Author Information
Story of a China
There was once a very strict and stubborn business man, Chai Na.
He worked very hard in his youth to build his first business and thought he was very successful until he started working with a British trader and found that his wisdom, techniques and wealth were no where comparable to the outside world.
The 4 sons
First son, Ming Lang had lived with his father all along. Suffering and lost of knowledge of the outside world. He hungered to taste the riches not available at home, and usually making more mistakes and looked down upon by his other brothers.
Second son, Hon Kon was sent overseas to live with his father’s British partner who had cheated his father of their family property. He worked very hard but suffered with humiliation as he quietly learnt the tricks and built his own connections. He brought home a lot of wealth and was always the envy of his brother Ming Lang.
Third son, Tai Wan left the family at a very young age. He started a business idea which could have brought the family to great success, but his efforts had failed and thus his father took over. He still claims to be the rightful owner of the family business.
Fourth son, Niu Jang was the youngest. He has been living with his father all along and has been noticing Hon Kon and Tai Wan. He began doing business and had spent a lot of time with his cousins overseas. He has become the richest of the four brothers but quite spoiled.
The Family situation
The family business has grown tremendously thanks to the hard work of Hon Kon, and also Niu Jang. Niu Jang learnt a lot from his brother Hon Kon, was very clever and crafty, and soon made more riches for the family. The family soon became the envy of neighbours. Neighbours soon tried to claim property that was not touched by Chai Na in the past. There were rich neighbours who were jealous of Chai Na’s wealth and decided to bad mouth their family.
In the family, Ming Lang was getting more frustrated and always wanted to take advantage of his brother Hon Kon claiming that he had to suffer while Hon Kon was enjoying all the riches overseas. Meanwhile, Niu Jang was not too bothered with the family rules and just spent most of his time making more business and pleasing his father.
Chai Na is now confident that his family is indeed powerful and wealthy and will not allow any more humiliation from his neighbours. He wanted back respect. He also now suspects his third son Hon Kon was becoming more influenced by the neighbours and feels that the family does not have to depend on Hon Kon that much since Niu Jang has already found the way to bring in wealth.
Hon Kon is now agitated by the unrelaxed attitude of his father, and under the influence of his neighbours, decided to complain to his father. Instead of working harder to prove that he is still important to the family, he started to criticize Niu Jang, looked down on Ming Lang, and constantly making protests. This upset was doing no good for the family and only made Hon Kon less important to the family. Tai Wan on the other hand just kept quiet and slowly builds his business. He knows that he will never get rightful ownership of the family business, but he was building a new business altogether for himself and his new family.
Chai Na wanted Hon Kon to continue his hard work and to bring more new knowledge to the family, but he had to maintain the family tradition handed down to him by his fore fathers – to respect elders and to look after siblings. Chai Na now has no choice and most of the time unwillingly had to be strict towards Hon Kon, especially when Hon Kon protests so often, not giving face to the family. How he wishes that Hon Kon can continue to excel.
Real heroes are normally recorded in story books or concocted by political parties through controlled media. They are usually the ones standing in front, throwing bananas, shouting in violent air and breaking through agreed turfs. The heroes of today are sculptured by the media to capture audiences, by powerful organizations that back up activities for their own motives and they are made up of young tadpoles and wild life predators. Their last breath is always Victory – their only real reason, they march for Heroism and not for Achievement.
