The cover illustration by Yangsook Choi for the children’s book Earthquake written by my Aunt Mildred Chan Lee under the name of Milly Lee.
Day of Days: A Girl’s-eye View of San Francisco Chinatown and the 1906 Earthquake and Fire
My late aunt Mildred (a.k.a. “Nimsie”) Chan grew up in a bustling, multi-generational household in San Francisco. Her daily life involved attending Chinese school after her regular classes and communicating predominantly in Cantonese, both at home and within her local community. Her childhood occurred before WW II – before the beginning of the end of Exclusion and segregation – in the tight-knit confines of the Chinatown community.
As a school librarian, Nim noticed a lack of books that reflected her own experiences as a bicultural child. While there were stories about Asia, they often portrayed it as a distant, ancient world, disconnected from modern, and even Chinese American, life. This realization fueled her desire to see more stories that depicted American children, navigating life between two cultures.
After retiring and being actively involved in the American Library Association, among other professional groups, Nim was well-prepared to author her first book, "Earthquake" under the name “Milly Lee.” The story is based on my grandmother's harrowing experiences during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.
"This morning the earth shook and threw us from our beds. We were not hurt, just stunned." The eight year-old Lily (a.k.a. Lillian) after literally being tossed out of bed by the earthquake in the early morning hours of April 18, 1906. (Illustration by Yangsook Choi for the children’s book, Earthquake, by Milly Lee).
She vividly describes through the childlike eyes of my future grandmother, being awakened by the earthquake, the family’s desperate packing for the flight through a devastated city, and the march west before the onslaught of the ensuing great fire.
My future great grandmother Hee Ching Shee, in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, packing household items, including a small household shrine to the goddess (Illustration by Yangsook Choi for the children’s book Earthquake written by my aunt under the name of Milly Lee.)
"BaBa hurried out to seek help and returned witha cart and two kinsmen." Family members loaded onto the cart what belongings they could salvage from a ruined Chinatown out to Golden Gate Park during the morning of the Great Earthquake, April 18, 1906.(Illustration by Yangsook Choi for the children’s book, Earthquake, by Milly Lee).
“Up the steep hills, across the city, we pushed and pulled the heavy cart.” (Illustration by Yangsook Choi for the children’s book Earthquake by Milly Lee.)
The book not only offers an engaging historical account but also serves as a poignant homage to the many Chinese who suffered immense losses during the catastrophe.
The Qing-era household shrine or altar of the pioneer family of Hee Hoy (formal name: 許呈輝 (canto: "Heui Ching Fai") which was saved by my great grandmother from the earthquake and fire of 1906 that literally scoured San Francisco Chinatown. (Photograph from the collection of the Chinese Historical Society of America). The figurine is the Goddess of Mercy, Guanyin (觀音; mando: “Guan Yin”; canto: “G(w)un Yum”). As researcher and collector Wong Yuen-Ming observes that the Chinese characters 水月宮 (mando: “shuǐ yuègōng“; canto: “seoi yuht gung“) or “Water Moon Palace” appear in relief on the gold-colored badge placed above the carved wooden alcove for the figurine. The iconography denotes the portable shrine as dedicated to Shuiyue Guanyin (Chinese: 水月觀音; pinyin: Shuǐyuè Guānyīn; canto: “seoi yuht G(w)un Yum“ ) or a “Water-Moon Guanyin.” This traditionally masculine form of Guanyin is often presented as a further manifestation of the Thousand-Armed Guanyin. The religious supplicant invokes the deity for good rebirth, safe childbirth, and enlightenment. The figurine in this artifact appears consistent with the portrayal of Guanyin as a young man or woman. According to scholar Chun-fang Yu, artistic expressions of the Water Moon Guanyin often depict the deity in a relaxed “lalitasana” pose beside a pond or lake with the moon reflected in the water; the moon in the water is a metaphor for the Buddhist tenet of Śūnyatā. Given the devotional popularity of Guanyin in Asian, the Chinese pioneers not surprisingly brought the worship of the Bodhisattva to California, among other deities venerated in southern China.
My grandmother was 8 years old at the time of the great quake and fire, but she never spoke publicly about her experiences. Decades later, and when one of my cousins talked about sleeping in a tent during a family camping trip, my grandmother casually remarked to my Aunt Nim: “I’ve slept in a tent before.”
"Where?" my late Aunt Milly Lee inquired.
"Golden Gate Park, we were there for the earthquake.” The rest, as is often said, remains history and the inspiration for the children’s book, Earthquake.
The protagonist for the children’s book, Earthquake, by Milly Lee. As San Francisco's Hall of Records had been destroyed by quake and firet, a 10 year-old, Lily (a.k.a. Lillian) Hee, sat for this identification photo to accompany a 1908 affidavit (signed by Dr. Minnie Worley) to prove her birth in San Francisco Chinatown as a third-generation Californian.
[April 18, 2024]
The paperback edition of Earthquake may be purchased here.