Gwen Chin See’s memoir, Remembrance of Things Past can be found in the Biography section of the Chin Family Tree website. Her open letter to her grand nephew Ethan can also be found there.
Author Archive: cftadmin
Chin Family Culinary Journal
The completed Chin Family Culinary Journal can be found in the Written and Published Documents section of the Chin Family Tree website. The Journal’s 353 page compendium of family favorite Jamaican, Chinese, Canadian, Guyanese, and Portuguese traditional recipes reflects our families’ diverse cultures. Thanks to members of the Chin, Chen, Chin See, Arjoon, Davis and Stedman families, we now have these family favorite recipes where they can be easily accessed.
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.
Welcome
Around 1884, a young man left his wife and infant daughter to go on a journey that would take him halfway across the world in search of work and a better life for his family. Chin Den Len (陳 登能) left his village of Niu Fu in southern China for the island of Jamaica in the New World with nothing to his name but a dream of a better future for his family in China. He toiled for a number of years as an indentured laborer in the harsh Jamaican sugar cane fields despite the huge language and cultural barrier. Through determination and hard work, he saved up enough money to establish a small business in the coastal town of Falmouth. Chin Den Len later became better known as William Chin See, founder of Chin See Bros. of Falmouth, Jamaica.
In 1912, at age 18, Henry Levy Chin immigrated from Indo China (modern day Vietnam) to Falmouth, Jamaica. Henry Levy Chin (Chin Fah Hing, 陳 華興) was William Chinsee’s nephew and the son of his older brother, Chin Den Luen (陳 登纶). Under William’s mentorship, both men built Chin See Bros. into one of the most successful and influential businesses in the town of Falmouth. After William returned to Niu Fu to enjoy his retirement, Henry Levy remained in Falmouth’s Water Square town center as a businessman, operating Sweetie’s Thrift Shop.
It is due to the hard work and sacrifice of these two men that current generations of the Chin families are able to enjoy the lifestyles to which they are accustomed.
This site is dedicated to the collection and preservation of historical accounts, along with supporting documents of William Chin See, founder of Chin See Bros., and that of his nephew Henry Levy Chin and their descendants for present and future generations of Chin families, so that their hard work and sacrifice shall not be forgotten.