XI Xi - Childhood

Childhood

Names
Known in Chinese as: 張彥
Government Romanization: Cheung Yin
Jyutping: Zoeng1 Jin6
Pinyin: Zhāng Yàn
Pen name: 西西
Government Romanization: Sai Sai
Jyutping: Sai1 Sai1
Pinyin: Xī Xī

Xi Xi's native county is Zhongshan, Guangdong. She was born in Shanghai, where she attended primary school, in 1938. In 1950, she immigrated to Hong Kong with her parents. Her father worked at Kowloon Motor Bus as a ticket checker. In addition, he had been a Division A soccer team trainer and, later, a referee since he was in Shanghai, thus Xi Xi had developed an immense interest in soccer when she was young. Xi Xi has two brothers and two sisters.

Later, Xi Xi attended secondary school at Heep Yunn School, where lessons were taught in Cantonese; she started her English-instructed lessons from Form 4. During her early life in Hong Kong, Xi Xi was living in poverty, and she had to worry about her expenses on textbooks and her school uniform, as well as fees for Home Economics classes. As a junior secondary student, she began to write for the local newspapers and magazines.

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