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Coming Full Circle - a return to Chinese origins

Theme Book : Beneath the Banyan Tree, my family chronicles
Speaker : Mrs Cornelia (Nelly) Lichauco Fung
Moderator: Dr Anthony Ferguson (Consultant for the Joint University Research Archive)
Date : 20 January 2011 (Friday)
Time : 7:15 - 9:00 pm
Venue : Special Collections, 1/F, Main Library, The University of Hong Kong
Language : English

 

About the Speaker

Cornelia (Nelly) Lichauco Fung is the eldest daughter of the late Philippine Ambassador Marcial Lichauco and his Cuban-American wife, Jessie Coe. Born in the Philippines she was educated at Maryknoll before proceeding to England for pre-university A-level studies at the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Wellesley College in Massachusetts and subsequently pursued post-graduate studies at the School of Education, London University.

 

Nelly Fung has lived in Hong Kong for over forty years. During that time her work in the community led her to be one of the founders of the Hong Kong International Music and Arts Festival which subsequently led to the formation of the HK Arts Festival. Together with her husband, Kenneth Hing Cheung Fung, she was involved with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Society. She was the Executive Director of the Society for the Promotion of Hospice Care, and is a member of the Maryknoll Medical and Welfare Association. Her educational interests and vision led her to be a founder of the Chinese International School and the ISF Academy in Hong Kong.

 

About the Book

book cover

“Beneath the Banyan Tree” is a daughter’s personal account of her family’s story through four generations and a turbulent era. The tale begins during the Spanish colonial period, and continues through the Philippine Revolution. It recounts the violent struggle and pacification by the Americans, as well as the gradual evolution of a nation’s democratic structure interrupted by the tragedy of the Second World War, and ultimately the achievement of Philippine independence.

 

It is also the personal story of a family, told simply, with candor and affection. As the Filipino identity and a sense of nationhood was forged in the Philippines, the Lichauco family played a role in the creation of the nation. Beginning with the coming of her Chinese ancestor Thomas Lichauco from Tongan, in Fujian Province in the early 19th century, and her Spanish antecedents from Galicia, the author traces the multi-racial and multi-cultural tapestry that created the blending of eastern and western elements of her family. It begins with the story of Cornelia Laochangco Lichauco, a strong woman who laid family foundations and kept them intact. It describes the increasingly important role of the Chinese mestizo in the economic, social and political development of the nation. It ends by describing the life and career of the author’s father, Ambassador Marcial Lichauco who was a passionate and vocal proponent of Philippine independence.