Mum's 99th Birthday in Heaven

 
Today is my mother's 99th birtthday. She passed away in 2020.

When she was alive for her own birthday she would make a simple preparation.

Early in the morning she would take out her well dried longevity noodles from the tin. The noodles looked so tempting because they were while neat rolls of goodness. Even a whiff of the well dried wheat threads would get you hungry for a good soup noodle.

then she would boil her freshly slaughtered chicken. Mum never wasted her money to get the market lady to dress her chicken. She must do the slaughtering herself until she was very advanced in her age.

Her chicken soup was always with a few dried shitake mushrooms and hardboiled eggs.

We would have brunch and she would therefore pass a year of her life's calendar.

Mrs. JB Chong

 As a child I was often brought by my father to see his beloved and only aunt, Mrs. JB Chong in Queensway. 

He would drive his jeep to see her and she would reward him with some rambutans from her trees in the garden, I cannot now remember whether my father ever brought Ikan bertutu (marble goby) from his fish traps laid in the streams behind our house in Brooke Drive. But I do remember my father would pass messasges to her from my grandfather. My grandfather and Mrs. JB Chong were related  by marraige. My grandmother Chong was Mrs. Chong's sister in law.

When it comes to relations many people cannot follow the intricate connections and most young people avoid talking about in laws and relatives.

Some just shrug off and say better not to know.

But from a young age I was interested in cultural relationships and social ties. I find them most interesting and I do have a good memory for most cultural things. I have no problem remembering dates, events and names of people in history. Today I find it harder to remember figures and telephone numbers especially.

Now here I remember Mrs. JB Chong's kebayas, the embroidery and her precious photos. I remember the lay out of her garden which she probably replicated from some Singapore gardens she remembered.

I remember her scents and her powder and the way she combed her her in a nice bun or sangol. She never failed to tell us about her Peranakan history and the way food should be cooked. but later in life, she allowed her daughter in law, my aunt Meng toh to do the cooking without her supervision.

We all loved aunt Meng Toh to bits. Uncle Chung Sing her husband and first born of Mrs. JB Chong was a very very taciturn and talented pianist.

Mrs. JB or Ging Boh (Grand Aunt) was fond of entertaining visitors and relatives. According to my mother one of the best parties she ever saw was her birthday. She had her birthday photo taken and she gave that photo to every one dear to her. My father received one and kept in his album !!

My grandfather called my father BOHYINg (Poh King, his birth name) but my fatheer was DAI Gong to Grand Aunt . Dai Gong was his school name. In those days most Foochows had two names.

My mother Lau Hung Chuo

 

Well known proflific Chinese writer Yong Gien Huong of Sibu wrote a book, "Their 3 Years and 8 Months" depicting oral stories of women who suffered and lived through the Japanese Occupation.

It was written in Chinese and funded by the Sarawak Chinese Cultural Association. I was proud to be a part of the publication in some small ways.

My mother's story covered her growing of rice for 3 years, her great harvests as a single young lady planting disguised as a boy. She was able to put rice on the table for her father, brothers and sisters while she and her young sister also subsisted partially on sweet potatoes and sasgo. She feared the arrival of the Japanese soldiers who came and took away precious chickens and ducks. She had to hide her pigs in a pigsty away from the river banks and away from the eyes of the Japanese soldiers.

While making sure that they had food on the table she also saw how her ffather, my grandfather, suffered from a herniated intestine and slowly succumbed to the great pain and died in 1944 just months before the Japanese surrender. He was unable to receive any surgery due of the difficulties of those days. It must have been a very painful slow death for him.

Born in 1926 my mother was the breadwinner so to speak for the family during the Japanese Period. She was 15 years old but she was according to her as strong as an ox and working like a man. She was never scared of hardwork. She looked after  3 younger siblings, her own father, and the family of her oldest brother, Pang Ping.

My grandmother was stranded in China from 1938 to 1945 with my second Uncle and 3rd Aunt.

My second Aunt, was married and living in Sarikei, while my eldest aunt was in Sarikei. Both were married and having family and children during those difficult days.

Great Grandfather Tiong King Kee

 I am slowly building a time line on my Great Grandfather's life.

1863 - born in Wun Chieh Minqing.

1870's baptised by foreign Methodist missionary (Rev Nathan Sites)

1886 - eldest son Tiong Kung Ping born

1901 - Wong Nai Siong campaigned for Foochow transmigration to Sarawak.

1902 Tiong.Kung Ping sailed for Sarawak.

1905? Great grandfather came to Sibu

1909 - Eldest son Tiong kung Ping married Chong Ching Soon

1910 - first grandson.chang ta kang born.

1912 ‐ 2nd grandson Tiong Siu.King born

1914- lst granddaughter born

Lily Chang Lee Sieng

1916‐ 3rd grandson Tiong Tai King born

1917 - daughter Yuk Ging born in Sibu.

1918 - Phyllis Chang Nguk Sieng born

2nd grand daughter

1919- returned to Fujian to add names of 2 grandsons to the family genealogy book.

1920 - Chang Chuo Sieng,third grand daughter born

1922 - opening of Binatang.

1922- Maggie Chang Ing Sieng born

4th grand daughter

1923 - Grace Chang Ging Sieng born. 5th grand daughter.

Est Mee Ann Rice and Sawmill

1926 - 4th grandson Chang Pan King born.

1928 - sibu big fire. Great grandfather was one of the work supervisors appointed to rebuild Sibu.

1930 7th grand daughter Tiong Chiew Sieng born.

1932 - 5th grandson Tiong Tai Sui born.

1932- 2 Grandsons went to Shanghai to study

1936 - family saddened by Rev Hoover's death.

- daughter yuk ging married Chiu Chuang Song , nephew of Dr Chiu Nai Ding

1937 - Ta kang graduated from Yenching University.

1938 - grandson Chiu koh Siong born . From yuk ging.

1939 ‐ Yuk Ging and family left for China.

1941 - Japanese invaded Sarawak

1942 - Ta kang arrested and remanded by Kempetai for 10 days in Sibu. Mr Lu Kie Choon wrote a letter of petition in Japanese to help release him. Grandfather was hit in the head by a Japanese soldier.

1944 - died

A snippet : My Father's Kindness

 A Snippet: God's Grace and Father's Kindness Repaid.

My father employed several Kayan and Iban men in his quarry. The men had to be strong to manually break some of the rocks using a heavy hammer

One of the Iban men was an ex TB patient but he really needed the job. My father was very understanding and made him the man in charge of the rock "breaking" machinery. A lorry would tip the blasted rocks into the machinery and he would operate the machine to break them into smaller pieces

Most of the rocks were sold to the government for road construction. The men who worked in the quarry were paid decent salaries and "Suin" was happy to collect his every fortnight. After pay day he would cycle home to Sg. TEKU.

MY FATHER LET him sleep in the office and use his kitchen whereas the other workers had their own quarters. Suin always felt good working for.my father. Very often my father would give him extra when he brought bamboo shoots and fruits to sell to the other workers.

Not long after my father passed away my.mother met him in Sg. MERAH. AND HE ASKED my mother if she needed anything.

We did need bamboo poles for drying clothes.mum did not think.much of her request. She had said she would pick up the bamboo poles from Sg. MERAH

She also thought Suin would just not remember THE REQUEST.

a month later Suin came with 4 bamboo poles tied together to our house on a bicycle. He was like an acrobat with 4 long.bamboo poles on his shoulders.

He had cycled all the way from Sg. TEKU WHICH COULD HAVE BEEN LIKE 8 MILES

We will never forget his kindness

MUM GAVE HIM rm 20 which he refused to accept

Mum used the 4 bamboo poles to dry our clothes for more than 15 years. They really lasted a long time.

(Ching Ming - remembering kindness of loved ones who have passed on..)

60th Birthday : Tiong King Kee

 

One of the most important birthdays for the Chinese is the 60th birthday. That birthday marks the completion of one round of the zodiac cycle i.e. 60 years.

This birthday usually calls for a family portrait and by then the celebrant would probably already have 3 geneerations in his family.

This family portrait of my Great GRandfather Tiong King Kee is a very good photographic tribute to him and our family in Sg Merah, Sibu. The background was our family rubber garden, started in the early 1900's.

My Grandmother's Precious Goods

 My Maternal Grandmother 's precious goods.

In the 1950's my grandmother's smokehouse was one of the biggest in the lower Rajang Valley.

She was the supervisor while my eldest and third uncles would do all the work- collecting stray logs from thr river, sawing them into smaller pieces and burning the wood to send the smoke up to thr first floor to smke the rubber sheets for two long weeks until they were translucent.

My uncles were very careful and trusted workers for they made sure that they never let the fire die. The temperature must always be kept steady to ensure that the rubber sheets maintain their quality as RSS Grade One which fetched the best of prices fixed by the government.

The rubber tappers, mainly Lau relatives, who sent their rubber sheets to my grandmother all kept good records of their tonnage before and after the smoking.

After the smoking was completed and the desired quality was reached all the tappers would monitor the prices of rubber from the Sarawak Radio. The 5 o'clock evening news broadcast was in Foochow

Richard Jee

My uncles, my grandmother and the rubber tappers would choose the day for the rubber sheets to be shipped out.

A motor launch was chartered, usually Sin Hai Hong, to transport the rubber sheets to Sibu

And everyone would be at the smoke house to tie the rubber sheets into bales. These bales of fragrant, freshly smoked rubber sheets would be manually carried into the.motor launch waiting at the pontoon.

If the tide was high the launch would be at the same level with the river bank and the muscular tappers and my uncles could easily carry a bale of rubber sheets, one at a time, into the.waiting.launch . But if the tide was low it was more difficult for the carriers. They had to walk down the gangway to the pontoon at a sharp gradient but nevertheless they were extremely agile in their barefoot.

The atmosphere would be festive for every one would be expectant-- cash would be soon arriving together with my Grandmother's return in the evening.

A dinner would be cooked for everyone including the skipper of the.motor launch. Grandmother would buy one ot two huge pork leg and lots of meat and vegetables for the post sale dinner. It was really a time to celebrate community effort or gotong royong.

Grandma and my uncles really appreciated the efforts and camaradarie of the tappers. One could really see how much effort they and my uncles put into the smoking of the rubber sheets

Grandma and my uncles also made sure that the tappers would take home the accurate amount of cash from the sale of then rubber.

My uncles were very honest people and my grandmother was a good rubber dealer when facing the middle men. No one dared to cross my pint sized grandma.

In those days trust and integrity were absolutely the norms!!

My Father's Stories : Bringing Up Sister Cheng Sieng

 My Father's Stories (5) : Bringing up Sister Cheng Sieng.

Between 1944 and 1965 my father watched his young sisters grow up without a mother. He however cared most for the youngest - Cheng Sieng or Ah Dae.

Here is is the "compiled" story from my father (before 1965) over the years about one of his favourite sisters Carrie aka Cheng Sieng aka Ah Dae.

Carrie was born in 1943 and by the time she was just barely able to walk my step mother (Wong) passed away from a bad miscarriage. It was hard to get a doctor during war time. And she literally haemorraged to her last breath. My grandfather, Tiong King Kee had passed away less than 5 months before.

It was so pitiful to see the young children mourning for our mother. Carrie was still too small to know anything.

Grandmother Wong Ni Moi, bound feet lady, took over the household and managed while my father mourned the death of his capable wife.

Carrie was also taken care of by her sisters, especially Chiew Sieng and pick sieng who were still invtheir teens. In those days there were no nurseries or nannies to place her in child care. So we just had to look after the young children.

Stepmother passed away in the 5th month of the Lunar Calendar and my father remarried Mother Siew three months later so that she could come to manage the household.

the children went through the last days of the Japanese Occupation, sometimes living in fear in the Hua Hong Ice Mill and sometimes living in safety in Binatang's Mee Ang's Rice Mill. My father travelled up and down the Rajang River doing small trading at that time, while keeping low from the radar of the Japanese. I looked after the semi closed ice and rice mill and occasionally operated the mill.

When the Japanese surrendered on September 11 1945, we were happy to be once again reunited as a family in Hua Hong. My two married brothers continued to look after Mee Ang Rice Mill in Binatang. My father planned for other developments. He had sold his motor launches and had bought more land in Lanang road with the cash. But first he decided to build a new house in Sg. Merah for his new wife.

By 1946 Yuk Ing Girls School reopened and Mrs. Hoover came back to Sibu to run it. Chiew, Pick, Gie and Hong went to live in the hostel, bringing 4 year old Carrie to stay with them. The girls were inseparable and Stepmother Siew was probably happy to let them all go to school. It would be difficult for the girls to be day scholars because of the boat rides between the island and the town were rather inconvenient.

Chiew was in boarding school with the younger girls until 1949 when she graduated from high school and went to Singapore to study. Carrie then went to stay with Aunty Yuk Ging for a few years. When she was in Form One she came to stay with us in Kung Ping Road as we had moved to Sibu then.

She and your mother Hung Chuo, got along very well.

Carrie used to say that she had several surrogate mothers, first there was Grandmother Wong Ni Mui, and then sister Chiew and sister Pick and then sister in law. Lau Hung Chuo was the one who saw to her needs during her secondary school days (St. Elizabeth).

Carrie was a very affectionate sister and she never forgot the love shown to her during her difficult life in Sibu. She often articulated her love for others and in return she was well loved.

It was really heart breaking to see her running around lacking real mother's love when she was a toddler.

We had a warm and loving family life in the wooden house in Kung Ping Road. Occasionally my father would drop by to see us and he would be most concerned about Carrie's exam results.

" Not many red marks I hope." Carrie would keep very quiet, respecting father's authority.

. At one time he stayed 10 days with us, to repair our Foochow concrete stove. He was a good concrete skilled worker and a very good carpenter. All the wooden windows he made for the different houses he built never came apart. they lasted for several decades!!

My father passed away in 1963 before Malaysia was formed.

By the time he passed away my 6th and 7th sisters had families of their own, 8th sister was about to be married and 9th sister from the USA, had come back to teach in Sibu. 10th sister was studying in Hong Kong and Carrie was about to leave for Hong Kong too.

In a way God had given my 6 sisters from Mother Wong special blessings for without their own mother they managed to become adults, complete their education and find their own destiny. Most importantly, they had a strong foundation of Christian principles and faith in God.

May be Carrie inherited my father's creative genes. She became a hobby jeweller in Hong Kong and sold her creations in many parts of the world.

She was always elegant, articulate and caring. She would bring gifts to those she loved without expecting any thing in return. And I really appreciate her laughter and big smile.

Old Sungei Merah Photo : The Bicycle Shop

 

The old familiar photo of an old bicycle shop of Sungei Merah.

Most bicycle shops in those days were owned by Hing Hua people.

It was good to know the repairers. A bicycle was a treasured possession. My grandfather never knew how to cycle but he bought one for my adopted Aunt Ah Hiong who is still alive today.

Lessons from Aunts

 Christmas time is time for reflection and nostalgia. Mum has been gone since 2020. And this is the 3rd Christmas we dont have her.

Each Christmas as kids we would think of all our aunts and uncles, grandparents and parents who have left us. Time passes all too fast.

This year we remember Aunt Carrie who left us 4 years ago..The photo shows her in blue. The other are still around. I am grateful.

My father was very fond of his sisters who were extremely beautiful. My aunts' beauty was well known in the whole of the Rajang Valley. They were tall as teenagers and well eduated in the Yuk Ing Girls' School Three of them went to St Theresa in Kuching to study in the 1950's, at the time when I was still in lower Primary school. My father asked all of us to emulate them.

Lessons from 7th Aunt. By the time I was to understand social dynamics in Sibu, I had two lessons from Aunt Chiew. She taughtme hwo to live in harmony with in laws, She was such a upright Christian, caring and full of conerns for others.

She also taught me about being polite to all, especially customers. She was one of the owners of Chop Ching Chiong Textile in High Street Sibu and I used to observe her selling materials and other necessities to young and old, men and women. She was ever so polite and thoughtful.

From Aunt Pick I learned to value the art of cooking for big families and keeping the kitchen clean. She was a good seamstress when she still had good eyes. These days she does not do any more sewing. I used to watch her us paper patterns to make new year clothes for us. She actually learned tailoring from Mrs. Hoover and Aunt Chiew. Aunt Pick taught me to do smocking too but I never captialized on the skill I had in those days and made money.

Aunt Greta taught me Maths in school and I was terrified of making mistakes. May be it was because of her sterness I was very good in Maths. My Indian teacher later could not be believe that a girl could score 100% in three consecutive tests in class. Aunt Greta was a Maths teacher until she retired.

Aunt Carrie was the glamourous aunt of our family and she lived in Hong Kong. She used to work for BOAC. She taught my sister and I to be creative in making of jewellery. But she too was a good dressmaker. She made dresses for us for Chinese New Year when she was staying with us and she was only in Form 4 and Form 5!! We all missed her after staying with us for 5 years to live in Hong Kong.

Buah Kundong : Buah Asam Masam

 

This is a sour sweet fruit I used to eat at my grandfather's house in Sg Merah. He had two trees and I and my cousins loved to climb the small tree, and eat the fruits as we sat on the slim branches.

Grandma would shout at us and told us off. If we broke the branches she would break our leg. But we paid no attention to her. We ate as lot but soon some of us would have stomach ache. Strangely some of us would be constipated while some would have some runny stools. I suppose our stomachs were made differently.

But I would remember how much we had eating these fruits. We were such tiny kids in those days. None of us were ever fatty kids.

Go Gentle into the Night... Maternal Grandmother

Years ago I could not bring myself to write about my grandmother's passing(in 1985). It was very painful and my mum would always ask me whenever I discussed with her, "Why write about it? It is so sad..."

Then I was thinking about how my two uncles permitted themselves to buy some strong painkillers to ease her last days of pain. Should I describe their love and sacrifice in detail?

And there was no photo of the last days with my grandmother too to illustrate my writing. 

 My Ngie Mah was visually disabled by the time she was 74 years old. She soon became frail but continued to be very independent, not wishing to be a burden to any one. She was totally visually disabled by the time she was 80.

It was painful for me to see her groping about in the wooden house by the river side in Nang Chong. But kind Third Uncle made sure that her toilet was always clean and the flushing system in good condition. She was able to do everything by herself. so third Aunt was not in any way burdened.

She never actually had any sickness in her life. But in the last few months of her life she was literary like a wick of a candle, slowly and slowly the light was going out.

But her final pain was in her heart which had been rather strong, from the time she left Minqing in China for Sibu to her last days in Sibu town. Ngie Mah was definitely made of sterner stuff in a small frame of less than 5 foot.

Her body was in pain as her heart was giving out. in the last few days of her life.

My kindly uncle Chang Chung Ching with the help of a local Chinese sinseh suggested the use of some traditional pain killers. We were told to keep it a secret, even from the stern hospital doctor who was a family friend.

The first night after she was given some, and actually she was in the Lau King Howe hospital in the common ward, she slept quite soundly. She was at peace but her mind was very clear and she knew what she was taking. Grandmother was a wise woman who had seen too many things in her life in her own words.

The second day, she asked for some more of the black stuff. But we all knew that she was leaving us as the vital signs were getting weaker and the doctors who came by to check her just mentioned that she was very weakened by her long years of living.

Prayers were said by family members and the pastors came around.

On the third day, the older aunties brought a silver ring, a pair of silver earrings and a new comb. Those were terrible signs for my sisters and I to witness while my mother and youngest aunt were inconsolable. 

However my uncles still gave her a small piece of the black stuff so that she could go gentle in the night. She was not in pain and she was comforted.

We waited for her to breathe her last and it was a good send off. the hospital staff did not shoo us away even though the visiting hours were over. It was a gentle going out of a candle.

the candle had burned to its last strength and the wick was burnt off. Only the fragrance of the candle remains to this day in our mind.

I have forgotten the smell of the black stuff but I can remember my grandmother's sweet scents from the hair oil she used. 

My sister brushed her hair for her for the last time as we sobbed softly at her side in the mortuary. Every surface was cold to the touch.

The warmth of a human body had gone out and we would never have a warm embrace from her. We would never crawl up to her in her wooden bed and snuggle and laugh with her.

She was skin and bones in the last few years and now she was lying there, cold and without life.

Mum and Aunty Yung wiped grandmother's cold white body with new towels as our uncles prepared to clothe her with specially tailored funeral wear, all seven layers of them.

My Mother's Vintage Egg Wire Basket 1950's

My mother's egg basket

My memory of having eggs started from the time we moved from Pulau Kerto to Sibu town. Father had a new job at the bank and grandma (Ngie mah) came often to visit. She would come from downriver on a Chinese Motor Launch and instead of stopping at Hua Hong Ice Factory, Pulau Kerto, she would stop at the Tua Pek Kong Wharf in Sibu. There she would take a trishaw to Kong Ping Road (the fore runner of Brooke Drive)where we lived.

When she visited we had hardboiled eggs with our chicken soup mee sua. Grand ma would bring a chicken or two and mum would keep on in the chicken coup and slaughter one for our lunch and dinner.

In those days I did not realise that grandma's gift of chickens from down river was to reduce mum's financial burden. It was quite right for elders to say, "Children know only how to eat." Grandma always told others that Mum had brought us up well because we would not ask for choice parts of the chciken. Father would always get the drumstick and so did grandma. My mother would pick the Bishp's noise. I would get the back boae (which was usually cut into three pieces). 

Frozen did not come to Sibu until the 1960's. Most of the time we were able to enjoy free range chickens from down river. 

Eggs were bought from the Cheng family. Mr Cheng Kuok Gong was my father's buddy from primary school. He had a big chicken farm and sold eggs in the neighbourhood. His two older sons sent eggs on their bicycles. It was one of those home delivery business in Sibu.

When mum received the eggs she would transfer them to her wire basket and we would all be very excited, helping her to count up to 30.

Why are eggs sold in 30's?

As the days went by, the layer of eggs would go down and mum would say, "Need to Hung Nu whcih means send a message" for more eggs. Some weeks we ate more and some weeks less.Mum ran a tight ship but we all hasd good nutritious food.

Father always had  half boiled eggs and his Sunkist orange for breakfast. We the children had steamed bread or bao kosong with butter or margarine and Chivers Jam. From our early days in Sibu, mum learned to appreciate strawberry jam , although she would, later in life, find fresh strawberries very sour (no matter how sweet they could be).

I would aways remember eating lots of hard boiled eggs. And then I would remember counting the eggs as the days went by. And I would always be the one to remind Mum that there were not many eggs left in the basket.

She would send a message through perhaps Aunty Yien Chuo (Tong Yien Chuo) one of the "Pearls" among her best friends. Aunty Yien Chuo was a pig farmer and she would cycle to the town to collect scrap food for her pigs. She lived quite near the Chengs, so she was a good messenger.

And the two Cheng Brothers would soon be at our house, sending eggs. We lost our egg basket when we moved house in 1976 to Lanang Lane 2. But now like every one else, we keep our eggs in the fridge.

The egg basket would always be on my mind.....and mum would always be in my heart.

Sibu Tales : Gall Bladder and cock Fight

There are many different breeds of fighting cocks for gamblers to acquire. They usually buy expensive ones so that they could win in the cock fighting arena. Usually the Ibans would be able to tell which would be winning birds. that might depend on the colour of the feathers or the size of the legs. Some even look at the scale patterns on the legs.

The Ibans have a lot of names for the fighting cocks according to the colours of the feathers.

There was one time when my Third Uncle went with his friends to watch a cock fight. Third Uncle would never want his wife to find out about this adventure. And it happened that that particular time, the police made a raid and every cock owner, cock fighter and bystanders were stunned and they escaped leaving behind shoes, bicycles and even their birds (some managed to bring their birds away).

My uncle was petrified and he actually lost his sense of direction. He could not find his way out of the country side arena but later he walked all the way to our house, without his shoes. He had been wearing a very loose pair of canvas shoes (a coolie kind of shoes) which slipped of his feet when he ran. He could run faster without shoes any way.

Uncle had to be given treatment for shock - and my mother gave him a tin of cold beer. Mum was a very understanding sister who would never scold her siblings. She always gave them great silent support and often times shared their stories with a great sense of humour.

He was never to watch a cock fight again. He said, "I would not let my gall bladder burst!"

The Foochows have a saying that when you are really scared your gall bladder will burst.

 

Family : Annual Photo

My father was a keen photographer. He was very fond of having an annual photo taken of the family. He did once say that an annual photograph of the family was very meaningful and he likened it to a historical document without words.

He would then make many copies of the photo to be given to my grandfather and his brothers and sisters. This would be like his "annual report" to his siblings

This is a photo taken in 1958, the year my 4th sister, Sig was born. My mother was wearing a very pretty maternity blouse and skirt set.

We older two girls had dresses made by our Grandmother Siew, and the material was very good cotton bought in Ngiu Kee. I remember very well that my mother and aunts loved buying materials from the shop at High Street. My mother and the towkay neo, Mrs. Wong Yuk Siew were great friends, both being very gentle and soft spoken.

My brother had a buttoned up suit which was off the peg, very popular at that time. My father could have bought it from Kuching or even Singapore.

And my sister Yin had a smocking dress made by Aunt Pick. 

Our hair was permed by Aunt Pearl who had a hair dressing salon in High Street.

It was during one of the hair dressing sessions that I had a very bad burn at the top of my head. The heat from the rollers and the boiling hot hair perming solution left a bad scar, which is as big as a ten cent coin. It is a permanent scar!! 

Mum always said, "Without pain there is no beauty..." A Foochow saying. The next painful journey to beauty was my ear piercing experience.

That year my father left his necktie wearing, cool bank office to work with my grandfather in the Bukit Aup Kiong Ann Brickyard.

A photo does bring back a lot of memories.

For remembrance.

Sg. Merah : License to Drive

 Family Remembrances.

My grandfather was very keen on motor cars or in anything that was mechanical. Relatives were in awe of him and they would sing praises of him by saying that he could fit any thing together if they were metal or mechanical parts. And in fact he was not at all highly educated. He was schooled at home in the old Minqing village of Wun Chieh for only a few years. But he was able to do very high level maths calculation (according to his cousins in Sibu). 

And one of the cars he bought for his own amusement was this unique "jeep" which he must have purchased from Kuching, bearing the plate K7827. He kept the vehicle on his hill top property in Sg Merah. When grand children came to visit, he would allow an uncle to drive it. And the driver must have a licence. 

In this photo, Uncle Sia Kie Ming is the driver. And he had a licence from Singapore. Here is a beautiful family photo for remembrance. Lots of positive vibes.

Later my uncle Tai Hieng and Aunty Laura all drove without Licence. And by then grandfather had passed on to prevent all the illegal driving on top of the hill. I believe my Aunt Laura was able to drive when she was 13. My uncle Tai Hieng was to become owner of many good cars like Mercedes and even a sports car later on as he inherited a lot of wealth from my grandfather and he also had very good connections.

Here in the photo,  Uncle Sia Kie Ming had come back from Singapore for a visit. 

In the photo : Aunt Greta, Aunt Chiew, Aunt Siew and Aunt Laura, with young 5th Aunty. Grandma Siew is third from the left back row.

Uncle Tai Hieng is first from the right in the front.

Those in the photos must be extremely happy to be in this record breaking kind of event...How many people can sit in a jeep?

The roof (on the right) in the photo probably is the roof of Wong Cheng Ang's house.

Kiong Ann Brickyard : Boy from Telok Bango

My friend wrote how he admired my grandfather and my extended family when he was a young boy, coming over to our brickyard to collect discarded charcoal from the kiln. The wood charcoal could not be reused because they could not give the right temperature. My grandfather used only fresh timber for the firing. Each firing took ten days.

My grandfather, Tiong Kung Ping was an entreprenuer in the traditional Foochow sense as he was able to create a business from free resources available to him during this time. According to elders, one of the first enterprises he had was to make ice from free water. He was the first Foochow man in Sibu to have an ice mill. Water, was a free resource from the Rajang River. Besides the capital outlay was not huge as he had acquired some very cheap and low lying land in Pulau Kerto.

His other business was creating wealth  out of milling rice because he was able to assemble a milling engine he bought with the help of Rev Hoover. He and my grandmother assembled the milling engine under kerosene lights according to another elder. Though he had already wired his ice factory and connected wires to every house in his property, he was still very frugal in order to save the more expensive gasoline. He often worked under kerosene lamp lights.

Siblings and in laws visiting their father in the brickyard.

Grandpa  made a small profit out of the timber resoures in lower Rajang. He was one of the first Foochow man to have a small timber concession. But in those days export of timber was very controlled by the Rajah Government. He would personally log the permissible amount of timber with his workers and took the log rafts to Binatang to be sewn into planks for house construction. It was not a lucrative but a supportive business. He was so honest that he did not steal any timber outside his concession. And with the little profit he earned, he bought land, which was his real estate acumen. He was to gift the pieces of land to his 6th daughter, 5th son, 6th son, saving the main family plot for the other sons (which was only distributed in 2019)

He  invested in concrete shop houses in Binatang too and had bought three shop houses for his three sons who lived there with him. I would always remember how happy he was to walk to the second floor to see his second son and his family, with me and a few other aunties, following a few steps behind. It was a nice reunion and we enjoyed the roof top gathering. He had brought me to see Binatang!! It was quite an honour in the 1950's, and from the eyes of a little child.

Several years later, he sold off our Pulau Kerto property and invested in his last business, the Kiong Ann Brickyard.

This again was what our relatives said - he was able to turn free (resources) soil in to cash. But in reality he had bought the land with his savings. 

the Brickyard was named Kiong Ann meaning Building PEACE. My grandfather having come out of Qing Era in China prayed for peace and prosperity, safety, and the progress of his people. The names of his sons reflected his vision for his people and country.

My father was Poh (to protect), Second uncle was Siu (to maintain stablity), Third Uncle was Hua (Chinese nation), fourth Uncle was Pang (nation). The four names put together form a motto - Protect the Chinese Nation.

My third aunt, Pearl, standing next to one of the kilns.

His brick factory was the first mechanized brick making factory in Sarawak and was often visited by the colonial officers. It was even reported in the government news and local news.

A friend, Sia Yu Leong, recently wrote about his childhood and how he as a child came to the brick yard to collect reusable charcoal and old broken bricks from the yard!.

It was a nostalgic virtual conversation with him. He was my junior at university and now both of us are greying.

He wrote, "The brick factory was located on a hilly, undulating site adjacent to Bukit Aup." 

Yu Leong remembered that there were a few kilns which would fire the well made bricks. He lived in Telok Bango, and it would take him 30 minutes to paddle his boat to Sg. Aup to collect the discarded charcoal.

My grandfather was a frugal man and he had obtained cheap discarded wood debris, out layers of trees for the firing of his bricks. Each kiln would fire the bricks for 10 days.

Yu Leong and his brother would know when to come to collect the discarded charcoal which could not be recycled for the firing of bricks.

It was nice of him to write that he admired my grandfather. The two brothers had even told each other how nice it was to be like the grand children of the towkay...to be born with a golden (silver) spoon in the mouth.

Birth of a Boy : 20th August 1963

My mother was very excited about having her baby, and was hoping that she would give birth on the 31st August 1963.

As a mother and a very frugal Foochow woman, she was looking forward to receiving a gift of 20 tins of Dumex (large tines) from the Council if she would give birth on Malaysia Day. Many expectant mothers who were to give birth towards the end of August 1963 were all very excited about the special Mederka Day gifts. Every midwife in Sibu was alert and ready to report births for that day . They were on a 24 hour alert and Borneo Company had wrapped up the gifts of 20 tins of Dumex, on standby.

But my baby brother was too eager to see the world may be. And to her disappointment, she gave birth on the 2oth. But to the happiness of every one in the family, it was a baby boy!!

To comfort her, every relative who came by said that having a baby boy was worth more than 20 tins of Dumex (Large).

This time my father did not light any fire crackers. My first brother had only half a pack of fire crackers to announce his birth in Pulau Kerto.

And the confinement lady, (Sixth Aunt) was ever ready to cook chickens and Foochow noodles for every one who came by, with or without gifts for the new baby. My maternal grandmother hovered around and bought more than 100 eggs to welcome him. Each egg was hardboiled and coloured red. It was her task to do the hardboiled red eggs to the delight of every guest!!

The red colouring was supposed to be saffron but she knew she could get the imitation red colouring from the sin seh (Poh Nguong).

My father, then already 56 years old was a very kind man who, though quiet, was helpful in the house, although he did not cook. He made sure that my mother had a good cup of hot Kopi O early in the morning to help her get through the day.

My mother, being very frugal, preferred only to have eggs and chicken soup. She had given instruction to Sixth Aunt to make sure that the pieces of chicken must be big and reserved for the relatives who came by and for the family. She never over ate and she remained slim throughout her confinement. 

Both my parents had done away with the Foochow traditions of Serng Ang. Just come and visit. No need to brig a gift and Sixth Aunt was really a good confinement lady because she could entertain any one who visited us. By then we were living at Brooke Drive and there were many rooms in the house for relatives to stay for a night or two.

Every one was welcome to share the joy.

My parents' cup runneth over.

Saying Goodbye to Sibu

My grandfather was always happy to bid farewell to his daughters going off to study overseas. This was one of the last photographs he took with the extended family at the Sibu airport. He passed away in 1963, four years after this photo was taken.

It was the sending off for my aunt Greta who won a scholarship to study in the USA in 1959. She was always a top brilliant scholar (very good in Maths) and later she came back to teach in Sarawak until she retired.

That moment in time I did think about myself going away to study. It would be very nice to study abroad. But soon the political and social conditions changed with the formation of Malaysia. Family stability also changed in the following ten years.

After my grandfather passed away in 1963, our huge family never had any more photos taken at the airport, to welcome any one, or to bid farewell to any one. To me it was a very sad change in our family life. We did not visit the big house in Sg. Merah as a family, although my mother would ask me to send gifts to my grandmother every now and then. Besides, we missed the usual visits made by grandpa. As our grandfather was very fond of my father, his first born, he had routinely come to check the stove, the roof, the stair cases and even the windows which he helped to maintain very well. Every one missed our Handyman Grandpa.

So when it was my turn to leave Sibu for my studies in 1970, a decade or so later, the scenario was totally different. There was no fanfare, there was no noise, or exactly, NO PUBLICITY. It was oh so quiet and rather sad.

My memories of my first departure from Sibu were very despondent. I did not want to go away. I did not want to leave the comfort of home, and all the familiar things, friends, school, teachers, and shops known as my micro world. I felt as if a leaf was slowly dropping from its mother tree and soon to dry up and then die on the ground.

By 1970, we had not only lost our family patriarch but also my father. There was no jell to put the extended family together.

Our splintered family caused members to distance themselves from each other and communication was not really at its most cordial at times. Like many other families, we were only meeting up at funerals, and sometimes weddings. Sometimes my widowed mother was not even on the invited list because relatives (understanding?) were worried that she could not afford to give the angpow for some Foochow weddings could be really expensive to attend.

Many Foochow women would bring a piece of old gold to exchange for new pieces to be given to the bride as gifts. The Tien Aik Goldsmith towkay neo would have a lot of stories to tell regarding this matter. My cousin Soon (Lee family) would also offer some advice to my mother for example if and when she brought a piece of gold to exchange for one or two pieces of new gold.  My mother after my father's passing never wore any gold ornaments to honour his memory except her wedding ring.

 When my turn came to leave Sibu, I had a very quiet send off, just my mother, my two sisters and my brother.  I was blessed as I had won a scholarship to study in University of Malaya. My sister Sing was a temporary teacher (later she was to join Batu Lintang Training College) We were lucky even to have this photo taken. I am not sure, until today, if it was Mr. Azahari who took the photo. My mother also could not remember, but we have this photo.

I suppose I just went with the flow then. A chance to study at university level even though it was a local university, and why not?  If I had not won the scholarship I would have to make another choice in life. I could never have afforded to study overseas at our own expenses.

Besides, I had never entertained the possibilities of marrying into a family who could give me a meal ticket. My mother would not have liked that idea. But it was one of the most popular choices of girls in those days.

Also I did not entertain any thoughts of becoming a nurse or a stenographer. Probably I had the best choice at a university which had given me a place. What more could I wish for? There was no more time for me to change my mind. Several of my school mates were also accepted by MU. So off we went casting our fate into the winds and we crossed the pond to the other side.

I remember I did not even have a hand bag, just a small purse to hold my IC. I cannot even remember if I had to use a passport because I was quite a muddle headed person when I travelled. Now I cannot even remember what I had in my hand. I only remember I had a very small suitcase which was checked in.

Then I was in the plane and I was given a cold towel to wipe my face and my tears.

Note : It was my first flight out of Sibu. As the plane took off, I saw Sibu growing smaller and smaller below me and soon I was air borne. 

What would the future be for me? My mind was a blank at that very moment. I had to harden my heart I told myself and get that degree! After that every thing would be fine - a job and earn a salary. 

Most family photos of our extended family were taken by my father, my uncle, Lau Pang Kwong, and a few other friends of the family.) 

To leave or Not to Leave Sibu.

 This is a photo to show our 5th Aunt, Grace Chang's pre flight/departure from Sibu moment, to the USA after she resigned as Dean from the Methodist Secondary School.

She was the first Foochow woman to hold the post as Dean of a large school. Being English educated she was not at ease with many of the older men who were on the board of directors. And being single she had more choices in life. After she weighed all the possibilities she chose to study again.

My grandfather loved her very much as she was the youngest child from him and our Grandmother Chong Soon Ching. When Grandmother Chong passed away at age 38, Aunt Grace was just a toddler. She was brought up by my great grandmother basically.

On the day she left, grandfather called all the daughters in law and sons to bring the young children to the airport to say good bye. Grandfather always insisted that we dressed well and that we must all come as a whole family to the airport. He must have felt very sad as he moved around quietly and getting all of us children for the photo taking. We were like little chicks running around and unable to pose.  He had all the adults standing and the next generation squatting. We did quite a good job finally.

As he always carried an oiled umbrella, he used it to protect my lovely aunt from the sun, for the photo taking. This photo taken by my father impressed me so much that in the next few decades I would always look out for photos showing men carrying umbrellas like that. It has been most interesting.

My fifth aunt must have been one of the earliest Foochow women to think about leaving her hometown for good. It must not have been easy but there were more pros than cons for her to leave. My grandfather was already aging. She was not happy with her job. Sibu was a far cry from Kansas where she had studied, or even Singapore, where her sisters were. Besides she was still single and all her siblings were already married and having children. She had more ambitions than just remaining as a teacher. 

My grandfather had arrived in Sibu in 1902. Aunt Grace was born in 1928,educated in Yuk Ing Girls' School, Sibu. She had a good education in Singapore where she joined her older sisters after the war. Upon graduation from  teacher's training college, she taught a few years in Singapore. She gained a scholarship to study in the USA. She famously crossed the Pacific Ocean by  a freight ship (she was so determined to gain higher education) and we were told stories of her adventures. She was a good letter writer, writing to all her brothers and sisters every now and then, especially at Christmas.

She was probably the first Foochow girl from Sibu to obtain a Masters' degree in Sprecial Education and Psychology.

It must have taken her many months to make a decision to leave a good job and her home town. She was never a Malaysian, as she left Sarawak before 1963, but a British subject from the Colony of Sarawak. She was in the USA to do graduate studies but was encouraged to work in Canada where she met her husband Professor A. Manson. She took up Canadian citizenship.

To leave or not to leave was the question.