Beijing with Love

A wise woman, a good and strong Foochow woman, my mother, looked after 7 children all on her own from the age of 40 when my father died pre maturelly at age 56, and my youngest brother was only 11 months old.

She was able to juggle widowhood, three generations on both sides of the family, 7 children and yet never owed any one any cent.

She kept her faith and fought the good fight.

Here is one love story from her life --

My father was very fond of keeping pigeons. We had two pigeon houses in Brooke Drive and he would feed them himself with corn and rice.

Every now and then my mother would find 2 little ones to boil for his nourishment.

No one really knew how difficult it was to tweeze all the downs and fine feathers from the almost adult doves. She would have used a few slices of ginger to smother the birds before cutting open the stomach cavity.

My father loved to keep pigeons. These were wild ones photographed in Bintangor

My father knew very well how patient my mother would be in getting the birds all well steamed for his evening snack or Xiao Yeh. After the evening meal, he would have his walk, read his mail and papers, and then when we had done all our homework, it was time for him to chat with my mother. The two of them would sit together  in the large kitchen at about 9 and he would drink his well steamed, or double boiled twin pigeon soup. She would not take even one spoonful of the soup from the bowl!!

It was much later that I was told Beijingers loved to rear pigeons for many imperial and political reasons.

A Chinese teacher told me that older people in Beijing loved to hear the pigeon whistle.

"Pigeon  whistles are whistles that are tied to the tails of pigeons so that when they fly, the air that flows through the whistle creates a harmonic sound.

To see a flock of pigeons flying over  the skies of Beijing would make any old Beijinger happy. According to an article, the renowned artist of Peking Opera Mei Lanfang immortalized the sight and sound of a flock of pigeons flying over the skies when he referred to it as " a symphony in the sky."

Many older generation would watch vintage Chinese movies and recognize pigeons flying over Beijing skies.  Today a good movie producer who makes an old Beijing movie would usually include a scene of a market with pigeon sellers.

My father lived in Beijing (at that time Peiping) from 1933 to 1937 without coming back to Sarawak all those years because he wanted to save money. He must have cultivated his love for pigeons there. He would cycle every where in Beijing, to enjoy sights and sounds.

When he moved to from Pulau Kerto to Sibu one of the first things he did was to build a pigeon house, and in fact he built two in the end.

As children, we enjoyed listening to the cooing of our father's pigeons.

My mother would give away some of the baby pigeons to older relatives when they came to ask her. She was always generous to her relatives.

I would always remember how patiently she plucked the feathers from the baby pigeons, to prepare a good health broth for my father.

She did not like her photos taken and this was taken this year when I visited her CNY 2020.

Today at 1.20 p.m. my mother's heart stopped beating. She lived 93 years on this earth, and now she is in heaven with my beloved father.

 May her soul rest in peace.


NB, The pigeon soup can strengthen the body, nourish the kidneys, strengthen the brain and invigorate the mind. It is said it will improve memory, reduce blood pressure and prolong life.