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Family Reunion on the Information Highway
by Peopleasia@qinet.net
Mar 2001
One disadvantage of working with the family? "You never stop working. You're working during dinner. While you're having dinner, you're talking about work. You're vacationing, you're talking about work," Christine laughs. According to her, the only time they don't talk about work is when there are visitors around.
"You have a board meeting during dinners, lunches, breakfast, meriendas, coffee, whatever," adds Abi. And that pretty much means they're working almost every waking hour since their family is almost always together. Indeed it is almost impossible for them to avoid each other. They all live together, as is the case with many Chinese families, with most of them split between two houses. The seven cousins lived together in one house when they were studying in Vancouver. Add to the fact that none of the seven are married and you can see how there's hardly any reason for them to be apart. "We always go out together. We see each other every day enough that you can notice if someone is growing a zit," jokes Abi.
But according to the two girls, they don't really mind having to work and talk about work all the time. It's because they have such a strict work ethic. "I think what we see from our parents is their dedication to their work and how much they value hard work," Christine says. "It's hard not to emulate them. When parents are working so hard, how can the kids be sitting around doing nothing?" (A mind-boggler for Christine but definitely a question easily answered by many more lethargic children.)
They've given us the values that they want to impart and they've given us the mindset. In our family the mindset is being more business-minded, being pro-active in business and taking the lead in business. It's a personal choice to be in Yapster. It's a personal choice to make it successful," Abi proclaims.
By merging old Chinese traditions and modern business innovations, the Yap family seems to have a clear path towards success. The rest of you out on the Internet road, look out! And be careful not to be asked to one of their big family dinners. You wouldn't want to get in the way of progress now, would you?
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