My Mother Remembers

My home was originally in the city of Zhenjiang, Jiangsu province. Because of the Taiping Rebellion, my ancestors moved to Dongtai. That was over a hundred years ago. Dongtai was somewhat isolated where modern education was not developed. Thus, although I was brought up in a relatively well-off family with a scholarly background, the family was conservative. It strongly disapproved of women leaving home to study. This meant that I did not have the opportunity to receive higher education, something that, till now, I still regret. At the time I was married at the age of twenty-three, I had no experience at all of managing a household. Servants did all the domestic work for us. In addition, my loving mother shielded me from all this. As a result, I developed the habit of not caring for trifling matters, like not being able to tell the difference between grain and legumes. Fortunately, I later changed my ways and did not end up totally ignorant of household affairs. Before we were married in February 1929, your father and I had never met. Surprisingly our feelings for each other have been good; we have cared for each other, shown each other mutual respect and have gone through hard and sweet times together, and the several decades have passed like a day.

Your father, a graduate from the Southeastern University in Nanjing, was teaching in two schools in Taizhou. The family home was a large one where three generations lived under the same roof. At the time I joined the family, the family had been broken up for several years and your home had only your grandparents, a grand aunt, your uncle (father’s brother) and his wife and your aunt (father’s sister). I lived with them for several months and felt comfortable and close to them all.

Early in September (1929), I learnt that my maternal grandmother was very ill and went home (to Dongtai) to see her. A few days afterwards, she passed away. I was still there grieving for her when I received your father’s letter. It said that his university classmate’s father, Mr Qiao Yin-gang (), who had recommended your father to be the headmaster of the Huaqiao Middle School in Surabaya, told him the formal letter of appointment has arrived together with 300 yuan for travel expenses. It was a time when job opportunities were few and far between. Although this meant leaving home and family, he felt he should accept the offer.

I was to go along. It meant we had to get our things ready to travel quickly. Thus, late in September, we said our farewells and went first to Nanjing. Because 300 yuan was not enough for our tickets, we needed to borrow another 300 yuan from his former classmate, Mr Qiao Yi-fan (). Mr Qiao readily provided us with the sum we needed and gave us a farewell dinner. Indeed, we were moved by his friendship. Your fourth maternal uncle in Nanjing [Mr Ding, my mother’s brother or cousin] also invited us to a send-off dinner.

We went to Shanghai to wait for our ship and stayed at the Huizhong Hotel. I visited your fourth “aunt” [actually my mother’s cousin] whose husband, Mr Yan Yi-fu , was working at the Bank of Communications. They kindly hosted us for dinner. There was also your “uncle”, Mr Cao Nan-ping , husband of your father’s cousin and a scion of a wealthy family. He was studying at Fudan University and also invited us for dinner. Your uncle, Shao-wen [my father’s younger cousin] was also studying at Fudan at the time. Your seventh great grand-uncle [my grandfather’s uncle] was in Shanghai at the time working for Mr Hu Bi-jiang as a family tutor. Mr Hu, one of the leading lights in Shanghai’s financial sector, greatly respected his integrity and literary skills and had specially appointed him to teach his sons classical Chinese and, with his moral character, be an exemplar for them. Mr Hu certainly had an original view on this matter.

I remember how your seventh great grand-uncle was fond and protective of us and took us to walk round the Great World Centre and have dinner there. Your uncle Shao-wen also came along. For those times fifty years ago, to do that was unusually open-minded. And when we were travelling there by rickshaw, he insisted that the rickshaw I was in be in the middle to ensure that nothing went wrong. You can imagine (how I felt) to have a senior member of the family so careful and thoughtful.

We were a few days at the hotel before we boarded our ship. It was named “Zhi-jia-da” . There were two kinds of cabins, first class and third class. It was not docked at the pier but anchored in the middle of the Huangpu River, so could only be reached in small boats. We went on board at night. Being the first time I was boarding a large ship, I was filled with anxiety. On board, men and women were separated. Each cabin had six bunks one on top of the other. In my cabin, all my companions were Guangdong and Fujian compatriots and their dialects were wholly incomprehensible, so you can imagine how depressed I was. In addition, each time the ship reached another port, it would stop to discharge cargo for one or two days. Given that the weather was very hot and the work was noisy, it was really miserable.

We travelled for fifteen days and, at the end of October, reached our destination. Fortunately, the chairman of the school, Mr Zhang Ji-an , as Chairman of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, was someone of wealth and influence and highly regarded by the local authorities. He personally came to meet the ship and enabled us to disembark without having to undergo long queues and the humiliating experience of being treated as piglets. We were thus not delayed and the envy of the other passengers.

Mr Qiao Yin-gang had already rented a place for us to stay with two rooms, a hall and a dining room. The monthly rent was 80 yuan. It was located in a quiet and secluded area not far from the school. Each trip to the school by horse-buggy was ten cents. It was really an ideal place in the residential district. But it was really too expensive, and it would be much cheaper for us to live on the school premises. That would also be more convenient for your father’s work. So, after two months, we moved into the school grounds.

Only after your father started work at the school and talked in detail with the school board members did he begin to realize the actual conditions of the school. It did not have its own premises nor any endowed funds but depended on raising some 20,000 to 30,000 yuan now and again to pay all its expenses. How could the school sustain itself for long that way? We first saw the splendid building in which the school was housed but found out that the monthly rent was an expensive 400 yuan. There were also charges for water and electricity and other miscellaneous costs. Also, the salaries for teachers were not low. School expenditure depended only on irregular monthly donations and school fees. Each month’s income was not enough for half a month’s expenses. That meant that what had been donated could not last more than half a year before the coffers were empty. Even when teachers’ salaries were discounted by 20 per cent, there was not enough to pay them.

Furthermore, the family in Taizhou was in financial straits, continually asking for remittances and we were hard put to meet their requests. Your father thought hard about this but was unable to find a solution to the problem. Unsettled, he felt he was unable to do his work well nor help his family. He contemplated resigning but the school was not agreeable. So he could only make greater efforts to tap other sources of funding while cutting down expenses. He added to his workload spending a lot of time and energy to organize a fund-raising fair.

When the fair was about to be opened, I was about to give birth and thus added further to his worries. This being my first baby, there was considerable pain from morning to night and still the baby was not born. Eventually, the doctor assisted birth and the baby weighed about eight pounds or so. It was a lovely baby. Both your father and I were first-time parents, so could not help but be somewhat tense. I was in poor health and stayed two weeks before leaving the hospital. Back at home, you cried every evening and wanted to be carried. Our colleague, Mr Zheng, told us that it was good and harmless for a child’s health to cry for twenty minutes without stopping. So we followed advice and we all surrounded your bed to watch you cry. After less than twenty minutes, you stopped and never cried again. The strangest thing is that a baby less than two weeks old seemed to understand what that meant, something that has made me wonder to this day.

Because I was young and knew nothing about looking after my health, I did not know what to take to help me recover my strength. At the time, I could not find patent medicine for my needs and it was several months before I gradually recovered. The hospital specialized in obstetrics and rather well-known, but it was quite far from the school, some thirty li (about ten miles) away. Your father took time to come and see me every day, so you can imagine how fully engaged he was. Fortunately, the fund-raising fair was quite successful. It raised some 20,000 yuan and the school was able to pay the teachers all that they were owed. There was not much left after that, so the question of how to go on funding the school remained uncertain.

At the end of the year, one of the teachers was to return to China. Your father organized a dinner to send her off and insisted that I go with him. You were not yet three months then. We had no one to look after you because our Malay maid only worked during the day and went home every evening. The only thing to do was to ask one of the school workers to carry you to the dinner. We did not notice that the worker carried you in the open under the eaves. After dinner, we found you had caught cold and developed a high fever. You also had difficulty breathing and could not sleep. Your father and I had to take turns to carry you. It was a serious illness because you were unable to drink any milk for four days. Fortunately, the doctor diagnosed correctly and you gradually recovered. But, from then on, you frequently suffered from asthmatic relapses. As a result, you did not have a strong constitution and did not really recover from that until your teens. All those years, that was a source of much anxiety for us all.

Considering the economic conditions of many of the huaqiao Chinese in the Dutch East Indies, there were not a few wealthy ones among them. If the school boards were not so divided into factions and were generous in making donations, there would have been more than enough funding to protect Chinese education and build a very good Chinese Middle School. But if that is not what they care about, what can be done?

One day, I was taking a walk with your father and, not thinking about when the train might be passing through, we walked along the tracks. It was only when, as we were walking along, we noted that the gates were being shut that we realized that the train was about to pass. Your father was ahead but I did not panic and calmly and quickly followed him off the tracks. Had I been a minute slow, I could have been killed, that was how dangerous it was. Thinking about the incident afterwards, a lingering fear remained.

Your father was with the school for more than a year. In trying to keep expenses as low as possible, he did not recruit more teachers even when they were needed. Instead, he took on the extra teaching burdens himself. Apart from his administrative duties, he thus had to teach more than twenty hours of class each week. Although this helped to ease the school finances, it was no great help to the future of the school. With such a heavy load of work, it became clear he could not keep this up for long, so he firmly decided to resign. When this was approved, he was in no position to seek another position, nor would it have been easy to find other suitable positions there. Furthermore, the school owed him salary to the sum of 3,000 guilders; if they could have paid him half of that, we would have been grateful. Despite many reminders, the money was not forthcoming because the school board members were not willing to take responsibility for the debt.

At the time, heavy floods struck our home in Taizhou and all roads there were under water. We were unable to send any money back to help the family, and could only wait it out in the school. Although food and lodgings were not a problem, you can imagine how depressed we were. We waited for some three months without any news, not knowing when we could leave.

Suddenly, one day a letter came from one of your father’s former colleagues in Singapore, Mr Li Chun-ming , to say that the Education Department in Ipoh in Malaya was looking for someone to fill the post of assistant inspector (of Chinese schools) and suggested that your father give it a try and apply for it. If successful, he will be working with Mr Wu Yu-teng, someone who was also a former colleague at the Huaqiao Middle School in Singapore. Having no alternative, he made the application and it was successful. Fares for the whole family were provided so we were prepared to forego the salary owed. Just before we were about to leave, one of the board members, Mr Lin Sheng-di , privately gave us 300 yuan and expressed his apologies. Another board member arranged for us to travel on his cargo ship so that we could save on our fares. We were grateful for their gestures of appreciation.

The Dutch East Indies was a clean and well-organized place with many famous historical sites. It was a pity that, although we were there for over two years, we did not visit any of them because we did not have the money and were uncertain how long we would stay. Apart from colleagues at the school, we made only a few friends. Our lives were extremely simple so that, when leaving Surabaya, I did not have many fond memories of it.

The ship we sailed in was not large, carried little cargo and was thus unstable in the open seas. When passing Bandjarmasin, the seas became very rough. Your father and I were both so seasick we were unable to get up from our beds and, like suffering from a great illness, also unable to hold down any food and drink. Fortunately, we had brought with us a wooden cot that could be used as a bed or serve as a chair. Every day, we placed this cot in the middle of the dining hall and put you in it with some biscuits and let you feed yourself. From very young, you were well behaved. You did not cry and were not afraid of strangers. Even when you did not see your parents for the whole day, you did not cry. In the afternoon, I forced myself to get up to take you for your bath and give you milk, and then looked after you until you went to sleep. We did this for three days before arriving in Singapore.

There Mr and Mrs Zhao Xin-hou came to meet us and helped us with our luggage. Mr Zhao was a friend who had travelled with us when we first came out. We did not stay long in Singapore. That night, we took the night train to Kuala Lumpur and stayed in the home of Mr Lee. His younger brother, Kai-mo was also looking for a job. The next day, your father went to the hospital for a medical examination. The doctor diagnosed a protein problem and said he needed to stay in the hospital for observation. Mr Wu (your father’s superior in his new job), who was in KL on official business and about to return to Ipoh, asked me if I was willing to go ahead to Ipoh with him. Because it was not very convenient to stay long in Mr Lee’s rather complicated family, I agreed to go ahead to Ipoh.

We arrived in Ipoh by noon and met Mrs Wu for the first time. She struck me instantly as someone who was easy to get along with but somewhat immature. She loved to go out and play mahjong with her friends and did not pay much attention to teaching her children and managing the home, thus neglecting her responsibilities as its head. I stayed at the Wu home for over ten days before your father came to Ipoh. We prepared to move into the house provided for us by buying some simple essentials, like beds, mattresses, furniture, cupboards and chairs, kitchen utensils, all second-hand because the prices were lower. We also bought a bicycle. Altogether it did cost quite a lot. Fortunately, the Board member [in Surabaya] had given us 300 yuan just before we left, and we saved 200 yuan on our fares. This money was most useful. Apart from paying for the basic settling down expenses, we were able to send 100 yuan to Taizhou to help deal with the family’s urgent needs.

After troubling the Wu household for so long, we finally completed several kinds of miscellaneous matters and moved to our new home with all the things we had bought. We were helped greatly by Mr and Mrs Wu, and were very moved by that. Viewed by the standards of fifty years ago, the house we moved into was not bad at all. It had two bedrooms and a living room, two bathrooms, a kitchen and a room for the servant. The grounds were spacious and had several fruit trees. The whole area consisted of quarters for civil servants, quiet and neat, and the conditions were really quite ideal. The only problem was the house faced west and the sun in the tropics was too strong. We had to shut all our front doors and windows every day at one o’clock until six o’clock in the evening. Because we did not have machines to expel the heat, this meant that the air in the house did not circulate for several hours. In those days, air-conditioners had not yet been invented; even fans were not common. Now all kinds of equipment are driven by electricity; compared to decades ago, the speed of progress is incalculable. That is what they mean by the past not being as good as the present, although the higher standards of living are still not something everyone can enjoy.

When your father arrived in Ipoh, various countries in the world were gripped by economic panic. This had brought salaries to low levels. He received 120 dollars a month with an annual increment of ten dollars. There was no need to worry about wages not being paid. Also, prices of goods were low and the monthly rent for the house was seven dollars. After sending thirty dollars each month to Taizhou, there was still ninety dollars. Though we did not have spare funds to purchase anything extra, we lived within our means. Our lives were simple and may be considered quiet and comfortable.

Ipoh was the capital of the state of Perak, but it was rather unenlightened. There were no entertainment centres. Its education was not developed. In the whole state, there were over forty Chinese schools but only a few in Ipoh, the rest being located in the villages like traditional private schools. Facilities were poor. Most of them had atap huts for schoolhouses, with one blackboard and a dozen or so old tables and chairs. They had one or two teachers each and some twenty to thirty pupils. Quite a number of them were no more than that. Only a very few were somewhat better provided.

It is hard to describe how difficult it was for your father to get to these schools when he went on his inspection trips. There were no trains or roads for cars to travel on. He had to use wooden sampans to cross the rivers; in the rubber estates, he rode bicycles or walked. By the time he reached the schools, you can imagine how much time and energy he had spent. He did that only so that he could give the teachers a little guidance about teaching methods. That group of teachers had limited training but to be able to perform their tasks and live under such primitive conditions, their spirit of dedication was admirable. Inspiring village children to open their minds to study, their contributions certainly deserve to be honoured.

We had arrived only three months when Diyu was born and (his elder sister) Dihe contracted chickenpox. To avoid infecting the newborn baby, Mr Woo discussed with us about sending their servant with Dihe to live with us for a while. Although we knew you were likely to be infected, we could not refuse the request. As expected, after four or five days, you were also infected. The infection was unavoidable for children; it was only a matter of when it happened.

Your father’s work was not very busy. Every weekend we went to the Woo’s to play mahjong because Mr and Mrs Woo found life somewhat monotonous and wished to while the time away. Your father always felt at heart that this was a waste of time but found it difficult to decline and disappoint them and affect our friendly feelings. On average, we went at least fifty to sixty times each year, spending over ten hours each time. In the ten years we did this, we wasted so much precious time. This was really a pity.

When we settled down to life in Ipoh, I had hoped to learn some English so that I could make use of it. But there was at the time no private tutoring I could turn to. We found out from friends that the Convent provided an afternoon class teaching English. With my little English, I could fit into the Standard Three class, except that my spoken English was quite inadequate. I also felt that I was really too old to be in the class with the young children. In addition, you were young and naughty and could not really be left to a servant to look after. Furthermore, your father had no intention to stay long there. For all these several reasons, I missed the opportunity to study. Even today, when I think about it, I feel a great regret.

After a year or so, we began to have more friends, like Mr Xu Kuibo , Mr Yin Pengling and Mr Wang Shoumin , they were fellow provincials of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. During their school holidays, they would come and visit us. We also made many other friends from among school board directors and teachers. But there was little contact normally, and we met only when there were meetings about public business and other social occasions. At the Woo’s home, we also met Mr Zeng Zhiqiang and Mr Dai Shulin , and they were our earliest friends. About two years later, Mr Li Kaimo , at a time when it was normally necessary to be introduced before one could get a job, brought several teachers from his hometown in Nantong [in Jiangsu province] to Malaya to look for jobs. This was a very bold step and his enthusiasm was admirable. Coming with them were three husband and wife couples, Mr Xu Jishi who became head of the Chinese school at Jiwuying (=, Chenderiang), Mr Shao Qi , who was headmaster of the school in Kroh, and Mr Li Weihan , who became headmaster at Teluk Anson. At least they all found regular positions. Mr Xu and Mr Shao were both conscientious and responsible, but Mr Li did not have a good character and could not avoid getting into trouble. During the vacations, they would come to Ipoh to visit and talk. All three schools were in areas that your father was responsible for and their coming added several fellow provincials among our friends.

Once our female servant caught cold washing her hair; her whole body shook and her face changed colour, giving me a fright. I wanted to leave the house to inform one of her friends and asked you to look after the house and wait for me to return. The doors were all open at the time. You were playful and went off to play with your friends.

Your father came to work in Ipoh without intending to stay long. Although life was calm and orderly, he always felt his work did not have much meaning for him. He often felt unease whenever he thought of having received his country’s training without having done anything in return. But what could be done when there was no way he could serve? Having hastily come to Ipoh and been there for over three years and with his contract due to end, he was expected to decide whether to stay or leave. At that time, the international situation was getting tenser each day when war could break out any moment. Japan bullied our country for years. Although arms preparation was not enough, it was more than anyone could bear. It was feared that war would be forced upon us anytime. In addition, it was uncertain whether jobs could be found at home, how then could we support the old and the young at home? We thought about all this again and again and could not sleep for three nights. Finally, we decided to give up the job and leave.

The local government was very surprised but respected our wish. But a few days later, we received a personal letter from your seventh great-uncle that analyzed all the factors and argued that your father should not rashly resign. But the letter of resignation had already been sent and one should not go back on one’s word. Coincidently, and fortunately, the inspector of (Chinese) schools in Selangor, Mr Liang Changling , had recommended to the government that your father be kept on for another half year because the end-of-the-year unified examination was a very busy time and he was needed to help mark the examination papers. Your father agreed. Not long after, someone in the Inspectorate came personally to ask your father to re-consider. Your father took advantage of this to turn around and continue in his job.

But we had been away abroad for over seven years and missed our family greatly, so we asked for home leave. Although we had been working outside for so many years, we had no savings and had to ask Mr Woo to lend us 300 dollars for travel expenses, to be paid back with two months’ salary. In August 1936 we boarded a P & O ship [SS Rawalpindi]. Although we were travelling second class, it was not bad because the three of us shared a cabin.

By chance, we met Professor Mei Guangdi with his whole family on board. They were returning home from Europe and passing through Singapore. He had been your father’s teacher when he was studying at Southeastern University. To meet again after not having seen each other for ten years gave your father great pleasure indeed.

The ship was large and the seas were calm, so we did not suffer any seasickness. After a week, we arrived in Shanghai. Waiting for us at the docks were your uncle, Mr Yan Zhongfu [mother’s cousin’s husband, related to Mr Yan Yi-fu , mentioned earlier], your aunt Jingyi (biaoyi , mother’s cousin) [she was also my mother’s closest friend], your aunt Peiyu , mother’s sister), your uncle Shaowen (father’s cousin). When we landed, we were shocked to hear that your seventh great-grand uncle died a few days earlier and his coffin had been sent back to Taixian (now Taizhou). This sudden bad news caused us great sadness.

That night, Mr Yan invited us to a welcome dinner. After that, we were invited to a Peking opera performance but, bearing in mind your great-grand uncle’s recent passing, we did not attend but returned early to our hotel, the same Huizhong we stayed in (in 1929). You were then not quite six years and were willing to go to the theatre and stayed until the show ended past midnight. Your aunt Yu (Peiyu) told us that, at the theatre, you spoke to English soldiers. When she asked you how you knew them, you answered that they were sailors on the same ship. Your boldness and lively behaviour were loveable but made us worry that you would not be easy to bring up. You have a talent for languages. You had only gone to school for half a year and had not been taught a word of English at home. At school, you had started by learning the alphabet and been there only a few months and what you learnt was very limited. Yet you were able to talk to the English soldiers. If you could have grown up in a well-to-do family environment with a number of good teachers to provide the courses, who knows you could have mastered several other foreign languages.

The next day in Shanghai, we received a lunch invitation from the calligrapher, Mr Li Zhongqian and his wife. They were friends we met in Ipoh but had not seen for several years so it was a happy and enjoyable get-together. Because your great-grand uncle’s funeral was to be held in Taizhou soon, we could not remain in Shanghai any longer but had to return to Taizhou to pay our respects. Recalling that seven years earlier when we left to go abroad, our respected elder was hale and hearty and his mind clear and controlled, and now we were unable to hear his soft voice, made us feel extremely melancholy. Inevitably this reduced the enthusiasm anticipated to return to our family. Fortunately, the fact that both your grandparents were healthy meant that our happiness at seeing them was not diminished. But, after several years apart, we found when we met that we did not know where to begin to talk, and being so happy felt something like sadness. We also had to pay formal visits to others of the older generation, one after the other.

The weather was getting cool so, although we were not staying long, we still had to prepare clothing for the autumn. There were other little things too trivial to go into details here. There were quite a few relatives in Dongtai whom we had to call on. After so many years, we had to leave several more days there in order to have a chance to call on and talk to them. Before long, our time being limited, we had to leave hastily and say our farewells to our families. On the day we left [Dongtai] early in the morning, your grand uncle [mother’s uncle, her father’s brother] was still asleep and we did not wake him to say goodbye. Unexpectedly, when our boat was about to leave, he had rushed to the pier but we could only look at one another in the distance. After the parting we would never see each other again.

When we returned to Taizhou, we stayed another ten days before we had to pack our belongings to prepare to leave again. Inside China, communications were really inconvenient. Although distances were not great, we had to change our means of transportation several times to reach Shanghai. This took much time and energy but there were no alternatives. Just before we left, we went to say our farewell to your grandmother, and all sorts of feelings welled up in our hearts. This trip home cost us quite a lot, but we could only spend so little time with our relatives, and we did not know when we would see each other again.

We travelled first by bus to Yangzhou and stopped by the home of the Yan family to talk with relatives. Mr Yan had a house in Yangzhou and seemed to have another business here but it was not convenient to ask about it. Your third aunt [Mrs Yan, mother’s cousin] lived in Shanghai because her children were studying there. Your aunt Jingyi had a job in the Education Department and lived in their house. We met her again and had a long talk to our heart’s content till late and it was extremely satisfactory. The next day, we went from Yangzhou to Zhenjiang to catch the train to Shanghai to wait for our ship.

We had an uneventful journey back to Singapore; we caught the train to Kuala Lumpur that night, where we changed trains to travel to Ipoh. Our journey of over two months thus came to an end. We rushed about every day and did not rest, so it was fortunate that we were all healthy when we arrived back. At the Ipoh station, our former servant came to meet us. She was an honest and hard-working person, but unfortunately was rather weak in health and not really good for us to re-employ. It was disappointing to her, but we found someone else who turned out to be very suitable. This person was very good-natured and polite. Although she was vegetarian, her meat dishes were very tasty without her having to try them when cooking. She worked for us for five years and we were like family. Because her foster mother fell ill, she left to return to tend to her illness, and because war came to Malaya, she could not come back. She was the best among all the servants I had employed, and losing her was a matter of great regret to me.

Though you had not been in school for three months and returned only in time for the examinations, you managed to come within the first twenty in your class and thus could continue to the next class the next year. We were really happy because this meant you did not have to be held back a year. We were home for only eight months when, as anticipated, the Japanese invasion began on July 7, 1937. Our national leaders and the people, without fear of the sacrifices necessary, rose to defend the country. The overseas Chinese also did their utmost to support the cause. The local huaqiao leaders urgently organized Relief Funds and established a Women’s Section. They had all the funds collected sent back to China to support the nation and provide emergency relief to the troops and the people. From then on, in addition to special donations, people also gave monthly donations. Although the amounts were small and quite inadequate, they demonstrated unity of purpose.

The Women’s Division was led by family members of prominent Overseas Chinese. Mrs Wu and I joined them. Every week we would go to the Recreation Park to sell food and other goods that had been prepared or made and offered as our donations. Some days, several teams of us would go out to the shops and visit residences around the town to sell food coupons. Often we came across those who had little understanding or were simply miserly, and we found ourselves having doors closed against us. We just had to endure the rejections.

In these activities I made many more friends but that also added to our expenditures. Fortunately, prices were low and stable, and your father’s salary gradually rose until it reached almost $200. We never dared to waste any of it, hoping to have some savings to meet unexpected needs when we might not be able to manage. Although we lived far away overseas, we were constantly anxious for the developments arising from the war at home. When the war started in Shanghai, the best troops and equipment were sent to the front. That enabled the forces to put up a fight although the loss of life was considerable. The three-month resistance really surprised the Japanese militarists. Internationally, too, attitudes towards China were changed. In order to sustain the long-term resistance strategy, the only painful alternative was to withdraw inland. By November, the capital was also lost. Fortunately, the Japanese militarists were so arrogant that they thought that our country had lost its ability to defend itself and would have to seek a peaceful negotiation. So they stopped and grandly celebrated their victory in Nanjing, not realizing that our country had long prepared for such a situation and took advantage of that to complete their full-scale preparations for a long war. It had the capital moved to Chongqing, and used Wuhan to serve as the interim administration centre for re-grouping the armed forces. It enabled them to strengthen their defences while drawing the enemy deep into the country and awaiting another opportunity to fight back. This was the only way for a country whose military was so poorly equipped.

During the years of the war, remittances from the Chinese overseas could still be sent, and letters to and from home continued to be delivered. When the situation was tense, family members moved to the countryside for safety waiting till matters were more settled before returning home. Although the conditions were grim, at least the family was safe and well.

One night, we asked the servant to take you to the recreation centre. She had not bought a ticket and asked you to sit among the audience to watch Cantonese opera. You were not willing to wait and wandered off to look for her. Not finding her, you set off to come home. Because you were still very young and never been out at night on your own, you were frightened, and when only a short distance from home, you cried for your father. We heard your cry and rushed to find out what happened. The servant looked desperately for you at the theatre and finally came home in terror and was so greatly relieved to find you safely at home. From then on, she never dared to take you out again.

In the autumn of 1938, we suddenly received a cable from Taixian to tell us that your grandmother had caught the flu. The doctor was unable to cure her and, after a few days, she died. We were extremely sad. If someone old like her had not been so upset by the sufferings of war, she might have been able to avoid getting ill and dying. Each time I think about that, it adds to the sense of loss. We were unable to return for the funeral to lessen our feelings of guilt. So we could only telegraph funds to help meet urgent needs.

We often worried if there was a world war and remittances were stopped, how the old and young in the family could survive. But we had no extra sources of funds to send more money home. As we worried about this, the Chinese government devised a monthly remittance plan. This allowed one to place the monthly remittance in the bank that could be drawn from when necessary. This way, the government could attract more overseas remittances. We were fortunate to have a relative, Ding Quqing , who worked for the (China and South Sea Bank) in Shanghai. We asked him to manage our remittances for us and after three years we had some savings that made us feel more secure.

Suddenly, the Japanese militarists, over-confident about their own strength, launched their invasion of Southeast Asia. On the 8th of December 1941, Penang was first to be bombed. Because forces were inadequate, Malaya did not manage to defend itself. In a very short time, many states were abandoned, and overseas letters and remittances came to a stop. After the war, when we returned to China and asked about our Shanghai bank account, we found that it had been very useful. For several years, the eight family members had drawn on it to avoid greater tribulations. Otherwise, the consequences were unthinkable.

At the English school, your schoolwork was not demanding. You did not often have any homework to do at night. You could have spent more time at home studying Chinese. But you were young and playful and, having no one to study with, found such study boring and thus your progress was slow. Fortunately, not far from home was a newly established private school that specialized in teaching Chinese to English school children. So we sent you to study there. It was a pity that the school started its classes at a rather inconvenient time. Its classes began at 1.30 pm while your school ended the day at 1.00 pm. You had to come home for lunch and then rush to the school. You studied there for several months. Then one day when cycling to school, you were knocked down by a car. A neighbour came to tell me about the accident and I was so upset I did not know what to do. We did not have a telephone so I could not tell your father. I rushed out of the house to find with great relief that you were not hurt. The driver of the car was a senior civil servant and the police who came to investigate seemed to have some private agreement with him. When the case was brought to the court, it was found that the cyclist was at fault. In fact, the drunken driver was the one to break the law. As it was, you were fined two dollars and the matter was settled. But as you were not hurt, I was truly happy and did not want to pursue the matter against the drunken driver. From then on, I did not dare to send you to that school and you lost the chance to continue with your Chinese, which was a pity.

After war broke out in China, more and more people came south to avoid the fighting. Quite a few artists and men of letters visited Ipoh, for example, Xu Beihong , Zhang Shanzi , Weng Zhanqiu , Zhang Dannong , Huang Yankai , Zhang Siren , Li Xilang , and they all became “literary friends” (wenyou ).

At the end of 1938, Mrs Zhou brought her five children to Ipoh, the eldest was thirteen and the youngest not yet three, to the Wu home to avoid the war. She was Mr Wu’s sister and she came together with Wang Ruya and together they all stayed in the Wu house. There were not enough rooms for them all. Fortunately, the bungalow had wooden flooring and in the warm tropical climate the problem could be easily solved. Everyone slept on the floor. In the Nanyang, this was common practice when families were large.

When they first arrived, Mr Zhou was still sending funds from China to help their expenses. But later when the Chinese currency dropped in value, he was no longer able to do so. The Zhou family could only depend on the brother who gave them twenty dollars a month for their use. Fortunately, prices were low and they could just manage. It was only after more than a year before Mrs Zhou could find a teaching job at the Peinan Primary School. Her salary was only thirty-five dollars a month.

The six of them lived on that and covered their clothing needs, barely surviving. The cruelty of wars that destroyed so many happy families was something really hateful.

We had been in Ipoh for eight years and were having more and more visitors. Our chairs were getting old and we did not have enough of them and so had to buy some new ones. What we paid for them was noted down at the prices at the time, so we know what costs were like. For example, the set of wooden table and chairs in the living room cost $50, the glass bookcase $15, the wooden double bed $16, the clothes cupboard with mirror $25, the second-hand radio $60, the old bicycle $30. This depleted all our savings. Not even two years later, because the war came, all these were stolen and lost. After that, for more than ten years, because prices of goods had risen high and we had no savings to replace them, we just used whatever old furniture was available.

In the summer of 1939, Mr Yin suggested that we organize a Sanjiang Tongxianghui ( Three Rivers [jiang] Provincial Association) to bring fellow-provincials of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Jiangxi together to share our concerns. Funds were actively raised for this and on 25th December that year, the association was established. Apart from the people of the three provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian, everyone else male or female could join as members. At the time it was established, there were only just over sixty members. The funds were limited so we rented a meeting-place close to the Recreation Park.

Ipoh was always an area where the influence of the Hakka people was strongest. Most of the key people on the boards of the Chinese schools were Hakka. School teachers from the Three Provinces (Sanjiang) did not find it easy to get into these schools and could only find jobs in schools further out in smaller towns. They could not come regularly to the Association gatherings and more members were from the business groups. After the association was established, it enabled those who have been away from China for years to naturally develop warm fellow feelings and greatly share and enjoy one another’s company. The pity is, not even two years after its establishment, when the Japanese invaded, the association was closed.

At the end of 1939, the Wuhan Choral Society came south as part of the patriotic movement. The group consisted of twenty-six men and women and they sang in various cities of Singapore and the Malay states. All the money collected from ticket sales were donated to the China war effort. All their local living and other expenses were provided by various huaqiao groups. They were here for over a year and then disbanded to return home to China. Apart from providing all the expenses for their journey home, the local community also gave $500 to each of those who returned. Those who chose to remain did not receive that. During that year, the financial burden for the Chinese overseas was not light.

Two of the members were young ladies from Shanghai. Both were surnamed Chen but were not related. One was called Wei and the other Xiaying . Mrs Wu saw them as fellow-Shanghainese and was especially close to them. They stayed at the Chinese Assembly Hall and it was only a few minutes’ walk to the Wu home if they followed the railway line….

After the two Miss Chens returned to Ipoh, the four of us rarely played mahjong together. The reason was that, every weekend, Mr and Mrs Wu would tour around the neighbourhood. Occasionally, in the early evening, they would come to our home to play mahjong and do so without warning us of their visit. Suddenly our dinner for three was turned to one for four (adults) and we had to cook more food. Because we did not have a refrigerator and had to buy fresh fish and meat and vegetables each day, it was not possible to provide more food and could only do so by opening canned food and cooking some egg dishes. Until the start of the war, this happened five or six times. I could only buy more canned food so that we could provide some hospitality when it happened. We would play mahjong for long hours and did not stop till late at night. The mahjong table was just outside your room and must have greatly affected your sleep….

On the night the war started, Mr Wu invited us to play mahjong and we played the whole day till late at night. On our way home we passed through the town and saw fully armed soldiers and guessed that war was about to begin. When we got home, we listened to the radio and heard that Penang had been bombed and the war had truly started. We suddenly realized that we had made no preparations for this. Unable to decide what to do, we walked around all night and could not sleep. The next morning, Mr Wu suggested that our two families leave together for a safer place; that way, we could look after one another. We agreed and quickly prepared to bring with us what we needed and leave our home.