Walking with Those Asian Tiger Families

Book excerpt: This JOURNEY describes the lives of several Chinese families living in a foreign country Australia they later call home. Chan Ah Kow and wife Sussan Leong left two well paid careers in kiasu Singapore to re start life in Australia. The Hoys from Guangzhou arrived in Australia as early settlers since the gold mining days in the 1880s and yet are made to feel they are foreigners. The Lius from Beijing came to Australia on business visa. They feel privileged to be Australians and proud of their Motherland, China. Kevin Hartono scion of a wealthy Indonesian Chinese family found his ideal wife, Liu Bing Bing a medical doctor. Wong Ah Tuck left colonial Hong Kong to Melbourne as a ‘yat kok tek’ at Little Bourke Street (Cantonese word for a casual worker in a Chinese restaurant.) and married Malaysian Colombo Plan student Karen Teoh who set up her own law practice because no White law firm was willing to hire her even though she topped her final year law class at Monash University. Jonathan Low has to rebuild his personal brand and changed profession from a highly qualified technology professional to a customer services associate working for a big Australian retail company. Cheong Sook left Shatin, Hong Kong to Melbourne’s Chinatown as a yat kok tek ending up as restaurant owner and accepted Jesus as his Lord and Saviour.