Nang Chong Stories : Cousins, 1970's.

My maternal grandparents had 5 daughters and 4 sons. So that means that I have lots of cousins from them.

In this favourite photo of my cousins are Kwo Mow from the Hsiung aunty (eldest Aunt Hung Hee).

 cousins Wei Jen and Wei Ming (Robert) and Wei Hui from Uncle chang Chung Ching and Aunt Hung toh. 

The little ones are from eldest Uncle Pang Ping, Ah Kieng, Ah Hung and Ah dieng. 

2nd Uncle Pang Kui's son Ah Deh or Lau Kung Kiu now in Manchester is in the photo.

 3rd Uncle Pang sing's children in the photo are Ah tuan, Ah Ngie and Ah Biu, ah Hung,  ah Ching, Ing,Ging and King.

My youngest aunt, Hung Yung and Uncle Hii Wen Hui were represented by their son, Mee Jiong in this photo. He is the one with a black gun in the front row, looking so much like a young James Bond.

this photo was taken to commemorate the visit of our cousin Kwo Mow who was going for his further studies in the UK. He was going to study medicine.

1970.

 

Nang Chong Tales : The Hoong Ngang Ting Family

 The Ting family originally lived in 24 acres. Ting Siew Chai, a teacher who taught and retired from Sacred Heart School had studied in Chung Cheng School, Chien Nang Chong of Sibu related her family's Hoong Ngang making history to me.

She is married to my cousin Tie King Siang . Her Ting family originated from Dah Kou (Char Kou) which is famous as the traditional Minqing Foochow Centre of Hoong Ngang in Fujian. 

According to Siew chai, her family might not be the only Minqing family from Dah Kou as there probably would be many others all over Sarawak.

But what is most significant was the fact that  every family in Dah Kou made rice vermicelli or hoong ngang for a living in Fujian in the olden days. Her father had that skill and he brought it out to Sarawak.

Cousin Ting Siew Chai's parents were later immigrants as they migrated to Sarawak in the 1930's. 

Her oldest aunt came to Sibu first and married a man in 24 acres. Together they started the first hoong ngang cottage industry there. 

Later Siew Chai's father, Ting Kek Tak, came out from Fujian and joined his sister and brother in law. He worked hard in the hoong ngang domestic factory. Later he brought his wife, Wong Sing Ing, from Minqing out to Sibu and together they too started a business of making hoong ngang. 

Later they had to move to Chien Nang Chong, a little further upstream of Chung Cheng School. There they built their little cottage industry, with machinery, one to knead the dough, one to press the dough and one to cut the dough, to make hoong ngang commercial on a fairly large scale. Actually besides her parents, there were two other families who made hoong ngang and they were just next door to each other. Thus they formed a little group of factories prpducing the highly demanded dried hoong ngang and chien mien for the Sibu market.

Their river side house was just well positioned strategically as a place to produce hoong ngang and later also chien Mien, as it was nearer to Sibu than 24 acres.

The families had to move to Chien Nang Chong because the Methodist Church wanted to take back the land in 24 acres for their own use. They had been staying in 24 acres because they were also tapping the mission's rubber trees.

Minqing's Chakou Hoong Ngang or Vermicelli

They were rubber tappers (who were sharing with the church rubber tapping on a 50:50 basis). When they had to move away, they had to find their own place, or if possible find their own land with rubber trees already ready for tapping. They were fortunate to find such a place, like the other two families.

The photo above shows the grandparents and parents of Siew Chai's brother in law. They were from Kutien so they  spoke a different sub dialect. Her brother in law's grandfather taught Rev James Hoover spoken Kutien. That was the reason why Rev Hoover spoke Kutien and Mrs. Hoover spoke Foochow with the Minqing sub dialect.

Following their move out of 24 Acres, the three families , may be by God's providence, all moved to the river bank area near the Chung Cheng Primary School. This area is called Chien Nang Chong, or Front Southern Village. Each family built their own Doh Tau (jetty) with good wood and later even cement. 

Cousin Siew Chai said her father and brothers even invested in concretizing the path from their house to the jetty. They also reinforced their river bank by constructing concrete walls. But the waves made by the expresses were just too ferocious and in no time even the concrete walls broke apart.

Their jetty was also identified by a huge tree called Dui Chiu Moh.(Big Mother Tree).  Every one in the Nang Chong area and beyond recognised their jetty, also known as Kek Tak Jetty. Every jetty in  the Rajang was named after the owner, or the person who built it. A jetty was very much a part of the village life then and it brought so much convenience. 

One of my earliest memories of hailing a motor launch to stop by our jetty  (Lau Pang Sing Jetty) in mid afternoon. It was not easy to call the last boat from further down river plying to Sibu. It was a gentleman's understanding that they could not pick up passengers belonging to another TURF. 

My cousin was feverish and she wanted to see a doctor. A white towel would normally  help to call a passing motor launch to come and help transport some one who was having an emergency. However it was very disappointing and  very sad if the motor launch just passed by on the opposite bank. We missed two boats actually and our hearts were sinking. But thank God, another motor launch appeared on the opposite bank and every one started to jump up and down and waved the white towel. The motor launch seemed to be passing by too but all of a sudden the boat owner who must have recognised my uncle's jetty. changed his mind.

It was a cliff hanger moment. He had to cross the Rajang River (against the outflowing currents) and thus my cousin was able to board the motor launch for Sibu. Once the last motor launch was missed a villager would not be able to go to Sibu that day. He would have to catch the first boat the next day, at about 6 a.m.

The Hoong Ngang making families had to find a river bank home because it was convenient to load the rice noodles and dried chieng mien on to the motor launches in the morning.

However the families did not  realise in those days that the strong waves created by the express boats plying between Bintangor and Sarikei and Sibu would cause severe river bank erosion.

By the 1980's the Hoong Ngang producers had to seek other forms of employment and abandon their old skills. Siew Chai's brothers had to work for timber companies, with good offers of monthly salaries, instead of using their own skills to make hoong ngang and chien mien.

Land was eroded away, the jetties washed away and even the machinery used had to be abandoned with many parts being stolen or cannibalised.

Hence the legacy of the Char Kou (Dah Kou) Hoong Ngang disappeared from the history of Chien Nang Chong , and in general the Rajang Basin.

The original way of making Hoong Ngang is no longer practised in Sibu, but there is a factory using sago flour to produce hoong ngang (vermicelli). It is not the same.

Nang Chong History : Bandong Boats

Life in the 50's and 60's along the Rajang was slow.

Diverse cultures existed side by side and trade was simple , based on supply and demand in the old sense. the main means of transport was by river boats.

This post is about a peculiar product, sago pith which was a significant food source for domestic pig rearing among the Foochows. This trade was a fine example of economic symbiosis between the Melanau and the Foochows along the lower Rajang.

 Thus came about small wooden motor launches which were first introduced by Rev James Hoover in the 1920's,  Along the Igan and the Rajang Rivers were found small motor launches converted to mobile sundry shops or bandong boats run by Foochow men who went to the coastal towns like Dalat, Oya, and other sago producing villages to buy sago by products. the most valuable was the sago pith which they would pack into gunny sacks. Those were sold at 40 to 50 cents a sack and were delivered house to house or rather jetty to jetty when they made the return journey. Most of these bandongs or Mang Dong were manned by a single Foochow trader. There have been stories of these Foochow traders being murdered in the history of Sibu.

The Melanau houses in those days were by the river side so it was easy for the boatman to load his purchases. He at the same time would have sugar, salt, oil and other basic goods for sale. Thus this travelling sundry shop was God sent in those days. He might even sell some medicine. But his most important good was sago pith for the Foochow farmers.

Melanau Houses in the Lower Rajang

Old Foochow wooden Mandong found in Bintulu.

It was a great moment for my aunts to be at the jetty to buy the sago pith. The Mang Dong boat man would help carry the gunny sacks of pig food which was quite heavy to the rubber smoke house near my uncle's jetty. The boat would pass by once a week without fail, so  the supply was very consistent. 

Local pigs fed on Sago stumps (they love the pith) and grow really fast.

The sago pith was good food for the Foochow pig rearers. It was added to the hot food cooked over a large fire in kerosene tins. Added to water lettuce, and food scraps the sago pith really bulked up the meals. This hot food was called PUNG, a very economical way of rearing local pigs.

The pigs reared in this style, from the olden days until the 1960's were specially tasty.

My mother, her sisters in law and nephews all reared pigs in this way at Nang Chong .

I remember the sourish smell of the hot food and had helped feed the pigs during my holidays in the village. But what was most memorable was the slaughtering of the pigs by the river and we had tasty meat for a few days. The aunts would be happy to have some money saved for the Chinese New Year.

Pigs were slaughtered three to four times a year, sold and shared. Pork was an  important source of protein for the Foochow villagers.

In reflection this kind of food for the pigs was really eco friendly and organic. It was truly a full  food chain in the Rajang and Igan River.

(Note : I have found several Foochow domestic pig rearers in Miri who buy lots of freshly logged sago palms for their pigs. These black haired pigs are especially tasty too. Fast forward to 2021.)

Nang Chong : Going to See Grand Mother

 

Wooden river boat or motor launch was the mode of transport whenever I wanted to visit my Ngie Mah (maternal grandmother ) in Nang Chong Village (Southern Village). U would get on a boat of my choice, depending on which time I wanted to travel at the Tua Pek Kong Wharf, or the down river wharf as they called it then. Touting was not the done thing at that time.

The friendly boat operators would look and say, "Going to visit your Grandma?" and they would point at the boats. But I would have to say I would like to leave Sibu at a certain time, and they would point again to the right boat.

There was no written schedule for travellers to read and one needed either to know which boat to take or ask any one on the pontoon. Every one would be friendly in those days and they would be very knowledgeable.

The motor launch, like Sing Hai Huong or New King of the Sea would take about one or two hours to reach the village. At every bend of the river I would have a peep to see if I could see Grandma's house in the distance.

The motor launch was quite a vehicle, operated by two men, one at the wheel and one at the back in charge of the engine.

What I liked most was when they started the engine to say that the launch was getting ready to travel. My cousin Kung Wei (Lau) recently reminded me of the code they used to communicate with each other.

After warming up the engine (may be 40 hp, or 40 head or tou) and checking all the engine was in order, the engine man would go to the front to tell the jaga luan (driver) that all was in order. The driver might take off his town wear or a good shirt and he would be wearing his white sleeveless singlet. Every passenger in the launch would take their seats, facing each other.

The middle part of the boat would be full of goods the passengers had bought in Sibu.

The children who were selling hard boiled eggs, newspapers, kompia and kampua, would jump out of the boat onto another boat to sell their goods happily. some women actually would like to spend their last few cents buying some kompia to take home.

When the driver pulled the bell three times, teng, teng, teng, it meant the boat would go astern or gosi tag...ad soon, he would man oeuvre the boat out of the jetty, squeezing out of the packed berth. The wooden launch was so well made and sturdy that it could slide out and free itself from the other boats.

Two pulls of the bell would mean the boat would go ahead. (Gohed). That would be truly the best sound we would love to hear.

Four pulls of the bell meant that the motor launch would go at top speed and sometimes, the little children would clap their hands when they heard that.

And off we would go, downriver towards Nang Chong.

the smell of the diesel still stays with me to this day.

The wooden windows of the motor launch were the sliding type and usually all the passengers would like them open. There was no air conditioning. The river breeze was soothing enough.

Some of the young people would sit on the roof top of the motor launch and enjoy some sun and a lot of breeze.

Jetties of Nang Chong

 Jetties of the Foochows built along the Lower Rajang were works of art.

Made from huge timber logs,a pontoon was made from tying together three or four large logs. Each log would have large hooks nailed into them for tying purpoes. Huge wire ropes were used. It must have been a skilful job to tie the togs together. Huge waves caused by the motor launches nnd express boats would cause the logs to crash against each other, hence the logs must be very skilfully tied together.

A good wooden platform made from good water resistant planks (e.g. belian) was made and nailed to the supporting logs. A jetty like this would last many years. However a huge flood may send a pontoon floating downriver to the river mouth. Some lucky people may pick it up and make full use of it.

A pontoon was usually the length of two planks with a width of 8 planks or. The photo shows a double pontoon.

Pontoons were so well made that they would never sink. Three or four motor bikes would be able to stay on a pontoon and wait for a ferry to arrive. Passengers getting a ride from a motor launch could stand on it and wait. without ever getting their feet wet.

This is a photo from Google, showing a floating pontoon made from logs tied together and a wooden platform to cover them.

The owner of the jetty would have waited for the river currents to bring down the choice logs. When sighted from afar, the owner would row his little boat out to pick up the log using a harpoon like instrument. Then he would pull the log slowly back to the banks. Such logs would be collected, and selected. The unwanted logs would be sawn and made into firewood for both household use and rubber smoking.

My maternal grandfather Lau Kah Chui first built such a jetty for motor launches and passengers to alight. Motor launches in the 1920's right through the 1950's were like country buses. Most folks had to go to Sibu to sell their rubber sheets, which was priority then.

A good jetty would also have a sort of platform from the river bank because the mud on the depositional bank of the river would prevent boats from berthing at low tide. So my grandfather's jetty had a fairly long platform from the bank. A moveable plankwalk would be attached to the pontoon.

A waiting platform on stilts would jut out from the river bank to help make motor launches stop by more easily. This would depend on the differences in tide levels and the kind of river bank the house owner has. Not every home had a jetty.

At high tide, the plankwalk, the pontoon and the platform would be at the same level. It was a lovely sight .

At low tide the plank walk would be far above the pontoon and it was quite hard to walk up the plankwalk. The gradient was more than 60 degrees! As kids we loved to reach grandma's house when the tide was not too high or too low. Low tide also meant that we reached grandma's house slightly faster as the flow would help the motor launch to go faster.

The pontoon was very useful - laundry was easily done by the riverside, bales or rubber could be placed there while waiting for the motor launches to arrive, it was the best place for fishing, and swimming use the platforms for their diving boards. It was often the venue for slaughtering of pigs and chickens.

A jetty was considered a welfare service to villagers who lived around the area. Only some families would build jetties to front their river bank property.

Today these kinds of wooden jetties are no longer found or constructed.

* In the 1970's political parties would give out funds to help villagers repair their jetties. My grandmother did wish that election would come every year so that the village could enjoy more development funds!! Some jetties cost more than RM20,000 to rebuilt.

The Kang Kong Speech of My Ngie Gung

My maternal grandfather was not exactly a public speaker like his older brother, Lau Kah Tii, the Foochow pioneer and headman appointed by the Rajah to succeed Rev James Hoover who passed away in

 

1936. Grand Uncle Lau Kah Tii was a celebrity in those days. Every one knew him and surrounded him in public whenever he appeared in Sibu. He was well respected and wealthy too.

My grandfather was however in the shadows. He was a carpenter, a builder and an agriculturalist who on his own effort cleared at least 200 acres of land to plant padi and rubber. In those days it was the Rajah's ordinance to the first Foocow pioneers that whoever cleared land would be awarded the land titles. Thus by 1940 my grandfather had under his name 200 acres of rubber land in Nang Chong.

In his endeavour and enterprise, he also had the vision of endowing the Methodist Church with 2 acres of land to build a primary school, Tiing Nang , and a church Hook Ming Methodist Church.

At the opening ceremony of the primary school my grandfather was invited to speak as Chairman of the board. My uncles remember his humourous metaphor. He compared his own Kang Kong speech with his brother's Sharks' fin speeches. He spoke less than 3 minutes and he was given a rousing applause. He never made another speech again.

He lived a very quiet life, enjoying his happy hours with rice wine, occasionally Ngu Kah Pi and Rose Wine. However he loved telling stories to his nephews who would row their boat from Ensurai to visit him occasionally.

It is a pity that almost all his stories were never recorded, and are now all forgotten.

Nang Chong Stories : Japanese Occupation and Sago

Most people have heard their grandparents talking about eating more sweet potatoes than rice during the 3 years and 8 months of Japanese Occupation.

But few grandparents have talked about eating sago pith and sago flour.

Although the Foochows did not eat linut like the Melanaus, during the Japanese Occupation, many did look for sago palms, cut them down and shred the sago pith, to extract flour. It was tedious job and took many days just to produce some sago flour.

It was not at all appetizing according to my aunts. "Just glue" one of them told me. But they had to fill their stomach.

They did not have much to go with the glue as they were scared to go out to fish. Only a few men would take out their little boats and use their jala. Occasionally the Melanaus would drop by paddling their boats but those days were full of fears and practically every one was scared of every one.  There was talk of head hunting too.

Many Foochows also tried their best to find food for their pigs. Sago palms were cut down and cut into smaller pieces for the pigs to eat. Pigs grew very fast eating sago pith.



However in those days the Foochows did not know that sago palm hearts would make a very good stir fry. Today many of us have learnt how to stir fry sago palm hearts or make a good soup  out of it.

This is sago palm heart. Stir fry it like bamboo shoots. Or make a curry.

The idea of social distancing was there but the term was not coined.

Raise a Glass to My Ngie Goong's Memory

Ngu Ga Pi wine was sold in the general stores of Sibu in the 1930's and 40's and even during the Japanese Occupation while stocks last.

My mother as a teenager was often sent by her father to buy a bottle which then only cost 50 cents.

Wujiapi wine originated from the "Compendium of Materia Medica" of Li Shizhen of the Ming Dynasty. According to the old master, wujiapi it is a bark of the Eleutherococcus . It is a herb used in traditional Chinese medicine to eliminate "wind-dampness". Hence it is recogised to provide health benefits, good for bones, resilience and long life. Wujiapi can be found in Guangzhou, Tianjin, Zhejiang etc.

According to some records, the Emperor Qianlong travelled southwards with Huang Taiyi who arranged for wujiapi to cure Yongzheng's illnesses.

Also, the leather wine seal indicates that wujiapi is a royal wine. It was Huang Taiyi who in 1795 opened a drug store and brought the royal wine to the public for their consumption.

These could be the ingredients of the wujiapi wine (wikipedia)
 0.6g Codonopsis, 0.7g Chenpi, 0.8g Muxiang, 2g Wujiapi, 1g Poria, 0.7g Chuanxiong, 0.5g cardamom kernels, 1g safflower, 1g angelica, 2g yuzhu 1 gram, 22 grams of gardenia, 22 grams of red yeast rice, 0.7 grams of green peel, 4 grams of caramel, 500 grams of caster sugar, 35 grams of cinnamon, 0.5 grams of cooked ground, and 5000 grams of deodorant alcohol.

Nang Chong Stories : Repairing a Jetty

During the early days of Malaysia when general election was a new idea my maternal grandmother was inclined to believe that only Three Rings would bring prosperity to the rural areas like the so called "down river" villages like hers.

My Uncle Pang Sing's jetty was a well known and popular jetty because it was where Tulai villagers would alight from the river motor launch coming down from Sibu. From the jetty they would walk about 3 hours to their home in Tulai. This was their route from the 1930's to the 1960's.

My grand mother's house was often used as a rest stop by many Tulai relatives. But when they bought their motor cycles, they rode further up to Paradom, where they could catch the early morning boat to Sibu, and come back before night fall after the mid 60's.

Jetties like this have disappeared from the Rajang River and can oly be found along the Igan today..

In that era, when politicians came knockig at her door, she would get all her grand children to come out to shake hands. Politicians would not sit down and visit, do small talk for instead, they would just walk from house to house, shaking hands and probably saying a few words only. A gathering would be held in a school hall for example  where it would be too far for my grandmother to walk.

In the school hall, like Chung Cheng School Hall, the politician would make promises for the coming election. And he would talk for hours to impress the villagers how well he could talk. And the party members would shout their slogan every now and then.

Most of the villagers would ask for repairs of jetties and their wishes would be granted, before the election day. And our jetty got repaired to the tune of a few thousand dollars accordig to the SUPP sub branch. The jetties along Nang Chong would all have  a few new planks, and may be a new log or two and many new nails. Some even had a new shed on the platform, or a new plank walk. It was a good windfall for the villagers.

My Ngie Mah would say, "It would be good to have a general election every year."

However she could ot vote because she had a Red Identity Card.

(Note : Today politicians provide funds to repair roads or supply gravel to build new paths.)

Eating Sweet Potato Roots

The Japanese Occupation in Sarawak lasted 3 years and 8 months from Dec 1941 to Sept 17 1945



Although she and her brother planted rice in the fields the harvest was still not enough for feed the whole family which consisted of my maternal grandfather who died during the war, my eldest uncle and his family of 5, my mother's brothers (Pang Sing and Pang Teck) and sister ( Yung). The rice was given to the younger ones and my grandfather while the others had to eat sweet potatoes or mixed rice with sweet potatoes.

It was hard for my mother who was the "labourer" of the family as she was still a teenager. When the war ended she was only 18 but she had been burdened as the main "bread winner" of the family.

Each day she also had to carry 20 buckets of water (using the bian dan), that is, to go to the river to carry the water home for cleaing, washing and cooking. She was tasked with washing of clothes, planting vegetables and rearing of pigs, besides cooking as her eldest sister in law had to look after the babies.

Besides, she had to be on the look out for Japanese soldiers who would come marching up the village path, or by the speed boats. It was a fearful time. And she had to hide her sister and younger brothers upstairs, while her eldest brother had to do the same with his wife and three young children.

She told us that she had to sacrifice a lot, like eating less, and working more, especially for her father who was already quite ill.

Their sweet potatos came all the way from Murudo, near Sarikei. They were grown by the in laws of uncle Pang Ping, mum's eldest brother. The soils of their farm were very fertile and every now and then, they would carry loads of sweet potatoes on foot all the way to Nang Chong.

Each day my mother had to use a home made metal shredder to prepare the potatoes which would be boiled. Rice would be cooked sparingly too. When meal times came, the aroma of rice cooking over the fire would make every one hungry.

To mum, a meal of sweet potatoes and roots of the plants would only be palatable by a sprinkling of some home made cincaluk.

Life was hard.

Christmas Turkey in Nang Chong

It must have been interesting, for Foochows to rear some turkeys in the 1950's and 60's. But I would never know how and why my grandma had a few turkeys. However she had only one left in her yard by the time I visited her.

all the kids waited for christmas to come to taste her Christmas turkey. Great Expectations indeed!! Because the bird was big and everyone would have a bigger portion of meat on the proverbial plate.

As she did not have any oven, she decided not to have it roasted. the pastor Lau Ngo Kee had told her that the Americans would roast a turkey for Christmas.

Well indeed Christmas day came, and the turkey was a little too mature for the pot.

Uncle slaughtered the turkey and had it boiled in a pot. After a few hours of slow boiling, the turkey was still too tought. so Grandma decided that the whole turkey must be taken out and chopped into small pieces and stir fried again with ern chow.

The meat was still tough and it took the family and the kids many days to finish the one and only turkey raised by grandma.

It was the story of never again to raise turkey. Moh no sey....meh siak ri.

What we Foochows raised in the yard must be edible. We should not waste our time and effort to raise turkey.

I think this story would have made some Peace Corps teachers in Chung Cheng School smile a little - why there was no turkey reared in the Foochow villages of Sibu.

Note : Perhaps with China leading in turkey rearing in the future, people's mindset will change regarding turkey.)

Nang Chong Stories : The Japanese and Sweet Potato Rice

My maternal grandfather Lau Kah Jui passed away during the Japanese Occupation in  1943.

He was suffering from a stomach ailment, which could not really be properly diagnosed because of lack of medical facilities and technology, and after all there was no proper doctor around. so in reality according to many of our relatives he died from suffering a lot of pain. To relieve some of the accruciating pain, he drank a lot of home made wine. Every night he would drink until he fell asleep. That was for almost two years and finally he drew his last breath.

He would use a belt to tie his stomach area, to hold the stomach up and very tight too. Today an elastic abdominal brace would have suited him very well. Also, from what he heard, a doctor
(cousin )said that if he could have just a small surgery to remove whatever was inside his stomach or intestines, he would have probably lived up to a ripe old age. My poor maternal grandfather must have suffered a great deal.

Almost immediately after he passed away, a few Japanese soldiers came to the house and demanded a good lunch from my eldest Uncle, Lau Pang Ping. My uncle being a very simple guy was very frightened and dismayed. He could only offer watery sweet potato and rice porridge. And this meal was not good enough. There was no chicken big enough to be slaughtered due to the funeral.

However a good grand uncle quickly came to the rescue and he suggested that he would row his boat to get help regarding the lunch.

One hour later, Grand Uncle Lau Kah Tii, came over and explained to the soldiers that he would have a good lunch prepared in Ensurai for them.  He also further explained that my mother's family, still in their mourning clothes, was too poor after the funeral to have any food to eat.

In no time, they drove off in their motor boat with our Grand Uncle. A great fear was lifted from the family.

They could all have been executed by the angry soldiers. It seemed that one of them was quite highly ranked. I am glad my mother lived to tell the story.

Nang Chong Stories : Damar

Damar is hardened resins or exudate oozing out from members of the Dipterocarpaceae tree family like Keruing, Alan, Maranti and Kapur.

In the 1900's Sarawak even exported damar and the local people used it as a sealant for boat making, fuel, and for lighting in the longhouses. It was a valuable commodity then. The Penans especially were good at looking for damar in the Sarawak jungles. Damar was traded in Marudi, Sibu, Kapit and even Kuching.

To lit up at night, the olden day Ibans would pound the damar into  a powder, mix with kerosene and then burn the mixture. A small flame would light up.

In the same way, damar was pounded and melted, mixed with kerosene and used for sealing gaps in boats.
This photo of Damar, found by the Penans, is by Mujan Sakai, Bario

.Lights from damar were very pretty and the aroma left in the room  was warm and soothing according to an old pensioner People would look for damar every day so that they would have extra for lighting and for sealing their boats. It was a significant essential good then.

In the 1940's and 50's many Iban hunters would drop by my grandmother's river bank house. They would tie their boats at her jetty and move inland to hunt. If they had to spend a night on the river bank, and taking shelter under her Rubber Smoke House, they would cook, and use their damar lights for the night.

In those days no one would think of stealing a boat tied to a jetty. The jetty owner was responsible for its security!! Upon their return, my grandmother would even buy some of their game, or if they had plenty, they would give a small gift. My maternal grandmother, since arriving at the age of 5 from China, in 1902 had learned to speak simple Malay.

Furthermore in those days no one had any electricity generator. My grandmother used kerosene lamps!! For occasions, she would order the pressure lamp to be lit.

Many rubber tappers also used damar lights to light their paths in the olden days. Life was hard.

Burning of Fields

My mother was of marriageable age when the Japanese arrived in Sibu and all the Foochow parents decided to marry off their daughters as quickly as possible. The Japanese successful captured Kuching on 25th December 1941.

Parents were looking out for just any unmarried men available. It was like catching a duck! Mum was not at all pleased because she thought that marriage should not be like that. She pitied her school mates who were quickly married off.

The Japanese had already pillaged many cities in China and news had reached Sibu, a strong foothold of the Foochows and other Chinese groups. They would not tolerate any rape or pillage. And the Japanese scorched earth policy was well known. Known as "Three Alls Policy" the Japanese caused immense environmental and infrastructure damage. It contributed to the complete destruction of entire villages and partial destruction of entire cities like Chongqing and Nanjing (1937).

She told my grandfather (my grandmother was in Fujian at that time) in a very determined tone that she would not marry but instead dress up like a boy and work on the farm. The Japanese arrived in Sibu after Christmas, and most girls as young as 14 were married off before Chinese New Year. This helped their parents sigh with relief.

My mother thought that it would be a tough life for young girls to be married off to just ANYONE and have children in the next year. Indeed to her knowledge some of the girls from her village did not have good marriages, one or two even left their husbands after many years of fighting! Life was really sad for many of these forced marriages.



Whenever my mother looks at burning fields she would think of the 3 years and 8 months of the Japanese Occupation when she worked as a padi farmer and dressed up as a boy. Her father was glad that she was not married off and was the extra and very able provider at home. During the war my grandfather who was a builder had no income and it was my mother and her eldest brother who fed the family. Besides he was already very sick without any cure because of lack of medical facilities.

Her courage in feeding her family paid off because she was to meet my father after the war. Although her own cousin was officially the match maker (at my father's request),it was a great love match.

The burning fields also remind her of her great love for her family, her father, her younger siblings and herself. She remembers the time when she would deny herself of meat so that her younger siblings could eat better to grow up faster during the war. She remembers how much rice they produced in the three Occupation years. And she remembers how she got a beautiful dress from the Allied Forces who came to distribute one item to every village girl. When she wore it, it fitted well because she was so well toned from her work in the padi fields : and the villagers admired her model like height, long legs and good arms.

A loving family is every thing.

Nang Chong Stories : Pre-war diet

My photo of a dish of nice Sarawak jellyfish

My mother and her sister completed their Primary school education at Tiing Nang Primary School just before the war. It was also the time when their mother my grandmother insisted on returning to China to build an ancestral hall with the money she had earned from rubber. My grandfather was not too well and did not want to "return to China". He sort of knew that he life would end very soon.

After she left, my grandfather and my mother's eldest brother Pang Ping, then already married, looked after the family of 9 ( mother's 4 siblings and two grand children from Uncle Pang Ping).

The Japanese had conquered China by 1940 and war was looming. Many people returned to China to fight agains the Japanese. Some of the retunees joined organized groups like the War Mechanics. Others returned to their own villages. The Japanese bombs literally dashed all my grandmother's dreams of living the good life and having a huge ancestral home in Minqing.

According to my mother, the pre war diet of the Foochows was very simple. The price of rubber had gone down and rice was produced by individual families, giving them just enough to eat. She was one of the young padi farmers of her village.

The Melanau fishermen continued to row their boats, visiting villages from time to time selling jelly fish especially. A whole kerosene tin of the jelly fish was only $1.20  and it would last the family for a month or so. The Melanaus ,who became friends with my grandfather, also sold salt, palm sugar, dried prawns, cincaluk and snails and other vegetables. These were the main items of my mother's diet before the Japanese arrived.

She also told us that a good salary was $10 a month for most coolies (kuli gang) and out this $4.5 would be spent on food. The coolies would have their meals with the towkay and lived in the coolie houses provided. Today many of these old coolies have passed away but their children would be able to tell the stories of how their fathers "reached the shore of Sarawak" and made their fortunes. They were considered the later batches of Foochows who came to Sarawak before the war.

They were as hardworking as the Foochow pioneers, although their conditions of settlement might have been more difficult as the Rajah's Government had stopped granting free land to the new comers.

The coolies came to Sarawak when rich towkay applied to the Rajah to gain permits to bring in more Chinese from Fujian. It is very much like what is happening today. Agents can apply to the government to bring in Indonesians, Bangladeshis to work. My grand uncle Lau Kah Tii was such an agent. However he was considered like a Godfather or a Saviour who helped bring many Foochows to Sibu to find their first bucket of gold. The clansmen have always been very grateful to him.

Wild Fern Soup of Nan Chong during Japanese Occupation

The Japanese Occupation in Sarawak saw a lot of suffering among the people. Many did not have enough to eat in both the rural and urban areas. While many were forced into building of roads in Sibu like my father and his brothers, from sunrise to sunset, others were also tasked with planting of padi to feed the Japanese soldiers. There was fear in the air and the Chinese people especially were afraid of being punished by the Japanese soldiers. In that era, the Chinese were the sworn enemies of the Japanese.

When food ran out, many people had to look for different sources. My mother then only a teenager would paddle a small boat with her eldest sister in law along a small river called Sg. Assan in order to forage for jungle ferns. That was their secret place far away from the Japanese soldiers who were mainly stationed in Sibu town and in the surrounding areas where they could go on foot.

If and when the Japanese went outside Sibu, they would take a small motor launch and their presence could easily be heard. If they moved during the night, the light from the motor launch would search the river banks. Those were the days when safe places were hard to find from marauding enemies. Very often it was also a kind of hide and seek game, which sometimes ended up in shooting and subsequent deaths.

My mother was always happy to be able to pluck more than two pails of fern tops for her family. There were more than 10 mouths to feed including my elderly and very sick maternal grandfather.

The ferns from Sg Assan were made into soup with just a bit of ginger and some oil. Mum said that it would always be difficult for her to look at fern soup nowadays. Today we have many  extra ingredients to cook with the fern tops to make them very nice.

Sweet Potatoes

Through the 3 years and 8 months of Japanese Occupation many of the women also look for sago, snails, fish, prawns and jungle vegetables. These excursions for food could be very dangerous. If the women were caught by the soldiers they could be raped . So whenever they went out they would blacken their faces. Most of the Chinese women cut their hair so short that they looked like men.

Many would grow sweet potatoes in places thieves and soldiers could not easily find them. And whenever my mother found a patch of sweet potato leaves on the land owned by her father, she would be most happy. She would dig into the ground to find potatoes as fast as she could

Very often she said that she could not swallow the boiled sweet potatoes. It was hard for her and her siblings to eat rice mixed with sweet potatoes. After the Japanese Occupation they could not want to eat sweet potatoes as they were so tired of them.


Sweet potatoes can be fried in this way today AND THERE are many different ways of cooking sweet potatoes. This is a plate of fried potatoes, tufu, yam and yiu tiau, served with a rojak sauce.


The family ate a lot of sweet potatoes and ferns. Today my mother does not eat them because of her traumatic experiences. She is now 94 years old.

A School Water Dispenser and Bare Footed Pupils

(Kwang Hua Primary School,Sibu, Ceramic Water Dispenser which was manufactured by Yik Huo Co.)

An old school water dispenser reminded me of the days when we were children unaware of treated water. Although all mothers would boil Rajang River water for drinking, often when thirsty the kids would just drink stream water or water found in the river garden. I cannot remember any one of us had diarrhea from drinking such water.

But, most primary schools offered free thin tea or free boiled water which a care taker or the wife of the Headmaster would boil. I remember two water dispensers in schools - Kwang Hua School where my cousins studied, and Kwang Ang School, where my aunts and cousins went.

Like Cambodian children, we also drank rain water stored in the recycled diesel drums.We were then so innocent.

Many of my peers went to their rural primary school bare footed because they were poor and in reality they did not have to wear shoes because the foot paths were muddy and at times they had to walk on rubber tree roots. Wearing shoes would mean that they would slip. They needed their toes to grip the rubber tree roots. And when they had to cross some small streams, on fallen tree trunks, it would be best that they were bare footed.

By the time they reached Form One to join me in a good secondary school, their feet were flat, toes widely spread out and did not fit into school shoes well. They often suffered from blisters from wearing poorly manufactured rough canvas shoes and some even had foot sores from over exposure to water and mud.

A water dispenser in a primary school like this one, from Kwang Hua Primary School, was a luxury. Even if thin warm tea was in the dispenser, it was more than welcome.

An old uncle used to tell us stories that he was so poor that his mother could not make lunch for him to bring to school and the thin tea was his lunch. He said that he was so thin that a wind would blow him off the ground. But he was a very determined and strong man.

He was a man of good upright character, a great English teacher who produced a whole generation of good students and a good Principal.

Nang Chong Stories : The Bombing of the Chung Cheng School

Up to day photo. 21st century

During the 1970's when I was studying in Kuala Lumpur away from the curfew days, I worried about my aging maternal grandmother who lived in Nang Chong and my cousins who went to Chung Cheng school on foot. Life was difficult as the curfew, some days were 12 hours, some days were 24 hours, could be imposed any time by RASCOM.

An old photo.

Food had to be stored, but not too much because the soldiers could check. There was a campaign to curtail all movement of food supplies so that the CCO could not get their food supply from sympathizers. All food flow was recorded and monitored. Motor launches were blocked and checked . This was to starve the CCos out of the jungle!!

Gun fire was not uncommon. One day several bombs were dropped around Chung Cheng School area and the kitchen was partially destroyed. God is Good. No one was killed.

For many days students did not go to school. Political turmoil caused interruption in school. Many of my cousins did not finish their secondary school education, while some were lucky to have relatives in Sibu. Upon transfer, they went to Catholic High School where they could complete their education. Catholic High School, a private school saved many Chinese youths of the Rajang. In those days it was hard to get into the English Mission Schools if a student's English was not good.

Nang Chong Stories : Geng Niang (Seat of District Office)

My paternal great grandfather and grandfather , maternal grandfather came to Ming Chiang Geng (town of Ming Chiang) to meet Wong Nai Siong, after hearing about Wong Nai Siong's mission to bring Foochow pioneers to Sibu. They must have done some official documentation here before leaving for Nanyang. The pioneers had to go by boat to Mawei where they boarded their ship to Singapore.

My paternal grandfather and his brother came from Wun Chieh, a very hilly region of Minqing.
Here is a photo I took when I paid a visit not long ago. Today the road is excellent and there are many viaducts and bridges to go up to the high mountains. My ancestors were all buried in high mountain sides.




My maternal grandparents came from Ban Dong, or 6 Du, nearer to Wong Nai Siong's home.

They would not have imagined that their poor county seat would be this prosperous in 120 years' time.

Our ancestors would not believe that their Geng Niang would be so westernized like this.

They left in 1901, and more than 118 have passed. My grandfather was 18 years old at that time.

I used to hear my grandmother mentioning Geng Niang this and Geng Niang that...I wish I could hear them tell their stories again and again.

Nang Chong Stories ; Hand Warmer

My maternal grandmother was a good story teller. And she had a lot of experience during her years as a stranded overseas Foochow lady in Fujian.

The days were poor for them because money could not be remitted to them in the village. Grandma was also looking after two nephews who were brought for a holiday from Sarawak. In order to make ends meet, the two boys also helped to earn their keep by helping in the farm. They were responsible for cooking food for the pigs. Grandma did other kitchen work.

Grandma said that it was very cold in winter and with hardly enough clothes they were glad that they had a big kitchen  which had a roaring fire, to work in.

In the cold winter they at least had warmth from the fire. That was a blessing in disguise.

So how did other people in China warm their hands?


The Qing Dynasty left a lot of cultural artifacts like this copper hand warmer, so we have an idea how they warm themselves in the cold days.

Today, the Foochow Heritage Gallery in Sibu has a hand warmer as an exhibit. So you can have a look and see what a hard warmer used by the wealthier folks in Fujian in the olden days.