Ed Tsang

Water Roadway
My mother poetically referred to the course of life as a water roadway, the past, present, and future intrinsically flowing.

As a second–generation Chinese-American, I reminisce and reflect on my parent’s journey. Their journey is one like many other Chinese families that escaped China to seek a better life. I believe my parent’s binding love and commitment to each other overcame the separation of war, the loneliness of segregation, and the challenges to live by one’s own means in a world that is vastly different from where they were born.   

My father served on shipping vessels as cook and steward as they sailed the oceans and seas. When he shipped out and later landed in New York City, little did he know he would not see his wife and children again for 13 years. Imperial Japan attacked Hong Kong the day after Pearl Harbor, and my father enlisted in the US Army as the only Chinese person in his unit of nearly 200 soldiers and officers. My mother learned how to barter fruits, vegetables, and fish as she labored to deliver goods. Her determination and shrewdness afforded her a tidy sum enough to invest in real estate.   

From Hong Kong to Brooklyn to Honolulu, these images reflect a few memories along that deep and meandering “water roadway” in the shadow of my parents.