Wun Chieh in those days was a remote place and it must have taken him three days to walk to Minqing township (Geng Niang) to listen to the preaching of Wong Nai Siong. I often wondered if he had to take time to convince Great Great Grandfather Tiong Kek Jeh to let him go off. But times was bad, so it could have been 50:50 kind of choice. Would he and he sons make it?
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| Porcelain image of my great grandfather. Made in Shanxi (inscribed at the bottom of the porcelain picture.) . |
Great Grandfather was a man of strong character according to most stories I heard. He was literate, gtood with brush calligraphy. But most importantly he was well loved by friends and neighbours who recognised him as a barefoot sinseh who could read pulses and prescribe simple medication.
He never owned a herbal shop but he was more of a contractor of works. He was one of the contractors who built the first block of shops along Blacksmith Road. As a result he and his Wong nephews co owned the Nang Kwong Shop building.
Not much else was known about his early days in China, or in Sibu, except that he was happy with some life achievements, which would have been impossible in China.
a) he co-owned the first ice and rice mill with his two Wong family nephews , Wong heng Kwong, and Wong Liing Kwong, the Hua Hung in Pulau Kerto.
b) he was one of the first Foochow towkays to have electricity in his rice mill.
c) his grandson Ta Kang was one of the first two Foochow boys from Sibu to graduate from YenChing university. Beijing. (The other one was Wong Cheng Ang) in 1937.
d) his grand daughter Pearl married into the Lau Kah Tii family in a grand wedding in 1938. By then he was elderly and he sat in a chair for the grand wedding photo in front of the Masland Church.
e) he had a few contracts to build both wooden and concrete shop lots after the 1928 Sibu fire.
f) for years he and my grandfather vouched for new Foochow migrants to come to Sibu. The few relatives , Tiong surname, would stay and work in Hua Hung, until they found better jobs. That was the usual practice and this reminds me of the present day migrants looking for sponsors in Australia and New Zealand, or even the USA.
g) in his old age, he was happy that many people would drop by for a free pulse reading in order to buy the right herbs from Sibu. He would write the names of the herbs with his Chinese brush.
One of my aunts told me that he had some intrinsic knowledge of modern psychology. So I wondered if he did hear about Pavlov and his dog experiment.
Was it a natural Foochow instinct to reward the good?
He had a tin of sweets and biscuits. He used a pulley system to place it high up in the room. His grand children would come around him begging him for the sweets or biscuits. He would reward the good ones quietly. The children loved to hear the rope being pulled and they knew something good was coming to them. So most of them were well behaved.
Those good in studies were also rewarded during the holidays. My grand aunt, Yuk Ging, his only daughter was good in studies, and so were my aunts, Lily, Phyllis, Maggie and Grace who were top students in Mrs. Hoover's Yuk Ing Girls' school. My father was also an excellent scholar.
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