What a Jia Pu is, and Why we are so Lucky to Have One
As a society that practices ancestor veneration, the Chinese have traditionally kept genealogies. These include: zongpu (general genealogies) zupu (clan genealogies) jiapu (extended family genealogies) shipu (branch genealogies) jiacheng (family records or annals) Our family genealogy that was brought by Chock Chin to Hanalei is one such record. Technically, it is probably considered a "shipu", since the cover page calls it "The Genealogy of Kuei-Te-T'ang, a Branch of the Chou family". These records are considered to be highly reliable genealogical resources. During the Cultural Revolution many of these records were destroyed, as they were seen as artifacts of the [...]
The Rollover
Galen Kealoha Chock - 2018 In 1991 I was employed at a job in Ft Collins, Colorado as a Printed Circuit Board designer and programmer. I also had a teaching job at the Denver Business College as an AutoCAD instructor. During this time I was driving a red Toyota Corolla hatchback and really liked that car. That day after doing my teaching I had made a deal with the director of the training center to buy one of his '386 computers which he was selling off so he could buy some new '486 computers for the center. I [...]
Chock Chin’s Lotus Pond
Tourists to Hanalei throughout many decades were advised not to miss the famous Hanalei Lily Pond, dug by Chock Chin and his sons originally as a Lotus Pond near the family home. Located along the main road, it was featured in the travel photos of thousands of tourists. Do not imagine a dainty little backyard pond here. This was a serious installation, wide, and well planned, fed by a spring for a constant supply of fresh water. Here are some images I was able to buy on eBay, from people selling old slides they inherited from their parents and grandparents. [...]
Happy Chinese New Year 2018 – Year of the Dog
The Chinese New Year arrived on 16 February 2018. This is the 4715th Chinese year. According to the Chinese horoscope calendar, 2018 is the Male Earth Dog year. The color brown is associated with the earth, so another name for 2018 is the Year of the Brown Dog. According to Chinese horoscope theory, Male Earth is connected with mountains. The sign of 2018 Male Earth Dog year is two mountains side by side, or one mountain beyond (behind) another one. Galen Chock, Wayne Chock Jacques, Steven George Chock -- these are the living heirs to the Chock clan dynasty. [...]
George Gordon Chock
George Gordon Chock was the only child of George Chock and his first wife, Edith Elizabeth Maes. Gordon was born on 30 April 1930 in Dillon, Montana. This was Edith's second marriage, so Gordon had three older step-sisters, Margaret, Mary Ann, and Marvel Reddington. He was the apple of his father's eye, and even after Dad and Edith divorced, they made sure that Gordon spent a lot of time with him. Dad took him to Hanalei for many summers, and several cousins remember playing with him there. He was very athletic, and played the ukulele (as you see in the [...]
Dorothy Chock and Sau Yee Chang
Dorothy Chock - 1916 Dorothy Kam Mew Chock was born on 25 August 1897 in Hanalei to Chock Chin and Hee Shee (2nd Chinese wife). She was the 2nd child, having an older sister named Katherine Kam Ho Chock, born in 1896. My father, George Goon Fong Chock was born two years later in 1899. Two more brothers joined the family: Kuan-Ying Chock in 1901, and Kuan-Chieh Chock in 1903. Dorothy was to outlive all of her full siblings (the children born to her mother). Fortunately she had a great memory and was a good storyteller, and her [...]