Summary of Mimi Kwa's House of Kwa

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 In 1884, my great-grandfather was looking for his servant Chen She. He had never lit his own pipe, and he wouldn’t even know where to find it. He was beaten to the punch when Great-Grandfather entered the room and walloped him across the head.

#2 The concubines rise to flee. Great-Grandfather is worshipping at his Confucian altar when he tells the ancestral tablets and statues what a disappointment everyone else in the compound is. He confides his deep regret at employing, marrying, and spawning such insolence.

#3 Ying Kam was the only unmarried boy among his rich and privileged friends. He was ready to forge his way in elite Chinese society, and most of all, be a man. But the stone carvings, ancestors, and heating pipes of the compound knew that this argument could only end one way.

#4 My grandfather Ying Kam created distance from his beginnings by propelling himself closer to a new life. The family diaspora caught a north wind as they wheeled past the stone lions and a sleeping guard.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Apr 21, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669388715

IRB Media

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Insights on Mimi Kwa's House of Kwa

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

In 1884, my great-grandfather was looking for his servant Chen She. He had never lit his own pipe, and he wouldn’t even know where to find it. He was beaten to the punch when Great-Grandfather entered the room and walloped him across the head.

#2

The concubines rise to flee. Great-Grandfather is worshipping at his Confucian altar when he tells the ancestral tablets and statues what a disappointment everyone else in the compound is. He confides his deep regret at employing, marrying, and spawning such insolence.

#3

Ying Kam was the only unmarried boy among his rich and privileged friends. He was ready to forge his way in elite Chinese society, and most of all, be a man. But the stone carvings, ancestors, and heating pipes of the compound knew that this argument could only end one way.

#4

My grandfather Ying Kam created distance from his beginnings by propelling himself closer to a new life. The family diaspora caught a north wind as they wheeled past the stone lions and a sleeping guard.

#5

The three travelers arrived in Swatow, and Ying Kam and Storm Boy unloaded a chest filled with valuable currency. They found buyers for these rare silks, which would attract great interest in Swatow.

#6

The couple was married in a local temple by a shaman who wondered if such a union should take place before the gods without the extended family present. They were married in a low-key ceremony with no wedding party or guests visiting their house.

#7

The Chinese wedding ceremony is very complex, and involves a lot of rituals and traditions. It is important to have heirs, as a new branch of Kwa can never start without them. The couple builds an altar to worship their ancestors and pray to the gods for a child. But no baby comes.

#8

Ying Kam had two wives, and he worked hard to build his business. He eventually decided to open a shop in Hong Kong, because he thought it would increase his visibility abroad. He left his family behind for weeks on end to do