With great struggle comes great memories

This is our experience.

A significant portion of my childhood was spent abroad in Beijing, China. It was also the period where my family documented down most of our childhood photos. My dad had a vision that China would one day dominate the IT market, and that there was an enormous amount of potential to do business there. And so, in the year 2000, my family, consisting of my Father, Mother, Brother and I, left Singapore for a life abroad in China.

It was a huge risk that my father had to take, we had no friends, no family members, and basically no one which we knew at all. All we had was each other. The weather in China was also very different, with my brother and I only being 3 and 5 respectively, we were constantly complaining and crying due to the cold winters.

Our first family portrait in Beijing was taken on 15 November 2000. It was during this time where we experienced our first ever winter. This picture holds a great deal of significance as Tiananmen Square was also the first attraction in Beijing which we visited as a family.

The first few years spent in China were the most memorable time we had as a family. We didn’t have any friends outside of school and neither did my parents outside of work, but we had each other and that was all that mattered.

With the limited camera technology available, self-timed film cameras were not common and thus we rarely had photos of us as a complete family. Hence, my Dad and Mom would constantly switch in and out of the picture to take photos.

A significant memory we shared together was during Jeremy’s (my younger brother) third birthday. Back in Singapore, we would have our relatives and family friends celebrate it with us but this year we celebrated it alone.

I remember my mom being all emotional and tearing up as we sang the birthday song. It was one of the many impactful memories I had whilst in China, something which still lingers in the back of my mind.

We experienced many “firsts” as a family in China. One of which was the 4 different seasons. I remember how fascinated I felt as I saw flowers start to bloom in spring and leaves slowly turning brown in Autumn.

The photos above were taken in Chaoyang Park on two separate occasions. It was and still is Beijing’s largest park. My family loved visiting the park for its flora and fauna, so much to the point where we would come here monthly as a family.

In both photos, different kinds of tulips can be seen. Tulips blossom between march-may and are my Mom’s favourite flower. While it may not be the fanciest flower, the beauty and grace of a simple Tulip flower symbolise the perfect, enduring love between family members.

The nature of my Dad’s work prevented him from taking overseas trips and thus travelling back to Singapore wasn’t an option we had. Instead, our family took short trips around China to explore the different provinces of the land.

Hainan Island was our family’s first ever trip out of Beijing. Unlike Beijing, it does not experience all four seasons and tends to average between 25 to 29 degrees. With its tropical and humid climate, it reminded our family of Singapore’s weather.

As the years passed, we began to enjoy our times in the snow. Something which our whole family complained about slowly became something which we would look forward to. Time allowed us to adapt and snow cold winters soon became an integral part of our lives.

The photos above were spread out over 3 years from 2000 to 2003. Many changes took place during those years but for the better. By 2002, our family’s finances had improved and so we moved out of our tiny apartment. Our second home in Beijing was a 3 bedroom townhouse within a residential estate called Capital Paradise.

In 2003, my Dad finally bought his own car, a silver Volkswagen Jetta and it was his ‘baby’. I remember the days where it would snow heavily overnight, my Dad would wake the whole family up just to help him with his sweeping. Looking back, it’s these little things that make our memories as a family so memorable.

In mid-2002 after shifting to our 3-storey townhouse in Capital Paradise, my parents figured that it would be convenient to have a domestic helper to clean and cook for us. Our domestic helper’s name was called Xu Zhao Qing but my brother and I called her Ah Yi. Most of my memories spent at home had her in it. If she wasn’t doing her daily chores, she would either teach us mandarin or not take us out for walks. She was without a doubt our best friend in China.

We don’t have many photos with Ah Yi but we shared great memories together. She was such an important member of the household that we celebrated her birthday yearly, just like any other family member. Today, we converse with each other via WeChat, a Chinese multi-purpose social media mobile application software.

Our migration to China really bonded our family together but it distanced our relationship with our other family members. We had not gone back to Singapore for close to 5 years, missing out the yearly Chinese New Year (CNY) visits. In 2005, we finally went back to Singapore. We were a little hesitant because we knew how awkward it would be but my parents knew that we would have to face the families eventually.

During the CNY of 2005, my brother and I isolated ourselves from everyone. We felt distanced, awkward and shy. But one outgoing individual came to break the ice. Our cousin Lionell instantly connected with us, he made us feel welcome and at home. The very next day we had a sleepover and took our very first photo together.

On December 2005, Lionell and his family flew over to Beijing and joined our family for a ski trip. We had reunited again, my brother, Lionell and I. To this day, we still talk about our fun moments in China.

All photos taken past 2005 were digitalised. Digital photography was introduced and it became much more economical as compared to film. However, digital photography could never fully capture the colours as naturally as film.

I am glad that we have family portraits of my time in China. It was where I spent my childhood and where I grew up learning about the world. Over time, things change; for example the style of photography, but one thing that has not changed is the close bond that my family shares together.

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