June 9, 2019

Sibu Tales : Yii Bing


Yii Bing was born in what is known as the Au Yong area in Sibu just before Sibu was bombed by the Japanese.

In those days Au Yong was actually miles and miles of rubber trees. He remembers he and his siblings walked every where barefooted and as a result, his toes are wide apart.

During the war his father traded with the Melanaus and after the war he was brought to live in Sg. Kut. As a result he went to study in St. Patrick's in Mukah.

However he had set his sights high and he actually ran away from his father by being a hideaway in a motor launch.

He never regretted running away from Mukah as he had wanted to become a singer. Beacause he was still under 12, he had to get back to school. By attending the nearby Tung Hua Secondary school he had a very good grounding in Chinese ethics, morals and the classics. He developed his singing interests even though his teachers did not know anything about music.

After he won several singing competitions in Sibu his career took off and he cut a record in Singapore using his own hard earn money.

To earn more, he made the rounds of all the nightclubs he could find and he prospered because it was also the era of timber boom.  There was the Grandeur or Kuo Du, and The Ambassador or Kuo Bing, the most “high class” night clubs of Sibu in those days.

He wrote many songs himself and most of them very motivating, with a good beat.

He later moved to Miri where he operated a nightclub, raised a family and opened a vocal school.

His most famous group is the All Women Combined Choir called Fei Yien or Flying Swallow. He took this choir group to tour many cities in Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong.

He has a very good following in Miri.

His life story is very inspiring. 

"From poverty stricken rubber roots to timber financied night clubs to mature concerts of high standard music. What a life!!"

Now he spends quiet time with his wife, his friends and going to church.

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