Her father, Shui Chun-shao, like van Gulik, was a diplomat in his early years and was said to have been accompanied by 45 carloads of assistants and thirty or forty cooks on a posting to St. Petersburg.
她的父親水鈞韶早年也是一位外交官，曾經在蘇俄聖彼德堡工作；據說當年乘火車到蘇俄上任時，一共帶了四十五節車廂的隨從，和三、四十個廚子。