May 16, 2010

An Old Artifact- Foochow Stove.

Many homes in Fuzhou are now equipped with new kitchen facilities. However I did manage to take a photo of an old style Foochow stove.

this reminds me of my childhood days in Sibu before we constructed our new building in Brooke Drive. My mother saved hard to put up a five storeyed two unit building and named it Takang Building in memory of my late father. This building was completed in 1978 but not too long ago my family sold it to one of the Ting families who renovated the place and is now called Orchid Hotel.

The old wooden house we had in Brooke Drive had a stove like this. At that time we never thought of photographing our very own stove!! Later in life I became very very keen on socio - anthropology and started to photograph almost everything within my budget!! Now wherever I go I take photographs and do a photo-documentary as soon as I reach home. This is also recorded in my two blogs : Sarawakiana and Sarawakiana@2. My older records (before computer or BC) were all handwritten. Photos of course are of different sizes and pasted in the ablums or scrap books. And many were printed by Art Friends of Sibu.



I would encourage every one to keep a good record of things they see and things they do. Even a small scrap book would be meaningful to a future generation.

I met a very well educated Director of Archives in
Fuzhou. He said

You can go and be President
But I will remain as an antique collector.

(Foochow pin yin

Nii kuo jo jun tung
Ngui kuo siew goo tung....)



So in my own capacity I will take photos.......and write and write and write.....

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

ha....it is not made of clay. The one of clay is the most primitive.

wenn said...

i remember my grandmother had that kind.

Ann, Chen Jie Xue 陈洁雪 said...

wah!!!! You own a hotel LOL.

I saw they use bamboo, I hope they don't explode like the Malay boys used to make their canon.

Jay said...

Orchid hotel.. i will always remember that hotel not because it situated at the middle of the town but I wa s there many years back.
Great idea about scrap book and collecting photo. well i still have a collection of photo which i paste on the file and write some remark beside (event behind the photo).
I don't have much time blogging now, that why my blog outdated.

Unknown said...

That's sure looks like a sturdy solid stove.
Yes I know what you mean by keeping a good record of things we see or do.
Especially in a family, when the children grow up they will start asking and want to know :)

Have a wonderful weekend!

Daniel Yiek said...

yes, food fired stove from all sorts of wood from the shops

Ah Ngao said...

the recent Ching Ming i stayed at Capital Hotel with my big brother.is it near the Orchid Hotel ? i know keeping some form of records very good but sometimes,its a pity .some of the new generations just dont appreciates or gives a damn, ho ?

Ensurai said...

Dear Anonymos
this is made of good cement..and must be 60's in era. I like this kind of stove very much.

Ensurai said...

Dear Wenn
Yes that's right. When the gas tanks arrived in our country every one changed their stoves.

Ensurai said...

Dear Ann
No..I don't own hotel..the Tings.. When you go to Sibu you can stay there. Not bad. But take the higher levels.

Yeah I notice the Chinese use lots of bamboo to fire their stoves...but they split the bamboo first.

Ensurai said...

Dear Jay
Long time no hear from you!!
Orchid Hotel is stillnicely situated in Sibu...
School children are encouraged to do scrap books...and one of the best scrap bookers in the world is Jackie Kennedy Onassis. One memorable one is her book of poems.
Wonder what the next generation will do about 21st century history?

Ensurai said...

Hi Isah...
Hope children grow up to be happy with their family history and keep all sorts of records...

Ensurai said...

Daniel
It shows that normal wood is disappearing...In India cow dung is used. Some parts of China - Camel dung.

Ensurai said...

Ah Ngao
Capital Hotel is near the Post Office? Then Orchid is just about 1000 m. from Kampong Nyabor.

Children should learn good things like keeping journals too.

Reanaclaire said...

reminded of my younger days when we went back to our maternal grandmother's house ...

Ensurai said...

Dear Reanaclaire
Yes both sets of my grandmothers had this kind of stove and they had the big kualis...Food was exceptionally good in those days!! Nostalgic and sweet memories...

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