Chao Shu-hsia was born in the 1920s and lived in a large house in Peking as a child. Being very strictly brought up, she describes how she used to lie at the front gate enviously peering through the crack at her friends carrying their satchels to school and even taking out money to buy food.
趙淑俠生於九一八事變那年，孩提時住在北平大宅，家中管教極嚴，以至於「故都胡同的那些吃食玩意兒，我一樣也沒有享受過」，她形容當時自己總是趴在外門縫羨慕小朋友「背著口袋」上學去，甚至自己掏錢買吃食。