Empathy and Compassion in a Divided World

My mother, Tong Chui Ying, was born in 1917 in Pudong, Shanghai, during a time of war and political chaos. As a young girl she lost her mother, was mistreated by her stepmother, and was never allowed to go to school. She cooked, cleaned, and worked like a servant, sleeping on the floor and forbidden to learn to read or write. Her life changed when a kind aunt helped her find an adoptive family in Nanjing. There she was loved and cared for, but still never educated. She later married my father, a shoemaker, and together they survived the Sino‑Japanese war, bombings in Shanghai, and finally rebuilt their lives in Hong Kong with eight children. My mother faced betrayal when she discovered my father had a second family. Yet she chose not to hate him. Instead, she focused on raising her children with love, courage, and humility. She forgave him and later returned from the United States to Hong Kong to care for him when he developed cancer. Although she could not read a single word, she raised a family of university graduates, doctors, professors, entrepreneurs, and leaders across the world. Her motto was simple: “Others may hurt me, but I will never hurt others.” Her life of quiet strength, generosity, and forgiveness is the heart of the TCY Foundation.