Mo-li & Her Family
After Mo-li and Han Liang's separation, Mo-li returned to live with her mother, her #5 sister Rhoda, and Rhoda's young son, Julian Suez.
The family's original house, on the vast Commercial Press compound, had been destroyed during the 1932 bombing of Shanghai. It's not known where Mo-li's mother was living when she rejoined them, but by coincidence, they would move to Yuyuen Road very close to the Huang house for several years during the early part of the Japanese occupation, during pretty much exactly the same that the Huang family was in Hong Kong (1937 to 1942).
Mo-li didn’t hide away. Han Ho’s family would periodically see her at the American Community Church. Apparently, she even traveled to the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, where a Republic of China team competed seriously for the first time as a show of national honor. The How family descendants speculate that the fact that she could make such a trip is evidence that she was amply provided for by Han Liang. Capable #2 sister Ruth apparently helped manage Mo-li's finances.
The family's original house, on the vast Commercial Press compound, had been destroyed during the 1932 bombing of Shanghai. It's not known where Mo-li's mother was living when she rejoined them, but by coincidence, they would move to Yuyuen Road very close to the Huang house for several years during the early part of the Japanese occupation, during pretty much exactly the same that the Huang family was in Hong Kong (1937 to 1942).
Mo-li didn’t hide away. Han Ho’s family would periodically see her at the American Community Church. Apparently, she even traveled to the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, where a Republic of China team competed seriously for the first time as a show of national honor. The How family descendants speculate that the fact that she could make such a trip is evidence that she was amply provided for by Han Liang. Capable #2 sister Ruth apparently helped manage Mo-li's finances.
The last time the How siblings were all together in 1933 or 1934. The unmarried sisters stand at the back in the middle, left to right: #6 Loo-ming, #3 Louise and #8 Loo-yuin. The others are, left to right: #7 Loo-ing & Wang Gongfang (王恭芳), #4 Loo-mei & Nelson Chiang with son Louis, #1 Mo-li, their mother, baby Julian Suez, Bang How & Rose Ng-Quinn with daughter Julie, #2 Ruth, #5 Rhoda & Albert Suez (courtesy of J Suez)
THE HOW SISTERS
Some of the How sisters used their Chinese names, as did Mo-li, while others went by their English names. Their educational choices were similarly mixed. They attended the McTyeire School – the Chinese name of which made clear its hybrid nature: 中西女校 Zhongxi Nüxiao, lit. "Chinese-Western Girls' School") – just like the Soong sisters and later Han Liang and Zing Wei's daughter May. Afterwards, some of the How daughters went on to study abroad: Mo-li to Simmons College, Ruth to the New England Conservatory, Louise to Oberlin, Loo-mei to Julliard. Rhoda and Loo-yuin attended the missionary-run University of Shanghai.
Some of the How sisters used their Chinese names, as did Mo-li, while others went by their English names. Their educational choices were similarly mixed. They attended the McTyeire School – the Chinese name of which made clear its hybrid nature: 中西女校 Zhongxi Nüxiao, lit. "Chinese-Western Girls' School") – just like the Soong sisters and later Han Liang and Zing Wei's daughter May. Afterwards, some of the How daughters went on to study abroad: Mo-li to Simmons College, Ruth to the New England Conservatory, Louise to Oberlin, Loo-mei to Julliard. Rhoda and Loo-yuin attended the missionary-run University of Shanghai.
Louise How, 1918 (albums of LH Quon)
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Miss Ruth How, 1921 (albums of LH Quon)
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In photos, they always organized themselves in odd/even groups to help with identification. The following photos are mirror-image arrangements:
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In the later photo, they are arranged thus:
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Left top: #8 Loo-ming, #6 Loo-yuin
Left bottom: #4 Loo-mei, #2 Ruth |
Right top: #5 Rhoda, #7 Lydia
Right bottom: #1 Mo-li, #3 Louise |
Despite the large size of their family, the siblings had relatively few children and there are no descendants surnamed How. Bang's one child, Julie Lien-ying How, became a noted China scholar but sadly died at a young age. It's believed that all or most of the How descendants now live in the US.
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#1 Mo-li 茉莉 (Mary), b. 1900
#2 Ruth (Loo-tuh 璐德), b. 1901 #3 Louise (Loo-yee 璐懿), b. 1903 – 1 child #4 Loo-mei 璐梅 (Salome), b. 1904 – 2 children |
#5 Rhoda (Loo-ya 璐雅), b. 1905 – 1 child
#6 Loo-yuin 璐韵, b. 1906 – 3 children #7 Lydia (Loo-ing 璐瑛), b. 1909 #8 Loo-ming 璐敏, b. 1911 |
Mo-li with nieces and nephews, Easter 1937. Left to right: Louis Chiang, Julie How, Julian Suez, Mo-li, Paul Chiang, another nephew, and Sydney Ng-Quinn's #7 daughter Rose, who was named after #7 Aunt Rose, Bang's wife. Young Rose spent an extended period during the war out of Hong Kong with her relatives in Shanghai (courtesy of J. Suez)
#4 Loo-mei's husband Nelson Chiang, Mo-li and Ruth, late 1930s (courtesy of J Suez)
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Mo-li is front row far right at an unknown event; sister-in-law Rose, Bang's wife, is 2nd row, 2nd from left with her hair in a fringe; is the woman in the front, row 4th from left, Aileen Pei? (courtesy of J Suez)
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MO-LI'S HEALTH
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A trip to Berlin would suggest that Mo-li's ailment, epilepsy or whatever exactly it was, was manageable. In the 1980s, Aileen Pei, second wife of widowed banker Pei Tsu-yee, spoke of how she had seen Mo-li have some kind of fit many years before. Unfortunately I didn't know enough about the family history at the time to ask more questions.
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None of the photos on this page suggest that Mo-li's ill health was such that it prevented her from taking part in all kinds of daily activities.
However, Mo-li died in Shanghai in about 1957 or 1958 while still in her fifties. |
