Su-Jan Chan

Su-Jan Chan, 陳淑貞 was born in 1937 in the Shandong Province of China to her father Wen-Long, 文朗, a prominent shipping magnate, and her mother, Chee-O, 際娥, an heiress of a leading family of the Shandong province. Su-Jan was the eldest of seven children that included five younger brothers and one younger sister, and she was treasured from the moment of her birth, having had the good and unusual fortune of having been born into a patrilineal line that produced very few girls. She deeply loved her parents and had an especially strong bond with her father who enjoyed doting on his precious daughter. In her recollections, Su-Jan would tell her children of the many special outings and business excursions her father had taken her on as a young girl. Her happy childhood was interrupted by the Chinese Civil War. Persecuted for his wealth, her father knew he had to leave Shandong to save the family. On the day he was scheduled to depart Shandong, he was delayed by his grandmother’s premonition. That delay saved his life as he narrowly escaped capture, unlike his brothers who perished. The delay, however, also meant that he would have to board the last private ship that could take him safely to Hong Kong. On the day of departure, he was delayed again and ran to the docks to see that the ship had already pulled away. The captain, Wen-Long’s friend, having waited as long as he could, pulled anchor. But at the last minute, the captain spotted a Communist brigade in the distance charging toward the dock and saw Wen-Long, a sole figure waving wildly at the water’s edge. The captain backed the ship up just far enough for Wen-Long to jump aboard, narrowly escaping capture again. He arrived safely in Hong Kong with ten cents in his pocket, not enough for a trolly ride. He walked miles to meet up with his former butler who offered him and his family a place to stay.

Months later, he sent for his wife Chee-O and their children. Chee-O and the children traveled on a commercial ship from Shandong to Hong Kong. In her recollections, Su-Jan would tell the story of how they only had to buy one ticket for her mother and a half ticket for her, all the other children being too young to require a ticket. She also recounted how she and her siblings ran around the ship playing for months until they docked in Hong Kong.

Arriving in Hong Kong, Chee-O and the children joined Wen-Long in the unit in the back of their former butler’s property, a drastic change from their privileged life in Shandong. Su-Jan often said that her father thought of that time as one of the most carefree, not having to worry about kidnappings and other safety concerns. Within a matter of years, however, Wen-Long rose to prominence again, running a successful business empire including Ricky’s, a well-known Hong Kong restaurant, and a confectionary that made chocolate liqueurs. Her family enjoyed gracious living once again, retaining an extensive staff that at times included seven dog handlers, one for each of the family’s seven dogs.

In her Hong Kong years, Su-Jan blossomed into the beautiful, brilliant, practical, sporty and powerful person that she would become. She was well-known for her beauty as well as her scholastic excellence, consistently scoring at the top of her class. She was also unusual in that she was a star athlete. She competed in the decathlon and led the Hong Kong women’s basketball team to a championship match with Taiwan. At the last minute, the authorities held her back as the leader of the team in hopes to stop the team from going. Instead, her team had to play without her. She had a rich, strong singing voice that others recognized as exceptional for opera; but the opera lessons didn’t last long when it became clear she was tone deaf. She laughed about it often and did not let it stop her from singing to her children regularly.

After Su-Jan graduated from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in Economics, she was ready to go abroad. Her father tried to entice her to stay in Hong Kong with a new Bentley, but her adventurous, powerful spirit would not be contained. She was determined to seek her own future. For graduate school, she wanted to go somewhere beautiful and applied to the University of Hawaii but missed the deadline by one day. Instead, she ended up studying at a university in Switzerland. There she learned to ski and speak German and started a life-long love affair with cheese. Although her family had arranged for her to be married, she broke off both engagements and instead chose her own partner. She met Sui-Wah Chan, a PhD candidate at ETH Zurich. They married in 1966 and had their first child in Switzerland. She was the first Chinese baby ever born in that Swiss hospital and made the local news.

A few years later, the family moved to New York during Sui-Wah’s sabbatical year at an American university and after a year, they decided to stay in the United States. Their second daughter was born and the family moved to Michigan when Sui-Wah took a tenure tracked professorship. Their third daughter was born. Su-Jan often said that the early years when the three children were young and when her parents immigrated to Michigan were some of the happiest years of her life. She loved camping and was so happy when she finally bought her Chevy van that she outfitted it with beds so that the family could go cross country together in the van. The family moved to Massachusetts for a few years when Sui-Wah was awarded a Sloan Fellowship at MIT. They settled in Ann Arbor, Michigan from the 1990’s onward. During those years, Sui-Wah was invited to teach in Dalian, China, and the family was able to travel all over China including visiting Su-Jan’s hometown. In an adventure that encapsulates her spirit and mischief, Su-Jan dressed her children in local clothes and told them not to speak, lest their American Chinese accents gave them away. Then she and the children traveled all over China like locals to see how the “real people” lived. She always wanted to know about the lives of regular people in every place she visited, whether it was Turkey, South Africa, Hawaii, China, or Switzerland. She traveled the world trying to understand the human experience and she taught her children to be curious, bold and free.

To Su-Jan, her children were her greatest adventure and accomplishment. She loved being a mother and was as powerful, funny and lively as a mother as any other time in her life. She spoke with satisfaction when telling her girls about how she was the first generation in her maternal line not to have her feet bound. She was proud that her feet ended up being size 11’s despite her 5’4” frame. She’d often refer to her “feet” as a pun for her “fate,” one that was meant to be sturdy and strong. And she imparted that strength of character to her children. Shhttps://admin.mem.com/sso/newde/10660646#keepsake/webdisplaye told her children to “build their own kingdoms” and stand on their own feet. She was so proud of her children and always believed in them no matter what obstacles they faced. In later life, Su-Jan reveled in being the grandmother of Bo, Ahn and Alexandra.

Su-Jan Chan was an elegant woman who loved to go barefoot. She was someone with a beautiful voice who would sing to her children despite being tone deaf. She was a beauty queen who hated make up and nail polish, a strong athlete who had a number of health issues. She was a person of few words who married a Cantonese person of many words. She was a fiercely independent person who was deeply committed to her husband. She was an adventurer and successful businesswoman who loved nothing more than being a stay-at-home mom. She was the guiding force of character, strength and direction in her family despite having no actual sense of direction. She was a unique, brilliant, practical person whose many facets and contradictions combined in the most beautiful ways to make her beloved by so many. She is survived by her loving husband of 56 years, Sui-Wah, their three children Ming, Tung (Jeffrey) and Kinn (Jose), and their three beloved grandchildren Bo, Ahn and Alexandra.

Her family deeply loves and misses her and continues to feel her presence every day.