Of all the places in Brandon , this research station came into my memory the earliest Almost as soon as I moved to Brandon from China , I got to know there was a such a beautiful place called Brandon Research Station. Most because of a few research scientists who worked for the station and whose path I incidentally came across. Among them was Dr. Chow whom I met the very second day I came to Brandon on the occasion of a local Chinese picnic outing. Dr. Chow was retired then already and he got my attention right away because of his unique accident when he started to speak Mandarin which betrayed him as a native form the part of China that I had just came from! Through further introduction I realised that Dr. Chow was a native of a place very very close to the city where I had worked as a high school teacher for over a decade, and also I found out he moved to North Amercia from Taiwan directly after having left Mainland China prior to its fall to the communist rule in the 40s. On that occasion I met both he and his wife. At that time in early 90s , Mainland Chinese community was barely in existence in Brandon , and therefore, I was invited a few times by them to their home for dinner during the following days.It was not until almost a year later on one visit to their Brandon home, Mrs Chow showed me their family photo album before the dinner. As I leafed through this album of theirs, one particular photo in the album just totally caught me literally by surprise and disbelieve! There is this picture of somebody who has been a close friend to my family for 4 decades! Mr. Zhengwen Chow , a close friend to my Aunt in Shanghai, and my grandmother his god mother! I could not believe my eyes, and for an instant I thought I may have misidentified somebody who bears a close resemblance accidentally until I saw right on the wall of the photo of him was the indisputable oil painting by my own uncle which my aunt had given to him as a gift! I asked Mrs Chow how on earth they got a picture of Zhengwen! She was equally astonished asking me how could I possibly knew her husband Dr. Chow's only cousin in Mainland China! What a small world! Apparently Zhengwen had lost contact with them for long , and prior to the digital ages, communication oversea was not that easy! Now so many years have passed since that encounter , both Mr. and Mrs Chow have passed away , so has Zhengwen Chow , who was a novelist
playwright , and a poet in his life time who suffered a lot and was sent to labour camp for a few years during the communist years in mainland China. It was Zhengwen who opened my early eyes to the free and beautiful world of North America in the 70s in Shanghai. I will never ever forget how we listened together one night in my aunt's home in Shanghai on a worn out record the first time for me , the Beautiful Dreamer by Stephen Foster
Beautiful dreamer, wake unto me,
Starlight and dewdrops are waiting for thee;
Sounds of the rude world, heard in the day,
Lull'd by the moonlight have all passed away!
Beautiful dreamer, queen of my song,
List while I woo thee with soft melody;
Gone are the cares of life's busy throng,
Beautiful dreamer, awake unto me!
Beautiful dreamer, awake unto me!
That very moment from the dark age in China, I started to dream! I was 18 years old then.
