"Shew Shee [Sue She], my mother, was not given a name but called Ngee Goo in the village and Ma by our family in New Zealand. She was born in February 1901 (the year of the ox), just after Chinese New Year, in the market village of Nam Mun, in the district of Dai Chung, where all people spoke Loong Du -- a non-Cantonese dialect. That was our mother tongue when she brought us up in New Zealand. Ma was the second eldest of a family of three daughters and two sons born to Sue Lum. "Her father had a meat stall at the local market and was a seller of fresh pork. He died when she was about 12 or 13 years old. Ma told me that they frequented the local tea shops, where he smoked opium. "After her father died, Ma left Nam Mun and spent a few years with a Luma aunt in On Tong, her mother's village. She did not return to Nam Mun until she was 18.