Lan Sun Cheng left this world on June 18th, 2025, leaving behind a digging bar (hidden, per usual) and the paper towels he would regularly cut into square napkins, but he took with him his favorite Italian sweatpants and the thumbs up “Thank you!” he gave when people let him pass.   

Lan was born to the 16th generation of the Ngai mountain people of Nanliang, China, in 1942 (maybe). He was orphaned at a young age (possibly 3) in the "Ten thousand Mountains of Guang Xi" after his parents died of starvation in the runup to Mao’s agricultural policies. He lived alone in a shack cum cottage an hour's walk upwards from the village. He tried to learn to read by sitting outside of schoolhouse windows along his travels. Having been hit by the greatest famine in history himself, he made multiple illegal long walks to find work and food in Vietnam. He was jailed twice but triumphed as a teen.  

He is survived by his assiduous and boisterous wife, Mui Loc Chong (6th Girl Chong), sons Tai Cheng and his wife Laurel Xie, Thomas Nhi Cheng and his wife Shirley Guimei Dai, Samuel "Sammy" Cheng and his wife Crystal Chan, daughter Tiffiniy Ying Cheng; his 8 grandchildren, Lundon (named after Lan), Sidnhy, Meidailene, Taison, Evan, Bontai, Tailong, and Lydia Cheng; and beloved niblings in Toronto, NY, LA, Sacramento, and southern China. He is preceded in death by his parents, Cheng Si Cheung and Wong Si, three older sisters, Cheng Nhi Mui (2nd girl), Cheng Si Mui (4th girl), Cheng Mm Mui (5th girl), and an older and younger brother (through sign reading), Cheng Se Nhi and Cheng Se Liu, all of of Guang Xi, China. 

For millenia, the ethnic Ngai people settled along the border towns in the poorest areas of Vietnam. Because of that, Lan found enough people to clandestinely locate a distant uncle. This now-beloved uncle hid, housed, and fed Lan and got Lan his first job on a "container" ship of the 60's sailboat variety. Lan eventually went on to build roads by hand, during which time he met his lifelong love, Mui, a Ngai street hawker of the towns of Hà Cǒi and Quǎng Hà. Although wedding preparations had already been made, he left his then-fiancé as soon as he was able to convince Mui's mom that he wasn't just a poor boy with no skills.  

They had 3 boys during the Vietnam War: Tai, Nhi, and Sam, (Big, Second, and Third). During bomb raids, Mui, with her children and sometimes pregnant, hid for days in underground tunnels that occasionally filled with rain. And, Lan got to see, from 20 feet away, the bomb that landed on the cafe he was in and would have killed him had he not decided the line was too long and he should ditch the idea of getting coffee.

When the Vietnam War ended, the Sino-Vietnam War began. In response, the Vietnamese government decided to persecute and expel all ethnic Chinese people from the country, Lan, now with a family in tow and with assistance from his eldest son, secretly crossed back into China. They hid in fields and settled in Chinese camps. Eventually, Mui's skills as a street hawker to buy and sell gold and Lan's slight knowledge of sailing and a map's cardinal directions came in handy––they were able to secretly trade gold for a boat, pay off nasty pirates, and provide passage for themselves and many dozens of families on nighttime sails towards a Macau refugee camp, where they had their fourth child. Lan and his family were then sponsored to Worcester, MA by Catholic Charities and a group of 6 mostly Jewish families; Susan Seibel and Art Firl, of Oxford, MA have especially dedicated themselves to giving care to Lan and his family.   

Lan had a passion for driving. He was a big fan of the diagonal or banging a U-turn, especially after a missed highway exit (in a Toyota or Honda, only). Out of this passion, Lan created his own navigation GPS service, the Cheng Navigation System (CNS) — no smartphone needed here. The CNS forces the most effective route possible, including which lane to be in regardless of traffic flow. Using data from just one trip to a new place, he and many of his descendants with CNS could reverse engineer the drive back, give you directions, tell you where to park, and can't help mumbling "this is the right way" (if they're not driving). Lan often recounted his CNS Worcester Edition routes, especially the drive to transport his grandchildren, Bontai and Tailong, across the city to their kung fu class in 15 minutes through traffic, which would take most people 1 hour. There are a few Chengs whose first sentence is "Turn [here]." Some think Lan should have been a taxi driver because it was that efficient. 

In the late 80s, when a plethora of  "Best Company Ever!" jobs existed, Lan landed a job at Prime Computer soldering microscopic wires to great acclaim. During this period, the family prospered. Mui worked in sweatshops and the children did "homework", that is, sweatshop work at home. Then, big finance and NAFTA came along and ended Lan's good job. So, Lan opened a few restaurants, including one in his home named Duck Yao, as well as a Sunoco gas station with two of his sons. The latter was again financed by Mui’s street-hawking tenacity to borrow, based on good faith only, within the extended Chinese network loan system (thank you unrelated uncles and aunts!)

Lan was a cultural Chinese Buddhist and later a devout Taoist as well. He became a vegetarian who put ketchup (definitely too much) on his pizza and burnt boxed mac n' cheese. He ate brown rice and vegetables without garlic or onions to keep from reincarnating into a cow. As an adamant vegetarian, he gruffed at his joke nickname, "G-PA", short for Grandpa, because it sounds like porkchop (false cognate) in Cantonese. He opened Worcester's satellite Tian Ann Taoist temple in his home, and revered monuments and their meaning. He cried if he caught you fueling a fire with junk mail or newspapers because words were that precious to him. He also started "the Tree Removal Service" for favorite trees only –– he would "prune" a tree of its branches during peak bloom down to a stump, pour concrete up to the trunk, proclaim, "It won't grow!", and then complete his service by removing it (see photo). He and his wife, Mui, couldn't bring themselves to buy trash bags (grocery plastic bags only, please) or give up on the immigrant dream of having a finished basement or a large, completely barren front yard that always needs mowing. 

Although Lan was always having a chuckle, he was a mild-mannered, solemnly dignified, and formal man of few (occasionally searingly dark) words, which meant he laughed until his eyes shut and cried at the mention of any kind of perseverance. The man loved experiencing things a mountain boy like him could never imagine, like brushing his teeth (not), jumping on a trampoline, bagels from Boston Donuts, many vests with the maximum number of pockets, and the right hat. He believed everything he saw in the movies or encountered, wondering how some people could actually fly and earnestly yelling at telemarketers (as if he couldn't stop them), "I don't want it, I don't want it!" while sauntering across his yard eating mugwort mochis. He was moral, like when he would not keep wearing a Halloween mohawk wig because he said, "It is not right to pretend to be a young man," yet instead of delivering phone calls to his daughter when her friends who were boys called, he'd somehow mutter a fulsomely dark and articulated, heavily accented "fukc you" followed by a hang-up. 

Tenaciously active due to fear of Mui, even in his final year, Lan excavated dozens of 6 sq ft. boulders by pick axe, built barely standing trellises, stairs, and house extensions at 70 degrees, vehemently protested that the diversity of food in the US was better than the monoculture food in China, and loved chumming himself up at the Cancun resort buffet he visited with his son, Thomas. He loved buffets passionately, but in his dying days, would prefer his son Sam's food.

Lan never once spoke of his parent's death to the day he died. He was unable to bury his parents until he gathered enough money at 18 to do so. Lan's greatest task in life was to honor his parents' grave buried in the weeds in the Vietnamese and Chinese hillsides. We hope he may now be reunited with them. 

We're thankful to the nurses and physical therapist who were exceptionally insightful and gentle in their care towards him in his final days. He was grateful for GuiMei’s pasta and time, Laurel’s steady hand, Crystal's light, Lundon’s Stitch and Ensure, Sidnhy's excursions and the Pizza Hut memorabilia from China now in his casket, Meidailene’s quiet hangouts and madeleines, Taison's constant sitting by their side but not his parking, Evan, Bontai, Tailong, and Lydia’s assists, hugs, handshakes, fooling, and dancing for him in his last years. He was honored by his wife, sons, and daughter's obedience and care for him over the years.

Memorial flowers will be accepted (and can be arranged through Tang Florist, 617-426-5529). Donations can be made to the Tian Ann Temple, https://www.tiananntemple.org/, to accompany Lan's spirit in the afterlife.

Visitation will be held on Friday, June 27, 2025 from 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm, and Saturday, June 28, 2025, from 9:00 am - 11:00 am at the Wing Fook Funeral Home, 13 Gerard St., Boston, MA 02119. The cemeterial burial service is on Saturday, June 28, 2025 from 11:30 am - 12:00 pm at Central Cemetery, 327 North St., Randolph, MA 02368, followed by a lunch at Tian Ann Temple, 49-59 Hayward St, Braintree, MA 02184. 

For more information, please consult the Cheng Clan reference tome in development for centuries listing all 19 generations of Chengs and counting. This obituary was published in the local newspaper in honor of Lan:

https://www.telegram.com/obituaries/pneo1213021