A Chin See family member’s experience in China during the Chinese Civil War, the Japanese Invasion and Occupation, and the Chinese Cultural Revolution.

To live in China in the 1920’s through the 1970’s is to experience a period of extreme turbulence in Chinese history. Between 1927 and 1949, the Nationalist Government of China (Kuomintang, KMT) engaged in civil war with the Communist Party of China (CPC) which ultimately, the CPC won. Between 1931 and 1945, Japan engaged in a period of aggression and occupation against China and her people, which ultimately ended with the Japanese surrender to the Allies in 1945 at the end of WWII. In 1949, the CPC triumphed over the KMT and ended the Civil war, giving birth to the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). In 1966 through 1976 the Chinese Cultural Revolution upended the lives of many Chinese families. During this period, many Chinese endured displacement, starvation, sickness and countless people died. Within this historical backdrop, several members of our family struggled. Owen Chin See, grandson of William Chin See was one such family member to experience these struggles first hand. In 1993, Owen wrote a 26 page memoir, in Chinese, of his experience in China. On the Biographies page, we have a translation of his memoir, giving us a riveting first person account of that time period, of which we would otherwise be blissfully unaware.