Hing-Poon
Chan was born in Hong Kong in 1953, the last of twelve
children.
His
early schooling was in Hong Kong, first at a Buddhism school,
and then the well known Ling Nam school, before going on
to the Pui Ying school, where he stayed until he finished
grade eleven in 1971.
His
sister, Winnie, had begun the process of sponsorship to
bring him to Canada, so that summer he spent polishing up
his school English in the mornings and doing not much homework
down on Repulse Bay beach in the afternoons.
He arrived in Marathon, Ontario, in November 1971, to live
with his sister and brother-in-law until he finished high
school. Reflecting back on his first impressions, he says,
"I woke up the next morning and looked out over the
snow. And I said, yeah, this is home."
He
was informed by the local high school that his English was
grade six standard, which delighted him. His English not
withstanding, he completed grade thirteen in 1973.
The
first of several summers of hard work at the pulp mill provided
his tuition fees for the University of Windsor where he
went to study math.
Poon graduated in 1976 with a BA in mathematics, and then
embarked on a year's work for a double major in honours
Economics and Math. "Didn't like it," he laughs.
"Fortunately at the time in Windsor there was a program
called Bachelor of Commerce for University Graduates; they
nick-named it 'Special BComm'. I went into that program
and took the two years. I graduated in '79 again."
He smiles. "Didn't really major in anything, because
I didn't like accounting, didn't like finance, didn't like
marketing." He laughs again. "Just wasting time."
During
the last year of the BComm, the school bought themselves
a PDP 11 "state of the art" computer, so he had
the chance to use it, and a terminal, which helped develop
his interest in computers.
He
had taken some programming courses during his first degree,
but the necessity of punch cards at the time left him uninspired.
He continued taking courses during the next year while working
as a faculty member at St.Clair College, teaching statistics
and "baby-sitting the first and second year students".
After
finishing the contract, he left for a "real job"
in Toronto, as his wife at the time was pregnant. Two years
later, he found a job with Health and Welfare Canada as
a programmer/analyst and moved to Ottawa, where he lives
now.
Poon
started studying Goju-ryu karate when he was 14, along with
his brother Ben, who was 17. In March 1968 they went to
Mr. Kim-Hung Wong , a pharmacist, who lived in the neighbourhood
and taught Karate in the evenings. "Kung Fu was out
of the question at the time," he says. Real or imagined,
it was widely perceived as having underground (Triad) connections
that neither of them wanted to become entangled with.
The two boys were inspired by the growing popularity of
karate and impressed by the heroes in the James Bond movies.
He laughs at the thought. "Lucky for us we landed in
a traditional school."
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