My first encounter of Ziao Fong Hsia's name was during my visit to the Rochester School for the Deaf (RSD) Archives in March 2013. I read the article in the NTID magazine and saw the oil painting which Hsia did for Zenas Freeman Westervelt (Principal of RSD, 1876-1918) as well as the brief info below the painting:
1909 summer. Mrs. Mills took Hsia, age 9, to RSD.
1920 Hsia graduated from RSD.
1921 Enrolled at Rochester Athenaeum & Mechanics Institute, today's Rochester Institute of Technology.
1923 Graduated.
1924 Returned to China. First worked as a drafter at an architect firm, then as an accountant at the Chinese Customs Headquarters in Shanghai.
At that time, I thought Hsia stayed in China and only re-established contact with RSD when China re-opened in the early 1970s. Recently, I happened to find Hsia's immigration record dated April 26, 1955 and his family tree.
This card has Alien Registration Number A7390163, also called Green Card number. However, this is not a Green Card. This card was issued at the US District Court in Brooklyn, NY, which should be the location where Hsia swore to naturalize to become a US citizen. According to the US immigration procedures, a Green Card, also called Legal Permanent Residence, was issued approximately one month after a successful interview at the US Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS under Department of State, now ICE under Department of Homeland Security). After obtaining a Green Card for six years, a person can apply to naturalize. The sworn-in ceremony must be held at a courthouse or a place of similar status. The naturalization certificate is usually issued on site. It appears that this card is like a receipt. The formal certificate was mailed to Hsia later.
The card was dated April 26, 1955, which implies that Hsia had obtained U.S. Legal Permanent Residence six years ago in 1949 or earlier.
Why was Hsia so peculiar that he could leave China for a good education and life in the States in as early as 1909? A History of Seven Chinese Christian Families and Sino-West Exchanges by York Lo furnishes the answer.
Ziao Fong Hsia (left) and his younger brother, a Cornell-educated civil engineer, in Peking, China, 1924.)
Source: 羅元旭，《東成西就: 七個華人基督教家族與中西交流百年》。
Both the paternal and maternal grandfathers of Hsia Ziao Fong were Protestant church ministers in the city of Ningbo, Zhejiang Province. His father was a high ranking official with the Imperial Chinese Customs Service, then managed by American and British people. His mother was sister of Zhengting Wang (ZT Wang, 1882-1961), a Yale law school graduate and former ambassador to the United States . Among the seven children, Ziao Fong was the oldest.
According to York Lo's book, ZF's father sent him to the Yentai deaf school when he was 7. Two years later, ZF enrolled at RSD. Upon returning back to China, ZF worked as at a construction firm as an engineer, then as an accountant at the Chinese Customs Service. In the later years, ZF lived in Philadelphia. As recalled by his relatives, ZF was adept with financial investments and enjoyed a comfortable life in the States.
In 1920, Silent Worker, a magazine in Trenton, New Jersey, published an essay by ZF, who just graduated from RSD.
According to ZF, he became deaf at 1 year old due to tyhoid fever. He further stated: "I was none the less loved and cared for; my parents did not look upon me as a child possessed of an evil spirit; they did not expect me to bring distress and bad luck upon the rest of the family." ZF's father successfully taught the son Chinese language, arithmatics and geography. The only disappointment was ZF's inability to speak. When ZF was 7, his father located a school in Yentai, Shantung Province, and took him over there, where the elder Hsia witnessed the deaf children on campus speaking to each other. He asked Mrs. Mills, the school's founder and principal, to show him how to teach ZF to speak. Mills successfully taught ZF to say "fu" (father in Chinese), which caused the elder Hsia to weep. As a result, ZF was left to Mrs. Mills' care. Two years later, Mills took ZF to Rochester, New York.
Ziao Fong Hsia at Rochester School for the Deaf.
Cover of Silent Worker, November 1920. It reports about Mrs. Mills' return to China.
Upon enrolling in RSD, he "immediately became popular among his classmates and teachers, excelling in his studies each year until graduating from high school." ZF spent a total of 11 years at RSD.
In 1921, ZF "entered the School of Applied and Fine Arts at the Rochester Athenaeum and Mechanics Institute, the forerunner of the present day RIT. He marticulated into the teachers' training course for three years of study in craft education, including design and color, drawing, and metal and jewelry work. He also made a special study of photography through classes taught at the Eastman Kodak Company. To satisfy requirements for his graduation, he conducted afternoon classes in metal work at RSD."
In 1923, he "ranked high among his class of 120 graduates of the Institute" and was elected into a honors society for his academic excellence. The yearbook's humorous caption says:
"Gaze for a moment upon the future ruler of China. This is hard for you to believe, we know, but that is the truth. Course everyone doesn't know this but one of our clever reporters managed to get hold of it as first hand information. Being a very likely chap in the art, catch as catch can, he has thoroughly convinced us that he will make a success as ruler of China."
First Presbyterian Church, Rochester.
23 Spring Street, Rochester, NY 14608.
After the commencement held at the First Presbyterian Church in Rochester in June, 1924, ZF returned to China. Five years later, a newspaper in Shanghai had such a report about him: "Upon returning home, ZF passed an exam and serves as a clerk at the Customs Service. His English is excellent. He can also write and types with proficiency. His supervisor loves him so much so that ZF was promised lifetime employment. A disabled person should be proud of this accomplishment."
The paper also reported ZF's wedding administered by Ambassador Wang Zhenting.
During the late 1940s, civil war erupted in China, followed up economical collapse. ZF moved the United States and obtained legal permanent residence. He first stayed with relatives in Philadelphia, then moved to Brooklyn after diagnosis of colon cancer. According to relatives, he was alone and lonely. He missed his wife who was left in China. Once US citizenship was obtained, he applied his wife to join him. They settled down in Los Angeles. Relatives recalled that ZF could lipread both Chinese and English proficiently, albeit spoke with a monotone. In addition, ZF was congenial and loved to play with children.
33 South Portland Avenue, Brooklyn, New York. (The left one with fire escape stairs.) ZF lived here in 1955. Built in 1899, around the time when ZF was born in China, it has 4000 sq ft and a current fair market value of $4.2M.
ZF and his wife did not have children. Wife died of heart disease early. ZF expressed his desire to return to China but it did not work out for him.
According to the RSD archives, ZF kept in touch with classmates and teachers over the years. His last letter was dated May 27, 1979, apologizing for the inability of attending the alma mater's 75th anniversary due to poor health.
ZF died of lung cancer in 1983.
Acknowledgments:
ZF's relatives, Dr. Norma Mai Tsen Wang Braun, Dr. Robert Lin and Mrs. Carolyn Hsu-Balcer, genorously shared a tremendous amount of information.
Dr. Norma Mai Tsen Wang Braun is granddaugther of Ambassador ZT Wang. In the 1950s, her mother, Jean Soltys, of Polish descendant, owned a restaurant and raised five children in Philadelphia. ZF stayed with them before moving away to Brooklyn, New York.
Dr. Robert Lin's mother Anchen Wang was ZT Wang's niece. Dr. Lin's father Hung C. Lin was a professor in electrical engineering at the University of Maryland in College Park. ZF frequently visited the Lin family in Levittown, PA and Silver Spring, MD.
Mrs. Carolyn Hsu-Balcer's mother's great grandfather 夏光耀牧師 was ZF's grandfather.
Her great grandmother's sister was married to ZT Wang's son.
Photos of ZF in the States
R to L: ZF, Dr. Hung C. Lin, Mrs. Anchen Lin, Robert Lin, Anchen's mother, etc.
At the Lin residence, Levittown, PA, 1954-55.
ZF is located slightly left at the top row.
Location: Riverside Church, near Columbia University. 1954-55.
L to R: ZF, Mrs.Anchen Lin, Robert Lin's younger brother, Anchen's mother, Robert Lin.
Location: Plymouth Harbor, MA. Background was replicate of Mayflower.
1956-57.
ZF Hsia at Dr. Hung C. Lin's residence in Silver Spring, MD. March 1970.
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