Man Inherits A Photo Album From His Grandma, And Finds Out More About Her Rich Legacy

Published 5 years ago

After Californian man Johnny Quan’s grandmother 梁萍 (Leung Ping / Teresa Leung) passed away back in February, the man spent a lot of time scanning the photos she left behind for her funeral. The woman was a prominent “shidaiqu” pop singer in Shanghai back in the day, and witnessed many hardships during her lifetime, including the Chinese Civil War, Sino-Japanese War/WW2 and Communist Revolution. After shidaiqu was banned, the woman fled to Hong Kong, Singapore, and eventually retired in San Francisco.

Johnny says that his grandmother was very private of the photos she left behind – the man had never seen them before. “My aunt reflected how she once asked her if she could look at them, and she smirked, “You can look at them when I go,”” recalled the man. He decided to scan the photos and share them with the world – check them out in the gallery below! And if you want to listen to some of his grandmother’s music, you can do so here.

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#2 With Elizabeth Taylor, Mike Todd, And Run Run Shaw

w/ Run Run Shaw (Shaw Bros.), Elizabeth Taylor and her husband Mike Todd (who’d pass away only 4 months later in a plane accident). Singapore, November 1957.
She was asked by Shaw to be a representative of the Singaporean entertainment industry to greet Taylor.

#3 In Her Wedding Gown

#4 With Her Mom, My Great-Grandma

#5 Obligatory Selfie, Nye 2013. We Miss You!

#6 All Styled-Up

#7 A Proud Mama With My Mom!

#8 Beautiful Black Dress

#9 With Marian Anderson

w/ Marian Anderson, one of the most important African-American singers who helped break many racial barriers. 1957.

#10 In A Cool Background

#11 She Still Looks Beautiful

#12 A Candid Photo

#13 Posing With A Bike

#14 Looks Like A Shot From A Movie

#15 I’m Guessing This Was A Broadcasted Live Performance On Radio Malaya

Malaya is a former name of Malaysia, that Singapore was part of until 1965… well, basically. The 50s and 60s were a crazy time between the UK, Malaysia, and Singapore).

#16 Heyday

#17 A Watercolor Painting Of My Grandma In ’89, Which Hanged In The Hallway Of Her House

#18 With My Aunt

#19 Beer Ad

Advertisement for German beer, Beck’s. Was told that “Kunchi” is Malaysian for “key”.

#20 In Malaya, In Kedazaan-Dusun Tribe Clothing

#21 With Yao Lee (I Believe That Is)

I speculate that may be Yao Lee by my grandma. Yao Lee was an important singer of shidaiqu, one of the “Seven Great Singing Stars” of Shanghai, and helped my grandma’s singing career. The two of them would sing together over the radio.
You may have heard her music recently in the film, “Crazy Rich Asians.”

#22 40s-50s

#23 A 1967 Release, I Believe

#24 On A Bicycle

#25 Another Newspaper Clipping, Competing For Miss Hong Kong

#26 Concert

#27 Still Performing In The 70s!

#28 Another Obligatory Selfie

#29 Concert

#30 Showing Off A Vinyl Cabinet

#31 In Her Youth

#32 Looks Like A Show

#33 Another Take From The Celebrity Party

#34 Broadcasting Ad

Broadcasting ad, sponsored by a multivitamins company and some good ol’ Danish beer.

#35 With Carrie Koo Mei

I am not sure who that is to picture-left, but at the right is 顧媚 (Gu Mei / Carrie Koo Mei), another prominent shidaiqu singer, who also starred in a few Shaw Bros. films, before retiring to Vancouver to become a painter.

#36 Not Sure If She’s At Recording Studio Or On Radio

#37 Another Newspaper Clipping

#38 Singing Or Talking To An Auditorium

#39 Singing On Radio Rediffusion In Hong Kong

#40 Playing With The Band

#41 Writing… A Letter, Or A Song?

Aušrys Uptas

One day, this guy just kind of figured - "I spend most of my time on the internet anyway, why not turn it into a profession?" - and he did! Now he not only gets to browse the latest cat videos and fresh memes every day but also shares them with people all over the world, making sure they stay up to date with everything that's trending on the web. Some things that always pique his interest are old technologies, literature and all sorts of odd vintage goodness. So if you find something that's too bizarre not to share, make sure to hit him up!