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Yu Moon Anna 李如满 Lee Joong
March 14, 1928 - June 8, 2020
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<div itemprop="description">It is with great sadness that the family of Yu Moon Lee, 李如满, announces her passing on June 8, 2020, at the age of 92 years.<br>Yu Moon’s life exemplifies that of a successful Chinese immigrant in Canada. She was born in Xincun (莘村), Taishan (台山市), Guangdong (廣東省), China, on March 14, 1928, to parents Lee Zhao Fou, 李兆富, and Au Chin Ying, 歐金英. Her second mother was 朱礼貞. She attended primary and middle school in the village. Family life started with an arranged marriage to Yuet Fong Joong, 鍾悅晃, on December 24, 1948, followed by the births of her son, Yee Han Peter, 鍾雨田, in 1949, daughters Elizabeth, 鍾雨杏, and Mary, 鍾雨蓉, in Shagangcun (沙崗村) in 1950 and 1952, respectively, and sons Paul, 鍾雨柏, in Canton/Guangzhou (廣州) in 1955, and Victor, 鍾雨松, in Montreal (滿地可) in 1965.<br>Yu Moon and Yuet Fong suffered through the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-45) followed by the civil war between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Kuomintang (KMT) and the creation of the Peoples’ Republic of China (PRC) in 1949. With her marriage at the early age of twenty and the immediate births of her children, Yu Moon had to give up her successful secondary education at Taishan #1 Middle School (台山一中). Her younger brother, 李偉民, was a successful mining engineer and her sister was a nurse; both are now deceased.<br>Under the PRC’s regime, a campaign of mass killings of landlords in order to redistribute land to the peasant class and landless workers resulted in millions of victims who were tortured and murdered based on their class in a policy known as “classicide”. Since the Joong family was one of the landlords in the village - and his father was in Canada - Yuet Fong, the eldest Joong son and Yu Moon’s husband, endured many days of torture, such as kneeling under the sun without food and water. This had lasting effects on his health and family.<br>Life was not easy under the PRC’s regime and in addition there was a famine in Taishan at that time. Shortly after Mary’s birth in 1953, the family left for Canton/Guangzhou where Paul was later born in 1955. Just before Paul was born, Yuet Fong migrated without his family to Montreal, Canada. He did this via Macau (澳門) and then Hong Kong, where he finally obtained his immigration papers, arriving in Canada in 1957. His first job was as a laundryman in his father, Joong Fook Quai’s, 鍾福貴, and mother’s, 陳順金, laundromat on St. Dominique St., near Chinatown. Shortly after his arrival, Fook Quai and his three sons founded the Joong’s Garden Café (鍾家園餐廳) in East End Montreal, serving both Chinese and Canadian food. They lived on the top floor of the restaurant. Life was good for the Joong family in Canada.<br>At the same time, in 1956, Yu Moon herself had to bring the four young children, carrying one on her back, to escape from Guangzhou to Macau (澳門) by boat in the middle of the night. The family stayed in Macau with Yuet Fong’s uncle for six months to obtain the necessary paperwork to enter Hong Kong. Yu Moon, Peter, Elizabeth, Mary, and Paul lived in Shumsuipo (深水埗) for seven years with a $100CAD/month allowance sent from Yuet Fong in Canada for accommodation, food, and schooling. In 1964, Yuet Fong had saved enough money to fly the family to Canada, and with the help of Father Thomas Tou (杜神父), from the Montreal Chinese Catholic Mission, the family was reunited in Montreal after nine years apart. Victor was born in Montreal in 1965. In Canada, Yuet Fong’s and Yu Moon’s five children excelled in their studies and careers and began their own families. Yu Moon leaves behind ten grandchildren and twelve great grandchildren. All the grandchildren are university graduates with successful careers as engineers, doctors, architects, teachers, anthropologists, and cyber security analysts.<br>Many Chinese women all over the world show their unselfishness, loyalty, self-sacrifice, and willingness to do anything to help their husbands and families, all due to Confucian (孔夫子) teachings. Many gave up their own career aspirations, families, and friends, as Yu Moon did. She showed courage and strength by giving birth to her fourth child with her husband in another country and raising her family on her own before being reunited with her husband nine years later. Her family is grateful for the sacrifices she made and are proud of her perseverance and accomplishments.<br>Like any life fully lived, old age came with illnesses, fortunately very few in her case, and sadness, particularly, the recent loss of her beloved son, Paul, followed by her beloved husband, Yuet Fong. Life was not the same after the losses. She was at the Montreal Chinese Hospital where she passed on June 8, 2020.<br>Visitation, chapel service and burial details are described below. If you are unable to attend, condolences may be expressed using the online guest book. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in memory of Yu Moon Lee 李如满 to the Montreal Chinese Hospital Foundation online at mchfoundation.ca or by mail to: La Fondation de l'Hôpital Chinois de Montréal 189 avenue Viger Est, Montreal, Quebec H2X 3Y9<br></div>