Angkong was from China. He came to the Philippines in the late 1910s when he was barely a teenager to help out with his uncles who were Chinese merchants. He worked various jobs in the Philippines for about ten years, sacrificing study to be able to earn enough of a capital to eventually strike out on his own.

When he reached the age of reason—that age elders deemed proper to marry—he wrote to his family in Xiamen, inquiring if they could look for or “kai shaw” (matchmake) someone who would be a good match.

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