The photograph that changed Charles Wong's life went on display Friday July 16 at the Chinese American Museum in Los Angeles. It is a small black-and-white portrait of a somber woman, a little boy in a new suit and a handsome youth on the cusp of manhood.
Wong found the family portrait -- his family portrait -- tucked in a suitcase, hidden in a closet, on the day his father, Gun Chown Wong, was buried. The woman in the photo was his mother, Jook Sue. The boy was Wong himself, 6 and scared. And the young man? He was the family secret.
In 1935, Gun Chown boarded the U.S. liner Coolidge and headed to Los Angeles, leaving his family behind in the Chinese village of Hoi-Seun. His first stop was Angel Island, the notorious immigration station in San Francisco Bay, which processed more than a million immigrants before closing in 1940.
By the time the Wong family could afford to reunite, Angel Island was history. So Jook Sue took her two sons to Hong Kong, where she was interviewed repeatedly by immigration officials, where she was finally granted permission to fly west. Charles was allowed to go with his mother. But Liang, 18, was denied entry. Forced to stay behind, he eventually jumped to his death from a five-story building. His family never spoke of him again.
The immigration station opened 100 years ago, and the exhibit highlights the stories of Angelenos who entered America through its doors. "Remembering Angel Island" is on view through May 29. (Source: Maria L. La Ganga, Los Angeles Times, Jul 18, 2010).