Chinese family tree (London)

I once had a student who’d married a Malaysian Chinese woman.  

Came up to me after a few weeks into term, said he was going off to Malaysia with her to spend Xmas with her family, could I do him a Chinese family tree chart so that he’d know what to call each one of her relatives.

I went home, got out an A4 sheet, starting in the middle with his wife, going (i) upwards for her parents, and (ii) sideways for her siblings.  

On her parents’ line, I went (i) upwards for their parents (the wife’s grandparents), and (ii) outwards for their siblings (uncles and aunts to his wife) and spouses and children (cousins to my student’s wife).  

Ditto for her siblings’ line: spouses and children (nephews and nieces to his wife). 

Each person has his/her own specific and individual label, pinpointing him/her precisely on the family tree: male, female, related on the father’s or the mother’s side, senior or junior in status.

I soon ran out of paper, and had to get another A4 sheet.  This went on until I ended up with SIX sheets.

When I presented it to him, six sheets of paper taped together, unfolding it like a map of the world or something, he took one horrified look at it, and said, “I don’t think I’ll bother!”

(London, 1986)