Wellington Chinese History Wiki

Young Shea Chan 陳思潤 下基村 Har-gee village[1]

15 September 1922—1 February 2021

Young was one of nineteen children born to Chan Yin and his three wives. A few died before the age of six which was a common occurrence in those early years. He was born in Ohakune and worked in a movie theatre his father had built in his early teens.

In 1935, his father decided to take all his family back to Hong Kong to have a Chinese education with no intention of returning to New Zealand.

He built a new theatre at Wanchai in Hong Kong called the Cathay 國泰 and Young worked in it for some years. Young was missing his friends in New Zealand and decided to return. He was friendly with the Wong She family in Wellington and worked for Tom Wong She in his Lambton Quay shop.

When Young returned to New Zealand, the Japanese invaded Hong Kong and all his father‘s assets were confiscated and the theatre was put to military use. It was at this time his father passed away and his mother sought the help of relatives to support the young family. Eventually, with the help of the New Zealand High Commission, they were able to make it back to New Zealand.

It was in Hong Kong that Young met the love of his life Diana in 1956 and were married in October of that year. They returned to Wellington and opened a fruit shop in Newtown for some years with the then family of two daughters helping out during their school years. Later on, they sold the business and bought a sandwich bar in Cambridge Terrace.

After some years in the sandwich bar, they sold the business and Young then worked for various supermarkets until his retirement in 1991.

Young and Diana had lived in Karori after they sold the fruit shop and upon their retirement, they moved into the Shona McFarlane retirement village where they lived until Young was diagnosed with dementia They then moved to the Woburn Presbyterian Home in Lower Hutt where they were to spend the rest of their years.

As the years went by, Young‘s condition gradually deteriorated and Diana's health began to worsen. She suffered a heart attack and passed away in September 2018, leaving Young to fend for himself. Young was very devoted to Diana and after three years, his health declined and lapsed into a coma three days before his death.

Young was a very patient, and kind-hearted man. In his years in the fruit shop, he would donate cases of produce to the Home of Compassion in Island Bay. He took a dedicated interest in his daughters’ careers which had led them to both have law degrees. He loved his food, relishing in eating McDonalds, KFC and ice cream and regularly met with a group of friends to play cards, mah-jong and socialise.

Young is survived by his brother Jack, his daughter Roanna and her daughter Grace and his eldest daughter Deborah‘s children.


  1. Tung Jung Association of NZ. (2021). Autumn 2021 issue. Tung Jung Association of NZ.

Categories[]

All Locations News
Iw-1872017131843639

All

Tasman Street - Section 715 - 1892 Survery Map WCC

Locations

A chinese Wedding-0

News

Organisations Businesses Advertisements
1-2-174498-F

Organisations

29887605231 e6565bdbff o

Businesses

Eph-A-HORTICULTURE-TeAro-1949-01-front

Advertisements

People
Iw-295201711574464

People

Help support the Wellington Chinese History project:

Buy me a coffee


Map[]

Scroll and zoom on the map to explore locations in Wellington of significance to the Wellington Chinese community.


Loading map...