"Did your Grandma speak English?"
"Yes. She was also the top scorer in mathematics."

The years my grandma grew up in China were those of big era, turbulent world with warlords fighting for own interests while the nearly 400 years of Draconian rule of Qing Dynasty was coming to the final days. Amoy was a modern city with lots of Western influence and protection. That allowed my grandma to live on safely healthily.

When she was 11 in 1911, a short Cantonese trained doctor with controversies of getting the foreign support and oversea Chinese financial support and marrying younger second and third wives while on exile managed to influence and motivated others to repeat 11 times to revolutionize the old nation with 5 thousand years of civilization and nationwide epidermic addiction of opium smoking. That year my grandma was a shining example of modern girl with no feet bindng and chest tying. However her father's long plait was cut off from his modern thinking head.

Watching from nearby shop was my grandpa. He was born in Quan Zhou in a house near the famous lake with twin towers from which, according to a lady Japanese researcher in history, is the source of inspiration for the Tales of Monkey God in the famous novel of The Journey to the West. While his elder brother followed the sea silk route to sail, he moved to Amoy in teenage to learn trading. There he was employed as an apprentice in a trading company that traded spices including opium (as a legal business). He was hard working and soon began his own trading. 

At 20's, he noted my grandma was a special lady helping her father in food or dinner catering business. He was pleasantly surprised that my grandma at the age of 19 years was not engaged presumable because of her high educaltional qualification. Around the era, girls got engaged at very young ages from 9 to 15. His request was granted by my grandma's father who had heard of this industrious young entrepreneur and the chaos in the choatic and inefficient Kuomintang rule.

On her wedding day, my grandma had a war with her hairs that she had to covered her bald head with a red cloth......

"Why do you stop writing?"
"Because I am freer. I write if I am busy."
"Can you write one article for this Chinese New Year?"
"Of course. I shall write one to my grandmother's story."
"Grandmother?"
"Yes. My grandmother's story."

....................
Here it goes.

At the turn of 20th century, a little girl was born in 1900 to a family who possessed a food catering business in a city called Quan Zhou which existed for two thousand years. It was the beiginning point of land and sea silk routes. Nabi Muhamed's third disciple came to preach here and passed away here leaving children who borne special surname called Teng or 丁 which resembles the first alphabet of the third disciple's name of Joseph.

She brought luck and her father's business was booming. As he became more ambitious, he moved his business to a prosperous city called Amoy. Here she became here childhood in a Christian Missionary school to receive the Western education. Her father had a liberal attitude and did not allow her to go for feet binding or chest tying during her puberty. She grew up as an open minded modern Chinese lady and had far vision on many life issues.