Raymond Wong Tong 6 March 1911—21 July 2009

[NZBC]

Raymond Wong Tong 㹂】対】浹】

6 March 1911—21 July 2009
One of the oldest members of the Tung Jung Association, Uncle Ray as he was affectionately
known, has passed away suddenly at the Irwell Rest Home in Island Bay on Tuesday 21 July 2009. Born in Wellington,Uncle Ray went back to China for some Chinese educationat the age of 16. He later on joined the China Navigation where he was a radio telegrapher and travelled the China coast on their ships. During his time on the ships,he married Betty Chang in 1935 and brought her back to Welling-ton where they lived above the family business in Cuba Street until he saved enough to buy a house in Miramar.
When his father retired and sold the family business, Uncle Ray and his family of two boys and two girls moved
to Nelson in 1953 where he opened another fruit shop. Hebrought up his family there until 1966 when he decided to sell his business as his children had established lives oftheir own, went on a world tour with his wife for two years and returned to settle in Wellington again. He bought another house in Miramar and worked for a
few years at Phillips Electrical in Lyall Bay until his retirement a
few years later. He and his wife lived there until Aunty Betty passed away in 2006 and Uncle Ray was later moved to the Irwell Rest Home.
Uncle Ray was fluent in Mandarin as well as Cantonese andalso played the violin in his younger days at Chinese functions. He was involved with the Chinese Anglican Church in Wellington and also the Tung Jung Association of which his father Wong Tong Faat was an original founder and president in 1927. He loved to play mahjong with his retired riends and there were many mahjong parties duringhisretirement.
He is survived by his children, Ron, Beverley, Mervyn and Fiona, 8 grandchildren and 14 great grandchildren.
His funeral was held at the Wellington Chinese Anglican Church in Glenmore Street on Wednesday 29 July 2009
and was attended by many friends and relatives from over seas and throughout New Zealand.
Uncle Ray’s biography may be read in the Tung Jung Association Autumn Newsletter www.tungjung.org.nz/images/stories/newsletters/2009/Cover_page.pdf

[NZBC]

Raymond Wong Tong
黄
黄
黄
黄 凌 銳
凌 銳
凌 銳
凌 銳
Wong Ling Yui, eldest son of Wong
Tong Faat and Chang Chung Sing from Gwaling
瓜 嶺 鄉
瓜 嶺 鄉
瓜 嶺 鄉
瓜 嶺 鄉
Raymond Wong Tong or Uncle Ray as everyone calls hi
m, was born in
Wellington on 6th March 1911 at 259 Cuba Street. He
is the eldest son of 8
siblings. His father, Wong Tong Faat was a founding
member of the Tung
Jung Association and died in 1955 at the age of 81
years. He was also an
original Poll Tax payer who paid ten pounds to be a
discontented golddig-
ger in Otago and eventually settled in Wellington
.
Raymond had 6 sisters and a brother The eldest sis
ter stayed in China when the rest of the family
came back to New Zealand. They were Ling Moon (Auck
land), Lily (Wellington, deceased), Raymond
(Wellington), Ivan (Wellington, deceased), Edith (A
uckland, deceased), Amy (Auckland), and Margie
(Wellington).
As a young boy, Raymond attended Mount Cook Boys Sc
hool and Wellington Technical College and
later as his parents wanted the children to learn C
hinese, the whole family went back to China when
Raymond was 16 years old.
While at Mount Cook School, Raymond played on the w
ing in the school rugby team. He must have
been one of the first Chinese in New Zealand to pla
y rugby!
During his years in China, Raymond was
restless and in search for adventure,
joined the China Navigation and was
trained as a radio telegrapher using the
morse code system in sending mes-
sages. He was with them for three years
and earned two stripes on his epaulette,
travelled around China on their ships.
Being single, Raymond enjoyed life on
the ships as they called at all the ports on
the east coast. Some of the ports he visited were H
ong Kong,
Canton, Swatow, Amoy, Foochow, Niyi, Shanghai, Shan
gtung, Tsingtao, Hwawei, Tientsin, Dalin,
Woochow, Nanking, Hangchow, Wushan and up the Yangt
se River. It was during his time with the
China Navigation that Raymond learnt to speak Manda
rin to which to this day he still speaks as well as
his native Cantonese.
He remembers seeing the icebreakers in the North Ch
ina Sea breaking the sea ice so the freighters
could get through in the winter, the international
commercial centre and hub of the Bund in Shanghai
with its variety of colonial and European style arc
hitecture, the ports of Neuchong, Amoy (now called
Xiamen) and the German concession with its mark lef
t in the city, Tsingtao in the north where the
Europeans also left their mark, a city made famous
for its beer and was also a famous resort for well
heeled Europeans, as well as Canton (now Guangzhou)
and Hong Kong.
While Raymond was travelling and working on the shi
ps for which he was paid in HK dollars (as the
Chinese money in those days was pretty worthless),
the rest of the family returned to Wellington and
started a fruit and vegetable business called Wong
Tong and Sons at 168 Cuba Street, which still
stands today, though the family has not owned it fo
r many years.
During his time with China Navigation which he enjo
yed, Raymond was introduced to a young lady
through a friend of his father. Her name was Betty
Chang and she was born in New Zealand but was
brought up in China since the age of three. In the
words of Raymond, “I fell in love with her lovely
dimples and when she smiled at me, I knew I had to
have her” and married her in 1935. Ray-
mond brought her back to New Zealand on their honey
moon and joined the rest of the family in
their fruit shop. They lived upstairs in the shop u
ntil Raymond had enough money to buy a
house in Puriri Street, Miramar, where he broughtup
his family of two boys and two girls. Ron
was born in 1936 and now lives in Auckland, Beverle
y (1938) lives in San Francisco, Mervyn
(1940) also lives in the USA and Fiona, the younges
t ,lives in Wellington
One of Raymond’s interests was playing the violin w
hich he learnt as a boy before going to
China. He maintained his interest during his stay i
n China and when he came back to New
Zealand, and under the guidance of Reverend Lee, a
minister from Hong Kong sent out to look
after the spiritual needs of the Chinese in Welling
ton, joined the Chinese Church choir and
played with another three violinists at the Chinese
functions.
Life in a fruit shop was hard work in those days as
everything had to be washed, sorted for
ripeness and packed and displayed. There were no su
permarkets in those days and Raymond
had to go to the local fresh produce markets everyd
ay for five days a week ( Monday to Fri-
day ). The shop was opened six days a week (closed
on Sundays ) to about 9 pm . The 40
hour week was introduced by the Labour Government i
n the 1940’s so it was just work and with
no social life.
He also had to work in a market garden his father h
ad in Nairn Street of about half an acre,
growing mainly spring onions and radishes for the s
hop. Any surplus was sent to the local mar-
kets to be auctioned.. Growing spring onions and ra
dishes was more lucrative as it took less
room on a small bit of land.
After all his sisters got married, Raymond
and Ivan carried on the business with their
parents until his father retired and the busi-
ness was sold to the current owners.
Raymond then moved to Nelson in 1953
with his family and stayed there for 13 years
while Ivan moved to Miramar where he set
up his own business. Raymond brought up
his family in Nelson where he also had a
fruit shop until the children got married and
established lives of their own. He retired in
1966 and went on a world trip with his wife
for two years and eventually returned to
settle in Miramar again. On the odd occasion he and
Betty would travel overseas to see some
of their eight grandchildren.
Life was good for them in Wellington having re-esta
blished all his old friends and Raymond and
his wife were very happy with their social and mahj
ong activities. Betty passed away in 2006
and next year, Uncle Ray, then at the age of 96, mo
ved to the Irwell Rest Home in Island Bay,
Wellington, where youngest daughter Fiona keeps an
eye on him. He is still very alert despite
his age, enjoys outings and going to yum cha, welc
omes visitors and loves to chat about the
old days.
This article was written by Gordon Wu after consult
ation with Raymond Wong Tong
22 January 2009
Rear: Ron Beverley
Fiona Mervyn
Sitting: Betty
Raymond
Taken in 2001
on his 90th birthday
www.tungjung.org.nz/images/stories/newsletters/2009/Tung_Jung_Autumn_Newsletter2009_%28print%29.pdf


Raymond at his post—February 1935