More Despatches

It came to past that the SIM family – or Su and her siblings – had found themselves organizing the last rites today – well, almost – for their late father who passed away nearly four weeks ago. Apart from the siblings and their immediate family members, only three other relations turned up, including Su’s first cousin from Dongguan and two other grandchildren on Su’s mother side living in Hong Kong. It was a simple and non-religious ceremony to which we were briefed to present ourselves at Kowloon Hospital from 8 am, which we did. The Hospital’s mortuary is on the Basement Level which also houses a small but dignified area for relatives to say goodbye. At the appointed time, the funeral organizers had the deceased clothed and in place in the casket which was wheeled before us for a simple last goodbye before they closed the coffin which was then sent off to the crematorium in a modern vehicle, accompanied by Su and her brother, while the rest of us waited for an arranged transport. Everything went clockwork and ahead of time.  Su’s sister had booked a 28-seater for transport between Kowloon Hospital, the Crematorium and the subsequent restaurant at TST for the meal afterwards, with a stopover at Tai Wai to offload the three relatives who couldn’t attend the after-event lunch.

Such was the last chapter of an individual who in his twenties responded to the call of the Nation, specifically from Premier Zhou En-lai to return to China to rebuild the Nation around 1951. He and his partner, who later became his wife, went back to Dalin where they brought up a family and parented three kids, but to cut the long story short, ended up in Hong Kong in 1973, for another life he had not expected, but which was presented to him for he was hoping to go back to Indonesia where his life began. Su had written another blog separately along the line and I will not elaborate further, until maybe in my sequel or my next memoir.

Back to our trip from the crematorium this morning, we found ourselves at TST before 9:45 am waiting for the restaurant to open. There were six of us – the three siblings, Su’s wife and daughter, and me. We had a sumptuous dim-sim brunch which was more ritualistic than anything else. Their mother had elected not to participate. Indeed, we were happy that she had been improving in health and spirit since she left Heaven of Hope some two weeks before.

Indeed, Su and I have been visiting Laguna City rather frequently since; and Su had made me transport a lot of stuff back to Mei Foo from there, including some Persian or Iranian carpets she had brought back from her travels with her parents, a Singer sewing machine, and most importantly, the many photo albums, meticulously and systematically filed, complied and labeled by her father all these years, unannounced and unheralded. We have since watched the videos of our wedding some 17 years before and many pictures which her father had printed on his color printer on special papers.

Su had been talking about her father spending long hours on such work, but which he had never shared with others. The detailed filing work went back a few decades. He had made copies of black and white images of photos taken more than a century ago, on his ancestors, again, which he won’t share with others easily, except perhaps with the Cambridge professor, or the younger brother of his wife.

Su’s father had left in his will the desire to have his ashes spread in the sea. We have learnt that it will take another occasion to make it happen, though the siblings had already paid for the operation. We will have to await advice from the authority after the ashes are ready and the availability of the boat for the trip.

Let me turn to another character or episode. Earlier this week, news came through from HKU Faculty of Science that Emeritus Professor CHAN Sai Cheung (1935 – 2026) passed away peacefully in Vancouver on 15 February 2026 at the age of 91. The Dean of Science and Head of Chemistry issued a joint statement in his memory, citing his outstanding achievements and various honours bestowed on the highly respected figure in the international chemistry community. The news triggered some fond and distant memories, albeit totally not chemistry related.

The Professor was our lecturer in inorganic chemistry when I was an undergrad, but he was always known to his students as SC Chan. He was highly respected by everyone not only for his academic excellence, but also for his strong collegial spirit and unassuming manner. He was also a keen contract bridge player, and he donated a SC Chan Cup which was a highly coveted trophy awarded to the winning team of the Annual Bridge Competition which was open to all in the Science Faculty in those days. In 1969 or 1970, I was among a team led by Anthony Lau, the two other members being Augustine Wong and David Lam, both having passed away since. We won and our names were indented on the Cup, which remained in our possession, or more accurately, in our Captain’s possession for 40 years by which time the etchings were completely eroded and unrecognizable so that he decided to send the Cup to the landfill, which marked the end of an era of fun and delinquency, for we were supposed to return the trophy to the Faculty for the winning team in the following year, but which we didn’t, under the guise that we had graduated and had left the faculty by then.

And even as I am typing away, partially under influence, I am mindful that I will be going to the funeral and wake of a good friend and brother Gordon next week, when no doubt, heaps of memories and whatever will turn up. We will see.