(The following text is an excerpt from the book Chinese Americans in Irvine 1971-2021)
Lee Cheong Kwong was born in Yang Zhou in 1932. He left home when he was 13 years old and went to Shanghai. There he worked in a restaurant for three years, learning to cook. He and Lee So Ching married when he was 17 and she was 18. Two months after they married, as the political situation in China was becoming more and more unsettled, Mrs. Lee encouraged her husband to move to Hong Kong to seek more opportunities. After many hardships, Mr. Lee moved to Brazil.
For eight years after Mr. Lee left China, Mrs. Lee, who was pregnant at the time he left, stayed with his family, working in the rice fields every day and helping her in-laws farm and taking care of their large family which included 35 people. In 1957, after Mr. Lee’s younger brothers and sisters were grown, Mrs. Lee and their 8-year-old son, Lee Yung Song spent two years on the arrangement to leave China. They were finally able to board a boat, it took 45 days to reach Brazil.
Mr. Lee started working in Brazil selling Chinese souvenirs on the roadside. He then worked at a Japanese restaurant. After he had a little savings, he opened a restaurant with a partner, but he was cheated and had to start over again. He found work in a restaurant and also taught Japanese women how to cook Chinese food in a local temple. He published a Chinese cookbook written in Portuguese and Japanese. This temporarily solved his financial problems. After Mrs. Lee arrived, they used their savings to open a food stand in a market. Gradually, they became successful because of Mr. Lee’s good cooking.
After ten years working together in Brazil, in 1969, their son Yung Song was admitted to a college in southern California. He and Mr. Lee came together to the U.S. Mr. Lee wanted to explore the restaurant business in America, he bought a Mexican restaurant in Balboa Island and renovated it. That restaurant is now called Shanghai Pine Gardens Restaurant.
Mrs. Lee remained in Brazil to take care of their other four sons and their restaurant business in Brazil. Six years later, the family finally reunited in the U.S. By 1992, they owned four restaurants in southern California that employed over one hundred people.
All five sons have been successful. The oldest, Yung Song, became a lawyer, the second son, Yung Lee, became a doctor, and the three younger sons (Yung Ji, Yung Ding, and Yung Da) founded the Wahoo Fish Taco chain. Not only are they successful in business, they are generous, giving back to charitable causes.
In 1984, they returned to their hometown, Yang Zhou, for the first time since leaving China. First they helped renovate Guan Yin Shan; then in 1989 they donated money to help build Ching Long Elementary School. They also helped needy students with tuition and medical expenses.
They are always grateful because whenever they faced hardships, they felt that the Buddha was watching over them. In 1977, Mr. Lee read an article in the World Journal, a Taiwan-based newspaper, about Tzu Chi raising funds for disaster relief after Typhoon Thelma struck Taiwan. He immediately sent a check to the Tzu Chi Foundation and became a volunteer.
Mr. Lee always brought a team to disaster relief sites and cooked food for the volunteers. In Central and South America, he used his language skills in Portuguese and Spanish to communicate with the people Tzu Chi was working with there. Mrs. Lee was the director of the OC Service Center for many years. She worked with young volunteers, teaching them to focus on family education. She has supported the Tzu Chi Irvine Chinese School since 1998.
Mr. and Mrs. Lee have been married for 72 years. They always remember the lessons the older generation taught them: if you practice kindness and charity, you will receive blessings. They have given back to society through work and financial contributions, and they find that the more they give back, the happier they are. They truly believe that the most valuable thing you leave to your children is virtue.
（Written by Tzu Chi Orange County Service Center）
李長科、李素清
(以下文字摘錄自《爾灣華裔紀實1971-2021》一書)
出生於1932年的李長科，十三歲隻身離開世代務農的大陸揚州家鄉，到上海的餐舘學習三年廚藝；十七歲與長他一歲的李素清結婚。新婚兩個月，因為時局動亂不安，長科在妻子的鼓勵下到香港找機會，最後繞過了大半個地球遠赴巴西。
夫婿不在身邊的八年期間，素清以有孕之身每日下田工作，協助公婆照顧一家三十五口大家庭。1957年，長科離家八年後，小叔小姑已成年，素清決心帶著八歲長子永松，花了兩年時間輾轉搭船，飄洋過海四十五天才抵達巴西，找到李長科。
長科剛到巴西時為了謀生，曾在路邊兜售大陸的手工藝品，後來在日本餐館工作，存了一筆錢後與人合夥創業卻屢遭欺騙；後來因為在飯店及廟寺裡教日本婦女燒煮中國菜，並出版日文與葡萄牙語的食譜，才暫時度過難關。他們用一點點積蓄在市場邊開了一家大排檔，長科的好手藝才逐漸傳開來。
夫妻倆在巴西奮鬥十年後，1969年永松申請到美國南加州的一所大學，長科想試探美國餐飲市場，父子倆於是一起來到美國，在新港市的巴布亞島（Balboa Island）頂了一家墨西哥餐廳，裝修後以中國餐館「松園」之姿一躍成名。
素清當時留在巴西照顧四個孩子並經營餐館，六年後全家才在美國團聚，他們陸續又開了幾家餐館，1992年時，他們在南加州共擁有四家飯店，一百多名員工。
五名子女各學有所長，老大永松是一名律師，二子永立是醫師，三子永基、四子永定、五子永達則合力創設歡福塔可速食店（Wahoo's Fish Taco），在美國擁有數十家分店。孩子們不但事業成功，而且時常熱心公益、回饋社會。
離開大陸家鄉許久，1984年他們回鄉協助修繕揚州觀音山，1989年捐款建造揚州清龍小學教學樓，贊助家境清苦的孩子學費、醫藥費。
許多次面臨人生關卡時，「冥冥中一直有菩薩照顧我們。」他們因此常心懷感恩。1977年長科在世界日報看到台灣「佛教慈濟克難功德會」為賽洛瑪颱風風災募款的消息，馬上寄了一張捐款支票到台灣，後來更因而成為慈濟志工。
長科時常大展廚藝並帶隊到各地發放與賑災，在中南美洲以葡萄牙語及西班牙語擔任溝通橋樑。素清曾承擔慈濟橙縣聯絡處負責人，以媽媽心關懷年輕志工，鼓勵大家重視家庭教育，更從1998年爾灣慈濟人文學校創校開始護持至今。
結褵七十二載，他們謹記長輩教誨：「做人要厚道，多做事不怕吃虧，『厚道後到，福德就會到』。」他們將受過的恩惠、多餘的財力回饋社會，愈做愈歡喜。「比起財富，留德給子孫，才是最珍貴、最有智慧的資產。」
(文字與照片由慈濟橙縣聯絡處提供)