An Anniversary To Remember

Last week was the 60th Anniversary of the Chinese National Day.  It was such a big deal for every citizen in China and Hong Kong to watch the flag raising ceremony at Tiananmen Square featuring our present and past leaders who made China into the “Nation of the Millennium”.  There were spectacular parades and superb entertainment throughout the day.  Every patriotic Chinese was glued to a TV set. 

October 1st is also auspicious to me for another reason - it marks the day, 14 years ago, when I gave birth to my only son! After 24 hours of labor I gave birth to Danial Cheung in my home country of Malaysia. At that point in my life I had already been working in Hong Kong for Christian Action for some time - yet still felt a strong bond with Malaysia (hence the Malaysian spelling for Daniel) and thought it highly likely that at some point my husband Marlon and I would return there to live.

All that changed during a Christian Convention in Malaysia in year 2000.  The event was held in an enormous football stadium, yet for some reason the PA system in my section made it impossible to make out what the speaker was saying. None-the-less, the atmosphere was electric so I decided to stay and take the opportunity to just pray and have a conversation with God in my heart and mind. In that life changing moment, I was shocked to hear God say that He took me out of China 100 years ago so I can be prepared to go back to China to help MY PEOPLE!!  I recalled that it was my great grandparents who had left China for Malaysia at the turn of the century - and from that day on, I knew that although I am an ethnic-Chinese Malaysian I am also truly Chinese!  Furthermore, it confirmed to me that the work we, as Christian Action, are doing in China is not a short term work but a long term commitment to MY PEOPLE in one of the poorest areas in China.  I am still Malaysian AND I am Chinese!

Nowadays, the Chinese National Day is very meaningful to me as it is now part of my identity and calling, and it is a day that I also celebrate the birthday of my son Danial! 

I hope that some of our children who have been adopted overseas enjoyed the 60th anniversary.  If so did you and your family do anything special?  I would love to hear from you.

Siew Mei

Comments

[Mia France]

Danial is such a cute baby. I wish i could have seen if again. Wow 14. We spent the day making homemade mooncakes. Love Mia BeiBei

[Siew Mei]

Yes, Mia, he was a very cute baby and I love him to bits. You were a beautiful baby and everyone loved you to bits too! Hope your mooncakes were delicious.