Thursday, December 28, 2017

Death of an ideology

After four terms as the governor of a consortium. Great grand pa built a hall. It was for discussion. The communist deemed this as land lord and pulled half of it down. My uncle joked it would take ten thousand Yuan to restore it
.

Eating the nanking style

Twenty eight small dishes

A family shrine

Destroyed by the communist

Monday, December 25, 2017

Mock imperial exam

Guilin

Jingjiang Princes' Palace (Chinese靖江王府pinyinJìngjiāng Wángfǔ) is a historical site in GuilinGuangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China. It now functions as both Guangxi Normal Universityand as a tourist attraction.[1]

Friday, October 20, 2017

Amazon Kindle

Amazon kindle ebooks instruction
Get help publishing on Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), a fast, easy and free way for authors and publishers to keep control and publish their books worldwide on the Kindle and Kindle reading apps.
KDP.AMAZON.COM

Saturday, October 14, 2017

friends



When I was young, I learn this ditty.

Make new friends,
But keep the old.
One is silver,
And the other gold.

I had left my home town for more than 40 years.
These old friends always entertain me and transport me around whenever I return.
There are 5 of us who started primary one at six years old.
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green green bamboo of home



Next month I will be returning to my ancestral home in China. I have never been and am getting excited. The family income was bamboo. I wonder if they still have it.

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Thursday, October 5, 2017

sago

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 My first recollection of sago was the "Sago liap". Liap being small. They were small round hard compacted sago flour.

My maternal Grandpa Kong had a grocery shop and produce collection centre. Ibans come sell their rubber, and buy things from Grandpa. We saw the Ibans buy the sago liap and eat them at the shop.
We took the sago liap and ate them. They didn't taste good, hard texture and dry. They stuck in our teeth.Grandma chided us in what would now be unPC. 

Years later, Sis E went to teach in Mukah and learn from the Melanaus to eat with peanut, ikan busu aka ikan belis. All the ingredients were raw, and I couldn't stomach them. May be I was already allergic to peanuts.


Today, the Borneo Post published a photo on Sago symposium where my younger sister is involved. I wonder if Margaret was thinking of Grandpa's sago liap while she was researching it. There she is, 2nd from the left, Dr Margaret Chan.


Photo shows Sis E's grand daughter eating Bario Highlands worms similar to sago worms.

Sunday, August 27, 2017

a wedding in a boat

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When my parents were married, it was during the war. Mum lived up the Rejang River in Durin. Dad lived in Lanang Road in Sibu. Dad paddled a canoe with a wedding dress he borrowed from his very good friend Chew Chiong Tack's wife. 

We used to joke that she was Pochohunta paddling the canoe down and singing the Land of the Belian tree. We teased that she ran away with her man John because she didn't have a wedding photo. 

Today, a friend IDed the husband and bride of this photo. In my "From China to Borneo to Beyond" book, I mentioned back in the home land of China, in the Hakka village of my mum, the Kongs, the Kongs always married the Lai/Leas and vice versa. In deed my informant told me this was a Kong/Lea match. The husband could very likely be Mum's cousin, because he comes from the same lineage of Mum's ancestry.

This photo created a lot of interests. A certain doctor googled and read his dad's name, and he sent me a photo of his parents' wedding photo. His mum wearing her wedding dress which she very kindly loaned to many Sibu girls.

This photo raised a flurry of comments in blogger land. It was Chang Yi who first posted the photo. A Kai Chung School friend and a classmate who IDed the photographer who was my Dad's very good friend in Singapore.

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

Sarawak Mulu Caves

When I went to Mulu, I was treated like royalty. They danced for us.

flower

Fast forward some twenty five years, I was living with my three year old son who became a scary cat after he was frightened by the loud engine sound of my friend’s old Holden. It came to a stage that it was so bad that he refused to leave the apartment. We were imprisoned in our own home because the old Holden was parked downstairs of our apartment.

Come another old lady to the rescue. My girl friend’s mother told me to get nine types of flowers to bath him. I remember my late Grand Ma’s flower power treatment. I went gathering flowers.

It didn’t work for my son, he refused to get into the tub with flowers floating on it. It took a long time, and a lot of coaxing, D even dragged Sam to no avail and finally requesting my friend to remove the car. She was very accommodating. At last we were freed of the clutches of fear.

In Singapore and Bangkok, I often go and luxuriate in the health and beauty spas. The aestheticism and spa technicians sometimes run a tub filled with rose petals or orchid flowers. They tell me their sing song English that the flowers have extracts that will relieve me of stress and relief from insomnia I laughed, my Grand Ma knew about this long ago.

Back in Auckland, I go for Chinese massages. The Chinese doctor soaks my feet in tiny red flowers in a wooden tub before he massages my feet and the rest of the body. Oh!!! I feel so pampered.

Ginseng

Ginseng Jawa (Talinum paniculatum gaertn.) surprised to see this in my friends garden in Auckland. Growing wild. They grew wild in my Singapore garden. I picked the flowers as cut flowers, but they drop off in a day. My aunty told me that it can be used as ginseng and the leaves are edible.

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Great Grand Mother


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Great Grand Father Chan Kwong Kuok and Great Grand Mother Lee Ngin Kiew. Great Grand Father came to Sarawak a few times from aged 33. He left Great Grand Mother at home, may be to take care of the ancestor tablets. Great Grand Mother was a grass widow, a woman whose husband had gone else where for work.
My mother was a grass widow twice. each time when Dad went to Singapore and London for education.
Such amicable women.

Tuesday, August 15, 2017

Floods in Sibu


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Borrowing my aunty Francisca Leong's photo. I have often written about the annual floods in Sibu. The flood water usually comes at night, and Mum and Dad would get us all up to push the car to a higher place. We would wade in the water back to the house.

The next few days, the flood water would come to our knees. That's a fun time for us, swimming and paddling in a man made raft that Dad made for us.

When the water recedes, it is not nice, vegetables, papaya trees die, and worst still, dead animals float away

Did I ever tell you I have a phobia of rats and mice? During the flood, the rodents come up to the raised edges of the vegetable beds. I associate the rats with the plague of London.


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http://abcwednesday.com

Sunday, August 13, 2017

conflicting beliefs

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/buddhist-ceremonial-release-captive-birds-may-harm-wildlife/

A young Vietnamese woman’s husband fell ill. Desperate for a cure, she later recounted, she visited the local Buddhist temple. A monk there instructed her to “release 40 birds, one for every year of your husband’s life.” So she did, purchasing and releasing 40 birds at the temple grounds. The woman soon rejoiced; her husband made a full recovery.

I grew up in a Christian family in Sibu where many people were Christians. I did not know about Fong San, "release a life" until I went to Singapore. An Indian friend's husband, a colleague of my husband, Prof in NTU found a tortoise with red paint written on the underbelly of the tortoise. She did not know what it meant. A friend explained Fong San. She said this is a bad custom, Fong San in this case meant getting the tortoise to carry away the bad luck/sickness to the person who picks it up.
I have found out since other reasons, and in my latest book, I wrote about it.
Thanks Ritchie for writing about it. He uses the term 放生 (Fàngshēng) which is in Mandarin.
Religion aside, some people during weddings and funerals, release doves etc. Environmentally this is frown on.

 A reader commented:

The truth meaning of fangsheng is not releasing bad luck or sickness. It's releasing of a capture animal's life to harvest good karma.

 May be some people in Singapore have other thoughts.

that's their own interpretation. That's loads of bullshit.
There is another bullshit thing they practise. If for no reasons they treat/chia you for a free meal/makan, it is usually a person in that family is very sick. By treating people to dinner/makan, the makan people who help spread the bad luck away. Conversely, a rich properous person has a birthday, people come to eat and even DAPAU/takeaway. The idea is to take the good luck home.
As a writer of both fiction and none fiction,  I write for entertainment. Recently, a man bought a tortoise for his pet. His wife asked him if he had checked for any paint. He retorted, of course I had, you think I am stupid.
Buddhists across Asia release wildlife as a show of compassion, but conservationists find that the practice tortures the animals and may impact threatened species.
 

New Zealand Chinese in Historical images by Phoebe Li

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 Helen Wong, NZ Historian and researcher with Phoebe Li.

Had the privilege to meet Phoebe Li , Post Doc of Tsinghua University during the Auckland Family Expo. The New Zealand Chinese Association was promoting the above book.
She is currently working on the history of the Chinese in Australia through a media studies approach.
 http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/201831464/the-chinese-who-made-nz-home

The Chan family came to NZ, we have two lawyers, a forester, 2 PhDs and a writer married to a PhD.


Monday, July 24, 2017

Nicky, the Kept woman.

Nicky was desperate to find a husband that she didn't mind becoming a Kept woman.

Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Ann Bio and book CV 2018

http://annkitsuet-chinchan.blogspot.com/2017/07/ann-cv-2017.html






作者

Ann Kit Suet Chin-Chan.
 

Ann Kit Suet Chin is a New Zealand Chinese writer. She was born in Sibu, Sarawak, Malaysia. She attended Methodist Primary and Secondary School in Sibu. She graduated from Windsor University in Canada, Auckland University and Auckland University of Technology.

Ann is the fourth child of the late John Chan Hiu Fei and Mary Kong Wah Kiew. She is married to Chin Chen Onn, PhD. She has three surviving children, Deborah, Gabrielle and Sam. Her third child, Andrew died when he was a baby and is the inspiration of her first book.



作者 陈洁雪

洁雪是新西兰的华人,出生于马来西亚砂拉越的诗巫市。早年在诗巫卫理小学和卫理中学受中小学教育。大学毕业于加拿大的温舍大学、新西兰的奥克兰大学和奥克兰科技大学。

洁雪是已故陈鹞飞夫妇的女儿,家中排行第四。







Diary of a Bereaved Mother
吾儿再见:丧儿母亲的日记
ISBN 9780473187095 

This is a real life story of losing one's only son. This experience has made the author strong and caring. This tragedy has been a great help for her to help understand other bereaved people. The author is very brave to write this book. It has not been easy and she aims to touch,...

featured in the Aucklander.

I appeared in Television 1 Down Under program. It's ok to cry http://tvnz.co.nz/asia-downunder/s2011-e31-video-4453514 On baby bereavement.
I spoke in the Baptist Women's Annual Convention, North Island Chapter.
http://annkitsuetchin.blogspot.co.nz/2013/02/foreverinmyheartexhibition.html  
My book was exhibited  at the Peacock 
Art Gallery, Upton Country, Dorset, Park England.

I  presented a workshop on Asian Infant Bereavement at the Sands National conference for Sands families and medical personnels for 200 attendees in September 2013

Used as a reference book for NICU staff at the University Hospital, Toronto. 

Dr Simon Rowley is a consultant at Starship Children's Hospital who's been given a copy of the book.
"It is a good reminder to all health professionals that when our patients leave us, the story does not end for the parents. The detail is amazing, and every little thought and action seems to have been recorded as it happened, and then has been reflected upon.
"For parents undergoing similar experiences this book could be a great comfort. For health professionals, I would see it as essential reading."

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/aucklander/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503372&objectid=11030




海外华人的中国魂: 从中国,到南洋,到更


By Chin-Chan, Ann Kit Suet
ISBN 9780473239008  English
ISBN 9780473309626  Chinese






 


  •  
This is a hundred-year-old journal of two families, the Chans and the Kongs. It traces the first movement in 1907 from Kwang Zhou, China to the jungles of Borneo. It is a six-generational record with the second wave of movement to England, Canada, Japan, Singapore, Australia, USA ...










This book records with humor the life of a busy and active family through World War II, the formation of Malaysia and Confrontation. It is a personal reflection of a way of life that has moved on and provides insight into a family and its relationships. It is most of all a work of love and respect for the Chan and Kong families and for Father and Mother.

M M Ann Armstrong

Lodge International School

http://www.theborneopost.com/2013/12/01/words-of-healing-from-a-bereaved-mother/
She explained the people in Sarawak, especially among the Chinese community, could relate to the book as it traces their roots and identities.
“From China to Borneo and Beyond kindled a lot of interests in the state. I am very happy to hear a publisher is going to print a Chinese version of it.”
From China To Borneo and Beyond was her second autobiography book, which is a hundred year old journal of two Families, the Chans and the Kongs. The book contains records of historical events and current affairs endured by her family from 1907 to 2006 such as the Opium war, virgin tropical jungle, the Japanese World War, colonial days, revelation and fighting with the communists.
http://borneobulletin.brunei-online.com/index.php/2013/10/15/sibu-born-author-ann-chin-kit-suet-promotes-books/ 

 




  •  
This book is about the embodiment of the darker side of today's society.
ISBN  978047325414-8 

Paperback and eBook: Kindle, Draft2print









http://www.theborneopost.com/2013/12/01/words-of-healing-from-a-bereaved-mother/

a fiction novel – Mail Order Bride. The story, set in Auckland, New Zealand, touches on social issues such as teenage pregnancies, drugs, paedophile and the like. The book took two months to finish.

Her third book, Mail Order Bride is the first fiction piece from Ann. She said that the book targets an audience of young adults and that it appeals readers interested in social issues and ills that young adults have to face.


妇女的哭泣

  By Chin-Chan, Ann Kit Suet


Paper back and eBook, Kindle and Draft2print

Women suffers from oppression. This story traces the life of Nadine who overcomes her own problems of oppression, grows up to be a social worker and helps women who have suffered from physical and mental violence, domestic violence, rape, pornography, swinging, sex slavery, human ...
ISBN
9780473287153


Interest Age
All ages

Judy Lawson, Counsellor
A book I would use in my work as a reference. 



World War II in Borneo, Tales of my Grandpa
ISBN:9780473339005 (Pbk)


It is seventy years after the end of the World War II, or the Japanese occupation in Borneo. Captain Cheng aka Captain Fong and his Canadian soldiers are remembered in their role of leading the surrender of the Japanese.


I've been reading your book World War Two in Borneo: Tales of my Grandpa.  I was a bit hesitant to start it, since it is combined fiction and fact and I didn't want to get the history mixed up in my mind.  However,  I'm finding it very compelling to read.  

Canadian documentary maker, Keith Lock.


http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01BGRESX0/ref=rdr_kindle_ext_tmb
Paper back and eBook, Kindle and Draft2print

Traces the lives of 2 girls. The poor girl is sold to the rich girl as a slave aka mui zai to serve her for ever. Different Chinese Tradition are explained, and tragedy brings them to the South Seas. The Japanese invasion, the slave protects her mistress and is sent to a brothel as a comfort women.


http://www.wheelers.co.nz/shared/img/icons/silk/basket_add.png

 




Wannabe Socialite
Paper back and eBook, Kindle and Draft2print

Based in Malaya and Singapore from the 60s.

The world is full of big bad wolves for a young girl growing in a small sheltered town. From one small wrong step, trouble snowballs into bigger and bigger trouble. She sinks into the murky seedy underworld. She becomes a kept woman. She finds there is no way out, she commits suicide.

The Playgroup Club: ISBN 978 0 473 37871 4

Paper back and eBook, Kindle and Draft2print
A group  of stay at home meet and socialize and do constructive work.
This book will resonate in women who went to Playgroup with their children and grandchildren. They stay at home, but socialize and jell together for various issues.


No automatic alt text available.

An excellent read and handbook to a stay-home mum like me who had a successful career as a lawyer and now enjoying my baby.  Katherine Bruggy.





Two Asian Stories. ISBN 978 0 473 40269 3

Revised  and amalgamated version of One Roof, two lives and Wannabe Socialite. The writer writes on Social injustice through the century.

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  Growing up in Borneo  9780473436414. 
Titles locally authored (or from Australia/the Pacific region) are of special interest to our Public Libraries and Schools


A non-fiction on the same genre of From China to Borneo to Beyond, follows the second generation of the Cantonese People who left China for Borneo.



网址:




作者

Ann Kit Suet Chin-Chan.