Where Does Your Family Fit Project
Devin Chang
Lots of kids... lots
My great grandmother, Chen Jin Lien (Lin), was born in Dongang, Taiwan on March 24th, 1917 and passed away in Kaoshiung, Taiwan in 2011 of multiple organ failures.
From 1895-1945, Taiwan and its neighboring island of Penghu, was part of the Empire of Japan. My great grandmother, went to an all-girls college in Japan, which was common for the social "elite". In 1935, she married my great grandfather, Chen Xiang Lin (passed away in the 80s). And in 1936, she gave birth to her first child out of ten, Chen Li Hua (Li), and a year later, in 1937, she gave birth to my grandmother, Juihwa Chen (Hsieh).
Taiwan's Governer's Palace (now the capitol) in 1937
Important Events that happened during my great grandmother's life
In the same year that my grandmother was born (1937) and my great grandmother was 20, tragedy struck the city of Nanjing in China. In the December of 1937, the city of Nanjing, China, was brutally pillaged by Japanese troops, taking the lives of an estimated 40-300,000 civilians. The "Rape of Nanjing" or the "Nanjing Massacre" was so ridiculous and inhumane that Japanese soldiers would hold competitions on "who could cut down the most people". Luckily for my great grandmother, she would not have to witness the horrors that were happening in Nanjing as Taiwan was part of the Japanese Empire.
Assuming my great grandmother didn't disappear from Taiwan or from Earth, she would have seen the iPhone. The iPhone, which was introduced in 2007, as we all know, is possibly the most innovative and ingenious piece of glass and metal ever. You can maybe even do this entire project on it.
Taiwanese Family in 1930s
School Auditorium in 1930s
during Japanese occupation
Train Station built in Taihoku (Taipei)
Later years and Passing
As I never really met her until 2005 when I was only about 4 , I never really knew my great grandmother personally. Language barriers also played a key role as she only spoke Taiwanese, and at the time I couldn't speak any Chinese or Taiwanese. It was not until 2009-2011 when I really met her because I was in Taiwan learning Chinese. She passed away sometime in April of 2011 from "Multiple Organ Failures".