Xiamen
Saturday, December 15, 2007

My parents just came back moments ago. My friends quickly hustled themselves out the front door, and for that i felt quite bad. Well, they got me one DVD collection of The World At War, which covers many aspects of WW2 in detail through footage and interviews. They also got me Enemy At The Gates, a movie both my parents and Mark had highly recommended me to watch. Well, enough of that. Here is a picture of my extended family from Xiamen, China, with whom i have yet to meet.


Here are some people who catch my eye; from right to left, top to bottom. In another picture of the same photograph, (For some reason four pictures were taken of the same setting. This was the best. One of them had a bit of indecent exposure...) you will see that the man with the red and white cap seems to don what looks like a PLA shirt. The PLA's distruptive camouflage pattern is highly distinct due to its bright colour depictions. Wonder if he is an enlistee. In theory, all males at a certain age are supposed to enlist. Really! But i guess the vast country makes it impossible and unecessary to hunt down runners.


Next in line is the teenage boy who stands at the left hand end. Apparently 'in' hairstyles easily travel cross-country. He has that ubiquitous hairstyle that one can always find in Singapore for sure. We come to the second row, the person in the blue garment- i can't tell whether its a he or she, although it is in no means targeted as an insult. Standing porud and tall in the middle is my Singaporean aunt, apparently wealthy from her business selling movie-grade cameras.
Down the row we have a little girl whom my parents say was very cute and precocious, kind and bubbly. She's the one wearing the pink dress. Yep. She looks like a cute tiny tot. close to her is Teng Soon, The family head. I actually spoke to him before, when he called from his home in Xiamen to speak to my dad, who wasn't in. He asked me to deliver a message but i could not understand much of it. Not because of the heavy Mainland accent, but because... well, my Chinese isn't well oiled. His wife sits next to him. Close by, we have a teenage girl who looks like any other Singaporean girl...


Well, i must say. The family unit is indeed an attractive one. Look and see, generations of all ages are present, a baby, infants, a child boy, teenagers, grown-ups and finally, the oldest generation. Below are some other pictures. Annotated, as usual.

This picture can look as such. My aunt is a landlord demanding the money from the poor tenants. Yeah. I'm bored.
Here is proof that the girl indeed is precocious.
Here are the fine makings of a PLA soldier. Chiseled chin, squinty eyes. Can they come by any finer? Lol...
This picture speaks of one word: China.

posted by joseph at 7:12 PM

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