SAILORS’ FRIEND

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 226, 20 June 1936, Page 20

SAILORS’ FRIEND

A Woman in London’s

Chinatown

Above a swinging red Chinese sign in a two-roomed flat in the East End, London, lives Mrs." Sheng Sing Nuer, the most-loved and respected woman in London’s Chinatown. The carved w’ood characters call the place “Kung Lok Gar,” which means “Happy and Peaceful Home,” a name remembered with gratitude wherever Chinese sailors meet.

Mrs. Sheng is an Englishwoman, who married a Chinese, and is a worker for the London Chinese Evangelical Mission. “When I first came here, I was terrified,” she said. “Now, because I trust and love these Chinese sailors like children, they trust and love me. I feed them and clothe them and find them jobs when they are on shore. I also try to teach them English. One of my first pupils was very keen, and helped me by translating for me. When he went aWay, he sent me letters which another man translated for me. They were love letters, and when he returned from his voyage we were married. My husband traces his descent back to an Emperor who sat on the throne of China in A.D. 960, and whose portrait was shown on watered silk at the recent Chinese Art Exhibition.”