Calligraphy Carved on Belian Boards

 In the 1930's Sing Ang Tong was a leading Methodist Church in Sungei Mearah, Sibu. In fact it was the first Foochow Methodist Church built in Sarawak in 1903.

Sg Merah was the arrival point of the first Foochow pioneers in 1901. The 1888 Foochow pioneers were led by Wong Nai Siong who struck a deal with the then Rajah, the Rajah Charles Brooke who was keen to allow agriculturalists to settle in the Rajang Valley. Unknown to the migrants they were given peat swamps which even the local Ibans did not want to live on.

the Foochows were promised land which they desired as their own ancestral land in fujian was truly too mountainous. It was said only 1/7th of the land then was till-able. 

My own ancestors were foragers of bamboo shoots and growers of ginger. They were no rice farmers with lots of land. The Mui or Plum Creek which flowed through our ancestral land was a bubbly mountrain stream when I saw it in 2016. My relatives continue to source for bamboo shoots and herbs which they "exported" to King Sar the nearest township to Wun Chieh. However most of the pioneers in the Rajang Valley developed great skills in planting of rice, and managing the peat soils, and growing of rubber.

And so 20 years after the arrival of the Foochow migrants it was said that a young man who could hardly read and write carved these beautiful words on three pieces of belian boards. They were the Lord's Prayer, the Apostles' Creed and the Ten Commandments. With the passing of time, unfortunately the artist's name was forgotten, and even the name of the pastor who probably commissioned the tablets was also forgotten.

Children of Methodist Foochow families must be able to recite these three in Mandarin, or Foochow or in English. From a young age most of us were able to recite the Lord's Prayer and it was the single most important prayer we recited, for any occasion. The Lord's Prayer printed in large was often displayed in classrooms, living rooms and dining halls in those day to help us remember the words.

However in establishing the Methodist History Gallery at Kwang Hua,  these three boards were once again taken out to be shown with pride and hanged on the wall of the sanctuary of the church building , the front part of the History Gallery.

The artist's work is not in vain. God would know who he is.