Chan Sun Teem, 1885-1955

Chan Sun Teem was the adopted son of Chun Yee Hop and Lei Yim Yung.

The younger Chun children called him Teem Gaw (older brother Teem) or Baak Mo (white hair), because he had white hair from a very early age.

Sun Teem's story is very interesting. He was very tall, and that was because he wasn't Cantonese. The story the older Chun sisters tell is that Sun Teem came from the Yang Tze river area. Aunty Rosie, however, said he came from Guangxi. When he was a baby the area he was in was struck by a drought-induced famine. In desperation his parents put him in a floating basket and sent him down the river - like Moses, hoping someone would pick him up and look after him. Because of the drought the river was very slow and shallow. That was how Sun Teem was rescued.

His white hair is said to have been the result of a vitamin deficiency caused by his mother's malnutrition during her pregnancy.

How he came to be in Guangdong, and he came to be adopted by Yee Hop and Yim Yung, is unknown. But we do know that he was born in 1885, and that he must have been in Jung Seng around 1912 because his son, Hum Mung, was born in 1913. There was another daughter apparently, but like her mother she never came to New Zealand.

We don't know when Sun Teem came to New Zealand, but Hum Mung came here in 1925 and he was only 12. Presumably his Dad was either already here or he came with him. At any rate, it was Sun Teem who looked after the shop in 1929 when the rest of the famlly went back to China so the younger children could get a Chinese education.

Sun Teem spent time both in China and in New Zealand, where he set up in Masterton. Doris said that when he went back to China he worked in a fireworks factory. She also said that before his final return to China as an old man, he told her the family history because he was worried that it would be lost.

When Nigel and I went back to Sai Jo village in 2001, we got shown the two Chun houses. One was where Yee Hop lived, and the other was where Sun Teem lived. When we went in there were pictures of Sun Teem and his wife on the family altar.

I have photos of this but I can't get my scanner to work.

Jack and Annie - do you want to help me out here? I'm sure you've got stories of your Gung and other family members you may want to post. I can give you access. Kirsten