Raised in Hamilton, John spent his childhood surrounded by small trinkets from China—gifts sent to his mother by her brother, Harold Boyack. One of these trinkets was a very precious silver ring, engraved with Chinese words meaning “patience in heart” and “endurance.” The ring was originally gifted to Harold by a Chinese refugee whose life he saved during the devastating bombing of the 1920s.

Uncle Harold was a master mariner. He travelled to China in the 1920s as First Mate on the Katy Muller, plying the coast from Hong Kong to Tianjin Xingang and Vladivostok, and up the Yangtze River. “I was too young to really appreciate his time in China,” John admitted, but the connection stuck. Over time, John uncovered more about his uncle’s courageous service during the Sino-Japanese War and World War II.

In 2003, John went to China himself, tracing his uncle’s path, and becoming an English…