years, was blessed as well. Imagine the courage it took for J. G. and Sue to venture across the Pacific Ocean to live in a strange land--first J. G., who was only a boy when he left his homeland, and then Sue, a young wife with tiny children. As so many immigrants who came before and after them, they were determined in spite of the hardships to find a country with more opportunity. This courage of loving parents, now deceased, demanded a pilgrimage from a devoted son, and so in May 2000, Bobby Joe Moon flew to China. Bobby Moon is an American-born Chinese. He's seen the Chinese pavilion at Disney's EPCOT Center in Florida and has visited several Chinatowns in the United States, but this was the extent of his "Chinese travel." This man is American through and through. He'd never had a longtime burning desire to visit China, but one day the idea of a trip began to form in his head and wouldn't go away. What was this land of his father and mother really like? Was the house still standing where the family lived in the 1930's? Would he and his wife Jeannie be welcomed? Would they be treated as "jook sing," empty-headed bamboo, or accepted on the level of "jook kahk," native born Chinese? Here, in Bobby's words, is the account of his homecoming: "We arrived in the town of Hen Gong and asked a gentleman if we were at the entrance to the village of Gor Doi Long, and he assured us we were at the right place. The minivan turned onto a single lane road that led to the village, and we stopped the first lady we saw and showed her the November, 1983, family tree . . . she told us she would find one of my cousins. "Cousin number one rode up on a motorcycle, and I nicknamed him the Big Wheel since that was the only motor vehicle we saw in the whole village. He looked at the family tree and confirmed we were indeed related. I could sense his excitement growing. He wanted me to meet his 99-year old father to see if he remembered my father who had left the village sixty-one years ago. (The old man did remember.) [picture above] "The Big Wheel now wanted us to meet the village chief, cousin number two. We walked to an old two-story building and saw a lot of folks gathered under a canopy attached to the house. They were playing mah jong . . . "Cousin number two hopped on the motorcycle with Big Wheel and they led our minivan . . . to a compound of four homes [called New Village] constructed by the villagers who had gone to the U.S.A. and returned to build [this compound]. Today, none of the New Village homes are occupied and are under lock and key. The village chief called someone for the key to the compound gate and . . . key to my father's home. What was very interesting is that these homes are still deemed to be the property of the respective families in America, and the property and contents are largely undisturbed. "The door to my father's home was unlocked [and we entered] . . . At this point I was pretty emotional and excited about being there where my parents had lived and some of my siblings were born . . . I don't remember seeing too much on the first floor since I immediately spotted the stairs in the left corner and proceeded upstairs by myself to the second floor. It was as if I were being drawn by a magnet. "When I reached the top of the stairs, I looked up and was shocked to see a very detailed water color portrait of my father, nearly perfectly preserved, [made] at an age I had never known him to look . . ." Bobby was astonished and moved to tears by this discovery. He had to have the portrait, of course, and carefully removed it from the wall in spite of the protestations of the "lady with the key to the house." He convinced her he had legitimate claim and the portrait would have a place of honor in America. The portrait of Joe Guie Moon is now in Bobby Joe Moon's home in Houston, Texas, where Bobby and Jeannie and their children are reminded daily of a brilliant man who, with his equally accomplished wife, blessed the Mississippi Delta with this most distinguished American family. Reach Bobby Moon at this address. Beth Boswell Jacks, editor of USADEEPSOUTH, is a freelance newspaper columnist and has been published in numerous magazines and literary journals. Write her at bethjacks@hotmail.com. Growing up Chinese in the Mississippi Delta Chinese Heart of Texas Want to leave comments on this article? Click here. Please note that you are commenting on the "Moon" article. Thanks. From: Larry Moon of Houston, TX Message: Glad to see Bobby's neat story online. Keep up the good work . . . The website is great. ~~~~~~ From: Roy of houston, tx Message: great article on my brother and his trip to China. ~~~~~~ From: Ted Joe Message: Great to see this moving story again. I'm glad to see this getting publicized. Great to read about my roots. -teddy- ~~~~~~ From: Lillie Woo Message: I am recommending your website USA Deep South to my friends. Very good information and reading. ~~~~~~ From: Kathy Khan of Sacramento, CA Message: Bobby - I am a friend of Jane Hing and we just got back from China. What a WONDERFUL and TOUCHING story! I am so happy you shared this beautiful story. Thanks. Back to USADEEPSOUTH index page Back to top |
