My Grandmother's Mung Beans Porridge

 In the pioneering days the Foochow farmers and pioneers were mainly subsistence farmers and rubber planters. Most could paddle their own boats to go from place and place and few would have the time to visit the bazaar.

According to my mother when she was growing up in the 1920's and 1930's they did not even have cash to see any of the sin seh and Western doctors in town. There was a Dr. Chew Chin Nang and Dr. Chiu Nai Zheng and later, a Dr. Xavier (pre war and post war).

The Lau King Howe Hospital was started on the year my mother was born, 1926.

For small fevers and a bit of coughing, my grandmother would give the usual home remedies.

One of the remedies for fever was green bean porridge.

According to many of my relatives it was a really good cure, but it did not cure meningitis or brain fever. 

A special tablet, called Gana Bian was also used to help with colds and fever. During the Japanese Occupation, one of my aunts had very high fever and she was so delirious that she even attempted to jump from the window of Grandfather's house. But luckily she was saved by watchful relatives. Sixth Uncle also had very high fever during the war and he too was saved by Gana tablets.

In the 1950's, several of my cousins and my own brother had meningitis in their childhood. My brother Hsiung was given treatment in the hospital too and that really frightened my parents. Later he was treated by doctors like Wong Muk Foo, and Dr. Chew (Suk Chee).

Life in Binatang in the 1940's - 1950's

 Here is a story from my cousin Yew Ping who was growing into a young lady in the early 1950's. Great Grandmother was to move in with Grandfather in Sungei Merah and Yew Ping, the adopted grand daughter was asked to live with Second Uncle and Aunty in Binatang, at the Mee Ann Rice and Sawmill. The elders had agreed that once she was of marriageable age, she must be married off.

In those days all girls had to be married off and singlehood was never part of the social life. So she waited to be old enough to be married off and while waiting, she was a great help to my Second Aunt.

She told us that one of the best food they all had was the availability of marble goby or the stupid fish (Ikan bertutu). The fish has a very stupid reputation because it would stay at the same place in the water and bit the bait. If the bait came loose it would bite again. So fishermen call this fish Ikan Bodoh.

Marble goby is a very tasty fish and my grandfather loved the fish. Whenever he visited Binatang, he would look forward to having fish for his dinners. He would usually stay a week to see to the rice and saw mill,or he would take a few days to go down to the coast to look for more timber for the mill. He was so energetic according to Yew Ping.

Grandfather would pay the Malay fishermen one or two dollars for probably three marble goby. As the family was rather big living in Mee Ann, three fish would just be enough. He liked to eat chow chai fish soup. So Yew Ping would be the one to prepare the vegetables and the fish, and Second Aunt would cook the soup.

MARBLE GOBY SERVED IN A RESTAURANT IN MIRI. DELICIOUS

Fishermen came very often to the rice mill and grandfather looked at the fish discerningly, sometimes he would buy them especially if the fish was very fresh. Sometimes he would wait at the jetty for other fishermen to row by and he would choose what he liked. He really loved eating fish.

Today in Miri Marble Goby costs RM100 per kg.

Mum and Her Mushrooms Story

 My  mother was good at reciprocating New Year Gifts. When ever her sisters in law  and sisters sent some festive gifts over to her, she would choose some freshly bought items to return to them, usually more than what they gave. She would make sure that she would ask one of us to get some Chinese New Year items from Ta Kiong for her gift exchanges. Since Mum could not drive or cycle, we girls were tasked to deliver the gifts by bicycle.

It was common knowledge that gift exchanges could cause some family conflicts resulting in some serious results. Some relatives even stopped talking to each other. This WAS the danger of giving gifts which were not appreciated. 

Giving of Hampers was a later trend started by the supermarkets in Sibu. And then it was the pricing that would cause grief among the aunties and cousins. Mum being mum was not fond of buying hampers because some of the items according to her, "Simply cannot be eaten!" and very often expired.

One day my young sister was sent to deliver a gift to a relative but she came home in tears because the recipient said, "We don't eat fragrant mushrooms which are low grade. Please take these home. We only eat Flower Mushrooms." My younger sister was so insulted that she cried all the way home. This particular relative was a bit of a snob to say the least. But may be, to give her some credit, she was just blunt?

Whether my mother was hurt or distraught, she kept it all in her heart for the rest of her life.  Well in a way, the majority of the items were acceptable and only the fragrant mushrooms were rejected. But whenever we had dried mushrooms at home, we would be reminded of the incident. In later days, mum would buy flower mushrooms to give us a treat but we continue to love fragrant mushrooms and other kinds of mushrooms which were easily bought in the supermarkets. We did not have to wait for gifts from relatives.

This was a scar inflicted mentally on all of us children because an adult was very insulting. Mum was then a widow and we bought what we could afford. 

And in those days, shitake mushrooms were already well respected as part of our Foochow soh mien for first day of Chinese new year. My mother would always send gifts including one kampong chicken, some dried soh mien from Ah Juoh Bak (the best in town),some mushrooms and some tins of peaches.

This was the special Foochow hamper for sisters in law and for sisters. But sometimes the wrong

words could really hurt for life. Flower mushrooms or fragrant mushrooms or which ever type, my mother sent them with love.

We must always receive gifts with grace.

Watching Football on TV

 TV came to smaller towns of Sarawak only in 1974 when some civil servants were able to afford to buy those buy TV sets. Most bought with cash as the shop keepers were not sure that their customers would pay their installments faithfully.

Since that time most longhouses also purchased their units which were literally brought from the shops to the motor launches, and then carried on bareback to the longhouse.

And Football games were watched on TV.

They watched Pele, Maradonna, etc. Boys were born and they were given footballers names.

Thus in Sarawak we have names like Pele, Maradonna, Ronaldo, Lionel, Zeydane, Luis, Xavier and Messi.

The Ibans call this system of naming, "angkat" or "lifting of good name". Teachers who teach in rural primary schools would smile when they see the names of their pupils on the school register. Fathers name their children after great people. And so why not great footballers?

They hope their sons grow into great footballers. That's the belief. Give a good name, and hope the son would be a good man.

Diego Armando Maradona Franco was born on 30th October 1960 in Lanus, Bueono Aires in Argentina. He was a small guy in the football field at 5 ft 5 inches But he was good in dribbling, often passing some formidable opponents on a run.

He was most well kown for his free kick and his presence had a great effect on his team mates.

His was the "Golden Kid" of the Argentine Team.

He was No. 10, a number easily recognised by young and old, men and women. 

He made football history with world record transfer fee twice, first when he transferred to Barcelona for a then-world record £5 million, and second, when he transferred to Napoli for another record fee £6.9 million. He played for Argentinos Juniors, Boca Juniors, Barcelona, Napoli, Sevilla and Newell's Old Boys during his club career, and is most famous for his time at Napoli and Barcelona where he won numerous accolades.

In his international career with Argentina, he earned 91 caps and scored 34 goals. Maradona played in four FIFA World Cups, including the 1986 World Cup in Mexico where he captained Argentina and led them to victory over West Germany in the final, and won the Golden Ball as the tournament's best player. In the 1986 World Cup quarter final, he scored both goals in a 2–1 victory over England that entered football history for two different reasons. The first goal was an unpenalized handling foul known as the "Hand of God", while the second goal followed a 60 m (66 yd) dribble past five England players, voted "Goal of the Century" by FIFA.com voters in 2002.(Wikipedia)

Maradona became the coach of Argentina's national football team in November 2008. He was in charge of the team at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa before leaving at the end of the tournament. He then coached Dubai-based club Al Wasl in the UAE Pro-League for the 2011–12 season. In 2017, Maradona became the coach of Fujairah before leaving at the end of the season.^[12] In May 2018, Maradona was announced as the new chairman of Belarusian club Dynamo Brest.^[13] He arrived in Brest and was presented by the club to start his duties in July.^[14] From September 2018 to June 2019, Maradona was coach of Mexican club Dorados.^[15] He was the coach of Argentine Primera División club Gimnasia de La Plata from 2019 until his death.(Wikipedia) 

The Argentine was only 60 when he passed on.

Making of Jiaozi

 

A bit of flour? A bit of home grown chives in the back yard? You can have a good fellowship with young and old.

the making of jiaozi with a group of friends or relatives is memorable. It is a legacy one can pass on to the younger generation.

There are many stories to share while making them besides great stories about eating them.

Recently, there is a remarkable scene of making jiaozi in Crazy Rich Asians.

The making of jiazi however is more Northern Chinese in culture.

These are my personal experiences of making jiaozi.

Jiaozi or chives dumplings are not commonly made by Foochow women in Sibu.

The first time I made jiaozi was in Chongqing where I was working with the Methodist Mission for a month.

There I learned to make the wrapper or skin from my friend's mother in law. It looked so simple but it was a great skill.

She was able to make hundreds in just a short time.

The next time I made jiaozi was in Miri when I was invited by a group of Mainland Chinese girls for a fellowship. That was the first time I had a gathering with young North Eastern Chinese girls, who put a five sen in some of the jiaozi.

I taught two nieces from my husband's side to make them one Chinese New Year. I suppose if we have a bit of flour, and some chives in the garden, we can make chives jiaozi easily.

To day in Miri Tin Tin Jiaozi is very famous. The stall owner is from Mainland China.

A plate of Tin Tin Jiaozi is RM10.00. You can have a whole plate of meat, or chives, or a mixed plate of meat and chives. It is a good breakfast.

It is good to share a plate of Tin Tin jiaozi with my Lau cousins. Lovely chats and reminisces and coffee with jiaozi give one a lovely morning fellowship.

A Post War Wedding in Sibu

 My aunts used to tell me about their experiences as bridesmaids. A few of them were bridesmaids twice or more because they already had the bridesmaid's outfit.

Most young ladies educated in Yuk Ing Girls' School could make their own clothes and would go on to be good home makers. This was the vision and mission of Mrs. Mary Hoover who believed strongly in education for girls. Without her, I can say that my aunts and many of the Foochow women would not have been educated at all.

Yuk Ing Girls' School eventually became the Methodist School of Sibu.

My 7th Aunt is a very good example of Yuk Ing Girls' School product. She loved Mrs. Hoover who took care for her and her younger siblings, including the 4 year old Aunty Carrie after the war especially when Grandmother Wong passed away.

She said, "We were all in the boarding school, as our father lived in Pulau Kerto. And it was the older sibling looking after the younger sibling. We all did our chores well, and often the older sibling helping the younger ones. We learned to fend for ourselves and we grew up under Mrs. Hoover's care. It was like this until I graduated in 1949 and I went to Singapore for higher education. Then the boarding school disbanded and for a while my siblings boarded with Aunt Yuk Ging in the early 50's until the Sungei Merah house belonging to our father was completed."

When my parents were married in 1948, my 7th Aunt made her own bridesmaid's dress, and also the flower girls' dresses. They were lovely.

My mother's bridal gown was rented.

And a very remarkable feature of my mother was discovered by 7th Aunt. Mum did not wear earrings at all as she never had her ears pierced. My mother never wore earrings in her whole life!

In those days, most Foochow men had their own suits. My mother could not remember whether my father bought a new white suit for the wedding but he wore a white suit. Uncle Professor Chong Chung Hian wore his own suit as he came back from Singapore for the wedding.

My grandfather wore his own suit for the wedding. The wedding ceremony took place at Hua Hong Ice factory's manager's quarters with all the aunts helping out.

A small banquet was given in a Sibu restaurant. My mum said she was so nervous she did not eat anything but 7th Aunt was most attentive and helpful as a bridesmaid who realized then that my mum was really a very shy young lady.

Mum became the eldest daughter in law of the large family but she never raised her voice and or insisted on staying at the top of the pecking order. 7th Aunt, in her position as the 7th daughter respected my mother for her humble attitude in life.

Bride and bridesmaid remained the best of friends for life.

NOTE : History repeats itself. When it was my turn to be bride I sought out a friend and asked her to be my bridesmaid, As I wanted a multi racial wedding, she was my first choice and she indeed had a gown to wear. 

She was a beautiful bridesmaid!

Best man too came with his own suit, and so did the groom!

Nyonya Outfits: My Grand Aunty Chong

My Grandmother Chong born in Java was educated in Singapore where there were many Chinese girls boarding at the Nim Home.

According to my aunt who later went to the same boarding school said that Grandma Chong and her fellow students wore either Chinese samfoo or the sarong kebaya. Most of the hostel girls were from Indonesia and Malaya. Educated in English mainly, my Grandmother received up to Junior High education before she married my grandfather in Sibu, where she and her brother Chong Jin Bok settled, when introduced  by Rev James Hoover.

According to my maternal grandmother, Tiong Lien Tie, my Chong grandmother wore sarong kebaya and was known as Nyonya, a Malay and English speaking young lady. That was my Ngie Mah's introduction to my Chong grandmother. My ngie mah said she was a very strong and steady lady with very little to say. Probably that was how she was brought up. My father inherited a lot of her characteristics.

According to family stories my grandmother Chong started to wear what other Foochow women wore, Chinese top and trousers (sang ku) in no time to assimilate into the society. She also picked up the Minqing dialect very quickly. She spoke a deep Hock Chia or Hook Chiang dialect which according to many my grand uncle Chong Jin Bok had.

The impression that the Chong relatives wore a lot of Nyonya outfits stayed for a long time in Sibu because Mrs. Chong Jin Bok or our Ging Boh wore it all the time.

In this blog post I will share a photo of grand aunty wearing sarong kebaya. We called her Ing Mook Ging Boh. She was well loved and was always included in our family events especially when relatives came from overseas and we had restaurant dinners.

She would make a grand entrance in her beautiful sarong kebaya. Her fragrance was a special feature of hers too.

Towards the remaining days of her life in Sibu, she would get her grand nieces to her bed room and showed them her nice kebayas, her old photos and even talked about the old teaching days. She missed her old students who meant a lot to her.

Treatment for Epilepsy : Common Toad

When my uncle was very young he was witness to the treatment of epilepsy of a child in the village. Epilepsy was an ailment which was common among the villagers, from the very young to the middle aged. 

One of the last cases of epilepsy in my mother's village in the 1960's was a middle aged man. The man had an epileptic attack on a jetty after he came home from Sibu by motor launch in the afternoon. The poor man collapsed and became unconscious. When he was brought to the Lau King Howe Hospital by a kind speedboat owner, he was pronounced DOA, or Dead on Arrival. 

 My uncle remembered one case of child epilepsy after the Japanese Occupation. It was a child who was abandoned by his mother after continement. His mother had run away to marry a rich man who was suddenly widowed after the war. The poor, ill fated, biological father brought the child to the village head for advice and treatment. He just did not know what to do with the child who constantly had epileptic fits. The neighbour of the headman had some knowledge of folk medicines, so she volunteered to look after the child for a year out of pity for the father and son. 

 According to my uncle's story, the Aunty caught a common *bufo rana* toad and roasted it over fire until it turned to ashes after which sShe made a paste with the ashes. She slowly fed the baby with it throughout the day. My young uncle was curious so he observed the whole situation with keeness. The villagers were all informed that she caught several toads that month to prepare the same concoction for the child. And sure enough the baby did not have fits after the treatments. But my uncle who later became a school teacher was not totally sure of the cure but he said the child grew to adulthood and was able to "work". Whether he was totatly cured, my uncle did not know.

He however remembered that toads' ashes were good as a treatment for epilepsy. And definitely it was in the "books" of folk medicine. Perhaps the village woman was smart to remember the know she brought from China. But definitely the baby boy lived to tell the story. And so did my uncle.

Our Nang Chong village was full of folk stories like this but we as kids only listened to them and were awed by the knowledge of the elders.

Marble Gorby and Bubu

 My father loved trapping fish and he would buy several bubu (bamboo fish traps) from his Iban friends. These traps last a long time but he would replace one at a time over the years.

When we first moved to Sibu, and a huge rubber garden belonging to a Malay man was behind our house. This garden was tapped by the man's family members and a worker. Little paths were made through the garden by people who lived near by and one of the paths was to the Methodist Secondary School. As the land was swampy, those who had made the paths would put planks on them to keep people's feet dry. That was the normal thing to do in those days.

To keep the rubber tree roots a little drier and not completely submerged in water, the Malay land owner dug drains, probably about 30 feet in parallel lines. Most of the time the drains were full of water which was quite clear. Rubber leaves which turned brown could be seen at the bottom of the drains.

When it rained my father would get very excited and he would place four or five of his traps in different parts of the rubber garden. In those days people did not steal from each other. If the rain was very heavy, the traps would be completely submerged and after a rainy night, my father would go and collect his traps.

We would be pleasantly surprised by his harvest. Marble gorby and some catfish would be in the traps and my father would separate the fish and put them in different tins for sale to his hawker friends.

A bubu made by an Iban man.

Trapping fish was simple. My father would get ready rubber seeds and we would have the chance to crack them and he would roast them. These roasted seeds would be placed in the traps and the fish would be attracted to these natural baits.

When houses began to be built around our housing area, the rubber garden was subdivided and sold off, my father could no longer trap fish and enjoy his trapping. He had a good ten years of trapping fish in the large rubber gafden. After 1965, the area around Brooke Drive and the Methodist School became expensive real estate and shophouses rapidly were built.

Today this rubber garden is part of the Jalan Tuanku Osman and the rows of shop houses which are known as the Apollo Coffee shop area.

Guns and Communist Days

In 1959 my father, Sarawak Born in 1910, stood for election for the Sibu District Council and won. In those days, it was quite simple to get a nomination and it was even more basic to speak a few words in front of a large audience, to announce your intention for standing! Your reputation would say a lot and people would vote correctly without fear and favour. There were no arm bending tactics and no money politics.

Four years later, the politics of Sarawak changed drastically and my father was like any honest Chinese Sarawak living in Sarawak. 

The Sarawak United People's Party was a strong party but many of its members were ousted or asked to resign because they were left wing. My father was very flustered by the different opinions of left wing and right wing. He was a moderate man and followed Confucian and Taoist teachings as a scholar. He had been reading a lot of articles from Choon Chiew and was saddened by divisive partisans.

Although he was very much also an Anglophile, he remained loyal to his Chinese roots. He would not like to see the history of China and overseas Chinese obliterated by warfare and especially by guerilla warfare. In other words he was very much a pacifist.

Finding not many agreeable people in the party, he withdrew from active politics and did not want to stand for election again although his buddies like Stephen Yong and Ong Kee Hui continued to carry the Three Ring Banner. Besides he was already diagnosed with cardiac problems and his personal friend Dr. Watts was supportive of his decision to withdraw.

His last few years were very quiet years especially after Grandpa passed away in 1963. 

He felt as if he had no mature friend to discuss politics with according to an old time friend and fellow businessman. In those days not many could read and write well in both Chinese and English. My father was already missing his intellectual friends.

In 1963, he surrendered his gun obediently to the Police like all the other Chinese and he was saddened by the Communist Insurgency. All the warfare of China in the 1930's came back to him.

He said to my mother once, " There will be warlords and political gangs in Sarawak in the near future. Brothers against brothers, families against families, associations against associations. There will be betrayals in the darkest hours of the night. We might not even be able to trust our closest relatives."

My mother smiled and said, "Won't the Colonial Government take care of them?"

And he replied, "They will leave us high and dry and the natives of Sarawak and others are not ready to form a government."

My mother was worried because she was brought up to think like a traditional Chinese. A good government was one which was far away in the capital and people lived peacefully in the countryside. She did not like to see protests in the streets. Her ideal ruler was Dr. Sun Yat Sen with his Three Principles.

 My father passed away in 1965 and many of his predictions came true.

Sg Merah Bazaar and Airport

1956 . Farewell to Aunt Lily, Aunt Phyllis and Aunt Maggie. All the male siblings in necktie.

Uncle Siu King going to the UK. 

My memories of Sg. Merah are plenty. One of them would be those welcoming and farewelling photos taken at the old airport with my grandfather. He would come well dressed and expected every one to be dressed up for the occastion.

Then he would get my father to take the photos.

Here are two photos one with my grandfather in a bow tie and one with a neck tie.

Going to the airport was a very special event for us.

But what was unpleasant for us then, to our little minds, was having to pass the cemetery at Sg. Merah. We would close our eyes and ask the adults, "Have we already passed the cemetery?"

Are all children scared of looking at graves?

 

Grandfather's Love for Cars and Machinery

My grandfather Tiong Kung Ping was born in 1886 in the hilly upland area of Wun Chieh or Wen Chieh, about 1 hour from the town of King Sar in Minqing. The Min River flows and meanders in this rich, fertile area which supports a large population of Foochows surnamed Tiong . 

Today my direct cousins continue to live off the farm lands on the hills, take care of the cemeteries of five or six generations. Many of the young generation of the Tiongs from King Sar and Wun Chieh are now working far away from home. Some even as engineers in Beijing.

My grandfather's line in Sarawak has also spread far and wide, in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the USA.

One of my grandfather's love in life was machinery. He was a skillful engineer even though he did not attend any formal school. According to many grand uncles and uncles who had later come from Minqing to join my grandfather , they were all tutored in the village before they migrated to Sibu in 1901-3, led by Wong Nai Siong, with some coming to Sibu as late as the 1940's.

Foochows in Sibu in those days had reckoned my grandfather as a miracle worker : a man who could turn water into money (making of ice), a man who could turn the lowly soil into cash (manufacturing of bricks) and a man who could make an engine move a boat along the river (he was the man behind Rev Hoover's first motor launch in Sibu). In his later life, he operated the first automated brickyard in Sg. Aup and collected good Made in Britain cars, like the one in the photo and a Land rover for the Kiong Ann Brickyard.

And it was no wonder that he inspired three of his own sons to be engineers, one with a degree from the UK(electrical), one from Australia (civil) and one from Singapore (automative).

Seen driving this vehicle is our Uncle Sia Kie Ming who worked in Singapore and was one of the first young man in Sibu to earn a driving licence.

My grandmother Siew was probably the first Foochow woman in Sibu to drive a car.

Grandfather Donating a Piece of Land

Grandfather was delighted to be able to donate a piece of land to build a kindergarten in Sg. Merah. That year he was going to celebrate his 60th birthday. In fact he was very attached to the Methodist Church and had donated land in Bintangor to build the Kai Nguong Church and the Kai Chung School in 1922. As a man who was very far sighted, he believed in the role of education and he stayed close to Rev Hoover, Mrs. Hoover and his best friend, Rev Yao Shiao King. Later, he was most fond of Rev Ho Siew Leong, whom he considred a brother. Today of all his donations, only the Sg. Merah, Kwong Ang Kindergarten bears his name on the wall. This photo commemorates his birthday in Sg. Merah and his close church friends. Praise God for his generosity.

Grandfather's Banana Plantation

 My grandfather never called bananas bah yiu or white bananas. He called them Hiong Yiu, or the fragrant bananas.

The green banana called pisang embun was called chang nga jiu by him. 

He grew mainly hiong jiu  (fragrant banana) and chang nga jiu (pisang embun)

This pisang embun is greenish in colour even when it is ready to be eaten. The bananas turns pale yellow when ripe actually. Many Foochow ladies do not eat this type of banana because it is cooling and can upset the stomach i.e. it brings a lot of wind. Today this banana is also called cavendish banana. Some people call it Lau Hieng Ding banana.

After my grandfather retired from all businesses in his 60's and until his death, he grew lots of bananas and bamboos in his hill top property in Sg. Merah, his original parcel of land which he opened up when he first came to Sibu. He and his Chong father in law had adjacent properties. The Chong's property however was bigger as Grand Uncle Chong Jin Bok and Great Grandfather Chong had more wealth to engage workers to help clear land and plant lots of rubber.

Photo from Pau S. Cheong

Grandfather would have about 5 bunches of bananas hanging in the store room to turn just a little yellow before he sold them, by the week. He never sold green ones as they fetched less.

In the evenings he would have Aunt Hiong send two bunches to Sungei Merah. One would be sold to his cousin, Tiong Kung Kiew, who would sell the bananas by the hand to his coffee shop customers, and the other bunch to the fruit seller.  I never remember why Grandmother Siew never took the bananas in her car to sell in Sg. Merah. I suppose it was Aunt Hiong's duty.

Sometimes there were four bunches of bananas ready for sale. Aunt Hiong, being the strong woman she was, had two tied to the handle bars and two tied to the back of the bicycle. And she had another young aunt and myself to help push the bicycle to Sg. Merah. That was quite a distance but it was good exercise for all three of us. Great memories.

The cash sale would be enough to buy some vegetables and biscuits and other fruits for the family.  He was happy with that small income.

The bananas, both Cavendish and fragrant bananasplanted by grandfather were the best and sweetest in the world in my memory.

Asthma Plant - Euphorbia hirta

Many people suffer from asthma哮喘 in Sarawak.

It was in the past a disease greatly feared by the Foochows. When a man suffering from asthma was looking for a wife, the match maker had to find many ways to encourage a potential bride to marry him. Some with property were able to marry hardworking wives and led a blissful married life. Others lived short lives. In those days asthma was considered an incurable disease.

Modern western doctors prescribe ventolin to their asthma patients.

Chinese traditional practitioners and barefoot doctors recommend different ways of brewing the asthma plant, euphorbia hirta which is an annual herb found in most gardens. Usually at home, a few stalks are steamed together with some cinnamon stalks. This tea is taken from time to time to warm up the body of the asthma sufferer.

On Sundays one can also buy bundles of this herb in the wet market.

 "This annual herb can grow  up to 60 cm (24 in) long with a solid, hairy stem that produces an abundant white latex.^[5] There are stipules present. The leaves are simple, elliptical, hairy (on both upper and lower surfaces but particularly on the veins on the lower leaf surface), with a finely dentate margin. Leaves occur in opposite pairs on the stem. The flowers are unisexual and found in axillary cymes at each leaf node. They lack petals and are generally on a stalk. The fruit is a capsules with three valves and produces tiny, oblong, four-sided red seeds. It has a white or brown taproot." 

In India it is used traditionally for female disorders, respiratory ailments (cough, coryza, bronchitis, and asthma), worm infestations in children, dysentery, jaundice, pimples, gonorrhea, digestive problems, and tumors. (Pharmacognosy Review)

Disclaimer : Friends have told me they have used the herbal tea at home but they only said that there was some relief in breathing. 

Furthermore, I have no documentation from any one to support this. Please ask a Chinese sinseh if you wish to know more about it.

Borrowing Some Soy Beans

In those long ago days in the 1910's Sibu Foochows struggled to make a living out of the swamps given free by the Rajah. Many had died within the first ten years of the Foochow settlement. And Wong Nai Siong the pioneer who brought three batches of them had left the pioneers. Rev James Hoover had been sent to manage the settlement.

My grandfather had arrived as a teenager, with Wong Nai Siong. One of the qualification for joining the pioneers was a Methodist baptism certificate. Both grandfather and grandfather were baptised Methodist from Minqing.

With starry eyes and a pair of strong arms and a strong heart for Christianity great grandfather and grandfather left Minqing.

Soon Grandfather became a good follower of the Reverend and was often called to help with general work. The two forged a good friendship. A few years later, Reverend James Hoover introduced a young lady to him to be his bride. In 1909, they were married and my father was born a year later, warmly welcomed by Great grandfather Tiong King Kee and other grand uncles and aunties. Grandmother Chong, her brother Chong Jin Bok were overwhelmed too.

Life was not exactly easy according to the few stories my taciturn father would tell. His first cousin, Uncle Chong Chung Sing also said a few words about their childhood,when I went to the Methodist secondary school, where he was the accountant. It was a pity he did not have much time to tell me all the Chong side of the stories.

Grandmother Chong was a very alert and highly spirited lady, with good education. She sewed well too. She sewed cotton bags, from flour bags, for my father and his siblings to carry things . When every one had to walk in the 1910's, they needed some carry bags. The back packs were not invented yet then.

My father used to tell us how useful those Flour Bags were to him and his brothers. Everything went into them.

One of the stories my father liked to tell was how when food ran out in their home, Grandma Chong would ask him and Second Uncle to walk to Great Grandfather Chong's house to "borrow" some soy beans. That was a part of his childhood he could not forget easily.

Today most Fujian people would use soy beans to create different kinds of fancy food, side dishes, etc but in those days they were used as a major dish on the table, usually a soup.

Boiled soy beans and some salt could be all they had for a few days before cash was brought home, or when a relative brought some wild meat from the jungle to share. Chickens and ducks were saved for the festive seasons.

The boys were too young to go fishing or hunting then.

When my father was older he learned to trap fish in the rubber garden and go fishing in the streams. That brought extra food for the family and Grandma was happy with him. It brought a lot of smiles to his siblings too.

( I cooked a simple soup using soy beans as base, added some minced pork, pork skin and spring onions)

Fishing thus became a very important part of my father's life. 

In later part of his life, he would lament that the smell of the soaking soy beans would remind him of his childhood poverty. It really broke his heart to remember and he would always try his best to order good restaurant food for his father in Sibu whenever he had the chance.