On the morning of July 6, 1913, Shaw Bah Tien sat in his private room, waiting. The atmosphere in the house was tense. His beloved wife, Ni, was about to give birth. He had never been a father and was a little unsure of the procedure. They had not been married very long.
It had been an arranged marriage, of course. Their horoscopes had been evaluated carefully, family backgrounds investigated and the elders were satisfied, although in other circumstances, in other times, the obstacles might have formed a barrier.