Sibu Tales : Halves

Throughout my childhood, I was surrounded by loving parents and relatives. they were good role models and their action spoke louder than words.

One special memory I had of my grandmother and my maternal uncles and aunts was their frugality which led to many " halving" of things.
1. Apples and oranges were not only halved but quartered so that more could be shared amongst the 14 kids or more in the big household. Sharing was a very important practice which we practice to this day.
2. Grandma would always buy biscuits, kompia and other snacks when she went to Sibu to sell the family smoked rubber sheets. And she would always tell us..."please share or halve the piece and share with the next one". When a child got a whole biscuit, a younger one would always ask, "Can I have half of the biscuit?" And the older child would always give half away. The act of giving was so meaningful and significant in those days.
3. After doing the laundry by the river side, the heavy load would have to be carried in pails back to the old wooden house. To enable every older sister or cousin, or aunt, to have lesser burden, we would always divide the loads into two. It was a joy to be sharing the load, with each one of us carrying "only half a pail of the washing" to be dried on the bamboo poles. Most washing was done before sunset. Sometimes the kids' clothes would be wind dried before sun rise. So there would be no worries about shortage of the small clothes for the small ones. Doing laundry by hand using the fresh river water was a part of our childhood which left a big imprint on my mind. Grandmother would always remind us to do laundry well so that we could all wear clean clothes. We were not well off but at least we were clean, she would always say. The older ones would always happily do the laundry for the younger ones with joy in their hearts.


4. During the Chinese New Year, we would never have a whole bottle of F& N orange all to ourselves. We would have to share. But after the 15th Day of the Chinese New Year we were all given a chance to share the booty, and my mother would allow us to divide equally the remaining bottles of drinks. It was indeed heavenly for us to be able to salt away 6 to 7 bottles of the lovely aerated water under our bed, for us to savour the drinks slowly. But some years when we had more visitors we did not have any left to share. Very much later, the novelty of aerated water dissipated and we did not hanker for any share at all.
4. Whenever we visited our grandmother in the down river farm house, my third uncle, Pang Sing, would make a huge bao or two, the size was  the size of a basin (2 kg), grandma would always call Aunty Yung to come and get HALF of the bao for their breakfast the next day, while most usually, another one was already steaming in the big kuali over the wood fire. In the evenings we enjoyed the extra aroma of steaming baos from the kitchen. Flour was so cheap in those days and grandma would always buy by the whole flour bag for less than 2 Straits dollars in the 50's and 60's. To give away half of something was a sign of generosity practised by our beloved elders in those days.

There is a famous English adage or proverb which says a Burden shared is a Burden Halved. So in many ways, our Foochow upbringing in those days paved for our cultural and Christian attitude to this day.

Our Christian Bible also ensures us that when we share our burdens with God, he will sustain us and lift some or all of the weight from our shoulders.

“CAST YOUR BURDEN ON THE LORD [ RELEASING THE WEIGHT OF IT] AND HE WILL SUSTAIN YOU;…” Psalm 55:22.

 and

“PRAISE BE TO THE LORD, TO GOD OUR SAVIOR, WHO DAILY BEARS OUR BURDENS.“Psalm 68:19

On the PRACTical side, many things were halved in the olden days. Milo tins would be halved and fashioned into containers for scooping water. Kerosene could be sold in half tins to the housewives who did not have the budget to buy a whole tin. And of course those huge tins of biscuits also come in half tins. Whenever my third uncle, being the stronger man in the family, collected a runaway timber log in the river, he would saw the log into two and older uncle Pang Ping and his family would have half of the log for firewood.

Eerie Rooting System

Sarawak : Chopsticks?

The binjai is a local Sarawak fruit, sour and its flesh is white. It is a peculiar fruit which might not be liked by a lot of people who are unfamiliar with it.

There is a similar local fruit called belunu!

Both fruits have huge trees which can grow up to more than 200 feet tall.


Ambuyat or linut is a Bruneian dish and it is also favoured by the Penans, Melanaus and Kedayans of Sarawak.

It is called linut in Sarawak and is made from sago flour. It is actually very gluey. You eat it with a special bamboo home made chopsticks. Linut is served with sambal, cucumber and selections of sour fruits.

My former SMK Limbang student, Dayang Lasung who is Lun Bawang married a Melanau. She and her husband, both studied in the Tanjog Lobang College, Miri, One day they prepared a Linut feast ad invited me . It was a sumptuous Melanau lunch with linut and all.

The way to pick up linut is to use a Melanau chopsticks, made from fine bamboo, which look like a pair of Chinese chopsticks. Now I know what the Melanau and Penan tamu vendors sell in the their stalls. They are selling Melanau chopticks and not Chinese chopsticks.

In Search of History : Tung Hua Secondary School, Sibu

With the help of Google, I was befriended by Dr. Zhang Zhen from Australia.

She and I corresponded and we realized that we did have something in common. My father Chang Ta Kang knew her mother Miss Li Xiaoyin, in Sibu.My father had returned from Beijing. He had also studied in Shanghai and was good friend with Wong Cheng Ang, who proabably inspired Miss Li  to come to Sibu and helped her find a job as a teacher.

By a long shot Dr. Zhang Zhen was trying to find out more about her mother's history.

"It is a long shot," she wrote to me.

"I  am trying to find out who could possibly have parents who studied in Tung Hua Secondary School in 1930's to 40's."

In my curiosity I asked my mother who told me that my father had spoken of Miss Li Xiaoyin who taught in Tung Hua secondary school and that she was an excellent English teacher. She boarded in the school at Queensway.

Dr. Zhang Zhen  wrote to me --

"According to historical documents from the Sarawak Chinese Cultural Association (Cai 2007; 2013), my mother most probably arrived in Sibu in the first half of 1939 as she was listed as the deputy director of the drama troupe of the Sibu Chinese Choir. While in Sibu, she organized singing and dancing performances and flower selling events to raise money for the anti-Japanese resistance movement. Records of the various positions she held are published in books by the Sarawak Chinese Cultural Association (Cai 2007). She seems to have left for Singapore after September 1940, according to the Association documents. (Zhang Zhen)

The black and white photo shows Miss Li in Shanghai 1936. 

Coloured photo of Miss Li with the writer and Professor Zhang Zhen . Miss Li passed away in Sept 2015.

Note : Dr. Zhang Zhen came to Sibu to meet up with several historians and later she came to Miri to meet up with me.

(P/s I continue in my endeavour to put pieces of Sibu history together......Would any one be of help especially alumni of Tung Hua Secondary School Sibu? Please contact me.)

Third Division Resident : Griffin

The Third Division Resident, Mr. Griffin was a popular figure in Sibu when I was a student. He was a tall man. His wife was the Chairperson of our Girl Guide Association of Sibu and we often saw her during our special functions. She would come and be with us, very well dressed, and waring gloves. She was every inch an English lady.




Mr. Griffin must have liked Sarawak a lot because he travelled far and wide to many parts of the colony.

He should have written a book about his travels as he served in First Division, Second Division, Third and Fourth Divisions.

Chang Ta Kang : Hua Hung Ice Factory and Rice Mill

The Last Days of the Japanese Occupation

My great grandfather, grandfather and father operated the Hua Hung Ice Factory and Rice Mill since the 1927. Throughout the Japanese Occupation, they were fortunate enough to have rice to eat. The family did not have to eat potatoes at all.

But unfortunately my great grandfather passed away in 1943.

It is a family joke that my father did not meet my mother during the war. So it was unfortunate  for my mother as she and her siblings were so tired of eating sweet potatoes. Whatever rice my mother planted, had to be first given to the elderly and the children. The rest who were stronger ate less white rice.

9th March 1945 - When the Allied Forces came, bombs were dropped on the banks of the Rajang and the Igan, but luckily no bomb was dropped on Hua Hung Ice Factory.  And that spared my father, his siblings and parents.

One stray bomb was dropped in Sibu town, damaging the back walls of the Masland Church and a few shops.  So many people retreated to seek protection from their relatives in the villages.

Then came June when many people died after a few more bombs were dropped. Streets and shops in Sibu were badly damaged.

However, my father was not sure of the real figures. The residents of Sibu were petrified and many actually rushed in the jungles, leaving the town for quite a number of hours whenever they heard planes coming near Sibu. It was a panicky time in the town.

For many days, the Japanese were seen to be on a retreating mode, after burning their uniforms, and even vehicles at a place fairly near the Lau King Howe Hospital. This was seen by many of our relatives who lived in Sg. Bidut.

 Many of the Japanese soldiers ( they were called deserters) took their powered boats up to Song and Kapit. It was said many of them actually were beheaded by the locals. It was quite chaotic in Sibu then.

When news of the atomic bombs (9th August 1945)were dropped in Japan spread to the villages, there was quite a bit of fear actually. Some did not know what kind of bombs they were. The bombs of the Allies were bad enough.

My father and his friends who had been building the Sibu Airport were also saddened that a lot of their work was "bombed" by the Allies. Two bombs were dropped near Sg. Merah behind the Tien Doh Tong but Sg. Merah bazaar was saved and that was very fortunate.

Many of the able bodied men all came to the town to see what action should be taken next. The last few of the Japanese in Sibu were moved to Kuching on 17th Sept. 1945. On 11th October the Allied Government issued a written notice to tell every one to be disciplined and orderly.

The troops gave out clothes and food to the locals who behaved in very orderly manners according to my father. The Malay and Iban Headman, together with the Chinese leaders (Lau Kah Tii, Ling Kai Cheng,etc) made sure that everything was well distributed.

Foochow Peace Eggs and Fried Soh Mien

The best peace eggs and fried soh mien dish is from Lutong Cafe in Miri.

Mrs. Wong's chef is really good with this traditional Foochow dish. Mrs. Wong, bless her heart, puts her soul and heart into her food business. Her F and B staff are loyal and very very pleasant. Dinner is always a pleasant affair at Lutong Cafe.

When a Foochow orders this dish the restaurant would know that it is for a birthday and special toches will be given to all the dishes.

The hardboiled eggs are deep fried and none of them should be broken or torn here and there. The Foochows say, the egg white must not "burst".

There are usually one peace egg for each diner. So you can tell, this platter is 8 .

This famous dish is very Foochow. You can find it in Sitiawan, Sibu and Miri, and even Marudi where many Foochow chefs are working.

The longevity noodles must have dried mushrroms, eggs, cabbage, carrots to add sweetness to the saltish soh mien. Good fresh sesame oil must be used too.