In December 2025 issue of my website, I gave information on the synopsis of my new book “The Yin and Yang of the Dragon and the Eagle: Tale of Two Cultures and Two Countries.” This book will be published by Maestro Book Publishing in early 2026, although it has not been easy and time consuming working with Maestro Book Publishing. In this article, I want to provide more information on the people I dedicated this book to:
- My parents: King Tow and Kum Chu (Ching) Tow
- Tong Zeng of Beijing, who passed away on 10/23/2025, and Tamaki Matsuoka of Japan
- My older sister Billie Tow Dong, who passed away on 11/25/2025.
Also, at the end of this article, the Table of Contents (TOC) of my book will be included.
King Tow and Kum Chu (Ching) Tow:
King Tow and Kum Chu (Ching) Tow are members of the greater Tow family who have members who have lived part of their lives in China and part of their lives in the U. S. They formed the nucleus of the Tow/Ching family who are the dragons and eagles, which are the subjects of this book. My grandfather, Deep Sam Tow, came to the U.S. as a merchant in the restaurant business. He then applied for his son as a merchant’s son (which was allowed under the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act) to come to the U. S. to study high school and college.
My mother Kum Chu Ching’s great grandfather came to the U. S. as a worker in 1844. Her grandfather lived in San Francisco for several years. After returning to China for a visit, he got married, then he returned to the U.S. with his wife (again this was before the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act). They operated a Chinese herbal and grocery store on 724 Sacramento Street in San Francisco, with his wife working as the cashier. They had 3 daughters, and a son born in 1881 in San Francisco. That son was my mother’s father.
Therefore, on my mother’s side, not counting my mother, three generations have lived part of their lives in the U.S. , and part of their lives in China. They are dragons and eagles. Counting my mother and my brothers and sisters, five generations of the Tow/Ching family are dragons and eagles.
Tong Zeng and Tamaki Matsuoka:
Japan has done so many atrocities in the world, especially in Asia, such as the Nanking Massacre, and atrocities toward comfort women. Japan has never openly apologized to the world, as Germany did. Furthermore, the Japanese government has tried to deny their atrocities, and try to rewrite history by denying that these happenings never happened so that their younger generations will not know about this part of history. Furthermore, the U.S. has also tried to rewrite history, and is not setting a good example for Japan to follow.
However, Japan has committed so many massive atrocities all over Asia during the 2nd Sino-Japanese War (1931-1945), the world will never forget what happened. Tong Zeng was the person who initiated in China a nation-wide movement to help to remind the people of these atrocities, and served as its spokesperson. Unfortunately, he passed away on 10/23/2025.
While growing up in Japan, Tamaki Matsuoka heard so many versions of what Japan did in China, and what happened in China. So she wanted to find out herself of the truth of that part of history. While working as a school teacher and raising a family, she immersed herself in that part of history and spend basically her whole life finding out about what happened in China during the 2nd Sino-Japanese War (1931-1945), including talking and discussing with hundreds of Japanese soldiers who participated in that war and lived through that part of history. After gaining the confidence of these Japanese solders, they were willing to share with her what happened in China, on secrets that until then they were not willing to share with their families. She also discussed with the Chinese victims, who were willing to share with her on what happened to them, thus confirming the truth of what actually happened in China. She travelled to China numerous times, and wrote several books about what she learned about what happened in China. Tamaki Matsuoka is known as the conscience of Japan.
For more information about Tong Zeng and Tamaki Matsuoka, see Ref. 1 (“One Speaks for the Voiceless and One Is the Conscience of Japan”: https://www.dontow.com/2020/06/one-speaks-for-the-voiceless-and-one-is-the-conscience-of-japan/. Both Tong Zeng and Tamaki Matsuoka have been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Billie Tow Dong:
For the part of the book describing individual actions like those of my older sister Billie (who passed away on 11/25/2025), we dedicate this book to her. During WWII, we were living in our second-floor apartment with no running water in our ancestral village of Taishan in southern China. Billie, as an almost eight year old, brought water on a daily basis from the nearby river (and sometimes from a slightly farther well) to help the Tow family to survive by bringing a bamboo pole with a bucket of water at either end of the bamboo pole to carry the water from the nearby river to our second-floor apartment.
My mother who just gave birth to me was not able to carry out that task. My oldest brother Tommie had a spinal problem that affected his normal growth, and was not able to carry that task. My 2nd older brother Jimmy who was six, two years younger than Billie, was not strong enough to carry that task. My other older brother Danny was not quite four years old, and obviously could not do the task. My father had to work to earn money to support the family. So Billie was the only one to carry that task.
So for at least several months or more, our family’s survival depended on the heroic efforts of this 8-year old child to carry the critically needed water from the nearby river to our 2nd floor apartment.
Table of Contents of Book (there are 38 chapters):
The Yin and Yang of the Dragon and the Eagle: Tale of Two Cultures and Two Countries
- The Dragon and the Eagle – Tale of Two Cultures and Two Countries
- The Saga of My Father’s First Journey to the U.S.
- My Mother and Her Family’s Origin
- Life As a Student in Providence and Cambridge, Massachusetts in the 1920s
- Starting Career and Family in Guangzhou in the 1930s
- Tragedy and Running and Escaping from War
- Escape from War: From Guangzhou to Hong Kong
- No Man’s Land in Hong Kong
- Massacres and Atrocities in Hong Kong During WWII
- Escape from No Man’s Land: From Hong Kong to Taishan, China
- Victory from War: Return from Taishan to Guangzhou
- Escape from War: From Guangzhou to Hong Kong Again
- Reminiscences of Early Childhood in Hong Kong
- My Father’s Career in Hong Kong: Building Churches and Refugee Housing
- Pulling Up Roots One More time-Hong Kong to U.S.A., and Initial Observations of the U.S.
- Early Experiences in U.S: Start of Tale of Two Cultures and Two Countries
- Ten Years at Berkeley in the Turbulent 1960 Decade
- Living Through the UC Berkeley Free Speech Movement of 1964
- Experiencing the Worldwide Diaoyu Islands Student Movement of the 1970s and Beyond
- The Shaping of the Life of a Fellow Student at the University of California at Berkeley
- From the Eyes of Grandma
- Life in Paris: 1977-1978
- Lesson from my First College Teaching
- Experiences of Working in Industry
- A Son Remembering His Father
- Coaching Youth Soccer in the U.S.
- Life As an Expatriate Working in Beijing: 1997-1999
- He’d Grown Up Just Like Me
- A Son Remembering His Mother
- Taiji
- Myth or Reality
- Activism on Campus and Community
- More on Extracurricular Activities As a Dragon and an Eagle
- The American Dream and Can It Be Continued?
- South China Sea Dispute: Abuse of World Power
- Anson Burlingame: A Most Unique Diplomat
- U.S.-China Relationship
- Closing Comments on the “Yin and Yang of the Dragon and the Eagle”
The World Needs to Address WWII Atrocities: Acknowledge Past Mistakes, Apologize, and Pursue Peaceful Pursuits
This website is currently not commenting on the recent happenings of President Trump, because Trump is engaged in so many activities which don’t make sense or are illegal. It takes several essays to comment and assess on Trump’s recent activities.
2025 is 80 years past the end of WWII. WWII was a world war involving countries all over the world. Japan surrendered to the U.S. on 9/2/1945. Germany surrendered on May 8-9/1945 shortly after Adolf Hitler committed suicide on 4/30/1945. The third major adversary country Italy surrendered on 9/8/1943. WWII was known for two major unforgettable happenings. One was the encampment and murder of millions of Jew, especially in Europe. The other was the atrocity, murder, and enslavement of millions of so-called comfort women all over Asia, especially in China and Korea.
West German Chancellor Willy Brandt’s kneeling before a memorial to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising during a state visit to Poland in 1970 showed a sign of profound humility, and an apology for the wrongs that Germany did during WWII. That sign of apology is accepted by the world, and Germany is welcome back to the world of nations. However, up to now, Japan still has not acknowledged for what they did during WWII. As a matter of fact, they have repeatedly tried to rewrite history so that many of the younger generations of Japan do not know the atrocity, murders, and enslavement of millions of so-called comfort women all over Asia, especially in China and Korea. This kind of falsification of history is wrong, and is not good for Japan and for the world. The sooner this falsification is corrected, the better it will be for Japan and the world. Until that happens, Japan, unlike Germany, will have great difficulty to be welcome back to the world of nations.
Unfortunately, in the last half a century, the U.S. has repeatedly tried to destabilize many countries of the world, including trying to separate Taiwan from China. Instead of setting an example for Japan to follow, the U.S.is trying to set an example to turn back the history of time. As the world’s most important and most powerful countries, the U.S. and China should help the world to solve many important and crucial problems. If they cannot do that, they should at least not work against each other, because the world has many important crucial problems which if not solved can lead to a world that cannot be saved. (Ref. 1, 2, 3)
In the past decades, there are many organizations around the world who have tried to point out and remind Japan of the atrocities, the inhumane actions of the Japanese government, and its attempts to rewrite history so that future generations of Japan will not be aware of what their government has done in the past. It is urgently important that these actions should be pointed out and Japan should come out of hibernations and take an active role to correct history.
Here are a list of organizations that have played active roles during parts of these 80 years to remind Japan and the world of what happened during WWII, and that these actions cannot be forgotten:
Many of these organizations have existed for over 35+ years, and their websites may not be kept current.
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References
[1] “Overthrow: America’s Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq,” Stephen Kinzer, Times Books, Henry Holt and Company, LLC, New York, 2006. This is a book by veteran New York Times writer who reported from over 50 countries and served as the paper’s bureau chief in Turkey, Germany and Nicaragua.
[2] “United States Involvement in Regime Change,” en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_regime_change#1991%E2%80%93present:_Post-Cold_War.
[3] “The U.S. tried to change other countries’ governments 72 times during the Cold War,” Lindsey L. O’Rourke, The Washington Post, December 23, 2016: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/12/23/the-cia-says-russia-hacked-the-u-s-election-here-are-6-things-to-learn-from-cold-war-attempts-to-change-regimes/. According to the author, of the 72 times, 60 were covert operations and 6 were overt operations. And among the 60 covert operations, only 20 successfully brought the U.S.-backed government to power, and 40 failed.