Foochow Midwife Lau Fong Fei

 

My mum and I would always be grateful to my aunt Lau Fong Fei who looked after my four precious pregnancies. She gave good advice and counselling and mum was well rest assured.

Mum lost a sister due to poor medical support and as a result of that trauma my mother would not, if possible be hospitalized., She was only once warded in a hospital and that was three days before she passed away. She asked to return home where she passed away very peacefully on 31 August 2020.

Mum always reminded me to pay tribute to Aunt Fong Fei.

During National Nurses' Week I would like to thank my aunt Lau Fong Fei for delivering two of my babies in Sibu.

It is with great sadness when I read the announcement of my aunt Lau Fong Fei's passing. She was the beloved cousin of my late mum Lau Hung chuo, Lau Hung Hee (almost the same name), Lau Hung Ding, Lau Hung Toh, and Lau Hung Yung (all daughters of Lau Kah Jui). Aunt Fong Fei's sisters have Phoenix as their middle name whereas my mother and her siblings and cousins have Hung or Rainbow as their middle name. Same sound but different Chinese character.

Aunt Fong fei was a young girl during the Japanese Occupation and she was a lively girl who was determined to educate herself. She became one of the first western trained midwives in Sibu. She was also one of the first Foochow girls in those days to marry a Hokkien man, Wee Ho Soon. (In those days it was not the thing to do according to our elders) But Uncle Wee was a capable man. I do stand corrected if I am wrong about this.

In the early days when we moved to Sibu, I was always happy to meet her. I enjoyed listening to her talking with my mum,exchanging news and normal concerns and a few humurous stories. They loved a chuckle or two even though I knew already at that age how much the two ladies had suffered during the Japanese Occupation. Both had gone without much food so that the uounger siblings could have more. The two ladies had plenty to talk about .

In those days cousins were as good as siblings. they shared common stories and news and got along as if they were all in one household. there was so much brotherly and sisterly love among them.

She was never too busy to have a conversation with relatives. That was my impression of her. She was the kind of person I would later use as an example of a lady with good PR and empathies.

She started her Lau Fong Fei Maternity Clinic in Hardin Walk and delivered many babies. The Lau King Howe Hospital had less than 100 beds and probably less then 15 beds for its maternity ward. In the 1960's there was a baby boom and maternity clinics sprang up. Her investment was not only financially timely but socially suitable. She was known as a midwife who saved many mothers and babies because of her skills.

Aunt Fong Fei was a caring woman, who listened to young mothers and even gave counselling to women who had too many children or no children.

I remember my first baby was delivered by her and she said such comforting words because my baby was 25 days over due. It was a safe delivery after a 2 day labour and 4 false alarms in May. She was born on May 25th. But my late mother trusted her and would not have me admitted into any hospital.

She also delivered my 3rd daughter with such skill that I hardly felt any pain. My two other babies were born in Lau King Howe Hospital because I was admitted by the doctors checking my pre -natal conditions.

I end up having all children born in Sibu but I must say Aunt Fong Fei was truly the kind of midwife you would like to have when your child wanted to see the world for the first time.

She would always be by your side in the labour room and her predictions were so accurate!! All mothers who had their babies delivered at her clinic would never find themselves in dire straits as she was so kind in collecting their fees. At times I heard she even gave some poor mothers minimum charges. (to day deliveries cost a leg and an arm.)

She was truly my 5 star midwife! She made delivery of a baby a festive episode of a new mother's life. It was a moment to treasure, new baby, new mother and midwife who saw that all was fine.

Deepest condolences to the family members.

We have gone through an era where women like Aunt Fong Fei had given their utmost to serve the people regardless of race, religion and creed. She was a gentle angel for women in their greatest need - the birth of a new life.

May her soul rest in peace. Till we meet again at Jesus' feet.

Dr. Hu King Eng

 許 金 訇

A photo of Dr. Hu King Eng, from Fuzhou City, fujian, the first Foochow woman doctor in the world.

born 1865 in Fuzhou, China and died in 1929 in Singapore.

She was educated in the USA, Philadelphia Women's College of Medicine,  and was a physician. she was also the second ethnic Chinese woman to attend university in the USA. She came from a Christian family in Fuzhou and it was through their connections with Christian missionaries that she was able to study in the USA.

 Her medical career is well documented as she was treated as a celebrity by American media due to the lack of even American women studying medicine at the time.

She worked in the USA for a while but later went back to work at the Woolston Memorial Hospital in Fuzhou City. 

She worked hard to iprove medical practices in Fujian and was instrumental in using running water in modern toilets to improve sanitary practices in the city. 

She later opened a Medical College for Chinese women.

Sources: Notable Women of Modern China (2005, originally 1912) by Margaret E. Burton; “The First Chinese Woman Doctor,” a Sept. 14, 1895 article in Christchurch’s The Star, Women of China

Sibu : Olden Days' Hospitality

 In the olden days, in 1950's most down river and upriver relatives would ask for a night's or two stay in the shophouses. Most shopowners would be very welcoming. a plank bed would be prepared immediately by putting five pieces of plank on two benches. 

Many relatives would come to stay one or two night because they had to visit the sick in Lau King Howe Hospital or even seek treatment themselves.

Some relatives even have extra canvas beds to welcome their visitors.

According to Mrs. Wong Kah Muo, who owned a furniture shop with her late husband, along Blacksmith Road, these relatives would be very grateful and they would bring gifts of live chicken or duck on their next trip, Many would only stay one or two nights, but there was one relative who stayed the whole month for confinement!!

This was the kind of hospitality extended by the Wong family in those days.

Foochows practise altruism, doing good for others. John Wesley also preached about doing good.

Today with lots of inns, lodging houses, good hotels people from outlying villages of Sibu do not have to bother their relatives who own shop houses. They can find alternative accommodation easily.,

The Clan Association also provided accommodation at $2.00 to $6.00 in the olden days.

Mrs. Wong recently told Sarawakiana that during her late husband's funeral, so many came to convey their sympathies. There were so many whom she could not even remember they had stayed in his her shop houses. These grateful mourners made A GREAT impression on her.

the late Mr. Wong, a carpenter, was such a good man.

Food : Foochow Style Mashed Taro

 

The best mashed taro is made from Betel Nut Taro or Bilong Wo.

However due to shortage of Betel Nut Taro in recent years, I have started to use local taro or Thai taro for this savoury dish.

A little bit of white pepper, somew chillies, pepper, deep fried onions, some slices of belly pork, ikan bilies and dried prawns would gurrantee you a beautiful snack.

We Foochows make both savoury and sweet snacks. This masked savoury taro can be transformed into a taro rice cake, to be seerved for breakfast, oren just aof a quick bite of lunch.

Love in a paper box full of Mangoes

The mango tree which once stood in our house compound blessed many people. It was as tree planted by the previous owner of our house.

The tree left behind by Mr. Lau gave us plenty of sweet mangoes. We never wanted to sell any. Once it gave us more than 200 mangoes and we gave them all away to those who loved mangoes. We loved mangoes too. A thief did come into our compound one day and took away a gunny sack of the mangoes, ripe and unripe. We came home just in time, but he managed to escape with the gunny over his shoulders while his friend drove away in the escape motor bike. We had wondered why there was a motor bike under the trees in the small lane leading towards the empty lot. then we saw a man running away while we were waiting for our gate to open. He managed to jump over the fence.

Every time I see mangoes I would think of all the paper boxes we Foochows use to bring mangoes or anything, to our loved ones when we travel by train, plane or bus, or even boats.

I used to pack mangoes, fruit by fruit, wrapping them in newspaper into a paper box up to 15kg. While my own personal belongings would be in a small back pack, I could bring our sweet mangoes to Kuching.

Some one had said, a paper box, coming out of the luggage carousel, would definitely be owned by a Foochow!! I smiled. Yes I would be one of the owners.

Love is a paper box full of mangoes, coming out of the luggage carousel, at the airport terminal. It is a very Foochow thing, if I may say so.

Now the mango tree is gone. And mum has left this world more than a year ago.

Winter Solstice Festival : Miri 2021

When we were young staying with Ngie Mah, we had one great competition : how many dumplings

can you SATAY together in one chopstick? Then we would have a race from end of the living room to the other (ruai). When we came back we could eat what ever still left on the chopstick. Many careless ones would drop some during the race. Record was 15...tightly squeezed together of course... My Ngie Mah made very good xi yang, with soy bean and peanut powder ground by the stone grinder. Even the glutinous flour was ground early in the morning. 

We usually get up very early in the morning to prepare the dumplings called in Foochow, Si Yang or tang yuen in Mandarin.

And it would be time for my Ngie Mah (maternal grandmother) to re tell her favourite story of how the Monkey Man came home to be reunited with his human family.

A long time ago in Fujian, a scholar went to Beijing to sit for his Imperial Exam but he failed and sadly returned home. On his way home because he was travelling alone on foot, being poor, he did not a have book boy (his errand boy) to accompany him, he was lost in the high mountains. He ran out of food and he fell into a ravine.

But luckily he was rescued by a group of half men half monkeys. He stayed with them many years as he had to recover from his injuries. He however had lost his sense of direction.

However soon the stories of a man who was seen with these half men half monkeys reached his wife's ears. She planned on how to bring back her husband as she was sure it was her husband if he could eat what she made.

She made dumplings coated with soy bean and peanut powder and they were so fragrant that the villagers admired her culinary skills.

She went to the mountains one late autumn day and stuck dumplings on every tree to make a trail to the village.

Upon her return she asked her fellow villagers to prepare a big net to capture a man.

And indeed, her husband ate the dumplings stuck on the trees and soon came back to their village.

The villagers threw the net over him and he suddenly regained his memory.

That was the first Winter Solstice Reunion in the history of China. From that time onwards, every Chinese would make sweet dumplings coated with soy bean and peanut powder for family reunion.

Happy Winter Solstice 2021.  December 21st.

All for Dad, None for Kids

 What is it like being Foochow today?

 And the same question in the PAST Tense. What was it like being Foochow?

There were many stories about being Foochow when I was growing up.

One of the most significant FoochowNESS I learned from my elders was "the husband must be given the highest respect with food".

We had lots of stories about wives serving their husbands to show respect. Some were hilarious, others, sad, some fairly normal while many were out of the ordinary.

My Ngie Mah of course was a woman with a great sense of humour. We were often in stitches, laughing and we could not push the stone grinder. But mind you, she wasn't very Foochow though. May be she had a very strong sense of justice and had some making of a feminist, way ahead of her time.

The Foochows call this, "laugh until the stomach cramps...."

Some how the stone grinder inspired people to tell stories.

Here is one related to making of kuih from a relative who came to visit us when we were small kids. She told us the story as we hovered around the stone mill, helping my maternal grandma to mill the soaked glutinous rice. Those were the days when we had to mill our own rice flour at home.

And lots of stories were exchanged in that particular corner of our house in Sibu.

Here is the story from our relative told around the stone mill......

This towkay was a man of means and he had quite a big family. His wife worked hard. Originally she had come from Fujian to marry someone in Singapore but instead according to some stories, she wanted to be more adventurous, so she accompanied a friend who was Sarawak bound , thus arriving in the thriving town of Sibu. Fate had its way and soon she became the wife of the towkay who found her very fair and pretty, and having great skills in cooking. The towkay was a gourmet!

Soon she was making all sorts of kuih and selling them, and much to the delight of the towkay as he became the "taster" of her food. She was probably a celebrity chef in her day.

She was allowed to keep almost all her earnings, which she happily saved for her old age and also to buy materials which were imported. According to the stories in the village, she wore some of the best clothes people had ever seen! May be it was also because she was earning money for herself with a husband who loved her cooking.

She made a lot of kuih, especially Mee Yang. Her children who helped her grind the rice batter seldom had the opportunity to eat the mee yang. A few pieces would first go their father and the rest would be sold.

This kuih maker saved enough money to buy lots of gold ornaments for herself according to this relative who told the stories.

We felt very sorry for the children, who did all the work and never got to eat the Mee Yang.

However though we commiserated with those little ones in the story which happened before the war we were so glad that our Ngie mah made sure that we had lots to eat. How we loved her. Whenever she came to our house, we had the best food on the table for her...and of course for my DAD. For us, it was different. Food was for every one 

Definitely, time had changed by then.

Messages from the Grave

What are messages from the grave?

Easter is often a time when we pray more. But to me, it is a time to sing more!!

My friends and I in these difficult days of the Pandemic also talked more on the phone. We talked about a lot of things, good and bad, happy and sad.

Lately we talked about the late Mr. Lee Kuan Yew "sending" a message from his grave.  Those who have been his keen and lasting admirers would like to think that he does have a message or many messages for the public. Others pooh pooh it.

My family members do believe in messages from the grave, like the Korean actors and actresses in the TV Drama. People appear in their dreams either to tell them something good or something bad.

Two  events I know of have been sort of resulting from some kind of messages from the grave. 

A church sister one day came to pastor and told him to pray about her heart palpitations which have been occurring for a while. Even though she had seen her heart specialist, and had a clean bill of health, she still had her heart palpitations. The pastor prayed with her and asked a few other church sisters to lay hands on her.

That night she had a dream and her brother spoke to her, asking her to help him with floods in his house. Immediately she knew why she had her heart palpitations. She drove to her late brother's grave and found it was already water logged due to a landslide near by. So she called her church committee and immediately they exhumed the grave and had her brother reburied in a new grave. 

Her heart palpitations stopped after that.

Sungei Merah from the Methodist Old Cemetery. 

In another case, an old widow was hesitant about a property that the government wanted to acquire and her in laws were hard to connect with because some were reticent and not in good terms. She prayed about it. Then suddenly out of the blue, one of her daughter's school mates came to visit her. He seemed to be in the know about the matter and they discussed her difficulties and awkwardness. He told her it was quite straightforward and need not worry about it.

Later her pastor also helped her pray about the legal issues. She was so worried that her nephews would think that she was going to take away their inheritance.

After prayers were said, the widow slept quite well but that very night her father in law came in her dreams and he told her every thing was arranged and she only had to sign her name . He even told her about not engaging a lawyer!! Her father in law had passed on more than 50 years ago!! But that piece of land was bought by him to be shared properly by his descendants. Everything was very proper according to his will.

Indeed the next day, the Land Office called her and said that everyone concerned had sent in written acknowledgement. Her share was unopposed as every one agreed to the shared proportions. No legal action was necessary.

My friends and I agree that God works for our good in different ways. Sometimes through dreams.

Happy Easter!!

The Foochow Association

 

Sit down dinner for ten at a table, and kopitiam or German Chairs

The Foochow Association was well organized not long after the Foochows settled in Sibu to help with new arrivals, and to unite the community for their common good.

When it celebrated its 50th Anniversary it was able to declare open its Central Road 50th Anniversary Building with a big bang!

The Pioneers of the community were proud that day. It had two shop spaces on ground floor and a huge banquet and assembly hall on its first floor(see photo). The top floor had rooms for new arrivals and guests who could not afford hotels.

The government of day often "rented" the first floor for banquets and restaurants were able to cater for more than 20 tables of guests. 

An interesting point to raise here. Many Foochow women attended buffet dinners for the first time in their lives in the 1950's as many official buffet dinners were held here.

Many of them were very shy and they found it very daunting to standing around with a plate of food. Some picked a bit of food and went home hungry, rather than embarrass themselves. Some never attended buffet dinners out of fear. My mother was one of them.

So, for most traditional Foochow women, a sit down dinner was the best choice.

They would tell their children about their buffet dinner and say that they still felt hungry when they came home.

Visit to Minhou Country : Camphor Trees Transplant

 

This is a camphor tree or zhang tree. I met a forest of camphor trees in Minhou county when I went with my team to write about Lau King Howe. Minhou local government has started to plant a small forest of camphor trees by transplanting old trees from wherever they can get. These newly transplatned trees are fed by "drips" and they survive!!

Camphor has a special smell which reminds me of my grandmother, or ngie mah. Camphor wooden chests are treasured by all Chinese because they keep clothes, books and precious things from getting dated and rot. Even missionaries who brought camphor chests back to the UK still find it amazing .

The original moth balls were made from camphor. They are called Zhang Nao.

However today camphor wood balls are available in good shops. Moth balls made from synthetic camphor can be found every where.

When I was young, people disliked the smell of of moth balls. And often our clothes, including my grandmother's clothes smell of moth balls. Sometimes I hear people say, "Why do Chinese smell of moth balls?" The Foochows actually call moth balls, chao wong, or smelly balls.

Nowadays whenever I miss the smell of moth balls I would go and buy the synthetic ones. But if I do find the authentic camphor moth balls, I would definitely buy some. Perhaps one day Miri will sell some camphor oils.

 I miss my ngie mah's smell.

Pioneering Days of Sibu : Further Studies

When schools were started in the Foochow villages in the Rajang, the pioneering families were very hopeful and forward looking. By 1931 there were at least 40 primary schools run by the Methodist Church, together with the village communities which were mainly Methodists.

Those born in Sibu in the 1910's and 1920's were college age and Lau Kah Tii, together with Rev James Hoover helped bright students to further their education in Singapore, Fuzhou City, Shanghai and even Beijing, through their connections with the missionaries in China.

Lau Pang Kwong, the eldest son of Lau Kah Tii for example was educated in Shanghai. My aunt Lau Hung Hee was trained as a midwife in a Fuzhou hospital and she also furthered her studies in Shanghai. She later founded a maternity clinic with her husband Dr. Hsiung at Padungan Road, Kuching.

Aunt Hung Hee was a very generous, kind and warm personality. She was full of understanding, and a real angel who tended to the pains of women who were giving birth and to all her young relatives who sought her advice. A great counsellor indeed.

My tall mother  with lots of grey hair, 4th from left, Aunt Hung Yung in the middle ad Aunt Hung Hee on her left. Lovely family photo in Kuching.

Chang Chung Ching, in later life a Penghulu of Sibu, was educated by missionaries in China before the war. He met and  married my mother's third sister and migrated to Sarawak where he forged an excellent career in education. He was one of the earliest Foochow educators to be sent to England on scholarship after the war.

The first two graduates (males of course) were Chang Ta Kang, my father and Wong Cheng Ang who both graduated from Yenching University in 1937. Others had already graduated with diplomas from Fuzhou City, Hong Kong and Singapore. While some had English as their minor , most were Chinese educated by colleges of their choice.

My second uncle, Lau Pang Kui, also went to Fuzhou to study during the same time. 

My second uncle was less fortunate as he was stranded in Fuzhou together with his third sister (my third aunt) who was newly married to Chang Chung Ching. My grandmother (ngie mah) was with them and several other younger boys who were studying in Fuzhou

Before 1940, many of the teachers engaged by the schools were either local junior school graduates or China born graduates who had degrees from various Chinese universities and were interested in teaching in Nanyang. However not all were Methodist related.

One of the most highly educated Fujian born teacher (also Headmaster) was Tang Yew Tung, who had a Law Degree from Fuzhou University. He taught in Sibu and was engaged by Chung Hua Krokop Primary School in Miri as Head Master after the War.

Guns and Communist Days

In 1959 my father, Sarawak Born in 1910, stood for election for the Sibu District Council and won. In those days, it was quite simple to get a nomination and it was even more basic to speak a few words in front of a large audience, to announce your intention for standing! Your reputation would say a lot and people would vote correctly without fear and favour. There were no arm bending tactics and no money politics.

Four years later, the politics of Sarawak changed drastically and my father was like any honest Chinese Sarawak living in Sarawak. 

The Sarawak United People's Party was a strong party but many of its members were ousted or asked to resign because they were left wing. My father was very flustered by the different opinions of left wing and right wing. He was a moderate man and followed Confucian and Taoist teachings as a scholar. He had been reading a lot of articles from Choon Chiew and was saddened by divisive partisans.

Although he was very much also an Anglophile, he remained loyal to his Chinese roots. He would not like to see the history of China and overseas Chinese obliterated by warfare and especially by guerilla warfare. In other words he was very much a pacifist.

Finding not many agreeable people in the party, he withdrew from active politics and did not want to stand for election again although his buddies like Stephen Yong and Ong Kee Hui continued to carry the Three Ring Banner. Besides he was already diagnosed with cardiac problems and his personal friend Dr. Watts was supportive of his decision to withdraw.

His last few years were very quiet years especially after Grandpa passed away in 1963. 

He felt as if he had no mature friend to discuss politics with according to an old time friend and fellow businessman. In those days not many could read and write well in both Chinese and English. My father was already missing his intellectual friends.

In 1963, he surrendered his gun obediently to the Police like all the other Chinese and he was saddened by the Communist Insurgency. All the warfare of China in the 1930's came back to him.

He said to my mother once, " There will be warlords and political gangs in Sarawak in the near future. Brothers against brothers, families against families, associations against associations. There will be betrayals in the darkest hours of the night. We might not even be able to trust our closest relatives."

My mother smiled and said, "Won't the Colonial Government take care of them?"

And he replied, "They will leave us high and dry and the natives of Sarawak and others are not ready to form a government."

My mother was worried because she was brought up to think like a traditional Chinese. A good government was one which was far away in the capital and people lived peacefully in the countryside. She did not like to see protests in the streets. Her ideal ruler was Dr. Sun Yat Sen with his Three Principles.

 My father passed away in 1965 and many of his predictions came true.

Chien Mien Gang

Just before the Lockdown of Malaysia to save the people from the deadly corona virus I did stock up a bit of food. One of the items was chien Mien Gang, a popular but humble Foochow food item.

This simple Foochow origin Chien Mien Gang or Dried Noodles can become a banquet dish if one has the right ingredients, or to prepare it in a simple way, it becomes a simple homemade kampua kosong.

And it indeed was a good item to have because the dry form of the Foochow wheat noodle made in either Sibu or Miri can be kept for a long time, without refrigeration.

It always makes me think of Grandma Lien Tie and my Third Uncle Pang Sing. Besides it makes me think of the olden day Christian charity in very simple ways, offering of a bowl of noodles with just soy sauce (kampua kosong), or a cup of warm tea. 


This little roll of dried noodles is enough to share with 4 people. Uncle would always say, "A chopstick or two of noodles can go a long long way..." Kindness is like that...it will go a long long way..

Grandma's cooking and of course Third Uncle's cooking was always enhanced by Har Yiu (Prawn sauce of those days)...but it is actually the same as Thai Fish sauce. I am sure Chef Wan would approve. This is a halal brand.

The chien mien gang, rolled up like a round bun of hair is quite a staple in most Foochow pantry.

It is usually quite a good breakfast treat for hungry children. If my ngie mah were still alive today, we would put together red bayam and garlic and cook this lovely noodels in the lovely pink soup.

Pork Satay

Does the word SATAY really originate from the Chinese term of Sar Deh (3 pieces)? Chinese used to slice pork very thinly and sold them in skewers. They were originally called Chuan Chuan Rou.

The Hokkiens probably as a joke started calling them Sar Deh....It ended up as SATAY.

May be it is just a legend.



Satay is a popular dish among the Chinese during CNY.

The older generation Foochows did not approve of eating satay because of the dangers of eating heaty food, and grilled food. Many Foochows did develop a lot of mouth ulcers after eating satay or any other grilled food, that even the popular headman, my grand uncle, Lau Kah Tii advised fellow Foochows not to eat satay. He was probably very aware of the dangers of consuming food which was over charred and over grilled.

According to my mother, he was a man ahead of his time. " It's long been known that just over-heating, let alone burning, some foods can lead to the formation of compounds linked to cancer. These include heterocyclic amines and so-called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which can lead to fried or smoked foods posing a health risk." (www.sciencefocus.com)

Carrying Pig Stomach for Grandmother

The Foochows in the past would not say, "I am going to buy some pig stomachs," but instead they would say, "I am going to carry some pig stomachs." This was probably due to the fact that they actually carried pork in their hands in the old days. The word "buy" was not the verb used for this action. Pig stomachs in the 50's and 60's cost 1 Straits Dollar or just slightly more. It was not easy to prepare this part of a pig for a good soup, usually double boiled.

The butcher would always tie the pig stomach with a piece of straw. (Geng Chow) Thus it was easy for the customer to carry the pig stomach home in the olden days.

It was thus quite common for a Foochow mother to instruct her son to go and carry some pork home in the olden days. Today, the Foochow language is clearer as the instruction would be, "Go and buy 2 kg of lean pork."

Growing up in sibu, I was truly exposed to some archaic spoken Foochow in this way.

My mother loved to cook this dish for every one of us and her recipe is a good one. The secret is in the two or three tablespoons of home made Foochow red wine from my Ngie ma who brew good wine.

Pig stomach in Foochow is not suoh lak, or suoh lieu but it is suoh jia (as in suoh jia person).

Recipe :
1. Clean the stomach with salt until the slime is all gone. Give it a hot water bath.
2. slice the stomach in one finger thickness.
3. Heat up some oil and stir fry garlic and ginger. Add the slices of stomach and stir fry, add 2 or 3 tablespoons of red rice wine. Let it simmer for a while. Pour adequate amount of hot water and boil until the stomach slices are soft and tender. Season with salt. Add black pepper if you like. Add more wine if you like. Black fungus is optional too.

福建省閩清 Geng Niang

My grand mother used to tell us about her trips to Geng niang. She told us how she walked to the Geng Niang to get things done or to buy some supplies. she must have been a very clever little girl before she came to Nanyang after she was 10.

She was sold at the age of 4 for 5 silver dollars by her Tiong father. Although sold to the Lau family, she did maintain her Tiong family connection because later in sibu she met up with several of her relatives. In fact, she had affectioally called my Grandfather Tiong Kung Ping "ah Koh" or brother and that was before my father fell in love with my mum and proposed to her. My father even needed a match maker to be go between to have the engagemet approved, and that was after the World War 2.

My grand mother came from a village called Keh tou Puoh (Head of Creek village) and it was a very hilly area. She told us that it was quite a walk from her village to Geng Niang (perhaps she even had to stay over night at a relative's place before arriving in the town). She told us that Geng Niang was very very busy.

It was very much later that I realized that she meant going to the pasar or the city to see officials or to get certain documents. Geng niang in Foochow dialect means seat of the government.

Photo by my friend Wong Meng Lei : Wong Nai Siong Park at Minqing Township or Minqing Geng Niang.

Robert Kuok's Wisdom

Robert Kuok Hock Nien could be the most famous Foochow man in Malaysia.

Chinese: 郭鶴年
Born 6 October 1923 (1923-10-06) (age 85)
Johor Bahru, Johor Malaysia
Occupation Chairman, Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts Chain
Net worth ▲ $10 billion [1]
Children 8

Has the nickname of the "Sugar King of Asia"
Tan Sri Robert Kuok Hock Nien (simplified Chinese: 郭鹤年; traditional Chinese: 郭鶴年; pinyin: Guō Hènián) (born 6 October 1923, in Johor Bahru, Johor), is an influential Malaysian Chinese businessman. According to Forbes his net worth is estimated to be around $10 billion on May 2008, making him the richest person in Southeast Asia.[1]

Kuok is media shy and discreet; most of his businesses are privately held by him or his family. Apart from a multitude of enterprises in Malaysia, his companies have investments in many countries throughout Asia.[2] His business interests range from sugarcane plantations (Perlis Plantations Bhd), sugar refinery, flour milling, animal feed, oil and mining to finance, hotels, properties, trading and freight and publishing.[1]


[edit] Biography
Kuok's father arrived in Malaya from Fujian, China at the beginning of the 20th century, and Kuok was the youngest of three brothers, born on 6 October 1923, in Johor Bahru. He claims he began in business as an office boy, and later started a business with relatives' support. [2] In fact, upon graduation, he worked in the grains department of Japanese industrial conglomerate Mitsubishi between 1942 and 1945

Kuok senior died in 1948, and Kuok and his two brothers founded Kuok Brothers Sdn Bhd in 1949, trading agricultural commodities. Under the new post-colonial government, Kuok began in the sugar business alongside the government. In 1961, he made a coup by buying cheap sugar from India before the prices shot up. He continued to invest heavily in sugar refinery, controlled 80% of the Malaysian sugar market with production of 1.5 million tonnes, equivalent to 10% of world production, and so earned his nickname "Sugar King of Asia".

In 1971, he built the first Shangri-La Hotel, in Singapore. His foray into Hong Kong property was in 1977, when he acquired a plot of land on the newly reclaimed Tsim Sha Tsui East waterfront, where he built the second hotel, the Kowloon Shangri-La. In 1993, his Kerry Group acquired a 34.9% stake in the South China Morning Post from Murdoch's News Corporation.

His companies have investments in many countries, including Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Mainland China, Indonesia, Fiji and Australia. Businesses in China include 10 bottling companies for Coca Cola, ownership of the Beijing World Trade Centre.[2]

Freight interests include Malaysia International Shipping Corporation and Transmile Group.

His political influence is attested by his having been selected as one of the advisors on Hong Kong's future in the runup to the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong, and his minority stake in CITIC Pacific. He was also instrumental in conveying information and setting up the meetings between Malaysia and China governments leading to full diplomatic cross recognition of the two countries.

Kuok has married twice and has eight children. He officially retired from the Kerry Group on 1 April 1993. One of his sons, Kuok Khoon Ean, now handles most of the day-to-day operations of his businesses. He currently resides in Hong Kong.

Up for some Smelly Root Soup?

Good health from roots and wild plants !!




Eating a bowl of Chowirah (Smelly Root Soup) with soh mien is very nourishing indeed.

A few days ago I was exhausted from travelling and also work (both mentally and physically) and I pushed myself to drive to the town to have a bowl of smelly root soup with soh mien. It really helped me to sleep better that night. I also consulted my cousin, Nei Hung, the owner of Ing Kong Drug Store who advised me to take more of the soup made from smelly root.

He kindly cut some pieces for me to boil with pork leg for another boost replenish my health. He advised me to drink the soup for the next two days. After three days of taking the smelly root soup I was really rejuvenated.
the Foochows humourously call Chowirah "Poor Man's Ginseng". May our ancestors' souls be blessed.




These roots in the photo are actually from Minqing, Fujian. They are actually roots of the wild pepper or litsea.

This plant is found in Bario and other highlands in Sarawak.

Foochow's Flowery Designs on Junks : Hua Pi Gu

Model Fujian junk

The Chinese junks delivering Fujian timber along the coast of China were the ancient and magnificent 花 屁 股 “hua pi gu” (“Foochow Pole junk”), estimated to be unchanged in design since the 14th century. Hua pi gu means “flower’s buttocks”, presumably a reference to the decorative stern.

Fujian province is well known for its forests - Fuzhou is the capital. The most widely used woods were the “Sha-mu” (Fujian fir), a softwood, and the “Sung-mu” (Fujian pine) which was used for furniture and junks.

These junks were large and seaworthy, up to 55 metres. Historians said that the inspiration for this junk was a monstrous fish. The eyes may be of Arab origin : the eye of the Egyptian Osiris.

The junks also have other symbols on board : the Taoist symbol of Tai Chi , the Yen Bird, the words Yong Li Shun meaning permanent success or prosperity, the 8 Immortals, two large medallions, and often a crane and a stag.

This kind of junk would have 20 or 30 crew.

The most famous Hua Pi Gu “Keying” voyaged between Hong Kong - London in 1848; “Whangho” Hong Kong – Sydney 1908; “Ningpo” Shanghai – San Francisco 1912.

Ref: 

1. Works from G.R.G. Worcester, Ivon A. Donnelly, Louis Audemard and Valentin A. Sokoloff. 

2. Science Museum, London in the Sir Frederic Maze Collection. (Worcester stated that in 1940’s there were only ten of these magnificent junks afloat in China, one claimed to be more than 150 years old.)

 

Feast for my eyes....an Old Sugar Belian Bucket

A flash from the past...this is an old sugar bucket made from belian which can last forever.... Found in Padungan Road of Kuching. (The old price of sugar @ RM2.40)

This is an old measure used by Chinese in China and Malaysia ...to measure dry goods like rice and sugar. Each measure is called a Dou...we therefore used to buy One Dou of rice at a certain price.