Journey to the West: The Life and Times of Frank (Pai-Fang) Lee
In front of the second gift shop, where we lived above, early 1970s. (Courtesy of Raymond Lee).
My father, Frank Lee (1925-92), was the second of six siblings to a successful merchant and his second wife. The family had moved from their hometown of Zhaoqing, Guangdong to Tientsin and Qinhuangdao to embark on various businesses, including a night club and general store in the early 1930s. After my paternal grandfather passed away in the late 1930s, he and his oldest brother were responsible for running the family’s affairs until Frank left for an extended visit to Formosa (Taiwan) in 1948. While touring the island, he received word from my grandmother that the Chinese Communists were poised to defeat the Nationalists (Kuomintang) and govern China in 1949.
Alas, he dared not return to the mainland, and settled in Taipei for the interim. After working at various odd jobs, he enrolled at the National Taiwan Normal University to train as a teacher. Upon graduation, he instructed at an elementary school in Taipei in the mid-1950s, before being reassigned as vice-principal at an overseas Chinese middle school in Tahiti in 1958. He realized, however, that this was a dead-end posting and left for America to seek his fortunes a year later.
In Polynesian sarong, 1958. (Courtesy of Raymond Lee).
Frank arrived in San Francisco on a tourist visa, but quickly changed his visa status to student after enrolling at John Adams Adult School. Through a mutual classmate, he met Virginia (nee Tsui), his future wife and our mother, in 1960. After a brief courtship, they wedded in January, 1961, followed by my arrival later that year. Frank taught Mandarin-Chinese at the Army Language School in Monterey during the early to mid-1960s.
In 1965, he resigned this teaching position to operate a retail stall inside the Chinese Cultural Center on Grant Avenue, selling colourful batiks painted by himself. The following year, he closed the stall and opened a gift shop next to the renowned restaurant, Shanghai Low, selling his artwork, imported handicrafts from Taiwan, Japan and Thailand, and sundry souvenirs of San Francisco. Three years later, a second shop was opened on the other side of Shanghai Low. Virginia helped run the businesses, while also employed as key-punch operator at several firms downtown.
Family portrait, 1963. (Courtesy of Raymond Lee).
Throughout the late 1960s to the early 1980s, my parents raised my brother, Oscar, and me, all the while operating the shops, which evolved to selling jewelry and higher-end merchandise in the 1980s. Frank was active in the Chinatown Merchants Association during this time. He instilled within us the importance of industry and self-reliance when we were old enough to help out. He also home-schooled me in written and spoken (Mandarin-)Chinese during after-school hours and on weekends.
I remember him as a firm but fair parent, an innovative entrepreneur, and engaged in the local community, who had various self-taught talents (besides painting, he played the erhu and snare drum), and was physically fit until the end. Regrettably, he did not live to know of his extended family, including grandchildren Nerys, Kaeden and Kendra.
Written by CHSA community member, Raymond Lee. Lee was born, raised, and educated in San Francisco. Raymond and his wife reside in Winnipeg, Canada, and Saint-Denis, France. He is currently employed at the Asper School of Business, University of Manitoba.
