Boys Scouts of Olden Days

The Boys Scouts Movement was introduced to Fujian, China

Following the birth of the Republic of China, the first Scout troop was organized by Reverend Yen Chia-lin in Wuchang on February 25, 1912 and the Scouting movement spread rapidly all over the country.

The General Association of the Scouts of China was formally established in Nanking, the former capital of the Republic of China in 1934, and became a member of the International Scout Bureau in 1937. Many Scouts actively participated in the Second Sino-Japanese War from 1937 to 1945.

There were 570,000 registered members in 1941.

Scouts' Promise --

On my honor, I promise that I will do my best to obey and practice the Scout Law and Promise daily.

1. To do my duty to God and be a righteous citizen of my country.
2. To help other people at all times and serve the public.
3. To be an intellectual individual who endeavors to be honorable and vigorous.

Fast Forward.....(but not the latest)

In 2004, the Scout Club of Hainan (海南童子军俱乐部), borrowing heavily from Scouting in terms of emblems, uniforms and activities, was founded in Hainan Province; it is, however, not affiliated with worldwide Scouting. An attempt to organize a nationwide Scouting organization in Wuhan was ended by the government in 2004.^[1]The Scout Association of the People's Republic of China (中华人民共和国童军总会), founded in 2008 serves Venture Scouts (15 years old to 20) in both genders as well as Rover Scouts (18 years old to 25).^[2] The Rover Explorer Service Association operate groups in China.^[3]

Source : all from Wikipedia.

China: Malaria Cures

Mugwort or wormwood or Ngia is a common plant grown by Foochows in Sibu.

It is normally boiled to make a soup and is good for expelling wind, or getting rid of headaches and fever.

The winner of the Nobel Prize for Medicine 2015 went to Tu You You who was inspired by the description in a 1700 year old Chinese text of the use of sweet wormwood to combat fever.

She thus discovered artemisinin, which has been sued by millions against malaria. She is affiliated with the China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Beijing.

The development of qinghaosu — or artemisinin — is now one of modern China’s proudest accomplishments.

China Series : Brushes from twigs

some of the best sights a travelling writer can catch would be from the back lanes where life is slow and frozen in time.

In the main streets of Shanghai I saw wonderful neon lights at night. I experienced the vibrancy of the Shanghai Bund and I felt the air conditioning of the museums and heard the gentle voices of halls of giant offices.

But one memorable sight was that of an old lady, concentrating on making brushes in a Shanghai back land.


She is bent over with age and long term working on making of twig brushes...each strand, each hole, each pulling...is an act of concentration. Every day she will sit here..it has been her work since the Cultural Revolution.

There are stories which she cannot tell anyone. What was it like when she lived through the Cultural Revolution?

I was just a passing stranger with a camera.

The Brush Maker. Shanghai. 2016.

China Series : Yong Lau

In many parts of Fujian, relatives who made it in Nanyang would remit money home to their old villages. This money would help to erect a new building which is double storeyed with a lovely balcony. This balcony called "Yong Lou" meaning "Ocean Building"proudly indicates that the family has a member who has migrated overseas and has some success.




Thus in many Minqing villages there are examples yong lous . In Fuzhou prefecture, most of the yong lous were built after 1919 when money was made from the boom created by the high prices of rubber in Sarawak, Malaya and Indonesia.

It is quite a skill to get a balcony done . In the Republic Period, bandits came very often to attack villages so in fact a balcony was really not an ideal feature for homes.

It would be interesting to write about the stories of those who have migrated to a nice place overseas. But today many Chinese are also "returning" to China which is now becoming a world power. The tide seems to be turning.

China was opened to visitors since 1980's. This is the Fuzhou City Opera House.

NOTE : Malaysians of Chinese descent below 55 were not allowed to travel to China between 1963 and 1983. My paternal grandfather never went back to China as a returning oversea migrant due to several reasons best known to himself. Perhaps he wanted to wait. But since the opening up of China, many Malaysians have gone to China for reunions, for holidays etc. In fact Chinese agents even organize Returning Tours for overseas Chinese.

China Series : Visiting Great Great Grandfather's Home in Minqing

My Grandfather's cousins who still live in Wun Chieh (near King Sa), Minqing,gave me a warm welcome when I visited in 2015.

This is the hilly kampong where my ancestors came from - Wun Chieh - the Land of Clouds

The land that they cultivated on remain the same as the time my grandfather and great grandfather left in 1903. Even after the cultural revolution in China, the tenancy and land ownership were not changed in any way. My relatives continue to harvest their bamboo shoots, plant vegetables, dry the vegetables as part of their subsistence agriculture but many other cousins and nephews and nieces have become migrant workers and professionals in big cities. My Uncle Chu King is a sub contractor in King Sa but with good roads and a motor bike he can commute easily.

My great great parents and their brothers and cousins were still buried in the same place up above the hills.

Chinese Series. The Chinese Surname BLUE

There are not many people with the surname Blue or Lan. The sociologists, writers and scholars continue to be interested in their origins and progress over the years. They are distinctly a minority She group of people and they have rich cultural heritage although they have assimilated very well into the Han Chinese culture.

During the Tang Dynasty, Fujian, Guangdong  and Jiangxi provinces became residencies of the She minority people. The surname of Blue or Lan came during the late Zhao period and appeared in the book of genealogy.

Could Lan Jipu be the first Lan clan ancestor?

Fuzhou city became the city with the largest number of Lan Clan . And many writers and scholars became interested in writing and studying about the She minority group and the Lan Clan.

Accoring to one genealogy book of the Lan Clan,some records were already written about them in 1157 during the Song Dynasty.

.

There is a Lan family living in Kuching. Family members are very artistic and one of them is a fashion designer. I am wondering if they are connected to this She minority group of Fujian Province of China.

I just have to share these beautiful photos from Google.


(Photos from Google)

Chinese Love Story on 7th Day of 7th Lunar Month

 2nd August 2014 is 7th day of 7th Lunar Month, the Chinese Valentine's Day.

A love story for this day is about the 7th daughter of Emperor of Heaven and an orphaned cowherd. They were separated by the Emperor. The 7th daughter was forced to move to the star Vega and the cowherd moved to the star Altair. They are allowed to meet only once a year on the day of 7th day of 7th lunar month. Click here

This is a very touching real story from China......

  Combing Hair for wife of 74 years

東方日報 OrientalDailyNews

Translation "to day is the Chinese Valentine's Day. It is a day for Tang to commemorate their long lasting marriage of 74 years. Though their life together is "normal and simple" it is real love. In 1940, they were matched but they did have 3 months of "romancing each other" or getting to know each other period. He was 20 and she was 19. They have 3 daughters and a boy. Their first photo together was taken in a studio.

Three years ago Mrs. Tang was afflicted with extreme form of arthritis so every day Tang has to comb her hair, very very slowly to prevent any pain. Recently Tang suffers from severe cataract 白内障 . He speaks less now but Mrs. Tang continues to chat with him happily. Old Mr. Tang loves his pipe and he still needs his wife to prepare his pipe for him.

Red Bean Village is named after many red bean trees, and many young people who admire the long lasting love of the Tangs, come to register their marriages in the village.

What is the secret of their long lasting love?  "Care and companionship" 体贴和陪伴

Zhang Qian 张骞 and Sesame Seeds

Perhaps the first time you heard the word Sesame, was when you read about Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. "Open Sesame" became a catch word during our childhood in fact and by saying that in English, we could get a lot of treats! We played games too and used the password to get doors opened.

Of course in those days I did not know anything about Sesame Oil or Muai Yiu, the Chinese name for Sesame Oil. I only know "how to eat". Not so clever.


But, do you know that the small sesame seed was connected to the Zhang Clan?

“The Chinese, wishing to declare war on the Xiung-nu [and] to wipe them out...desired to establish contact with the Yueh-chih; but the road to them led through the territory of the Xiung-nu. The emperor called for volunteers.” -Sima Qian, Records of the Historian
 Chang-Ch'ien (or Zhang Qian) was quick to volunteer and soon he was  dispatched by the emperor Wu-ti to establish relations with a Central Asian tribal group that spoke an Indo-European language.  however he was inprisoned by the Great Khan and he managed to return to China only after 13 years. He brought back his Xiongnu wife and son to China. His travels were not a failure but an achievement.

He opened up the Silk Route, introduced the great horses of the Steppes to China, brought grapes and alfafa to China.

But most importantly, he brought back the incredible Sesame Plant.
The history of Sesame is very rich and interesting. The Hindi word for oil (Tel (तेल)) is also derived from sesame oil (from Sanskrit Taila (तैल), which means obtained from Tila (तिल) Sesame).The Telugu word for sesame seeds is నువ్వులు. Prior to 600 BC, the Assyrians used sesame oil as a food, salve, and medication, primarily by the rich, as the difficulty of obtaining it made it expensive. Hindus used it in votive lamps and considered the oil sacred.
 The sesame plant is not very tall. It is an annual growing to up to 3 feet tall. The leaves are dark green, roughly about 5 inches long. The flowers are pale pink and about an inch long. One plant can only yield 1 Tablespoon of seeds only!!

Interesting the seeds vary in colour : red, black, brown, or creamy white seeds.

The Egyptians and Persians of Biblical times ground it into a kind of flour, from which they made bread. The Romans crushed the seed and used it like butter for a spread on bread.

The special paste of sesame seeds is called TAHINI.

Halva is a special sweet candy made from sesame seed paste.

The Foochows use sesame oil for many dishes. Most importantly for cooking of chicken for new mother's confinement  diet and also for the famous South East Asian Chicken Rice.

I took this photo in Fuzhou during a very awesome food tasting session. Fuzhou Kompia burgers, meat and chives.

Photo by Steve Ling: Sibu Kompia

My favourite source of toasted sesame seeds is the Kompia with lots of them. The Foochow Bridal Biscuits or Leh Pian is only good if there are lots of sesame seeds on them!! Or the Mang Chiew Gor with lots of sesame seeds.

Today lots of salads use toasted sesame seeds as garnish as well as to give them a crunchy and nutty taste. There is nothing better than biting into sesame seeds when one eats a good cold jelly fish salad with a Thai sauce.


We have to thank our Zhang Ancestor, Zhang Qian for his courageous journey (138 BC) into the West and for bringing back the awesome Sesame plant!!

Xiao Hong/ Zhang Naiying (张乃莹)

Today is March 8 2013 - International Women's Day.

How far have women travelled in the last 100 years?
How far have women writers progressed in the last 100 years?

Here is one story of a great Chinese woman writer born before the First World War 1911 and died during the Second World War in 1942.  

Alas, from her life story  the majority of women today still face the same fates : 

Too poor? Sold to a brothel,
 Too defenceless? Get raped. 
Pregnant? Abandoned by the man who planted the seed.
Sick? Wrongly diagnosed and die under the scapel.
Married? Left by husband or abused by in laws.
Fatherless? Pushed to the brim of society.
Struggling at work? Suppressed by bullies.

Can we change to make women's fate better? (Chang Yi. 2013)



Text completely taken from Wikipedia :

Xiao Hong (simplified Chinese: 萧红; traditional Chinese: 蕭紅; pinyin: Xiāo Hóng, June 2, 1911 – January 22, 1942), also spelled Hsiao Hung, was a Chinese writer. Her real name was Zhang Naiying (张乃莹); she also used the pen name Qiao Yin.
Xiao Hong was born in Hulan county, Heilongjiang Province, on the day of the Dragon Boat Festival to a landowning family. Her mother died when Xiao Hong was young, and she had a difficult relationship with her conservative father growing up. The only family member she was close to was her grandfather, who was a humane and kind man. Otherwise she had a generally unhappy and lonely childhood. She attended a girls school in Harbin in 1927, where she encountered the progressive ideas of the May Fourth movement as well as Chinese and foreign literature. The literature of Lu Xun, Mao Dun, and Upton Sinclair had a particular impact on her. In 1930 she ran away to Beijing to avoid a planned marriage, though was eventually followed by her fiance Wang Dianjia. In 1932, after she became pregnant her fiance abandoned her at a hotel in Harbin. She narrowly avoided being sold to a brothel by the hotel’s owner by scraping together over six hundred yuan in room and board expenses.
Wretched, alone, and pregnant, Xiao Hong looked to the local newspaper publisher for help. The newspaper’s editor, Xiao Jun saved Xiao Hong during a flood of the Songhua river. They began to live together, during which time Xiao Hong started writing. In 1933 she wrote short stories "Trek" and "Tornado", and in the same year she and Xiao Jun self-published a joint collection of short stories, Bashe (Arduous Journey).
In June 1934, the couple moved to Qingdao, where after three months Xiao Hong wrote a long novel entitled Sheng si Chang (The Field of Life and Death). The book was a gripping account of the tortured lives of several peasant women, and one of the first literary works to reflect life under Japanese rule. In its foreword, Lu Xun declared the work “a female writer’s meticulous observation and extraordinary writing.” In October, the couple again moved, this time to Shanghai’s French concession. With Lu Xun’s help, Sheng si Chang was published 1935 by Shanghai’s Rongguang Publishing House, bringing Xiao Hong fame among Shanghai’s modernist literary circle. At the time, Lu Xun declared that Xiao Hong would one day surpass Ding Ling as China’s most celebrated female writer.
 

The same year, Xiao Hong and Xiao Jun completed a collection of autobiographical essays entitled Market Street, named after the street on which the couple lived in Harbin, and from 1935-36 Xiao Hong wrote short stories and essays, later collected in Shangshi Jie, Qiao, and Niuche Shang. In 1936, in order to shake off her past, Xiao Hong moved to Tokyo, where she wrote a collection of essays entitled "the Solitary Life", a long set of poems entitled "Sand Grains", a short story entitled "On the Ox Cart", and others.
In 1938, while living in Xi’an as part of the Northwestern Combat Zone’s Service Group, she broke up with Xiao Jun, and married Duanwu Hongliang in Wuhan. In January 1940, the newly-married couple made their way from Chongqing to Hong Kong, and took residence in Tsim Sha Tsui in Kowloon. Her remembrance of Lu Xun, Huiyi Lu Xun Xiansheng, was published that same year, along with the first volume of a planned trilogy, Ma Bole, satirizing the war and the era's patriotism. While in Hong Kong, Xiao Hong wrote her most successful long novel, Hulanhe zhuan (Tales of the Hulan River), based on her childhood memories, along with a number of short stories based on her childhood, such as "Spring in a Small Town".

A monument of Xiao Hong in her original home in Hulan (heilongjiang)

She died during the chaos of wartime Hong Kong in a temporary hospital on January 22, 1942. She was misdiagnosed and died painfully after undergoing unnecessary throat surgery that left her speechless, without either of her life’s two loves at her side. She was buried at dusk on January 25, 1942 in Hong Kong’s Repulse Bay.







These are her works:

• Bashe (跋涉, Arduous Journey), with Xiao Jun, 1933.
• Sheng si chang (生死场, The Field of Life and Death), 1935.
• Huiyi Lu Xun Xiansheng (回忆鲁迅先生, Memories of Lu Xun Xiansheng), 1940.
• Ma Bole (马伯乐), 1940.
• Hulanhe zhuan (呼兰河传, Tales of Hulan River), 1942.

Let's Celebrate International Women's Day EVERYDAY.

Foochow Boat People : Foochow On Water (Tanka) People

 An interesting reading on the Tanka people of Asia brought me to some awareness of some 20th century studies.by researchers. Please note that many would find the word Tanka derogatory. to be politically correct  we refer to them as "on water people" sui shan ren jia.

These are sourced from Wikipedia :

1. Anders Hansson (1996). Chinese outcasts: discrimination and emancipation in late imperial China. Volume 37 of Sinica Leidensia. BRILL. p. 117. ISBN 90-04-10596-4. Retrieved 2011-11-04. "Unless a change of surnames occurred for some unknown reason, or unless the ' water names' are not the real names of the Fujian boat people, it would seem that the Dan people (Tanke people)  lacked Chinese-style surnames at the time the Fujian branch" According to oral stories, people who live on boats do not have surnames.
2. ^ Anders Hansson (1996). Chinese outcasts: discrimination and emancipation in late imperial China. Volume 37 of Sinica Leidensia. BRILL. p. 116. ISBN 90-04-10596-4. Retrieved 2011-11-04. "In a late Qing dynasty work which has a section on boat people that mainly refers to those in Fujian, common surnames are said to be Weng 翁 ('old fisherman'), Ou 歐, Chi 池 (pond), Pu 浦 (river bank), Jiang 江 (river) and Hai 海 (sea). None of those surnames is a very common one in China and a few are very rare."
3. ^ Anders Hansson (1996). Chinese outcasts: discrimination and emancipation in late imperial China. Volume 37 of Sinica Leidensia. BRILL. p. 116. ISBN 90-04-10596-4. Retrieved 2011-11-04. "Some of them list the five names Mai 麥, Pu 濮, Wu 吴, Su 蘇 and He 何 The Huizhou prefectural gazetteer even states that there are no other boat people surnames, while others also add Gu 顧 and Zeng 曾 to make seven"

 Fuzhou Tanka (Fuzhou dialect: 曲蹄; Foochow Romanized: Kuóh-dà̤; Simplified Chinese: 福州疍民 Hók-ciŭ Dáng-mìng; 江妹仔 Gĕ̤ng-muói-giāng; 曲蹄婆 Kuóh-dà̤-bò̤), or Fuzhou Boat People, is an ethnic group in Fujian, China. A branch of the Tanka people, they traditionally lived on sampans in the lower course of Min River and the coast of Fuzhou in Fujian Province most of their lives and have been officially recognized as Han Chinese since 1955. (Source : Wikipedia)





I wonder if DNA tests are taken whether some of our Sibu Foochow people are related to the Tanka people. Many Sibu Foochows have Tie and Eu for surname, The surname He is found amongst the Heng Huas of Sibu. Zeng is however also a common Foochow surname.

I am not making any claims of knowledge about the Tanka People . It is my reading about the music of the Tanka people that brought me by accident to references to the Boat People of the Foochow regions.

Watch this space for future information!!


Note:
 http://www.cantonese.sheik.co.uk/phorum/read.php?1,105378,105537

 http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/4229618?uid=3738672&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&sid=21101744291457

 http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?/topic/5223-

 http://www.fzda.gov.cn/tslmshow.asp?id=6049 (mentioned 方炳桂先生 - Foochow Folk lore expert)

What's the connection between Xian Singhai and the Sui Sang Ren Chia? 

Foochow Descendants visiting Ancestors' Home in Fuzhou

 I am inspired to write because I grew up in the Rajang Valley with exceptional people who embraced poverty but lived with ethics all their lives. These are the folks who have lots of stories to share. And their stories must be written lest they will be forever forgotten in the dust of development and progress.

I am writing this particular posting for my mother's side of the family - my maternal uncles who gave us chickens and ducks when we lost our father (the sole breadwinner of the family) and my aunts who gave moral support to my widowed mother. I write for my cousins who jumped into the Rajang river with me and taught me how to swim - and I learned to swim with the "modern sharks". I was "eaten by the CHIK CHAR" - a species of the mangrove which gave rashes when touched. I was taken to see Dr. Xavier who gave me a one of a kind injection and I was never allergic to the latex any more. I write for my cousins who advised me how to marry a "man with property expecially some one whose family has a shophouse". That advice was ignored because I was not pretty enough to be chosen by any one.

This posting is about one of the loveliest cousins I have -Cousin Hsiung Kwo Ing who has been married to Lau Kiing Hiing for more than 40 years! Both are very humble teachers residing in Kuching since the 50's.

Both of them are keen on history and the Chinese language. And both of them have remarkable stories to tell.

Both of them love travelling a lot now that they are retired. Cousin Lau Kiing Hiing not long ago brought my cousin Kuo Ing to visit Fuzhou China. In the above photo they are at the Lau Kah Tii Memorial building. Remarkably Cousin Kuo Ing was pre maturely born in China and was brought as a new born to Sibu where the goverment was able to register her as a Sarawak born Foochow (to simplify matters)for her dear parents.She grew up in my grandmother's house in Nang Chong in Sg. Maaw during the Japanese Occupation. So visiting this place was like going to the village of her birth.

The couple are standing outside the room where our maternal grandfather (Lau Kah Chui) and maternal grand uncle (Lau Kah Tii) stayed. Renovation and some reconstruction have been made over the years. Today a cousin (son of Aunt Hua Hua - famous as a gingseng seller in Sibu) is staying here. My maternal grandmother and her second son (the late Lau Pang Kui) and his new bride lived here throughout the Second World War alongside the family of the first born i.e. eldest brother of Lau Kah Tii and Lau Kah Chui.

The happy couple out in the sunshine in Fuzhou.

The three sisters who are daughters of Lau Kah Chui and Tiong Lian Tie...from left - my mother - her eldest sister (mother of Kuo Ing) and my youngest aunt (Lau Hung Yun) - the mother of Maggie Hii, Hii Mee Ping , Hii Mee Yii and Hii Mee Chiong. In fact all these ladies have the looks of my maternal grandmother especially my eldest aunt. Fair skin is in our family.

One of the most loving couples I know of in my life....They were the earliest trainees of Sarawak Teacher's Training College which was set up to train Chinese educated graduates to be recognised teachers in Sarawak in Sibu. They are always happy together. Kiing Hiing is an avid reader and collector of books whereas my cousin Kuo Ing loves gardening. Her pomelo and lemon trees bear fruits throughout the year!!

More stories will be coming from them!! So watch out in this blog!!

Tibetans Singing Bollywood Song "You are my Sonya" and others

To all my friends spending their Chinese New Year in Tibet and the Himalayas... Happy Chinese New Year...

This is very OneAsia....Bollywood rules....yeah! Let the beat go on....







Their songs of love and songs of their love for their home and land inspire us in our own endeavours to preserve our natural habitat and ancestors'legacy.