Visit to Minqing with Relatives

 I was over the moon when I was invited to join my cousins and friends from Sibu to make a job related trip to Minqing.

Along with me was a good friend and fellow writer Miss Yong, whom I could really relate to. I was appointed as the English translator for the writing of a book on Foochow roots.

I saw the wonderful world of my grandparents who left Minqing with Wong Nai sion in 1901-3 for Sibu, a small town in Sarawak.

Today Minqing township is huge, beyond any one's imagination. However some of the rural villages and towns are still very intriguing and pretty, while some are just beginning to be transformed into the 21st century status.

There were lots of things to see and I wished my maternal grandmother was with me. She had left Minqing at the age of 5 after having been bought as a child bride by my great grand uncle Lau Kah Tii. She had returned only once in 1938 when she was past 40 for a visit. She stayed for longer than expected as Japan had declared war on China not long after she returned.

She lost all her money she brought back from Sibu with the objective of building a good house.

So after the war she returned with my uncles and aunts on the first available boat bound for Singapore and Sarawak.

The photo shows four things I often heard about from my grandmother, the dou tik, the bamboo vegetable baskets which could be carried on the shoulder pole or bian dang, the bamboo ladder. and the wooden cart which could be pulled by both man and women by hands.

Agriculture is still the mainstay of the economy of Minqing and people remain rustic although many of the younger generation have received university education and moved out of the village to work elsewhere within China.

We overseas Foochow have impressed our relatives for speaking the "original dialect". The food was amazing. Banquets consisted of more than 22 dishes, with 4 soups. The Foochow connection is still warm and sincere.

There is still a lot of connection between men and environment.