Nang Chong Stories - Christmas in a Foochow Village

 There were several things I remember about Christmas in a small wooden church in Nang Chong, with Rev Lau Ngo Kee as pastor. It was a good Christmas I spent with my Ngie Mah and my uncles, aunties and cousins. Grandma lived in a big wooden house with two of her married sons, one married daughter, a tenant family and shopkeeper who had a little sundry shop at one end. 

My cousins were particularly happy because the girls had new white dresses to wear which were sewn by my lovely Aunty Yung. I did not have a white dress to wear because I was not singing for the church. I could just go with the dress I brought from home. That was good enough. It was exciting for me to see children of my age singing in the church.

One very sharp memory I had of that day what the cold hardboiled eggs given out to everyone who came to the church. I could not eat mine as it was quite cold. At home we ate only newly boiled and warm eggs. So eating cold hardboiled egg was something new.  We had a cup cake (egg cake) and many sweets. In my simple mind I did not even think of asking for an extra egg to bring home to one of my aunties and uncles. May be it was because I was aware that grandma always had a large basket of eggs in the kitchen!!

But what was really good was the special memory of riding pillion on the tall man's bicycle. When travelling in Nang Chong, we were often taken on a tall bike. So three persons, the older rider and two little ones - three on one bicycle. 

So imagine the scene,,,with me at the back and my cousin was in the front. My older cousin Kiing Chiew rode the bicycle. The others were also on other bicycles while the more able bodied just literally ran all the way to the church, probably about 15 minutes. I remember how good it was to be able to ride at the back of a tall bicycle, and not falling off. It was almost like a limousine ride (*60 years later I still feel it). It was exhilarating. It was good to reach the church without sweating.

My first Christmas in Nang Chong at Sang it Tong, gave me my first experience with a Church Christmas tree. It was decorated very simply by the pastor and his family. I thought it was very nice and indeed  it was admired by all who came to the church. Probably that was the only Christmas tree in the whole village of more than 100 families.

But I also remember for years the crepe paper trimmings the church windows had. The red trimmings made the church very beautiful in the mind of an five year old.

Christmas was exciting. It was an event children looked forward to and actually it lasted only about 2 hours. The eating was very quickly over and then we went home. There were no gifts as rubber tappers and their families then did not have any idea about gift exchange.

I would then for several years remember Christmas was a RED occasion but the girls were all dressed in white . White was the colour of angels. I never asked my mother to make me a white dress, because firstly she could not sew well, and secondly with 5 of us girls in t he family we just could not have 5 white dresses for Christmas, especially after my father passed away. We wore hands me down, and very simple home made clothes. At least we had clothes to wear. Later when my 8th aunt came to live with us, we had nice clothes to wear which gave all of us a lot of confidence. But we actually never complained.

I believe little girls all loved to be angels and wear white dresses.

Like me, my sisters, were always grateful for what clothes we were given. We loved the dresses from Singapore, sent over by our Aunt Phyllis Nguk Sieng. Her little girl June had all those lovely dresses and we wore them gratefully, hands me down....

As the years went by the meaning of Christmas changed.  Christmas means being grateful, being humble, being able to sing praises to God that we were alive, Christmas means sharing with others and loving one and all.

Christmas means remembering to be kind, and to accept strangers to our church.

Nang Chong Stories : Logs as Bridges

 In Nang Chong Village, the hills at the back were criss crossed by streams. It was memorable visiting other relatives in the near by villages. We went walking in the woods so to speak. The areas at the back of the villages were called Au Sang or Behind the Hills and were considered rather backwards and poor. Houses were isolated as they belonged to later Foochow arrivals and rubber tappers who would tap rubber and appear only once in a while when they had enough rubber sheets for smoking. 

My grandmother and uncles owned a rubber smoke house by the Rajang riverside (easier to load to the smoked rubber sheets to the motor launches). So we knew a lot of people from the "back". Those rubber garden paths even led all the way to Tulai. (Today roads have been developed and we can drive all the way to Tulai and beyond.)

The rubber garden paths were shady, all mud roads, and often the rubber tree roots would protrude from the earth making it hard for us to really run well. This was the training grounds for my cousins who were good athletes. When they came to our secondary schools in Sibu, sports teachers would choose them for initial heats in which they ran barefooted. On sports day, they would stun a lot of naysayers and easily won medals. They were quite natural running stars of our Methodist School in particular. Besides they were well toned because they had to run for the last boat for the village in the afternoons. If they missed the motor launch, they had to stay overnight with relatives to be in time for school the next day. Those were the days before the daily ferry to Paradom Jetty.

One of the students, who was a really good runner, still meets up with me and tells me about those days, how he missed the last boat and would come home with my older brother Hsiung (may he RIP). Staying over night with relatives was never a big issue. He was not only a good athlete but a bright boy who became a very prominent lawyer,speaking perfect English.

One remarkable memory I have of my visits to relatives downriver is the innovative way my uncles dragged huge logs found in the Rajang when the river over flowed its banks to place the logs over streams to make natural bridges. Thus from our grandmother's house to Chung Cheng Primary School where my cousins were studying then, were several log bridges over small streams. The larger tributaries of the Rajang like Sg. Maaw had a proper wooden bridge of course.

As we have no photos of the log bridges then I found a nice photo from Google to give you an idea of what I am writing about.

Most streams separating various rubber gardens had log bridges and they were really slippery during the rainy season but they were very significant in our younger days and they connected one village with another too. most rubber gardens in Nang Chong were inundated when the end of the year rainy season arrived and most families would moan because of lack of income.

The logs dragged from the river were more long lasting than the smaller rubber trees which were easily felled to make bridges.

Interestingly while today many Sarawak rivers and streams were connected by bamboo bridges, rope bridges etc, the Foochow villages were then mainly crossed by log bridges.

Treatment for Epilepsy : Common Toad

When my uncle was very young he was witness to the treatment of epilepsy of a child in the village. Epilepsy was an ailment which was common among the villagers, from the very young to the middle aged. 

One of the last cases of epilepsy in my mother's village in the 1960's was a middle aged man. The man had an epileptic attack on a jetty after he came home from Sibu by motor launch in the afternoon. The poor man collapsed and became unconscious. When he was brought to the Lau King Howe Hospital by a kind speedboat owner, he was pronounced DOA, or Dead on Arrival. 

 My uncle remembered one case of child epilepsy after the Japanese Occupation. It was a child who was abandoned by his mother after continement. His mother had run away to marry a rich man who was suddenly widowed after the war. The poor, ill fated, biological father brought the child to the village head for advice and treatment. He just did not know what to do with the child who constantly had epileptic fits. The neighbour of the headman had some knowledge of folk medicines, so she volunteered to look after the child for a year out of pity for the father and son. 

 According to my uncle's story, the Aunty caught a common *bufo rana* toad and roasted it over fire until it turned to ashes after which sShe made a paste with the ashes. She slowly fed the baby with it throughout the day. My young uncle was curious so he observed the whole situation with keeness. The villagers were all informed that she caught several toads that month to prepare the same concoction for the child. And sure enough the baby did not have fits after the treatments. But my uncle who later became a school teacher was not totally sure of the cure but he said the child grew to adulthood and was able to "work". Whether he was totatly cured, my uncle did not know.

He however remembered that toads' ashes were good as a treatment for epilepsy. And definitely it was in the "books" of folk medicine. Perhaps the village woman was smart to remember the know she brought from China. But definitely the baby boy lived to tell the story. And so did my uncle.

Our Nang Chong village was full of folk stories like this but we as kids only listened to them and were awed by the knowledge of the elders.

Foochow Belian Bench

Most of my relatives, including my Ngie Mah , had a belian bench in their houses down river. It was very much a part of their interior decor in those days . Apart from a square table for dining in the kitchen, with 4 benches or more, or small wooden stools, there was this long belian bench for the living room. Probably it was the one the spartan Foochows liked to own.

There were four rectangular holes like those in the photo and the legs would be very sturdily made. Each bench would hold up many people and especially many small children. No nails were used to make the bench.

Nang Chong Stories : A Village Wedding and Helping Hands

This old photo remids me of my young days visiting my Ngie mah (maternal grandmother ) during the holidays in the 1950's and 60's.

On one occasion, all her children and grand children were home for the wedding of the eldest son's eldest son, Lau Kiing Tieng, who was thus my eldest maternal cousin.

There are several important aspects of this wedding.

a) My cousin found his potential wife through the proper channel of a match maker, who was oozing with praises for the girls she was going to introduce. The match maker took out a very fetch photo from her purse. I suppose my cousin liked her looks straight away. And soon negotiations were made regardig dowry *Pinging ( bride price) and various gifts.
b) The setting of the date must be during the school holidays when all relatives could come. It must not coincide with other weddings too because of various reasons.
c) A motor launch or even two or three would be hired at minimal cost. Prices were all negotiable and most boat owners were kind because the prices must be low so that every one could afford a good wedding.
d) A brass band must be hired for the occasion, usually free of charge.
e) The village Methodist pastor must be invited (one at the girl's home , if in the village) and another at the town restaurant if the blessing was at the restaurant. If the solemnization of the wedding was at the groom's home, the village pastor would officiate. It was generally very Methodist, and very Foochow. I cannot remember any Church weddings at all during my childhood.
f) The preparation of the wedding feast was done by gotong royong. Every person known for his good strength and cookig skill would form the team.  These helpers were called Buong Chiew (Helping Hands). the Host and Hostess need not worry at all about the feast.
g) Home reared animals would be slaughtered for the feast.
h) The bridesmaid would be from the groom's family usually because for convenience after the wedding she could walk home in the village. If the bridesmaid was from the bride's family, transport would become an issue.
i) The best man must be a popular Master of Ceremony, a good speaker, and some one who could control the crowd. Some Foochow men could be invited to be best man many times over. One even made it to the Malaysian Book of Records. (note : another story )
j) The Foochows in those days did not have Tea Ceremony. It was rustic, just kneeling and bowing, and angpows were given, or gold items given from the groom's side like welcome gifts.

One interesting comment about Foochow weddings by the banks of the Rajang was this :

"When I went home for the school holidays from my boarding school, I saw my siblings sitting on the floor eating their lunch. I knew immediately that a village wedding was to take place and the caterer had borrowed our dining table..."

My cousin, Ah Tieng looked so much a scholar in his rented white suit. His bride, Cousin Siong Huong was beautiful like a "fairy from heaven".

they were to be very happily married for many years with one son, and two daughters.

(In memory of Cousin Siong Huong who helped look after my few months old baby boy for almost a year. She was able to help baby sit because she was a home dress maker and a housewife while my cousin was a barber. They raised their lovely family by working hard and living very frugally fairly near our house in Brooke Drive. We are forever grateful. May She Rest in Peace.)

Nang Chong Stories : Making a Paddle

In the 1960's, at the Methodist Secondary School there was a very good woodwork shop and a good Woodwork teacher who was trained by Colombo Plan, David Eu. The Sarawak State Education Department had a very good syllabus for wood work and many of my school mates earned good exam marks.

During my time, Bobby Ling Tai Peng lost his thumb in the woodwork class. That brought a lot of fears to both girls and boys. Woodwork was mainly for boys and no girl ever took the subject. However if there were too many boys in the class, the selected few would have to take Home Science. A few boys like Tracey Mamora, Cheng Hua Kong and others came under Miss Mamora.

The students from the Woodwork class made beautiful wood crafts and there was a good exhibition of their work in one of the School's Open Days. Local people were very impressed.

It was during this period of time that I became very interested in local art and crafts. I was curious how my uncles paddled their boats in Nang Chong and made their own.

In the olden days, Foochows like my maternal grandfather and uncles often waited for stray logs which came floating past the Nang Chong house and the would paddle to the middle of the river to bring the stray log back. They would saw the log for fire wood, and if suitable, they could make a window frame, or some furniture.

The paddles they made were kept as a life long personal item!

Without many tools most of our Foochow elders were able to make their own paddles from a piece of good wood.

The best wood for paddles would be belian, which is hardy and very lasting. Keranji, selangan batu and meranti would be good too.

And most of our elders had only some simple hand tools to use. We really have to admire them for their ingenuity.

It was very heart breaking for any one if his paddle was stolen or lost by a child in the river. There was thus a policy of having your own paddle, and never to borrow one.

It used to be commonly stated, "Make your own paddle, if you don't have one." But nowadays paddles can be bought online even.

Furthermore, the paddle was used for public beating. It has been known in the Foochow society for elders to beat a rule breaker by beating his buttocks with a paddle.

Note : in western culture a paddling means spanking. And it is a form of corporal punishment.

Foochow Architecture : Response to the Environment

When the Foochows started to build their wooden homes along the Rajang Valley from 1901 onwards, they took into consideration several factors : the rise and fall of river tides, the rainy season, the soggy nature of the soils, and the fast growing vegetation. Each farm land granted to them had to have ditches built according to the government ruling (6 feet deep and 12 feet wide). Padi fields had bunds built up on the sides so that water could be locked in.

In the first 10 years of their settlement there were no motorised motor launches . The first motorised motor launches came when Rev James Hoover installed the first engine he personally imported from the USA. So there was no fear of river bank erosion.

The Rajang does not have levees like many rivers in other countries. but many areas were actually hill locks like bukit Lan, Lebaan, Kwang Hua. Engkilo and Paradom were very flat areas. So it was out of this geographical conidition that our Foochow forefathers built stilted homes similar to the kampong houses of the Malays and the Melanaus. But they added a platform which stretched from the kitchen, usually towards the river side so that extra rain water could be stored in diesel drums and clothes could be dried.

Children and old people could bathe on this sun deck too. And a lot of drying of vegetables could also be done, away from  the ferocious pecking of chickens!! It was also convenient for housewives to look after every activity within sight.

I even remember there was one time when the flood was really high, my Third uncle conveniently threw his cast net into the water and caught a lot of fish and even prawns.

Grandma's Bai Yu Lan 玉蘭花 (yü lan hua).

"Flowers for her hair"

Foochow women after the age of 40 in the early days of the Foochow Settlement in Sibu would start wearing a bun, instead of letting the hair loose or in plaits. This was to indicate that they were of grandmother's rank and "old" already. Probably it was a sign that they would no longer want to bear any more children.

However I remember my grandmother's little knot of a hair bun in a very different way.

One of the most memorable features we remember about our Ngie ma (maternal grandmother) was how sweet she smelled.

Her secret? It was a simple natural fragrance. Down at the riverside house of the Lau family was a huge michela alba (magnolia) tree which gave her many white chempaca or michela alba or Bai Yu Lan flowers. She would ask the kids to pluck them. She wore two on her hair, slipped between the bun and her hair, on the right side . Wherever she walked, she smelled really nice.

She also kept a few flowers in her clothes basket (today we carry a backpack) whenever she travelled to Sibu or Sarikei.

My father also liked the bai yu lan and he planted one tree outside our house in Brooke Drive(Kung Ping Road) when we moved over from Pulau Kerto to Sibu. We collected many of the buds and preserved them in glass bottles of water. The caps of the bottles were sealed with candle wax. These bottles of preserved yu lan looked very pretty on our shelves.

When the tree bloomed, we enjoyed the fragrance, especially in the evening. The petals from the old flowers on our pavement made us feel that time had passed, things grew old and wither away. We felt a sense of "pitifulness" looking that the petals which had turned brown from a lovely white.

My grandmother would always put two bai yu lan on her bun. I am sure she felt like a queen.

The bai yu lan tree can grow from a small tree to a giant. Many people have told me that in many places if you find a Bai Yu Lan tree, you would most probably tell that it was grown by a Foochow.

Perhaps it is true that the first Chinese who grew a Yu Lan tree in Sarawak was a Foochow in Sibu. Many Foochows do grow this tree in their gardens in Sibu, Miri, Kuching and Sarikei.

Bai yu lan , the Foochow name of this flower, is scientifically called Magnolia (Michelia) champaca var. champaca. It belongs to the magnolia family. The tree is evergreen and is native to South Asia( Southern China) and South East Asia. It is smaller than the cup shaped magnolia most people know of (Australian tree)

In Indonesia, the pleasantly fragrant flower is used and arranged together with Jasminum sambac as flower garland, especially wore by brides during traditional wedding ceremony.

An essential oil is extracted from the flowers. In China, where it is known as bai lan (白蘭), the flowers are used to prepare yulan tea.^[In traditional Chinese medicine, the flowers are used to move qi and relieve cough.

One can also buy fragrant michelia alba tea (Chinese herbal tea) . It is helpful to relax the body and the mind.

Nang Chong Stories : Kneeling

Not many people kneel today for reasons best known to themselves.

Many  Roman Catholics still kneel when they pray , in church or at home. Some Christians have a special place at home for them to kneel and pray. In religious terms, kneeling of course is part of many faithfuls' prayer life.

Kneeling is of great significance in Chinese culture. In ancient days the Chinese had to kneel before their emperors and other important personalities. A Chinese would kneel down before a god to beg for a blessing or express his or her gratitude to the god for a wish that has been fulfilled.

Kneeling goes with begging e.g. when you are desperate, you kneel to beg for your life. Or when you beg for a bowl of rice, you kneel.

"Be on your knees and beg!" was quite a common and powerful command in the past.

When my maternal grandfather (Lau Kah Jui) passed away in 1943, relatives came from all parts of the Rajang Valley. Those who were very closely related from the Lau Clan, would start to Bow 9 times and kneel three times from the door way to the side of the coffin. the children of the deceased also reciprocated by bowing 9 times and kneeling three times. 

Chinese word for kneel: 

跪

The words for Chinese bow: 

This was the best of respect for a dear relative. When I hear stories like this I naturally get very touched because today people don't do it any more.

(Source : Uncle Lau Pang Hung did the 9 bows and 3 kneels at my grandfather's wake,)

Nang Chong Stories : Wooden Comb

I visited an ancient village in Wuyuan, near Shanghai not long ago and was very impressed by the camphor craftsmen and their workshops.

As I visited them, chatted with some of them, I was thinking of my maternal grandmother who valued her camphor comb. She had brought one from Minqing when she left China as a young child bride (she was bought when she was five and she came to Sarawak when she was about 10). She had carried with her one of the small things she was given, a camphor wood hair comb which she kept for more than half a century. She never wanted to share it with anyone because it was her personal belonging and she would take the comb to our house when she visited us.

It really lasted a long time and it never broke. Later it disappeared and we felt that no comb would ever replace that camphor comb in her heart!!

By then she had very little hair left and she used to exclaim, "My long hair, twisted and turn cannot fill up the hair cap. My gui yang is too sparse now. Gui yang is sanggol or bun."

Later in her life my second uncle gave her a cow horn corn which she kept for a long time too but it was not dear to her heart.

My grandmother was a typical old fashioned Foochow from China. Things were of value and they were life long possessions. She did not have much, but she would look at all those little things every day, reminding her of her childhood, her youth and her adulthood. We were also reminded by her never to lose even a needle. She also possessed a pair of scissors for cutting her finger nails. She never lost it and she never used a nail cutter in her life. She was truly an inspiring personality.

Today we are such a "throw away, disposable kind of generation" and we dont really value many things, not even gifts from relatives or loved ones.

Nang Chong Stories : Foochow Roofs

My old uncle used to describe simple rustic homes as  chuo or house with Lan Piek Ngua (A shaped Roof), meaning a simple roof, made up of two parts, joined at the top, forming a broad A or Chinese word for Man, Ren. This was the simplest of a hut or house built by a Foochow in the olden days. It would be basic enough to keep the rain out and the family warm.

The photo below shoes two houses with the simple two panel roof. Any extension at the sides could be a simple one panel roof added to one of the walls.

Thus in Foochow dialect, adding extension roof would be "piek another Ngua" at the side of the house. When my youngest aunt got married she chose to stay on with my grandmother. So my grandmother added a roof to the side of the main house. This little extension became the best place for all of us to gather. It was the kitchen my aunt enjoyed having. It was also the place where she prepared her lessons as she could use the wooden dining table as her work station. One side of the kitchen had a wall with an opening below which was an wood bench. Another wall formed the "racks" with the kitchen sink. A mud Foochow stove stands at perpendicular to this wall. The third wall has no window (for security, as no one could climb into the the kitchen) but a door which could be locked. 

This kitchen was like every part of the building. It stands on belian stilts. When the river overflowed, the water would rise to about two to three feet below the kitchen floor.

Sweeping was so easy. We just swept all the rubbish and dust through the cracks.

We loved the two stroke roof of the kitchen. With good ventilation, my grandmother often steamed Foochow cakes using this kitchen. Besides, because my aunt brought in a teacher's salary, she was able to buy more food for every one.

Nang chong Stories : Cockscomb (Celosia) 鸡冠花

It is quite possible that this flower was brought over to Sarawak, and in particular Sibu, from the Fujian province by the pioneering Foochows. But many have also stated that this particular flower might have been brought by the Ming Nang or Hokkien people earlier.

Flower growing seems to be a great cultural practice of every civilization. In Fujian flowers tell the passing of time and the passing of seasons. When certain flowers appear, in the ancient days, the Fujian people knew that it was time to plant rice, for example.

I remember both my paternal and maternal grandparents planting them around the old wooden homesteads. The various Methodist Churches also had them growing outside in the church gardens, and/or in pots.

Then these flowers became "out of fashion" because chrysanthemums,roses, orchids, carnations, and other hybrid species came into the market. Even the bai yu lan or michela magnolia lost its value, as it is a big tree and residential areas become more crowded and homes have smaller gardens.


However a field of cockscomb is often a very attractive sight to any visitor. I wish our villages would again be covered by these lovely cockscombs because they are actually very easy to plant and the flowers do last for more than 2 weeks!!



In fact the cockscomb is a small genus of the edible and ornamental plants in the amaranth family. In our Foochow dialect the amaranth plant is Hern Chai. The flamed like flower heads are very pretty and because of its crested flower heads, it is called cockscombs. the others which have flame like flower heads, in yellow, orange and red colours, are not as fascinating.

 In Chinese traditional medicine, the cockscomb is used as a treatment for intestinal worms,mouth sores and eye problems,etc (Wikipedia) the leaves can be boiled and eaten as vegetables. They are said to be slightly diuretic. The leaves are also used as dressings for boils and sores. In fact in olden days, when Foochow farmers cut themselves with parang or axe, they had quickly chopped up some Hern Chai leaves or the Cockscomb leaves as dressings.


In Nigeria, their variety of cockscomb leaves are cooked as a vegetable called "soko yokoto" meaning "make husbands fat and happy"!!

Nang Chong Stories : 18

Yes we have a relative called Uncle 18. His name was Lau Sek Bek.



Naming of children.

It was interesting how the Foochows named their children. One of the ways is to give them a number. The older generation (pioneers) of Foochows who settled down in Sibu were fairly illiterate. And naming their children this way was quite unique. Today if you read the Lau or Wong Clans' genealogy books, you will find quite an interesting pool of stories.

A memorable name I remember from my child hood was the uncle who was called 18. Sek Bek.

Many others would have a generational name in the middle, e.g. Bang, Kiing, Buong, etc. Today many skip the generational name to have only ONE WORD name e.g. Lau Ching, Lau Ing. etc

Nang Chong Stories : Midnight Carollers

Christmas of yesteryears in Sibu during my childhood was very different because of the social, historical, cultural and religious backgrounds then.

While waiting for the carollers to arrive, even after midnight, we would sit by the river banks and enjoy ourselves, watching the stars in the skies if it was a clear night. And from a distance we could hear angelic voices singing all the carols. Sound travels faster over water.

One of the stories we heard and shared all those years ago was this story...it could be a man-made story, it could be a local gossip, and it was never verified as a teacher probably told a class of her students and then her students brought the story back to their families....and I heard it from my cousins one Christmas..by then I already knew about the Methodist Bukit Lan Clinic but I was not too aware about Animal Care...

However now I can tell this story to my grandson and my friend's children about love for animals and relate it to Bible stories...(Suitable Photos to illustrate later)

Carolling at midnight is now an element of a by gone era....

An Unusual Fairy Tale

Once upon a time, in Ah Nang Chong,a village by the banks of the Rajang River lived a poor mother and her children. Her husband was away working hard to bring back a small income.

One day the mother fainted by the river side while she was trying to draw some water for her old mother in law to bathe. She was so exhausted.

All her children were in school, about l hour's walk away.

Then came along an old, thin dog and she started barking for help.

This arouse the suspicion of a nearby neighbour who came down to see for herself and soon raised the alarm to save the woman.

More neighbours came and they rowed a boat to Bukit Lan where they could find a nurse to save her.

The woman was saved and she was given rest and some extra food.

When she was well, she took the old dog into her home and looked after her very well. In time, the dog was to help the family in many ways

The woman started to tell all the children in the neighbourhood not to hit old dogs but to give them food to eat. The dog continued to be the body guard of the woman and her children.

And the woman, her children and the old grandmother lived happily together, ever after.

God wants us to be humble and recognise each other's values even if we were the lowest of the animals.

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2015.

Nang Chong Stories : Grandmother's Birthday

Grandma Lien Tie gave birth to 9 children, 4 boys and 5 girls.

She was bought as a child bride for my grandfather, aged 20 then. She was a mere child of 4 (but sold as 5 years of age for 5 silver dollars) by her father , surnamed Tiong, related to many of the Tiongs in Sibu, in Kay Tou Puoh,in Minqin. The big age difference made it difficult for a true love match. " Your Grandfather was very taciturn, a hardworking man, stern faced but a good story teller amongst his nephews" (Quoting my uncle Lau Pang Hung.)

She grew up together with another child bride (Mrs. Lau Kah Tii) in Ban Dong,Minqing, until she was old enough to come to Sarawak with Mu Oh (this was how I called Mrs. Lau Kah Tii) or Grand Aunty. That was when she was able to work, feed chickens, cook rice and carry water. She had loved the eldest sister in law (Mother of Lau Sing Chiong), the eldest of the Lau brothers, in Fujian and often talked about her to us, how she was given extra food when food was scarce, how she was asked to sleep in the same bed as her in the cold of winter and when her clothes were thin.. She was given a lot of tasks to do but she was always bright and quick to learn, hence her eldest sister in law, then with several children. of her own, was always nice to her, giving her a lot of encouragement. She was hardly more than 5 years older than the children in the family and yet she had to wash clothes, dry them, and pick sticks and wood in the hills.

( Lau Kah Tii was No.2) and my Grandfather was No.3 in the extended family.

As a very small woman, less then 5 foot tall, she was a giant so to speak because she was very capable in making decisions, and really able to work hard. Once she was married and had children of her own, she had her kitchen. And she was very provident in getting enough food for every one. Some nephews chose to eat ("free") with her but she was generous. Her food safe was never short of food according to my mother.

She would collect nipah leaves to make rokok wrappers, tie them up in bundles and exchanged with the Malanau fishermen. She would have a whole tin of jelly fish, salted fish, in her kitchen. She had bought small amounts of salt and her rokok wrappers and tobacco and exchanged these foods with the visiting Melanaus. Thus she was able to get extra fish. She was able to spend wisely with the hard earn money from my grandfather who was a good rubber tapper.



In 1926, the year my mother was born, my grandfather had saved enough to build his own house in Ah Nang Chong, exactly opposite the big mansion belonging to his own elder brother, Lau Kah Tii in Ensurai or Wong Su Lai.

But once the family moved to Ah Nang Chong, she was in control of business of rubber tapping, engaging more tappers, managing their work, while at the same time getting her children educated and brought up in the Methodist faith. She was not a Bible woman, but she could quote Confucious and the Bible from memory. She had a great memory.

Life was not easy as she had 9 children!! We would ask how she gave birth and who delivered her babies. Women helped women she would say. That was how life was then.

Her life could be divided into  parts:
a) Life as a child
b) Life as a child bride in Ban Dong
c) Life as a little in Ensurai, Sibu
d) Life as a young wife to Lau Kah Chui
e) Life as a stranded woman in China during the Japanese Occupation
f) Life as a widow
g) Life as a grandmother
h) Life as a disadvantaged visually disabled grand lady

Each part would cover pages and pages of stories if all her children and grandchildren could testify!!

Her hobbies? making quilts, sewing clothes, watching movies, visiting her daughters in Sibu,Kuching and Sarikei and making Chang or zongzi, wor gui, tong gui and others to distribute..

She saw her eldest son, Lau Pang Ping, marrying a child bride from China, she brought her second son Lau Pang Kui, to China to study and accepted his choice of wife from Fuzhou city, she saw the marriage of third son,Lau Pang Sing, in their big house in Ah Nang Chong. But she never saw the wedding of her youngest beloved son, who "ran away to China in 1954. That must have been very sad for her.

To her, part of her life was bearing the grief of losing her beloved sons-in- law : the eldest Dr. Hsiung Wen,the seccond, Wong King Xiang, and then my father, all very close together within a few years apart.... She had knocked her head against the wall and wailed loudly and for years, she would accompany her three widowed daughters when she thought that they were lonely. My eldest aunt lived in Kuching, my second aunt in Sarikei and my mother in Sibu. She would travel alone to see them, by plane, or by boat. Friends and relatives who met this little frail looking woman would always help her.

She loved her grand children, especially the children of her sons. There was no doubt about it. She had kept their precious photos in her room. She proudly adorned her living room with framed photos of them. And her Chinese calendars would be marked with the birthdays of all her children and her grandchildren. It made her very happy to have many Chinese calenders with famous film stars hanging in the living room. In those days it was a kind of pride to have as many calendars as possible from "kawan" shops.

We only did not have an ancestors' room, in the Ah Nang Chong house, where framed photos hang, like in China. But I am sure she would have loved it as she already had the special "altar" of the Chi Tang made. The Lau Ancestors' framed photo hanged nicely on the wall and that, I would always remember fondly, as it was very nice to think of the fact that I come from a line of scholars, magistrates, warriors and even high court officials.Today due to inflation, very few shops "order" those calendars any more to give to favourite customers.

Like all Methodists, she had a Methodist Church calendar pasted on her bed room door every year. Perhaps she truly beleived that it would fend off evil spirits. There was no cross in her room, but she had a picture of Jesus on one of her walls.

What I loved most was her Foochow red blanket, the 12 pound blanket as we called it.

I remember one of her best times was her grand 80th Birthday in a restaurant in Sibu. He sons paid for the dinner, perhaps that was the Foochow "duty" in those days and the daughters paid for the cake.

During this birthday, she was surrounded by 3 sons, 3 daughters-in-law, 2 daughters, an adopted daughter, 2 sons in law, many nephews, nieces,grandchildren and great grandchildren.

It has been 35 years...

May God bless her. and all her descendants.

Nang Chong Stories : Bridal Suitcases

In the 1950's most Foochow brides were given two suitcases like these as part of their dowry.  These would either be bought in Singapore by order from shops like Tai Lung or Tai Sing.

Dresses, textiles or materials, pajamas, jewellery were placed in them as going away gifts from their parents.  But what was even more important was the custom of the gifts of a red packet of cash. At the bottom one of the two or three, if the parents were richer,  suitcases would be a red packet of money for the bride to start her new life well. 

In Foochow this red packet of money is called, the "pressed or weighted" money was prepared by the bride's parents, one to represent the auspicious moment of a girl leaving her home for her future, and two, the preparedness of the bride's family to "press" some money into her hands.

The special cipher lock was very useful for the bride to protect her possessions.

Sometimes the different gifts would go with the bride on the wedding day but some other families would choose a special day to send over the gifts. When an auspicious day was set, the suitcases would be sent over to the groom's house. 

This was very much a part of Foochow wedding traditional practice in the 50's in Sibu.

Today some parents still practise this, to make the wedding preparations very merry and memorable. Many however do without it.

Nang Chong Stories : Recycling of Bottles

Although many people believe that recycling is a new 2lst century concept, the Foochow women of Sibu and the Rajang Basin have already been practising it since their arrival in Sibu.

BOTTLES were probably the first item to be recycled.

We even had a few men who went around collecting bottles in the villages and in Sibu . They usually cycled from door to door and they used a gunny sack to keep the bottles they collected. Beer bottles, soy bean bottles and vinegar bottles were best and people could get several cents per bottle. One man in particular had a special call which I cannot forget . He would call out "Mo tut! Mo Tut! Mo Tut!" which is  a corrputed Hokkien version of the English word Bottle. He had a rather creaky voice. We had our choice of the Mo Tut men because one in particular was rather stingy and he would want to cheat us by giving us a very bad deal. The green ones fetched less and the white ones more. He would complain about this and that and he actually wanted to get our bottles for free. Poor guy. He was a louse indeed because he wanted to cheat even children.

Later some of these bottle collectors used a three wheel cart.

Aerated pop drink bottles were usually sent back to the factories in exchange for more drinks.

My grandmother and aunties collected good wine bottles from relatives who had confinements. Many wealthy women had bottles of Dimple, Hennessey, XO and Vodka. These were precious to my grandmother and aunties who would wash them and dry them in the sun. Besides these they also kept the beer bottles for reuse.

Whenever they made Foochow Red Wine they would use these well washed and well dried bottles to bottle the wine.



As a child I would love to watch the red wine clearing up in the clear glass bottles. Whenever we had egg soup or Soh Mien, I would beg for a few drops of the precious red wine. My grandmother would cluck her tongue and said that I would grow up becoming a Wine Ghost like Uncle so and so...But I knew then that Grandmother herself loved the bottle too. Every night she would have a peck of brandy while Third Uncle have his beer if they had stock. I could not remember when they stopped drinking together as mother and son. It was a good bonding time for them in the Landor or balcony.

Foochow red wine making also required a lot of bottle corks. These were carefully saved by all. None of the corks were thrown away and they were kept in a big glass bottle or a Nescafe Jar for future use. Chu SEng in Sibu owned by Uncle Wong would sell corks. Grandmother would ask other uncles not to throw good European wine bottles with corks away.

A Hennessy bottle like this with a twist cap is a treasure which can be re-used for many years.

The Black and Red Labels would always remind me of Uncle Wen Hui (Hii) who enjoyed this together with Aunty Yung. Their relatives who respected them would pass a lot of Duty Free whisky to them as gifts for their birthdays or any occasion. BYO has a special meaning for me.

Back to confinement again. The Foochow Red Wine is usually brewed for a new mother by a reliable relative if her own mother or mother in law cannot make the wine. Home made wine is much cheaper than store bought. Usually the confinement requires at least 30 bottles of Foochow Red Wine. And the person who makes good wine will become more famous by word of mouth.

Tofu Milk, water and tea were all bottled in the bottles for all of us to carry in our baskets whenever we went to the rubber garden, school or town or the next village.

Those were the days before Tupperware, Cosway, or Korean and Japanese Brands came into the market.

However I continue to collect a few good bottles for my Foochow Red Wine. Do you?

Nang Chong Stories : Cock Fighting

My third uncle was a very timid man and was firmly controlled to a certain degree by his wife. He went into partnership with his brother in law in the road construction business after he was a little over the hill as a wharf labourer. Being an honest man he was the best site supervisor any company could have even though he only had two years of primary school...an education interrupted by the Japanese OCCUPATION in Sarawak..

But it also meant that he had to be buddies with his brother in law in one of his favourite past times : cockfighting.

Cock fighting is definitely not a Foochow past time or hobby from the early pioneering days. The  Brooke Government had stipulated that no gambling should be allowed in the Sibu settlement. And Foochow pioneering leaders threatened newcomers that they would be shipped back to China if caught gambling..However a gambling centre was actually located in the town  for years!! Methodism had some how curbed the gambling tendencies of both men and women in Sibu. However in the 1970's the police were doing their best to eradicate this traditional native past time which some Chinese turned into a lucrative gambling hobby/business.

My uncle's brother in law reared a few champion fighting cocks and there was plenty to crow about. People came from far and wide to admire those strong fighters. Bets were increased whenever a good fighting chicken was produced. In tho1000!! Some were even wrapped in expensive Indonesian sarongs which had been blessed or jampi-ed!!

The cockfighting arena was moved from place to place to avoid police detection.and obviously the Chinese and the native friends were also very careful not to breathe any information to would be informants. It was a real cat and mouse game.

Lawyers were often employed to reduce illegal gambling charges and it was most amusing when fighting chickens were bought to the court as evidence. Lawyers were often amused by whatever statements the gamblers made in court and naturally witnesses were as different as the tribes of Sarawak....Often the judges who were amused ordered the fighting cocks to be slaughtered ..when the gamblers not only lost in their arguments but in monetary terms! All monies collected in the gambling place would be confiscated too. Losses were indeed great.

There was one occasion when my timid uncle came with a half alive fighting cock at about 8 p.m. He told us that he had walked all the way from the cock fighting arena  at about five when the police raided the party. Every one scattered into the jungle and he lost his brother in law in the skirmish but he was quick enough to capture the half dead cock and ran for his life.He lost a shoe and was thoroughly frightened.

Could his shoe if picked up by the police be part of the evidence? And he had to eat curry rice?

But mum was terrified too upon hearing the story. However our tenant was quick and he helped to dress the chicken and we cooked a huge pot of curry chicken and had a midnight feast. We had curry for a few days because the meat was so tough my mother had to stew the curry over and over again. The feathers were properly buried in the backyard.

That was the last time my third uncle went for a cock fight. But his brother in law continued to enjoy his cock fighting endeavours.


By the way for a long time many people in Nang Chong continued to enjoy rearing fighting cocks..some were said to be real winners.

Many chickens were given A shaped wooden chalets to rest when the sun becomes too hot.