Jimmy Bo-Gar Chin was born on May 4, 1948, in Oakland, California's Chinatown. He was the youngest child of Chin Pak Yick and Tso Mee Shew. He was born into a large family with two older sisters, three older brothers, and nine living half-siblings for Pak Yick's first wife who passed away when she was 40-years-old. The baby of the family, he was five years younger than his closest sibling, and the only of his siblings to be born after both World War II and the Great Depression.
On January 10, 1954, Jimmy was hit by a car and died in front of the family's 326 7th Street home. He was five years and seven months old. His death was a crushing blow to the entire family especially his mother. Tucked into his youngest sister Rose's collection of family photographs are two images that together tell the story of that grief.
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This story is a follow-up to a previous post about my translation of a Chin family gravestone at the Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, California. The grave is shared by Jimmy; twin brothers who died within weeks of birth in 1924; and three adult siblings who died in old age. However, the emotional core of gravestone inscription is the family’s grief at Jimmy’s untimely death in 1954, a grief that is more apparent when seen across the three handwritten inscriptions on the photographs. |
The first photograph shows Jimmy with his mother on Christmas morning in 1953. In the second Jimmy poses with his siblings two days later against a brick wall. Written on each are poetic couplets — pressed heavily into the paper in blue ballpoint ink by Jimmy's father, Pak Yick. Taken together with the couplet carved on the gravestone, they form a remarkable triad of grief: public sorrow, private rage, and, finally, reflective acceptance.
The photo below shows Jimmy with his mother on Christmas Day 1953, 16 days before his tragic death.
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Jimmy with his mother, Tso Mee Shew December 25, 1953, 7th St House, Oakland, CA |
Across all three couplets, I offer a fairly direct translation that stays close the Chinese. In the "Notes on Translations" below, I provide a word-by-word glossary with Toisanese and Mandarin pronunciations, discuss any literary traditions and allusions, and offer an alternative lyrical translation that foregrounds the nuances of each couplet.
First Couplet: Jimmy’s name on a photo with his mother
It is Christmas morning. Jimmy sits in his pajamas next to his mother. His legs are stretched out as he happily holds a new book about "Bouncie Bear". A poetic couplet is written in the space between mother and son. The same words appear on the gravestone and cleverly incorporate Jimmy’s name Bo‑Gar (寶家) as the first character of each line.
寶骨深埋千載地
家身長卧萬年墳
Precious bones buried deep in the earth for a thousand years
The family lies down forever at the grave for ten thousand years
The lines written on the photo appears to be an early draft of the ones that appear on Jimmy's gravestone below:
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Jimmy Chin is buried along with twin brothers who died shortly after
birth and three sibilings who died in old age. |
寶骨悲留千古地
Precious bones sadly remain in the earth for eternity
家身慘掛萬年墳
The family tragically hangs over the grave for ten thousand years
This couplet express formal, monumental grief: the language of stone, first drafted in ink on this portrait of mother and son.
Second Couplet: Angry Accusations
Along the left margin of that same photo is a second, more raw inscription. Here the writer turns from dignified mourning to rage and blame:
西妖不仁害我子
天公何忍奪吾兒
Inhumane Western devils have slain my child
Pitiless Lord of Heaven, how can you have the heart to take my son?
This couplet names both earthly and cosmic culprits: the “Western devils” and a Heaven that allowed a small boy to die in front of his own home. “Western devils” reflects how Chinese immigrant parents in 1950s California might have experienced the white-dominated society around them—as dangerous, indifferent, even hostile to them. Addressing “Heaven” directly, it protests not only earthly injustice but also the cosmic unfairness of losing a son so young.
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Front: Jimmy, Fred, Dennis; Back: Allen, Rose, Mabel December 27, 1953, Oakland, CA |
Third Couplet: philosophical reflection
In this photograph, Jimmy stands outdoors with his five older siblings in front of a brick building. It is December 27, 1953. The picture is likely the last one taken of Jimmy before his death two weeks later. In the left margin appears a third couplet. The ink has faded almost completely from the first line, but the words can be made out from the deep indentions in the photographic paper:
往事如雲雲過眼
前塵若夢夢似烟
Past events are like clouds passing before my eyes
Bygone days are a dream that turns to smoke
Here the voice has shifted from protest to reflection. Jimmy’s death is no longer spoken of directly, but overshadows the mood. Although the date when this couplet was written is unknown, one might imagine that it was some time after the earlier inscriptions. The fury at "Western devils" is gone. Heaven is no longer confronted. What remains is the Buddhist-tinged recognition that everything — joy, sorrow, the lost boy himself — has become a cloud, a dream, or simply smoke.
About the Poet
Chin Pak Yick, came to the United States when he was 19 years old. He spent a few years at the Oakland's Lincoln School where received at most an 8th grade American education. He had a Chinese education equivalent to a strong classical secondary education, and his poetic craft was well above ordinary literacy. Pak Yick had sufficiently culturally fluent and had internalized the literary tools of several Chinese traditions enough to reach instinctively for them to express his grief in these couplets.
Notes on TranslationSorrow for 10,000 YearsThe lines written on the photo:
The lines written on Jimmy's gravestone:
Here is the word by word translation with the Hoisanese pronunciation/Mandarin Pinyin in parentheses:
Both couplet appear in the same register as late imperial gravestones, placing them inside a long-established Chinese memorial tradition. The initial translations of both hew closely to the literal meaning of the Chinese characters, while the alternative versions below renders them in more lyrical English and highlights the family’s enduring attachment across time: Couplet on Photo:
Couplet on Gravestone
The Gravestone version is packed with more meaning than the earlier draft. The sorrow and tragedy of Jimmy's death is made explicit. The change to 古 (ancient) stretches the poem to a mythical time scale. With 古, 千 transforms from a literal 1,000 years into an eternity, and the earth from simple ground to ancient, timeless soil. The family does not just passively rest at the grave. Now they hang and hover over it for ten thousand years. An Angry Cry to Heaven
Here is the word by word translation:
This couplet is more colloquial and historical with calls to Confucian ethical concepts of 仁 humaneness or benevolence. The term 西妖 western devil, is is a pejorative term common to the late-Qing and Republican period. While 天公 personified heaven is appears in both folk religion and classical texts. A more raw, direct translation fitting the poems tone might be:
Clouds drift before our eyes and dreams turn to smoke
Here is the word by word translation:
This couplet taps into a broad, recognizable, Chinese Buddhist and Chan/Zen lexicon of transience. For example, 塵 dust in Chinese Buddhist and Chan/Zen writing has spiritual meaning beyond literal dirt or earth.
The couplet also takes the well known 成語 four character idiom 過眼雲烟 and brings it to full poetic form. The idiom "smoke and clouds passing before the eyes" comes from a story by the Song dynasty writer Su Shi, who describes how his attitude toward paintings and other treasures changed over time. In his youth, he coveted fine artworks, worrying constantly about losing what he owned and envying what others possessed. As he grew older, he came to see this attachment as misplaced, because such objects are external and short‑lived compared to what truly matters in life. He writes that when he now sees something delightful, he may keep it for a while, but if it is taken away he no longer feels regret, treating it like “smoke and clouds passing before the eyes” and “birds brushing past the ears”—pleasant to encounter, but not to cling to. From this image of clouds and smoke that briefly cross one’s vision and then vanish, the idiom 过眼云烟 arose to describe things that are beautiful or striking yet fundamentally fleeting and insubstantial. A more nuanced and layered translation that maintains the word repetitions might yield:
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1 comment:
I should look through my Parents old pics too. I know I have seen some photos of Uncle Jimmy, maybe it’s in our file of pics.
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