Ho Yuke So was born on 17 November 1910. Her parents couldn't afford to keep her, so she and her sister were sold. Yuke So was sold as a maid to the Chan family from Sun Gai. Yuke So's daughter Florence recalls stories about old China. "When my mother was sold, she was very upset about it, that her father and mother would sell her! And that her brothers would allow it! "My grandmother [Yuke So's mother-in-law] had bound feet. Apparently, her feet were only about three inches! They would fit in a soya sauce dish, and of course she could never do anything." Yuke So became the third wife of Chan Him Chong (also known as Jack Chong), a fruiterer who was working at 365 Lake Road, Takapuna. Jack was born in 1883, making him 27 years older than Yuke So. He arrived in Wellington on 3 May 1906 on the Monowai. Poll tax no. 1896.