Hi, I'm Shirley, first generation American Born Chinese (ABC).  I will be going on my first trip to China, my first trip to Asia actually. Sounds surprising, right?  Me too.  A trip to China was no where in my near future. By the way, that lead photo is of my grandparents with my aunts and uncles as children, with some other relatives standing behind them. My father is the last one to the right, he was about 15 years old in that photo. 

Surprisingly, I've been offered a trip to travel to China with a group for three weeks and to document my experience, but some parts of the trip are not covered.  

As a journalist (though I am not traveling there as a journalist), I naturally want to document my first trip. I'm not a film maker, but I am inspired by my film maker friends to tell stories and going to China is a big story for me.  You see, part of the trip will include visiting  Toisan, my ancestral home. 

My mother's childhood home is still standing and that the seed she planted as a child outside the home is now a big tree according to photos my mother saw when my uncle visited a few years ago.  Hopefully the tree is still there.

In order to document this trip, I'm here to ask for your support. Many of you know that I am still in search of a f/t job,  so every bit of your contribution of any amount is appreciated.

You will be part of my journey with your contribution which will help cover luggage fees, transportation to and from the airport, travel insurance and local transportation in HK/Toisan/Shanghai. It will also help cover costs for items like SD cards. I do not plan on taking my laptop to empty out the SD cards  into an external drive  since all western social media networks are blocked in China, except for Hong Kong, so a laptop will be of no use and it would be one less thing for me to worry about as it may get damaged or worse, stolen.  To also help document the trip, I need a few other accessories and to replace my broken non-stereo microphone  which is held together by two black hair rubberbands, the kind girls use for a ponytail. Yeah..it's true.

(Broken microphone) 


This is a photo of Mom and Dad on their last day ever in China, taken at the Hong Kong International airport as a newly weds.  They were leaving China to begin their lives in America.  



When in Toisan, I hope to learn more about my parents' early lives there and to also gain new appreciation of their brave move  to America.  They never went back to China after arriving into the US, so this trip will also be my way of paying homage to them and my ancestors. 

I have lots of homework ahead of me, talking to my relatives to get the exact location of the villages, to have the village names written in Chinese, get my grandparents names and to find out if there are any relatives still living there. I also plan on speaking to the Ng Family Association in Manhattan's Chinatown.

I'm quite nervous to be so far away from home to tell you the truth, and for you frequent travelers to China, please feel free to reach out to me with any bit of insight you feel I need to know.

Thank you in advance for your contribution. Please reach out to me if you have any questions about my trip.

Shirley L. Ng