My grandad often took me with him for breakfast in a tea house in the morning in Kowloon City. After breakfast we would watch the airport being built there, then walk all the way home. That was three whole miles, and I was only three.
Man Chiu Leung
我阿爺個係咕哩頭嚟嘅。嗰時D咕哩頭搵到錢就嫖、賭、飲、盪、吹。我阿爺就醒，唔會亂洗錢，識比D仔女供書教學。我阿爸33年皇仁書院畢業之後入殖民地政府做clerk。39年打仗就入左merchant navy行船，之後喺越南識左我阿媽。阿爸成日話你好彩呀，行船成日有炸彈但炸佢唔死，之後帶埋我呀媽返香港，你係抱住返嚟嘅，如果唔係你都唔知喺邊。我細個住廟街。耐不時同阿爺去九龍城飲茶，飲完茶之後睇佢地起機場。嗰時我3歲咋，睇完就一口氣同阿爺行返廟街，成3里路。D人個個都話「嘩釗仔神童呀，行到咁遠嘅？」
我阿爺同D世叔伯好打得㗎。佢哋打洪拳。我十幾歲嗰陣都有跟師父學螳螂拳。石堅D武打片，我有跟D師兄弟去做吓咖哩啡。不過好耐無練啦。上年情人節我喺seacroft表演武術咪螳螂劍囉！我個對手攞把金錢劍，我攞把大刀係有伸縮機關嘅。一劍插落去都幾有戲劇性㗎。
我都同阿爸一樣讀皇仁。FORM 5畢業之後就聽阿爸識去公記讀紡織。D FRIEND話我「死仔梁文釗有大學唔讀走去讀公記」。咁我又好聽阿爸話。我阿爸宜家過左身，但之前同佢傾電話，我個仔聽到就問我，你做咩淨係咁話yes yes yes咁嘅。我話係呀，對住阿爸唔會no no no。我個仔係BBC，唔識講中文。初初嚟到英國嗰陣，一填Form就容影引起誤會啦。D人問我First name係咩我就話係釗，但後來佢地發現我叫”文釗”就話我first name應該係”文”MAN，唔係釗。次後嗰廿年當我話我係Man，D人就話你梗係Man啦！當我話我1946年出世，D人又當我講笑。我個樣生得後生呀！我有廣東話翻譯牌，88年Leeds同杭州結姊妹城，我嗰陣幫Leeds Council接待杭州外賓。不過我D普通話麻麻。我係第一個用廣東話教food hygiene嘅trainer。嗰時D華人十個有九個做廚，又唔係好識英文，但係無衛生牌又唔得，所以我教左好多人，好多華僑都識我。2011年4月1號，朝早有人打電話比我，話係channel 4 ，問我識唔識煮rhubarb。我話我識，我屋企花園咪有。原來rhubarb係喺中國傳入英國嘅。之後下晝四點有個女人同另外一個人抬住㗎大的機嚟到我屋企話要拍。我話唔好喺我屋企啦，下星期二去華人中心拍啦，我個個星期去煮飯比D華僑。到拍之前嗰日佢再打比我同我講點拍，重話唔好周圍講。原來嚟嗰個係JAMIE OLIVER。我嗰日用古法整煮咕嚕肉，煮煮吓佢一路喺度偷食。拍完佢請我去佢架流動酒吧飲酒玩domino。我玩domino輸比佢，我D朋友問我做咩輸比佢，我話佢請我飲酒咁我咪輸比佢囉。個節目叫JAMIE GREAT BRITAIN，我老婆話拍出嚟好似排過咁，其實我無排過㗎。我媽媽08年喺溫哥華過身。我細佬80年代已經去咗嗰邊，我阿爸驚97喺香港後被清算，溫哥華又有得飲早茶，所以就同阿媽移咗民去溫哥華。10年我同細妹一齊去掃墓同探吓細佬，住同一間酒店。佢同我講，阿媽臨終前叫佢好好照顧阿哥，其實阿哥當年來香港時已經兩歲，唔係兩個月。2008年，我阿媽終於將呢個放喺心度好耐嘅野講咗比阿妹知，2010年，我先知道原來我係1944年出世，唔係1946年。做咗68年人，終於明白點解我3歲時可以飲完茶同阿爺一口氣行3里路，原來我已經5歲。
My grandfather was a coolie leader in China, coolies were labourers – and earned good money. When others blew their money on women, gambling and drugs, my grandfather saved up for his family. My father received a decent education in a good school. After graduating from high school in 1933, he joined the colonial government as a clerk. When the war broke out in 1939, he joined the merchant navy and met my mother in Vietnam. My father always said “how lucky I am”, for many bombs had fallen near him at sea, but he was never hit. He later managed to bring my mum to Hong Kong with me in her arms.
I lived on Temple Street when I was little. My grandad often took me with him for breakfast in a tea house in the morning in Kowloon City. After breakfast we would watch the airport being built there, then walk all the way home. That was three whole miles, and I was only three. People said Little Chiu is so gifted and strong. My grandad and uncles practised martial arts. They did Hung style. I learned Mantis Style when I was a teenager. Me and my friends got cameo stunt fighter parts in Kung Fu movies. I haven’t practised for a long time. Last Valentine’s Day I performed a sword fight routine and that was Mantis Style sword. My partner got a coin sword, and I used one with a retractable blade. It looked rather dramatic when I slashed her! I went to the same school as my father. After graduating from high school, I went to study textiles at Hong Kong Technical College. My friends were like, “dumb Chiu why don’t you go to university?” I just listened to my father. My father has passed away now. When he was alive I chatted to him on the phone and my son overheard our conversation. My son asked me, “Dad, why do you always say yes to grandad?” Well, I didn’t say “no” much in front of my father. My son is what they call a BBC, British Born Chinese. He doesn’t speak Chinese.When I first came to the UK, whenever official forms needed to be filled, confusion happened. In Chinese, CHIU釗 is my first name. Whether I filled in the first name box or was being asked my first name, my answer was CHIU. After they noticed my full name was Man Chiu Leung, I was often corrected that my first name was Man, not Chiu. In the past 20 years whenever I said my name was Man, the response was “obviously you are a MAN”. Then when I said I was born in the year 1946. They looked at me and said, “are you kidding me?” due to my youthful appearance.I am a qualified Cantonese/English translator and interpreter. In 1988, Leeds and Hangzhou became twin cities and I was working for Leeds Council to welcome guests from Hangzhou, even though my Mandarin is not too fluent. I am the first ever trainer in food hygiene teaching in Cantonese. In the 80s nine out of ten Chinese immigrants were in the catering business and spoke little English. You could not open your doors without a hygiene certificate, so I’ve trained so many people. I got to know a lot of people too.
On 1 April 2011, someone from Channel 4 phoned me in the morning and asked me if I knew how to cook rhubarb. I said yes and in fact I had it in my garden. In the afternoon the woman and her colleague came to my house with an enormous camera. I said, “why don’t we film again next Tuesday when I will be cooking for the Leeds Chinese Community Centre members?” The day before, they phoned again to go through the logistics and asked me not to publicise it. It turned out it was Jamie Oliver who was coming the next day.
I cooked sweet and sour pork the traditional way and it smelled so nice. Jamie Oliver kept pinching the food as I cooked. After filming he invited me for a drink in his mobile bar and we played dominoes. I lost to him. My friend asked why I lost to him and I said, “he was buying me drinks so I let him win!” The programme was called Jamie’s Great Britain. My wife said it looked rehearsed, but we didn’t.
My mother passed away in Vancouver in 2008. My brother went to live there in the 80s. My father was worried about the handover of Hong Kong in 1997, so he decided to move to Vancouver too, with my mother. Also, Chinese tea houses in Vancouver open at 8 in the morning, whereas in Leeds they only opened at noon.
In 2010 my sister and I went there, to visit our mum’s grave and our brother. We stayed in the same hotel. My sister told me, that before mum passed away, she told my sister to take good care of me, because I was older than anyone thought. “He was two years old when I took him to Hong Kong in my arms, not two months”. That was the first time my mother had made this secret known to anyone. My sister kept that secret for another two years, before she told me that night. After 66 years, I finally understood why I could walk three miles from the airport back home when I was three years old. I was actually five years old.