(1) My Father told me that a Great Grandfather of mine was captured and killed by Chinese sea Pirates. The details of it weren't so clear.

(2) My Great Grandfather on my Grandfather's side was known throughout his province to have been a highly regarded physician. During the Chinese Cultural Revolution from 1966, his rebellion against the Communist Party was suppressed after the defeat of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in 1950. In consequence, his titles as a doctor were stripped from him and forced to carry out manual labour. He ended his life early, perhaps on account of dishonour and humiliation.

(3) Ye Ye (Dad's father) worked as an agriculture minister, which at the time was a rather notable career. He doesn't leave his house too often anymore, apart from a short walk to retrieve his daily newspaper.

(4) My Great Grandmother on my Mother's side was a nurse. She was said to have always carried with her a very large diamond in case of emergencies.

(5) Wai Gong (Mum's father) was an English teacher for most of his life. One time as a gift for teaching, he received a cotton blanket with a picturesque sunset and boats. It was given to me since birth and has since been used as a blankie.

(6) Nai Nai (Dad's mother) keeps occupied with her plants. In recent times, she has maintained an entire balcony of Queen of the night flowers (a flower that blooms only once for a few hours late at night), dries them out and uses it for a soup base.

(7) Wai Po (Mum's mother) rough hands are the result of  constant domestic duties. Besides giving effective back rubs, they are hands that continually give and rarely take.

(8) It has always been noted that my rather large chin resembles that of Gu Gu (Dad's older Sister).

(9) During dinner, my father repeatedly recalls moments within his childhood. Of such, he vividly recounts a time where he stole a turnip from a farm.

(10) Da Yi's (Mum's older sister) subscription to faith is one of the strongest I have witnessed. Despite my unresolved relationship with religion, I have held on to a kitsch-looking cross that she gifted me.

(11) One time when my Shu Shu (Dad's younger brother) had a mouth ulcer, he would always resolve into using the traditional Chinese herbal remedy Pi Pa Gao.

(12) As a child, I would make my mother tell bedtime stories. Of them, my favourite was the story of a monkey's search for Chocolate, where the twist was that the conclusion that the monkey continually arrived at was that

OBJECTS OF MEMORY

 of a pear. Reason being that it was a result of a language play with Chinese homophones where the word chocolate when said a specific way sounds like  'pick a pear'.

(13) Xia Po Po, shrimp man, was an alter ego that Jiu Jiu (Mum's younger brother) adopted and used as a scare device against my brother and I.

(14) Mei Yi (Mum's younger sister) on a recent visit had comically and unintentionally expressed that she wanted to assist in the kitchen as a 'Chicken Hand'.

(15) My eldest cousin (Qing Qing) use to always brush my hair, a time when it once resembled a bird's nest.

(16) I, myself recently discovered that what I once thought to have been given the name 'Joy' by my Grandfather was in fact untrue. Rather it turned out my mother had named me after a pink plastic stool she brought from a dollar store which had the quote 'Joy Happy Forever'. I am yet to live up to it.

(17) It's been about a decade  since I had last spoken to Chong Chong (Cousin), who is roughly about the same age as me and who also studies design. There was a brief period in our lives where the Nintendo Gameboy SP had held a significant place within my childhood recollections.

(18) Despite being the world's best sister, I would use to play tricks on my brother when we were young. One time I

went so far as to trick him into sitting on a thumb tack. It was safe to say that I deserved the punishment received.

(19) Angel (Cousin) had made me a blue and white loom band that resembled the rings of Saturn.

(20) Wang Wang (Cousin) was a rather spoilt child. One time, we would use to watch Spongebob Squarepants continuously on loop until he felt like it was enough.

(21) My youngest Cousin's (Rose) Chinese name was used one car ride for a rhyming game. I came up with the phrase: "Tong Tong Bong Bong on Hong Ma Tong" which roughly translates to Rose is taking a poo on a traditional Chinese red toilet.