Chih-Jin Tseng 曾治津
June 4, 1931 – November 1, 2023

Devoted husband, loving father and grandfather, he led a full life, made amazing by his brilliant mind, love for learning, and adaptability to even the most challenging circumstances.

The arc of his life stretched from Ruijin in Jiangxi province, where from a very young age, he waited for his parents as they left early for and came home late from their fields every day, and only ate meat (chicken) once a year on Chinese New Year; to Orange County, CA, where he drove his new Tesla and walked the hills of Laguna Woods.

Chih-jin left China for Taiwan at only 15 years old. He served in the Republic of China Navy and attended the Fu Xing Gang military academy. He studied political science at National Chengchi University, then political sociology at Cambridge and the London School of Economics. He met his wife, Wendy, while at Cambridge. They would be married for 60 years.

After England, Chih-jin returned to Taiwan, where he worked as a diplomat, and where his first daughter Evelyn was born. His placements abroad were in Hawaii, where he lived for 2 years and his second daughter Marilyn was born, then in New York City. After a few years, he quit the diplomatic service to study computer science and mathematics at NYU and to open a grocery store in Queens.

After living in New York for almost 20 years, with both daughters now in California, Chih-jin and Wendy moved to West Los Angeles, where he spent the next 33 years of his life. He taught tai chi at the Culver City Senior Center, and sometimes also tutored people in Chinese language and calligraphy.

Chih-jin loved computers and new technology. He started with a Radio Shack TRS-80 and upgraded to new computers every few years. He was fascinated with self-driving cars, navigating with Siri, artificial intelligence, and ordering Lyft through a phone app. He learned to adopt new technology his whole life, even at the age of 92.

His interests didn't end with technology. He also wrote poetry, took nature photographs, drafted his autobiography, published books on Confucian philosophy, and read books in English and Chinese ranging from jokes and riddles to fiction to books on spirituality and history. He loved My Fair Lady, Chinese dramas, dim sum, and all kinds of food, including Thai, Indonesian, Italian and McDonald's. He was a great cook and made steamed mantou and ginger salmon for his daughters and grandchildren.

Chih-jin was curious, kind, gentle, patient, intellectual, and funny. He found enjoyment and appreciation for life no matter the circumstances. He made the people around him happy. He was a wonderful husband, father, grandfather and human being. We miss him terribly.

From his collection of poems on cherry blossoms:

爛 漫 枝 頭 春 占 工,
驀 然 綠 滿 失 春 蹤,
花 時 人 事 兩 難 駐,
似 水 流 年 太 遽 匆。

The brilliant blooms on the tips of the branches are the work of spring.
Suddenly, spring is gone, leaving only green.
The flowers' time, like people's, is hard to hold on to.
Like water flowing, the years hurry by too quickly.