The Story of So-Ha, a Chinese Girl

It was a pitch dark and blustery night in December 1926. The sky was starless and moonless, as dark as coal. The thunder rumbled and reverberated like a furious and wild tiger. The freezing wind was bitter, one could feel the cold biting through one’s skin, and etching every strand of nerve. It was the day she was born.

In Tan Chuen (a village in Panyu, China), Peng Xiu Zhi gave birth to an adorable daughter, who glistened with beauty. Her eyes sparkled and twinkled like stars, enthusiastic to discover the whole new world. She was very vulnerable, like a fine bone of a bird.

Nevertheless, Peng’s father was not on cloud nine, Peng’s mother was not in seventh heaven, and no one in the family was jumping for joy. Rather, everyone was disappointed and dispirited, because the newborn infant was a girl. In Chinese age-old tradition, girls are deemed less valuable than boys. So-Ha’s family regarded boys as exquisite pearls, but girls were inferior, not even worth mentioning. Elders in the family criticised Peng for bringing the baby girl to the world, commenting, ‘It is more preferable to bear a barbequed pig than a daughter!’

Elders in the family were regarded as the patriarchs of the family, thus they were responsible for naming the baby. According to Chinese beliefs, a good name for a child is crucial to its well-being and success; it determines the future of the child. They named her arbitrarily, ‘So-Ha’, which literally means ‘newborn baby’.

So-Ha’s family made their living as farmers and shopkeepers. Although Tan Chuen provided free education to children, So-Ha did not have the opportunity or the time to go to school. She worked from the crowing of the rooster to the dark of midnight. She was not the only child in her family;...

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...urned to the vehicle — all except Ling. Ling’s friend screamed, ‘Ling Gwing Shen! Ling Gwing Shen!’ But no one replied.
So-Ha considered the possibilities: Ling was heavily short sighted, and he may have fallen from a cliff, or that he ran away to avoid the bullets and got lost. However, it remains a mystery. There is a question mark in So-Ha’s mind but the question would never be answered. So-Ha was only thirteen when this misfortune occurred; she is now eighty-six years old but the sorrow still stays in her heart.

In 1926, So-Ha was born. She didn’t have a proper name, and she had an arduous life. Could this misfortune to the family be avoided if the elders gave So-Ha a proper name? Or was everything just a coincidence? No one knows the answer. But certainly, just like this misfortune will not be unremembered and the sorrow will remain in So-Ha’s heart forever.