Mr Hsu Hu-chin does not remember much about his biological mother, after having been separated from her when he was just a child.
Growing up in Taiwan in the 1980s, the IT engineer did not think much about her. His father and paternal grandparents did not speak of her as well.
"I was always playing with my friends or doing activities by myself," said Mr Hsu, adding that he did not have a good relationship with his father, stepmother and step-siblings.
But he found out more about his birth mother from his paternal aunt in Japan in 2015, which sparked in him a curiosity about her. It led to a years-long search that eventually led him to contact The Straits Times with the help of his wife, Ms Hung Sih-yun.
"If my mother still worries about me, I just want to tell her that I've been living well," Mr Hsu, now 42, told ST in a video interview on Dec 6. "She would be 60 or 70 now - if she's still alive, I would want her to not have any regrets before she passes."
Mr Hsu hopes he can get more leads about her through telling his story, after running into dead ends previously.
"I will go to Singapore to see my mother, and will ask her how she spent those years after she left," he said.
"Did she miss me or not? I will tell her everything that happened during these years." What little Mr Hsu now knows of his mother was pieced together from bits of information he learnt from his aunt, as well as photos that he found among his late father's belongings.
According to Mr Hsu, his mother, whose Mandarin name can be transliterated as Wang Wen Lian, was once a stewardess with Singapore Airlines (SIA).
Photos provided to ST show Ms Wang in SIA's iconic sarong kebaya.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة December 16, 2023 من The Straits Times.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة December 16, 2023 من The Straits Times.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
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