Ou Shee, also known as Mary Ou Shee Ngan, was born in 1917 in Singapore. When she was 12, she moved to her family village Sel Goong (Sou Gau Leng), in Poon Yue County, Canton. Ou Shee was only 14 when she became the third wife of Ngan Kwang 顔挺光 from Sha Choong and Yuen Har, Poon Yue. Ngan Ting was in his forties, a 'New Gold Mountain Man' working as a fruiterer in Wellington. Known as the Canton Operation, the Japanese invade southern China between October and December 1938. Sha Choong village is only about 10 kilometres from the port. Ou Shee and her stepson Sui Foong hear the planes overhead; they can see palls of smoke and hear the bombing of Canton's railway station, the port, and factories in the distance!