Nang Chong Stories : Cousin Kuo Ing

My cousin, Hsiung Kuo Ing, was actually born in China where her parents worked after their medical training in Shanghai. Her mother,my mother's eldest sister, Lau Hung Hee was a certified nurse and midwife who was owner of the Lau Hung Hee Maternity Home in Padungan, Kuching.

My aunt Hung Hee was fortunate to bring cousin Kuo Ing back to Sarawak just before the Japanese took over China.

Cousin Kuo Ing was old enough to know the suffering of the Chinese in Nang Chong during the Japanese Occupation.

My mother was hardly 18 herself when she had to plant rice, raise pigs and cook for the family while her mother was stranded in Fujian. Mum was then only about 10 years older than cousin Kuo Ing, but she looked after several smaller children, those of her eldest brother, and cousin Kuo Ing.

A very traumatic incident happened at the end of the 3 years and 8 months of the Japanese Occupation.

Mum and cousin Kuo Ing were at home when there was a commotion in the village. The villagers had captured a very fair man, purportedly a runaway Japanese soldier. He had been beaten and was bleeding from the head and the villagers had striped him naked.

Mum covered cousin Kuo Ing's eyes and told her to cover her ears too so that she could not hear the loud voices. But every one wanted to have a look. And cousin Kuo Ing was stunned by the sight as she was so young and so unprepared.

The villagers tied the Japanese up and discussed what to do with him. Finally it was decided to send him across the river to the other side.

He was not dead but he was really quite at the end of his life, probably from starvation. The villagers would not have him in the village as it would mean danger and a lot of questions to be answered. And a fresh grave would cause a lot of trouble too.

Did the villagers actually plan to drown him in the middle of the river? No one would really know.

But it was said, the soldier managed to jump off from the small boat and  drowned. Dying would have been better than being tortured. But in later years, the villagers said the solder's drowning was plannned.

For a little girl to see a pale looking man all naked, with blood running down the face, it must have been a very traumatic experience.

My mother loved cousin Kuo Ing a lot, because in a way, she was the "mother" figure during the Japanese Occupation to the little girl while her parents were busy working in health care in Bintangor, making a living to buy food and some rice.

Cousin Kuo Ing was one of the first Chinese students to be trained in Sarawak Teachers' TRaining College,Sibu, in 1958. Mum was very proud of her when she heard that she was selected to be trained as a teacher.

She was a Chinese subject teacher in Kuching until she retired from service. Later when my motehr moved to Kuching the two were once again reunited and for several years they enjoyed many occasions together in Kuching.

Mum always said, "Now, when we have something to eat, I will always call Kuo Ing to come and share the food. We had so little to eat during the Japanese Occupation."

For a long time we did not tell Mum that Cousin Kuo Ing was fatally injured in a road accident in Bau. Finally when we told her and it was very hard for her to accept cousin Kuo Ing's untimely death.

Mum still thinks of Cousin Kuo Ing whenever we have good food on the table. She wishes Cousin Kuo Ing was still around.