Sending Parcels to China

 My cousins, then studying in Chung Cheng School were often the young boys asked by their China born mother to send parcels through the Sibu Post Office. They had to bring the stuff by motor launch from Kong Thye Sawmill wharf. And very often, the motor launch would also pick up my grandmother at Nang Chong, or other relatives heading for Sibu too. Their meeting like this could not be avoided as that would be the only early morning motor launch for all those who needed to go early in the morning and who needed to complete all tasks before catching the last boat home. That was the only possible day trip offering the longest and most economic possible time in Sibu.

Hence my cousins had issues when sending parcels to China.

a) Grandma must not be in the know, so they must hide the parcels from her.

b) neighbours must not know too, in case gossips spread

c) it was quite hard to keep the parcels hidden as they were wrapped in white belaju material and the address written with calligraphy brush (to be done in a shop). Those days many China born Foochows had excellent Chinese calligraphy skills. The parcel must be properly stitched by hand., so those young daughters and mothers often had a lot of stitching to do if the families had a lot of parcels to send every month.

d) each parcel must only weigh less than 2 lbs. In fact one pound was the most common weight for China bound parcels.

e) the parcel must have Chinese names and address.

My cousins remember sending tins of lard to Fujian. His maternal uncles and aunties loved receiving them from Sibu and that commodity was said to have kept them happy and healthy all throughout the hard times. In later years when my cousins visited them in Fuzhou, they remembered the parcels and talked about the delicious butter and lard.

My cousin now in his 70's told me that it was like a secret service, having to send those parcels to China, to his mother's relatives. Although his father had OKAYED the monthly contribution in kind, his mother was still worried that her in laws might not approve. Hence the secrecy. 

It must be noted that the Sibu Foochows must have remitted thousands of tins of butter and lard to Fujian in the 1950's and 60's. Letters from China usually included pleas for gifts of food, clothes and other things. Whenever these letters were received, my cousins would have to witness how their mother would wail for a long time.

Now we can laugh about this matter over our tea sessions in Miri. Sending love gifts to China was so much a part of our younger days.