Today went to Balik Pulau for Penang Assam Laksa; at the same time visited Mr Khong, the silver smith who is popular among the tourists, just have a talk with him. As usual mood, he show us the hand make silver ware and the visitor book, which is filled with comments from tourists from all over the world. he told me his face appeared in youtube, I said I am going to place it at my blog.
He told me , my blog is less popular, and cannot compare with wide coverage of youtube, youtube will make him famous worldwide. He is very confidence over his popularity, and he seems to enjoy it now...
He likes to tell you his stories, of the past, of Balik Pulau.....and even the 2nd world war...
He is Mr Khong(邝进盛), 69 yrs old, is the only silversmith in Balik Pulau, Penang.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Friday, August 5, 2011
Penang Hua Mu Lan – Lee Yue Mei(李月美 )
Penang Hua Mu Lan – Lee Yue Mei
Hua Mu Lan or Hua mulan(花木蘭); to some people it may be the title of popular 1998 Disney animated film, Mulan. Mulan was a 1998 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation, and released by Walt Disney Pictures on June 19, 1998. It was based on the legend from ancient China and was originally described in a Chinese poem known as the Ballad of Mulan (木蘭辭). In the legend Hua Mu Lan, a female warrior, who replaced her father for the call of national service, fought for 12 years and merited 12 ranks of rewards, which she refused and retired back home instead.
The Ballad of Mulan was first transcribed in the Musical Records of Old and New (古今樂錄) in the 6th century, the century before the founding of the Tang Dynasty. The original work no longer exists, and the original text of this poem comes from another work known as the Music Bureau Collection (樂府詩), an anthology of lyrics, songs, and poems, compiled by Guo Maoqian (郭茂倩) during the 11th or 12th century. The author explicitly mentions the Musical Records of Old and New as his source for the poem. The poem is a ballad, meaning that the lines do not necessarily have equal numbers of syllables. The poem is mostly composed of five-character phrases, with just a few extending to seven or nine. The story was expanded into a novel during the late Ming Dynasty (1368–1644). Over time, the story of Hua Mulan rose in popularity as a folk tale among the Chinese people on the same level as the Butterfly Lovers. It is one of the first poems in Chinese history to support the notion of gender equality.(Wikipedia)
That was the ancient legend, but in reality there were modern Hua Mulan. During the World War II, there was a female who was named as modern Hua Mulan by Chinese people. He was from Penang, her name is Lee Yue Mei(李月美), a 21 years old Cantonese woman from Penang, who volunteered to serve in Yunnan, China as Nanyang Transport Volunteer(( 南侨机工), Li Yue Mei was one of four women who joined the ranks of the Nanyang Transport Volunteers in late Febuary, 1939.
Not many Penang lang(Penang people) know her, many who know her had either passed away or had forgotten. It was not mention in our history, but it will be forever remember by people who had suffered from the painful experience of Japanese Imperial Army invasion of China and Malaya during WW2.
During the Sino Japanese war, the Japanese attempted to terminate Chinese import of war materials by imposing a sea blockade. The Chinese government responded by building the Burma Road( 滇缅公路), but lacked drivers and mechanics so they turned to China Relief Fund, 筹振会, for help to recruit volunteers from Nanyang (Today’s South East Asia).
On 7 February 1939, the first notice for volunteer drivers and mechanics was issued and batches of volunteers came forth. These volunteer drivers and mechanics were known as the Nanyang Volunteers( 南侨机工). Li Yue Mei (李月美 )was one of the Penang volunteer, he joined the volunteers by using a man’s name李丹英. There were initially four female volunteers 白雪娇、陈娇珍 and 朱雪珍 from Malaya, another female volunteer Wu Siew Fern(吴秀芬) was from Siam (Thailand). Bei Siah Kiew(白雪娇) and Tan Kiew Chin(陈娇珍) were from Penang, Strait Settlement. Li Yue Mei disguised as a male volunteer, and was later discovered during an accident as a female, so together there were 5 female volunteers , three were from Penang, namely Li Yue Mei (李月美), Bei Siah Kiew(白雪娇) and Tan Kiew Chin(陈娇珍). She was the only woman who had drive in Burma Road, as she was disquested as male driver, other female volunteer were sent to work as nurse or non-driving task.
Nanyang Transport Volunteers(南侨机工)
19-2-1939 was Chinese New Year, and it fall on Sunday. The initial 80 departed for China on 18-2-1939, the New Year Eve, when most of the Chinese families will stay home for reunion dinner. Yet the pioneer 80 left their home and family a day before Chinese New Year. All Chinese language newspapers reported as headline, but the main English newspaper, The Strait Time was not reported on 19-2-1030(sun), and 20-2-1939(mon).Their main news on that day was “Search for Submarine”. Only on 6-3-1939, that a substantial media coverage was given.
March 1939- 400 VOLUNTEER FOR CHINESE ARMY Transport And Mechanical Units Recruits - AS a result of an appeal made by the Chinese Government to oversea Chinese to send voluntary cadets to serve in the Chinese Army in transportation corps and mechanised units, more than 400 young Chinese mechanics and drivers have offered their services. That numbers included more than 100 each from Singapore and Perak, 50 from Negeri Sembilan, 35 from Taiping, 25 from Muar, 24 from Kedah, and 10 each from Malacca and Raub. Already 80 of them have left for China. A Contingent which arrived from Taiping today included an Indian and a Malay. A party of 36 Hainanese mechanics and drivers has been organized, and leaves shortly for Chungking( The Straits Times, 6 March 1939, Page 12)
July, 1939- MALAYAN CHINESE OFF TO WAR Malayan Chinese volunteers waving good-bye as they sailed for the China war front last week Eighth "Troopship Leaves Singapore bringing the total of Malayan Chinese volunteers for the China war front to more than 2,000, the eighth "troopship" left Singapore last week with a party of 350 motor mechanics and drivers. Known as 3rd Malayan Mechanical Unit the party included men from all over Malaya and Java.
With the unit, a party of nine 15 years old Singapore school boys left to join the military school in Kiangsi. Several rich men’s sons were in this group.
The leader of the unit gave up his position as foreman mechanic in a leading European motor firm with salary of $250 a month.
The 93 Penang Chinese in the Party before leaving received their colors at the Wembly Park from the Chinese Consul, Mr Huang Yuan Kai, and with 75 youths from Taiping joined the unit at Singapore.
The China Relief Fund Committee arranges and pays for the passages of the volunteers , who are all medically examined and given training for several months before sailing. (The Straits Times, 23 July 1939, Page 10)
LEE Yue Mei(李月美)(b 1918- d 28-8-1968)
She was Lee Yue Mei(李月美), in Penang, and Li Yue Mei (李月眉)in China. The list of Nanyang Transport Volunteers in Penang given was reported as follow(in Chinese);
李月美, 马来亚槟城南通街,
Lee Yue Mei was staying at Nan Dong Street, Penang(马来亚槟城南通街). I cannot find the name of the brother in the list Lee Kim Yoon(李锦容), but there was another person, living in the same street, but using the name of Tan , can it be him? I think her brother also disguised himself to avoid knowing by his parent. I cannot located Nan Dong Street in today’s Penang streets, where is the place? Or is it another fictitious address?
Li Yue Mei left for China in March 1939. She went for short military training at Kunming, and later posted as driver to HQ of the Red Cross Society at Guizhou(贵州). Her brother Lee Kim Yoon(李锦容) joined the 8th batch Trooper in July 1939, and attached to 西南运输处第十五大队, working as driver along Burma Road(滇缅公路), they frequently met each other. And it seems that her gender was not disclosed when she drove alongside other male drivers, she worked for one year as driver, carrying both medical supplies and military supplies.
Ironically, in Singapore, it was reported that :
HUA MU LAN" THE Penang-born star, Miss Chun Yun Chang, gives a first-class performance in "Hua Mu Lan,'* a story of old China, filmed in Mandarin, which was shown at the Capitol Theatre at a midnight show last night. For Europeans the film has consider appeal, as it has full English (The Straits Times, 30 July 1939, Page 2)
The Burma Road was a very difficult road to navigate and many Nanyang Volunteers were killed in accidents, by malaria or during Japanese air raids. In 1940, Li Yue Mei was involved in an accident but was saved by a fellow driver, Hainanese Yang Wei Quan(杨维铨). Yang Wei Quan(杨维铨),was the one who took care of “him” as brother when she was hospitalized, but later discovered that she was a woman in disguise. The news, which at the time, created a great impact to the Chinese community, and stir up intense media coverage in China and South East Asia. She was hailed as the modern Hua Mu Lan(当代花木兰), the ancient Chinese woman who disguised as a man to serve in the army in place of her aging father. The Overseas Chinese societies in Singapore and Malaya were full of praise for her passion to volunteer for her service in the war of resistance to Japanese Imperial Army aggression.(Note: As Malaysian, we must remember this was the era when Malaya is under British colonial rule, an independent nation of Malaysia was not formed yet)
The famous Chinese revolutionary and feminist Ho Hsiang-ning or He Xiang Ning(何香凝)(b 27/6/1878 – d 1-9-1972) honour her with a banner with the Chinese calligraphy writing “巾帼英雄”, which means female heroine. Ho Hsiang Ning was the wife of Liao Zhongkai(廖仲恺) (b 23-4-1877 –d 20-8-1925). He was principal architect of the first Kuomintang-Chinese Communist Party (KMT-CCP) United Front in the 1920s. He was the Finance Minister of the Southern Government under Dr Sun Yatsen. Unfortunately, he was murdered in 1925, during political struggle for leadership of KMT.
Li Yue Mei eventually recovered and was transferred to serve as a nurse. By this time, she had already fallen in love with her savior Yang Wei Quan(杨维铨), who later become her husband.
Note:
Ho Hsiang-ning or He Xiang Ning(何香凝) （1878年6月27日－1972年9月1日)
Chinese revolutionary and feminist. She was one of the first Chinese women publicly to advocate nationalism, revolution, and female emancipation, and one of the first to cut her hair short. An active advocate of links with the communists and Russia, she went to Hong Kong in 1927 when Chiang Kai-shek broke with the communists, and was an outspoken critic of his leadership. She returned to Beijing (Peking) in 1949 as head of the overseas commission. Educated in Hong Kong and Japan, she married fellow revolutionary Liao Zhongkai in 1905. Her husband was assassinated in 1925.
1946 Return from China and settled in Burma
The Sino-Japanese War evolved into World War Two and ended with Japan’s unconditional surrender on 15 August 1945. In 1946, after 6 long years of service in the battlefield, Li Yue Mei finally returned home as a hero to her family in Penang, Malaya.
In late Feb 1946, when Li Yue Mei arrived in Singapore on the way to Penang. She was presented with banners from the Nanyang Chinese Girls School and attracted intense media attention in Singapore.
That same year, the overseas Chinese in Penang built a monument in memory of civilians and Nanyang Volunteers who lost their lives, at the foot of Penang Hill, Air Itam.
Li Yue Mei later married Yang Wei Quan, the Nanyang volunteer who saved her life, and the couple relocated to Yangon, Burma. There, they ran a coffee shop and soon the couple had 10 children.
In 1954, Chinese Premier Zhou En Lai(周恩来), began the first of his many visits to Burma. Li Yue Mei represented the Overseas Chinese in Burma to meet the Premier. Zhou En Lai praised her for her heroic efforts during the war encouraged her to send her children to study in China.
In 1965, Li Yue Mei finally decided to relocate to Guangzhou for the sake of her children and their education. However, her husband disagreed and she left for Guangzhou alone with her children.
1965 From Burma to China
Li Yue Mei was posted to Yangdi Oversea Chinese Farm(英德华侨农场), a farm which was a people commune(人民公社). The moment she arrived in China. He started a commune way of life in the remote place north of Quangzhou, where her children were studied. Unfortunate for her, Cultural Revolution started on 16-5-1966, few months after her arrival in China.
1966-1968 Death in Cultural Revolution文化大革命(1966-1976)
In reality, it was a political movement started by Mao Zedong or Mao Tse-tung毛泽东((December 26, 1893 – September 9, 1976) and Lin Yurong or, better known by the nom de guerre Lin Biao(December 5, 1907– September 13, 1971), Jiang Qing(江青), 2nd liners from the Chinese leadership, to remove Liu Shaoqi(刘少奇)( 24 November 1898 – 12 November 1969) and Deng Xiaoping(邓小平), Zhoa En Lai(周恩来)was trying to protect Liu and Deng, but only Deng escaped. The movement also involvedthe removal of 彭真,罗瑞卿,陆定一,杨尚昆, 叶剑英, 朱德, 贺龙, 彭德怀 and their supporters from the power base. They were all old timers in the formation of communist China. The political conflict evolved into a disastrous Cultural Revolution, the darkest period in the history of modern China. Mao officially declared the Cultural Revolution to have ended in 1969, but its active phase lasted until the death of Lin Biao in 1971. The political instability between 1971 and the arrest of the Gang of Four in 1976 are now also widely regarded as part of the Revolution. The idol worship of Mao during Cultural Revolution was like Hitler of Germany and Japanese Emperor during the WW2., which similarly developed into political and military extremism. It was greatest disaster in the political history.
Lee Yue Mei was at China at the wrong time....
As a returned oversea Chinese(归侨),who was born in family of businessman father, she was treated with suspicious by the Red Guards as capitalist class(资产阶级)with oversea connection(海外关系) , and her past as Nanyang Transport Volunteers was treated as the supporter of KMT or Kuomingtang(pro KMT). She was called “The element of KMT who has escaped eradication”(国民党残渣余孽).
文革’浩劫一开始，农场开始对归侨划成分。以下是一次让她极为伤心的对话：
工作组：‘李月美。你知道你在海外是什么成分？’
李；‘不懂得。’
工作组：‘那么，你小时候时干什么的？是否给地主放牛？’
李：‘我小时候在南洋读中国书，没有给地主放牛。’
工作组：‘那么，你小时候生活很好？’
李：‘是的。我记得小时候生活很好。’
工作组：‘那时候是一九四九年以前，生活很好，肯定是资产阶级’
‘？’（李月美一楞，不懂如此‘逻辑’，没有回答）
‘你长大干什么？’
‘我长大响应陈家庚先生号召，回国抗日，参加滇缅公路西南运输处和’红十字会‘工作’
‘西南运输处是国民党的。你知道吗？你是国民党的残渣余孽！’
(source: http://www.tianya.cn/publicforum/content/hn/1/40528.shtml)
She faced the untrue charges imposed by the Red Guards and their opportunist supporters, she was to undergo process of criticize and denounce (批斗), and also confiscation of property(抄家). She lost everything in her house, her children lost the opportunity for education. The remittance from oversea for children education fund was treated as spying fee, at that time her eldest daughter had married and staying Taiwan. Her husband was staying with the eldest daughter. The two eldest children had been accepted to College in Beijing.
Li Yue Mei and her children were sent to the countryside for “labor reform”( 劳动改造 or劳改) . The labor of their work was not fairly rewarded based on their labor contribution or labor marks (劳动力工分), but reward was based on political marks or political background(政治评工分), what she got was 50% of actual entitled rewards, her children only get 25%.
With the termination of oversea remittance from husband, the proceeds from their labour was not enough to sustain their daily living. Li Yue Mei wrote to Zhou En Lai . But Zhou at the time was under political pressure by Mao and Lin Biao, he was making effort to save Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping and many of the first tier founding members of PRC. He was facing a political crisis, and even his own position was in danger. He wrote to Li, requested her to follow the crowd or the current climate. This letter created more problems for Lee. The Red Guards revenge by escalated their treatment.
The photo of her in uniform become the clue to Red Guards that she was the spy for KMT and America. The Red Guards humiliated Li Yue Mei by parading her in the streets. At times, she was even physically assaulted by the Red Guards and the villagers. Physically she no longer able to withstand the cruel act of Red Guards. Mentally she was tormented day and night. She often fainted during the parade or criticize and denounce(批斗) process.
This was too much for a young lady who gave up everything to save her homeland. Li Yue Mei refused to be humiliated and decided to end her life. On the night of 28 August 1968, she waited for her children to fall asleep before she embarked on her act of resistance. Li Yue Mei used a knife to slash both her wrists and then using her bleeding arms, thrust the knife to silt her throat. The children woke up the next morning to discover their mother dead and soaked in a pool of blood.
When the Red Guards discovered Li Yue Mei’s suicide, they demanded that her children disowned their mother for being a counter revolutionary and forbade them to grief for their beloved mother.
Li Yue Mei’s body was wrapped in a nylon mosquito net and buried in an unmarked grave. Her children decided to escape from Guangzhou and left after secretly paying their last respects to their mother.
Note: On July 27, 1968, the Red Guards' power over the army was officially ended. A year later, the Red Guard factions were dismantled entirely. In December 1968, Mao began the "Down to the Countryside Movement". During this movement, which lasted for the next decade, young intellectuals living in cities were ordered to go to the countryside. The term "intellectuals" was actually used in the broadest sense to refer to recently graduated middle school students. In the late 1970s, these "young intellectuals" were finally allowed to return to their home cities. This movement was in part a means of moving Red Guards from the cities to the countryside, where they would cause less social disruption.
Her Children escaped to Hainan Island
The children escaped to Hainan Island, their father’s hometown, where they were cared for. After the fall of the Gang of Four, the children returned to Guangzhou in 1976 to collect their mother’s remains. After much searching, they finally found their mother’s remains still wrapped in the nylon mosquito net that they brought with them from Burma in 1965.
Rememberance of war heroine Li Yue Mei
On 23 October 1979, the Chinese government declared her a war hero and held a memorial in her memory. Meanwhile, all of the Nanyang Volunteers were also accorded the same status and received state pension and healthcare benefits.
1979年10月23日，中共英德华侨茶场委员会，召开了为李月美彻底平反恢复名誉的大会
一九七九年十月二十三日，中共英德华侨茶场委员会，召开了为李月美同志彻底平反恢复名誉的大会，平反通知书如下：
《关于为李月眉同志彻底平反恢复名誉的决定》：一九六六年我场四清运动后期，由于林彪、‘四人帮’反革命修正主义路线的干扰、破坏，在归侨中全面进行评划 阶级成分，李月眉同志被划为资本家，并扣上国民党的残渣余孽的帽子。为了拨乱反正，全面落实党的政策，根据英德县革命委员会（1978）第三世界号《关于 取消原驻英德华侨农场四清工作分团给归侨评划阶级成分的通知》精神，现决定：
一、 公开为李月眉同志彻底平反，恢复名誉。
二、 强加于李月眉同志的所谓‘资本家’、‘国民党的残渣余孽’应予推倒，有关评划归侨阶级成分的材料应予销毁。
三、 通知受株连的家属、子女和有关亲友所在单位，消除影响。原发出的有关材料应予收回销毁。
四、 李月眉同志因以上原因于一九六八年被迫害致死，已于一九七九年十月廾三日召开追悼会。
中共英德华侨农场委员会
一九七九年十月廾四日
http://www.tianya.cn/publicforum/content/hn/1/40528.shtml
On 7 July 1989, the Yunan government constructed a monument, 赤子功勋, in memory of Nanyang Volunteers.
Hua Mu Lan in ancient Chine, who merited 12 ranks of rewards, which she refused and retired back home instead. Hua Mu Lan lived happily in her retired life. Unlike ancient Hua Mulan, the Hua Mu Lan of modern China, who was from Penang, suffered during the Cultural Revolution, and committed suicide. Her family members were badly treated and endured poverty.
The brave lady from Penang, volunteered to fight Japanese in the war, she had prepared to died for the country she loved. She would have died as a war heroine during her Nanyang Transport Volunteers' days. But she died of humiliation, during Cultural Revolution, died in the political struggle of the nation she loved. Fate was unfair to the modern Hua Mulan from Penang.
A sad story for a heroine; but her patriotic spirit will forever remember by the people. Due to the political history of the country, the heroic act was not recorded in our history textbook. I hope that her heroic act will be remember by Penang, by having a statue of her at Penang Anti War Memorial at Air Itam, and the list of the names of all Nanyang volunteers from Penang at the memorial site. Regardless of country she served and her racial background, she is a heroine that Penang will cherish as daughter of Penang. It is her spirit of patriotic and heroic act that the younger generation can learn from.
But she is still the proudest daughter, Penang has ever produced; even it happen during colonial period.
Personally, I am touch with her life story; and proud she is from Penang....
Hua Mu Lan or Hua mulan(花木蘭); to some people it may be the title of popular 1998 Disney animated film, Mulan. Mulan was a 1998 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation, and released by Walt Disney Pictures on June 19, 1998. It was based on the legend from ancient China and was originally described in a Chinese poem known as the Ballad of Mulan (木蘭辭). In the legend Hua Mu Lan, a female warrior, who replaced her father for the call of national service, fought for 12 years and merited 12 ranks of rewards, which she refused and retired back home instead.
The Ballad of Mulan was first transcribed in the Musical Records of Old and New (古今樂錄) in the 6th century, the century before the founding of the Tang Dynasty. The original work no longer exists, and the original text of this poem comes from another work known as the Music Bureau Collection (樂府詩), an anthology of lyrics, songs, and poems, compiled by Guo Maoqian (郭茂倩) during the 11th or 12th century. The author explicitly mentions the Musical Records of Old and New as his source for the poem. The poem is a ballad, meaning that the lines do not necessarily have equal numbers of syllables. The poem is mostly composed of five-character phrases, with just a few extending to seven or nine. The story was expanded into a novel during the late Ming Dynasty (1368–1644). Over time, the story of Hua Mulan rose in popularity as a folk tale among the Chinese people on the same level as the Butterfly Lovers. It is one of the first poems in Chinese history to support the notion of gender equality.(Wikipedia)
That was the ancient legend, but in reality there were modern Hua Mulan. During the World War II, there was a female who was named as modern Hua Mulan by Chinese people. He was from Penang, her name is Lee Yue Mei(李月美), a 21 years old Cantonese woman from Penang, who volunteered to serve in Yunnan, China as Nanyang Transport Volunteer(( 南侨机工), Li Yue Mei was one of four women who joined the ranks of the Nanyang Transport Volunteers in late Febuary, 1939.
Not many Penang lang(Penang people) know her, many who know her had either passed away or had forgotten. It was not mention in our history, but it will be forever remember by people who had suffered from the painful experience of Japanese Imperial Army invasion of China and Malaya during WW2.
During the Sino Japanese war, the Japanese attempted to terminate Chinese import of war materials by imposing a sea blockade. The Chinese government responded by building the Burma Road( 滇缅公路), but lacked drivers and mechanics so they turned to China Relief Fund, 筹振会, for help to recruit volunteers from Nanyang (Today’s South East Asia).
On 7 February 1939, the first notice for volunteer drivers and mechanics was issued and batches of volunteers came forth. These volunteer drivers and mechanics were known as the Nanyang Volunteers( 南侨机工). Li Yue Mei (李月美 )was one of the Penang volunteer, he joined the volunteers by using a man’s name李丹英. There were initially four female volunteers 白雪娇、陈娇珍 and 朱雪珍 from Malaya, another female volunteer Wu Siew Fern(吴秀芬) was from Siam (Thailand). Bei Siah Kiew(白雪娇) and Tan Kiew Chin(陈娇珍) were from Penang, Strait Settlement. Li Yue Mei disguised as a male volunteer, and was later discovered during an accident as a female, so together there were 5 female volunteers , three were from Penang, namely Li Yue Mei (李月美), Bei Siah Kiew(白雪娇) and Tan Kiew Chin(陈娇珍). She was the only woman who had drive in Burma Road, as she was disquested as male driver, other female volunteer were sent to work as nurse or non-driving task.
Nanyang Transport Volunteers(南侨机工)
19-2-1939 was Chinese New Year, and it fall on Sunday. The initial 80 departed for China on 18-2-1939, the New Year Eve, when most of the Chinese families will stay home for reunion dinner. Yet the pioneer 80 left their home and family a day before Chinese New Year. All Chinese language newspapers reported as headline, but the main English newspaper, The Strait Time was not reported on 19-2-1030(sun), and 20-2-1939(mon).Their main news on that day was “Search for Submarine”. Only on 6-3-1939, that a substantial media coverage was given.
March 1939- 400 VOLUNTEER FOR CHINESE ARMY Transport And Mechanical Units Recruits - AS a result of an appeal made by the Chinese Government to oversea Chinese to send voluntary cadets to serve in the Chinese Army in transportation corps and mechanised units, more than 400 young Chinese mechanics and drivers have offered their services. That numbers included more than 100 each from Singapore and Perak, 50 from Negeri Sembilan, 35 from Taiping, 25 from Muar, 24 from Kedah, and 10 each from Malacca and Raub. Already 80 of them have left for China. A Contingent which arrived from Taiping today included an Indian and a Malay. A party of 36 Hainanese mechanics and drivers has been organized, and leaves shortly for Chungking( The Straits Times, 6 March 1939, Page 12)
July, 1939- MALAYAN CHINESE OFF TO WAR Malayan Chinese volunteers waving good-bye as they sailed for the China war front last week Eighth "Troopship Leaves Singapore bringing the total of Malayan Chinese volunteers for the China war front to more than 2,000, the eighth "troopship" left Singapore last week with a party of 350 motor mechanics and drivers. Known as 3rd Malayan Mechanical Unit the party included men from all over Malaya and Java.
With the unit, a party of nine 15 years old Singapore school boys left to join the military school in Kiangsi. Several rich men’s sons were in this group.
The leader of the unit gave up his position as foreman mechanic in a leading European motor firm with salary of $250 a month.
The 93 Penang Chinese in the Party before leaving received their colors at the Wembly Park from the Chinese Consul, Mr Huang Yuan Kai, and with 75 youths from Taiping joined the unit at Singapore.
The China Relief Fund Committee arranges and pays for the passages of the volunteers , who are all medically examined and given training for several months before sailing. (The Straits Times, 23 July 1939, Page 10)
LEE Yue Mei(李月美)(b 1918- d 28-8-1968)
She was Lee Yue Mei(李月美), in Penang, and Li Yue Mei (李月眉)in China. The list of Nanyang Transport Volunteers in Penang given was reported as follow(in Chinese);
李月美, 马来亚槟城南通街,
Lee Yue Mei was staying at Nan Dong Street, Penang(马来亚槟城南通街). I cannot find the name of the brother in the list Lee Kim Yoon(李锦容), but there was another person, living in the same street, but using the name of Tan , can it be him? I think her brother also disguised himself to avoid knowing by his parent. I cannot located Nan Dong Street in today’s Penang streets, where is the place? Or is it another fictitious address?
Li Yue Mei left for China in March 1939. She went for short military training at Kunming, and later posted as driver to HQ of the Red Cross Society at Guizhou(贵州). Her brother Lee Kim Yoon(李锦容) joined the 8th batch Trooper in July 1939, and attached to 西南运输处第十五大队, working as driver along Burma Road(滇缅公路), they frequently met each other. And it seems that her gender was not disclosed when she drove alongside other male drivers, she worked for one year as driver, carrying both medical supplies and military supplies.
Ironically, in Singapore, it was reported that :
HUA MU LAN" THE Penang-born star, Miss Chun Yun Chang, gives a first-class performance in "Hua Mu Lan,'* a story of old China, filmed in Mandarin, which was shown at the Capitol Theatre at a midnight show last night. For Europeans the film has consider appeal, as it has full English (The Straits Times, 30 July 1939, Page 2)
The Burma Road was a very difficult road to navigate and many Nanyang Volunteers were killed in accidents, by malaria or during Japanese air raids. In 1940, Li Yue Mei was involved in an accident but was saved by a fellow driver, Hainanese Yang Wei Quan(杨维铨). Yang Wei Quan(杨维铨),was the one who took care of “him” as brother when she was hospitalized, but later discovered that she was a woman in disguise. The news, which at the time, created a great impact to the Chinese community, and stir up intense media coverage in China and South East Asia. She was hailed as the modern Hua Mu Lan(当代花木兰), the ancient Chinese woman who disguised as a man to serve in the army in place of her aging father. The Overseas Chinese societies in Singapore and Malaya were full of praise for her passion to volunteer for her service in the war of resistance to Japanese Imperial Army aggression.(Note: As Malaysian, we must remember this was the era when Malaya is under British colonial rule, an independent nation of Malaysia was not formed yet)
The famous Chinese revolutionary and feminist Ho Hsiang-ning or He Xiang Ning(何香凝)(b 27/6/1878 – d 1-9-1972) honour her with a banner with the Chinese calligraphy writing “巾帼英雄”, which means female heroine. Ho Hsiang Ning was the wife of Liao Zhongkai(廖仲恺) (b 23-4-1877 –d 20-8-1925). He was principal architect of the first Kuomintang-Chinese Communist Party (KMT-CCP) United Front in the 1920s. He was the Finance Minister of the Southern Government under Dr Sun Yatsen. Unfortunately, he was murdered in 1925, during political struggle for leadership of KMT.
Li Yue Mei eventually recovered and was transferred to serve as a nurse. By this time, she had already fallen in love with her savior Yang Wei Quan(杨维铨), who later become her husband.
Note:
Ho Hsiang-ning or He Xiang Ning(何香凝) （1878年6月27日－1972年9月1日)
Chinese revolutionary and feminist. She was one of the first Chinese women publicly to advocate nationalism, revolution, and female emancipation, and one of the first to cut her hair short. An active advocate of links with the communists and Russia, she went to Hong Kong in 1927 when Chiang Kai-shek broke with the communists, and was an outspoken critic of his leadership. She returned to Beijing (Peking) in 1949 as head of the overseas commission. Educated in Hong Kong and Japan, she married fellow revolutionary Liao Zhongkai in 1905. Her husband was assassinated in 1925.
1946 Return from China and settled in Burma
The Sino-Japanese War evolved into World War Two and ended with Japan’s unconditional surrender on 15 August 1945. In 1946, after 6 long years of service in the battlefield, Li Yue Mei finally returned home as a hero to her family in Penang, Malaya.
In late Feb 1946, when Li Yue Mei arrived in Singapore on the way to Penang. She was presented with banners from the Nanyang Chinese Girls School and attracted intense media attention in Singapore.
That same year, the overseas Chinese in Penang built a monument in memory of civilians and Nanyang Volunteers who lost their lives, at the foot of Penang Hill, Air Itam.
Li Yue Mei later married Yang Wei Quan, the Nanyang volunteer who saved her life, and the couple relocated to Yangon, Burma. There, they ran a coffee shop and soon the couple had 10 children.
In 1954, Chinese Premier Zhou En Lai(周恩来), began the first of his many visits to Burma. Li Yue Mei represented the Overseas Chinese in Burma to meet the Premier. Zhou En Lai praised her for her heroic efforts during the war encouraged her to send her children to study in China.
In 1965, Li Yue Mei finally decided to relocate to Guangzhou for the sake of her children and their education. However, her husband disagreed and she left for Guangzhou alone with her children.
1965 From Burma to China
Li Yue Mei was posted to Yangdi Oversea Chinese Farm(英德华侨农场), a farm which was a people commune(人民公社). The moment she arrived in China. He started a commune way of life in the remote place north of Quangzhou, where her children were studied. Unfortunate for her, Cultural Revolution started on 16-5-1966, few months after her arrival in China.
1966-1968 Death in Cultural Revolution文化大革命(1966-1976)
In reality, it was a political movement started by Mao Zedong or Mao Tse-tung毛泽东((December 26, 1893 – September 9, 1976) and Lin Yurong or, better known by the nom de guerre Lin Biao(December 5, 1907– September 13, 1971), Jiang Qing(江青), 2nd liners from the Chinese leadership, to remove Liu Shaoqi(刘少奇)( 24 November 1898 – 12 November 1969) and Deng Xiaoping(邓小平), Zhoa En Lai(周恩来)was trying to protect Liu and Deng, but only Deng escaped. The movement also involvedthe removal of 彭真,罗瑞卿,陆定一,杨尚昆, 叶剑英, 朱德, 贺龙, 彭德怀 and their supporters from the power base. They were all old timers in the formation of communist China. The political conflict evolved into a disastrous Cultural Revolution, the darkest period in the history of modern China. Mao officially declared the Cultural Revolution to have ended in 1969, but its active phase lasted until the death of Lin Biao in 1971. The political instability between 1971 and the arrest of the Gang of Four in 1976 are now also widely regarded as part of the Revolution. The idol worship of Mao during Cultural Revolution was like Hitler of Germany and Japanese Emperor during the WW2., which similarly developed into political and military extremism. It was greatest disaster in the political history.
Lee Yue Mei was at China at the wrong time....
As a returned oversea Chinese(归侨),who was born in family of businessman father, she was treated with suspicious by the Red Guards as capitalist class(资产阶级)with oversea connection(海外关系) , and her past as Nanyang Transport Volunteers was treated as the supporter of KMT or Kuomingtang(pro KMT). She was called “The element of KMT who has escaped eradication”(国民党残渣余孽).
文革’浩劫一开始，农场开始对归侨划成分。以下是一次让她极为伤心的对话：
工作组：‘李月美。你知道你在海外是什么成分？’
李；‘不懂得。’
工作组：‘那么，你小时候时干什么的？是否给地主放牛？’
李：‘我小时候在南洋读中国书，没有给地主放牛。’
工作组：‘那么，你小时候生活很好？’
李：‘是的。我记得小时候生活很好。’
工作组：‘那时候是一九四九年以前，生活很好，肯定是资产阶级’
‘？’（李月美一楞，不懂如此‘逻辑’，没有回答）
‘你长大干什么？’
‘我长大响应陈家庚先生号召，回国抗日，参加滇缅公路西南运输处和’红十字会‘工作’
‘西南运输处是国民党的。你知道吗？你是国民党的残渣余孽！’
(source: http://www.tianya.cn/publicforum/content/hn/1/40528.shtml)
She faced the untrue charges imposed by the Red Guards and their opportunist supporters, she was to undergo process of criticize and denounce (批斗), and also confiscation of property(抄家). She lost everything in her house, her children lost the opportunity for education. The remittance from oversea for children education fund was treated as spying fee, at that time her eldest daughter had married and staying Taiwan. Her husband was staying with the eldest daughter. The two eldest children had been accepted to College in Beijing.
Li Yue Mei and her children were sent to the countryside for “labor reform”( 劳动改造 or劳改) . The labor of their work was not fairly rewarded based on their labor contribution or labor marks (劳动力工分), but reward was based on political marks or political background(政治评工分), what she got was 50% of actual entitled rewards, her children only get 25%.
With the termination of oversea remittance from husband, the proceeds from their labour was not enough to sustain their daily living. Li Yue Mei wrote to Zhou En Lai . But Zhou at the time was under political pressure by Mao and Lin Biao, he was making effort to save Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping and many of the first tier founding members of PRC. He was facing a political crisis, and even his own position was in danger. He wrote to Li, requested her to follow the crowd or the current climate. This letter created more problems for Lee. The Red Guards revenge by escalated their treatment.
The photo of her in uniform become the clue to Red Guards that she was the spy for KMT and America. The Red Guards humiliated Li Yue Mei by parading her in the streets. At times, she was even physically assaulted by the Red Guards and the villagers. Physically she no longer able to withstand the cruel act of Red Guards. Mentally she was tormented day and night. She often fainted during the parade or criticize and denounce(批斗) process.
This was too much for a young lady who gave up everything to save her homeland. Li Yue Mei refused to be humiliated and decided to end her life. On the night of 28 August 1968, she waited for her children to fall asleep before she embarked on her act of resistance. Li Yue Mei used a knife to slash both her wrists and then using her bleeding arms, thrust the knife to silt her throat. The children woke up the next morning to discover their mother dead and soaked in a pool of blood.
When the Red Guards discovered Li Yue Mei’s suicide, they demanded that her children disowned their mother for being a counter revolutionary and forbade them to grief for their beloved mother.
Li Yue Mei’s body was wrapped in a nylon mosquito net and buried in an unmarked grave. Her children decided to escape from Guangzhou and left after secretly paying their last respects to their mother.
Note: On July 27, 1968, the Red Guards' power over the army was officially ended. A year later, the Red Guard factions were dismantled entirely. In December 1968, Mao began the "Down to the Countryside Movement". During this movement, which lasted for the next decade, young intellectuals living in cities were ordered to go to the countryside. The term "intellectuals" was actually used in the broadest sense to refer to recently graduated middle school students. In the late 1970s, these "young intellectuals" were finally allowed to return to their home cities. This movement was in part a means of moving Red Guards from the cities to the countryside, where they would cause less social disruption.
Her Children escaped to Hainan Island
The children escaped to Hainan Island, their father’s hometown, where they were cared for. After the fall of the Gang of Four, the children returned to Guangzhou in 1976 to collect their mother’s remains. After much searching, they finally found their mother’s remains still wrapped in the nylon mosquito net that they brought with them from Burma in 1965.
Rememberance of war heroine Li Yue Mei
On 23 October 1979, the Chinese government declared her a war hero and held a memorial in her memory. Meanwhile, all of the Nanyang Volunteers were also accorded the same status and received state pension and healthcare benefits.
1979年10月23日，中共英德华侨茶场委员会，召开了为李月美彻底平反恢复名誉的大会
一九七九年十月二十三日，中共英德华侨茶场委员会，召开了为李月美同志彻底平反恢复名誉的大会，平反通知书如下：
《关于为李月眉同志彻底平反恢复名誉的决定》：一九六六年我场四清运动后期，由于林彪、‘四人帮’反革命修正主义路线的干扰、破坏，在归侨中全面进行评划 阶级成分，李月眉同志被划为资本家，并扣上国民党的残渣余孽的帽子。为了拨乱反正，全面落实党的政策，根据英德县革命委员会（1978）第三世界号《关于 取消原驻英德华侨农场四清工作分团给归侨评划阶级成分的通知》精神，现决定：
一、 公开为李月眉同志彻底平反，恢复名誉。
二、 强加于李月眉同志的所谓‘资本家’、‘国民党的残渣余孽’应予推倒，有关评划归侨阶级成分的材料应予销毁。
三、 通知受株连的家属、子女和有关亲友所在单位，消除影响。原发出的有关材料应予收回销毁。
四、 李月眉同志因以上原因于一九六八年被迫害致死，已于一九七九年十月廾三日召开追悼会。
中共英德华侨农场委员会
一九七九年十月廾四日
http://www.tianya.cn/publicforum/content/hn/1/40528.shtml
On 7 July 1989, the Yunan government constructed a monument, 赤子功勋, in memory of Nanyang Volunteers.
Hua Mu Lan in ancient Chine, who merited 12 ranks of rewards, which she refused and retired back home instead. Hua Mu Lan lived happily in her retired life. Unlike ancient Hua Mulan, the Hua Mu Lan of modern China, who was from Penang, suffered during the Cultural Revolution, and committed suicide. Her family members were badly treated and endured poverty.
The brave lady from Penang, volunteered to fight Japanese in the war, she had prepared to died for the country she loved. She would have died as a war heroine during her Nanyang Transport Volunteers' days. But she died of humiliation, during Cultural Revolution, died in the political struggle of the nation she loved. Fate was unfair to the modern Hua Mulan from Penang.
A sad story for a heroine; but her patriotic spirit will forever remember by the people. Due to the political history of the country, the heroic act was not recorded in our history textbook. I hope that her heroic act will be remember by Penang, by having a statue of her at Penang Anti War Memorial at Air Itam, and the list of the names of all Nanyang volunteers from Penang at the memorial site. Regardless of country she served and her racial background, she is a heroine that Penang will cherish as daughter of Penang. It is her spirit of patriotic and heroic act that the younger generation can learn from.
But she is still the proudest daughter, Penang has ever produced; even it happen during colonial period.
Personally, I am touch with her life story; and proud she is from Penang....
Monday, August 1, 2011
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Penang Chinese Anti War Memorial(槟榔屿华侨抗战殉职机工罹难同胞纪念碑)
Penang Chinese War Memorial(槟榔屿华侨抗战殉职机工罹难同胞纪念碑)
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Many people have seen the tall memorial while traveling to Penang Hill or Kek Lok Si, but not many people know the story of the memorial. It is located just opposite SJKC Kong Ming Pusat or Kong Ming Main Chinese Primary School(公民国民型华文小学总校)which is located at 39-A, Jalan Air Itam, 11500 Ayer Itam, The school is also the trustee for the annual memorial service for the war martyrs. It is beside the Air Itam Government Clinic(Klinik kesihatan Air Itam) and Anglican Christ Church, opposite the Lye Lye Coffee Shop. If you travel from the city it is along Jalan Air Itam, until you reach the junction at the foot of Penang Hill, just opposite the Kong Ming School, the memorial is located right at the corner.
It is popularly called Penang Chinese Anti War Memorial,an anti war memorial. But behind the monument there are many touching stories. The memorial to commemorate the Chinese people of Penang who died in World War II. The Chinese name of the monument is Penang Chinese War Memorial for the Nanyang Transport Volunteers and the Martyrs of the World War II(槟榔屿华侨抗战殉职机工和罹难同胞纪念碑).
The memorial was built in 1946, but only officially opened on 1-11-1951 @11 a.m. by the late Lim Lian Teng. Below the memorial was buried the ashes of the bones of many martyrs who died during World War Two, collected from all over Penang. It was not only built to remember the WW2 martyrs, who died for their resistance to the Japanese Imperial Army, and also to remember the Nanyang Transport Volunteers who died while volunteered their service as truck driver and mechanic during the Sino Japanese War(which was part of Pacific War or WW2)at Burma Road,in Yunan,China. The Chinese inscription on the monument was as below;
槟榔屿机工与殉难同胞纪念碑文如下：
慨自滔天涡水，起于芦沟；刮地腥风，播及槟屿。凡是侨居华族，莫不切恨倭奴，出力出钱，各尽救亡天职；无老无少，咸怀抗战之决心。是以募机工，大收驾辇车 之利，技参军运，竟树蜚邹挽粟之功。矢石临头，都无畏色，而疆场殉职，宜慰忠魂也。迨日敌偷渡重洋，首沦孤岛，先而肃清文令，更颁炮烙之刑。公治被诬，同 羁缧绁；赢秦旧虐，重演焚坑；暴骨露尸，神号鬼哭。虽汤州十日，无此奇冤；嘉定三屠，逊兹浩劫也。所幸两声原子，三岛为夷；八载深仇，一朝暂雪。茅飞扬 日旗，虽远竖于东瀛，而内烁青磷，尚游离于南廓。客过回首，空怀堕泪之碑；鹤化辽东，未见表忠之碣。言念及此，情何以堪！槟屿赈会，早经议决，极思掩盖， 藉安英灵。奈经处处搜寻，始得一丘之萃。兹者卜地旗山之麓，建立丰汗；招魂槟海之滨，来归华表。漫说泽枯有主，定教埋石无忧，庶几取义成仁，恒千秋而不 朽；英风浩气，厉万古而常昭。
Each year on 11th of November at 11.a.m., a memorial ceremony will be held at the memorial, representatives from the Chinese community will be there to pay their respect to the martyrs. Some time, some Japanese will also come to join in the memorial ceremony. Recently even the Chief Minister was there.
Most of us are familiar with the story of the Japanese occupation during the World War Two, from 1941 to 1945. The local Chinese also called san-nee-pei-go-quai(3 years and 8 months). But the story of Nanyang Transport Volunteers, not many are aware of it.
Nanyang Transport Volunteers((南侨机工)1939-1946
In 1939, 3,200 young men from South-East Asia, historically was called Nanyang(南洋) by Chinese, most were from Malaya, left their families and homes voluntarily to travel to China to work as drivers and mechanics during the Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945. They left in 15 batches with 9 of 15 batches leaving from Singapore. The volunteers are called Nangiao ji gong(南侨机工)or “overseas Chinese mechanics”.
These 3200 volunteers included Indian, Malay men and four Chinese women. They were responding to China Relief Fund’s call to sustain China’s war materials supply chain during the Sino Japanese War. The China Relief Fund or Nanyang Federation of China Relief Fund(南洋华侨筹赈祖国难民总会) or Nangiao Chung Hui(南侨总会), an association founded on 10-10-1938 by 170 overseas Chinese representatives from the Nanyang region. Their objective was to coordinate regional relief work to support China against Japanese advancement. Mr.Tan Kah Kee(陈嘉庚)was elected as the chairman. The regional headquarter of China Relief Fund was located in Ee Hoe Hean Club, Singapore.
On 7-2-1939, an announcement no. 6 issued by The China Relief Fund, calling all able Chinese mechanic and drivers to volunteer for relief work in China. The responses to the call was tremendous, many Chinese responded to the call and went for interview. The first batch selected consisted of 80 pioneers. They left Singapore on 19-2-1939, 11 days after the announcement. They were known as Nanqiao ji gong(南侨机工) or “overseas Chinese mechanics”. The group however included both mechanic(修理工)and drivers(司机), Ji gong(机工) means workers on the machinery or vehicle, which included both mechanics and drivers. The volunteers, consisted mainly Chinese from Nanyang, but also included Indians, Malays,Indonesians and Burmese. The sent off ceremony attended by many was the hot news in Singapore. The initial 80 was called Eighty Pioneer(八十先锋),who left on 18-2-1939, just a day before Chinese New Year. They made history for Nanyang Chinese. (Note: You can see the photo of the first batch Ji Gong at the official website of Ee Hoe Hean Club(怡和轩俱乐部), http://www.eehoehean.org/?page_id=45)
There were 300 volunteers from North Malaya of Penang, Kedah and Perlis; of which 233 were from Penang. A list of the volunteers can be seen from the Sin Chew Daily dated 25-7-2011 North Malayan Edition page 20. In Penang, the sent off cemory were held at Choon-man-yuan or Wembley Park(春满园”游艺场), and there were long procession, by people of Penang to provide moral support to the volunteers, matching and walking all the way to clan jetty(Ong Jetty). Whenever batches of volunteers were going to China(via Singapore), there were big crowds sending them off, it was reported that there was an incident the wooden plank bridge of the jetty collapsed, and people fell off to the sea, due to overweight by large crowds standing on the plank bridge. They departed from Clan Jetty to Singapore. When they arrived at Singapore, their accommodation was at Nam Tien Hotel in Singapore prior to final departure by ship to Vietnam. A grand sent off was again at Singapore with big crowds sending them off at the Singapore old harbor(新加坡红灯码头). From the port at Haiphong, Vietnam, they went to Kunming,Yunnan, China. Sad to say ,Wembley Park has demolished recently for redevelopment, Nam Tien Hotel is still around.
According to Yunnan Province archives, records of the second brigade of Overseas Transportation Teams dated June 30, 1941, showed there were 97 non-Chinese mechanics – among them 55 Indians, 18 Malays, 11 Burmese and two Indonesians.
These volunteers’ task took them along the Burma Road, a more than 1,453km-long route that began at the rail head town of Lashio in north-east Burma (or Myanmar)(缅甸腊戌)and wound its way across mountainous terrain through the province of Yunnan in the south-west corner of China to end at the provincial capital, Kunming(中国云南省昆明市).
Of the 3,200 who went to Yunnan, about 1,028 died in Yunnan, out of 2,000 that still alive, half of them remained in China, and half come back to Nanyang. The one remained were those who had started a family in China, or who missed the last trip for home.
The first batch returned to Singapore with the help of United Nation in 1946, arrived at Singapore on 4-11-1946. After the war, China civil war started, the Nanyang volunteers and their families had to face another war period as civilian. Even after the establishment of People Republic of China in 1949,when communist took over China, the 1,000 who remained was treated as Chiang Kai Shek or KMT's soldiers experienced political discrimination. During the unfortunate incident of Cultural Revolution(1966-1976), they were prosecuted and discriminated due to their "polluted cultural background" as Nanyang ji gong, which was treated as link to KMT. They faced extreme hardship, and some committed suicide. Today, many of them had died of old age, and not many remained. Their contribution was forgotten as time passed, and no body remember their heroic act in China until 1985, when official recognition was given by the Chinese Government.
The Burma Road(滇缅公路)
By the middle of 1938, the Yunnan-Burma Road, laid along segments of that ancient trail, was completed and ready for heavy use. (The Yunnan-Burma Highway and Yunnan Economy During the Periods of Anti-Japanese War by Li Cheng, Journal of Asian Culture and History, Canadian Center of Science and Education, ccsenet.org.)The Burma Road(滇缅公路) is a road linking Burma (also called Myanmar) with the southwest of China. Its terminals are Kunming, Yunnan(中国云南省昆明市), and Lashio, Burma(缅甸腊戌). When it was built, Burma was still a British colony.
When the Japanese began blockading China’s seaboard in 1937 to cut off access to overseas war materials, the Chinese Government turned to this inland route that crossed its border to maintain a tenuous link with the outside world.
The Chinese government officials began the process of shipping military supplies from Irrawaddy River ports to Lashio for transportation into China via the road, they realised there were not enough skilled drivers and mechanics in China to service this overland route.
Malaya and Singapore had an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 skilled workers, according to research done for a documentary film made by a Chinese TV station and museum about the Nanqiao ji gong.
So in February 1939, a recruitment drive began in Singapore that called for drivers and mechanics aged between 20 to 40 years old to come to China’s aid. The drive was held under the aegis of the China Relief Fund that had initially been formed to raise funds from overseas Chinese to aid China during the Sino-Japanese War.
The response to the call was astonishing: within a matter of months more than 3,000 men, and not all of them Chinese either, from this part of the world volunteered, eventually joining tens of thousands of mainland Chinese in plying the 1,453km Yunnan-Burma Road(滇缅公路), China’s only link with the outside world after 1941. There were 3,192 from Nanyang.
According to the researchers, upon arriving in Kunming(昆明), the Nanqiao ji gong were sorted into Overseas Transportation Teams(华侨先锋运输队) and given additional training. Initial groups of drivers were under Team NO: 11, 12, 13 and 14, and then two Oversea Chinese Convoy Teams No. 1 & 2 were formed. The mechanics were assigned to the repair stations along the Kunming(昆明), Guiyang, Chongqing and other places of major Automobile Repair Factory. In the period, at the Burma Road, there were 17 transportation brigades of about 3,000 vehicles, while six of the teams were established by the Nanyang Chinese driving trucks, which accounted for one-third of more than 1,100 vehicles.
It was these men’s job to ferry fuel, weapons, ammunition and soldiers to various parts of China. In return, the Chinese Government provided food, accommodation and medical support and a monthly salary of between 69 and 74 yuan, which was quite low compared to wages for such jobs in Malaya and Singapore at that time.
The route traveled over two mountain ranges, crossing three rivers and countless gorges over more than 400 bridges; it ran along the edges of cliffs and slopes and there were long stretches with sharp and precarious bends, as the road rose from about 600m to over 2,000m above sea level along its length. And then there were mosquito-infested jungles where deadly malaria was rampant.
Burma Road drivers ferried SOE and Force 136 operatives on their missions. Tan said: “We had a saying that if a truck flipped over on the highway on the first day of the month, it would reach the bottom only on the 15th. It was a very dangerous road. It was not paved and not wide enough for two vehicles to pass each other. The drivers needed to have very good skills.
The reality was that by the time the war ended in 1945, about one-third of these volunteers had given their lives in the line of duty; some remained in China to find a living and got married and settled there. Only about 1,200 eventually returned to South-East Asia
走遍中国-再会吧,南洋--南洋华侨机工 Part 1 of 3
走遍中国-再会吧,南洋--南洋华侨机工 Part 2 of 3
走遍中国-再会吧,南洋--南洋华侨机工 Part 3 of 3
The Nanyang Transport Volunteers was assumed to be a Chinese man. But some non Chinese responded to the call. One of the non-Chinese volunteer, Col Dara Singh, from Taiping wrote on his experience as Malayan Mechanic Volunteer in the Singapore newspaper, The Strait Times, dated 26-7-1939.
MALAYAN VOLUNTEERS IN CHINA Taiping Man On Dangers And Thrills Of Supply Routes (Taiping, July 24, 1939). THRILLS and danger that go hand-in-hand in the daily life of Malayan mechanics who are now doing service in war torn China are described in a letter from Dara Singh(The Straits Times, 26 July 1939, Page 16)
Dara Singh was adopted by a Chinese family who educated him at King Edward VII School in the town. He used a Chinese name to register, a name of his Chinese brother, Wong Ah Leng. He was initially rejected during interview, but he appealed to Mr.Tan Kah Kee, who appealed to the Chinese authority to accept him. Dara was finally accepted and become the first non -Chinese volunteer. Darqa become close friend with General Stillwell, commander of the US Army in North Burma during his stay in Yunnan. Dara created a bodyguard for the general and became his interpreter. He rose to the rank of Colonel.
There were 5 females,Pai Sek Keow(白雪樵,白雪娇)，Li Yue Mei(李月美)、Tan Keow Chin(陈侨珍)、Wu Siew Fen(吴秀芬) and Choo Sek Chin(朱雪珍)(Please take note the names were merely translation from Chinese name, it may not be the same in actual register). Pai, Li and Tan were from Penang. Li Yue Mei was know as modern Hua Mu Lan(当代花木兰), as she also disguised as a man to serve in the Nanyang Transport Volunteers as a driver, just like the ancient Chinese woman heroine. She was discovered only after an accident, but she was saved by a fellow driver, Hainanese Yang Wei Quan(杨维铨), who was surprised that he was a woman. Li later married Yang. The life of this brave Penang girl can be a touching story like Hua Mu Lan. But sad to say she committed suicide and died during Cultural Revolution, unlike ancient Hua Mu Lan who retired with honors. Pai Sek Keow(白雪樵，白雪娇) is another brave girl who joined the volunteers, she was a teacher from Union School, now Union Primary School or Sekolah Rendah Jenis Kebangsaan (C) Union at Burma Road, Penang. She may be one of the pioneer school teacher of the Union School in 1938. She wrote a touching letter to the parent before the departure. She came back to Penang after the war in 1946, working as teacher in Hock Kien Girl School(福建女校), now Penang Chinese Girls High School or PCGHS(槟华国民型女子中学). She was sacked due to political involvement in school. She later joined a private school. On 1-10-1949, the day Chinese communist formed the People Republic of China or PRC, she raised the first PRC flag in the school, and was captured by the British and sent to Ipoh prison, accused her as communist. In those day under colonial rule, it was a norm for Chinese school to raise ROC flag in school each morning, it is also normal to change flag when China was taken over by PRC. Due to the incident, she was treated as hard core communist, and banished to China by British colonial government. She later become a secondary school teacher, lecturer in Guangzhou Teacher's College(广州师范学院), and retired as Asst Professor at age of 70. She is now retired , still living and staying in Guangzhou.
The Monuments
In 1946, after the end of the world war 2, the local Chinese in Penang built a monument in memory of civilians and Nanyang Transport Volunteers who lost their lives during WW2, it is commonly known as Penang Chinese Anti-War Memorial. The actual full name of the memorial is Penang Chinese War Memorial for the Nanyang Transport Volunteers and the victims of the world war(槟榔屿华侨抗战殉职机工罹难同胞纪念碑). The monument is located at the foot of Penang Hill, Penang, Malaysia(槟城升旗山). It was reported that there is another at Kuala Lumpur Kwang Tung Cemetery(吉隆坡的广东义山亭).
In China, only on 7 July 1989, the Yunan government constructed a monument,"赤子功勋", in memory of Nanyang Transport Volunteers at Kunming, the capital of Yunan Province.(昆明市的西山森林公园建有“南洋华侨机工抗日纪念碑).
There is another memorial monument at Wanding(畹町), Ruili(瑞丽市),opened on 12-12-2005.(云南瑞丽市畹町经济开发区南洋华侨机工抗战纪念碑).Ruili is a border town with Burma, Wanding Border Economic Cooperation Zone (WTBECZ) is a Chinese State Council-approved Industrial Park based in Wanding Town, Ruili City, Dehong Prefecture, Yunnan, China, founded in 1992. Wanding Bridge(畹町桥)is the bridge at the border between Burma and China, where the Nanyang Transport Volunteers crew had pass through.
The Journey to Burma Road in remembrance of the Nanyang Volunteers
Initiated by the KL & Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall and organized by Malayan Second World War History Society(滇缅公路马来亚二战历史研究会), and Persatuan Hope Negeri Johor, (柔佛河婆同乡会青年团), a group of history enthusiasts commemorated Nanyang Volunteers with a journey from Singapore to Kunming.
Their starting point was the Ee Hoe Hean Club,(怡和轩)in Singapore Chinatown,since Ee Hoe Hean was the headquarters of China Relief Fund and the send-off location for many batches of Nanyang Volunteers.
Nanyang Federation of China Relief Fund(南洋华侨筹赈祖国难民总会) was formed in 1938, when 170 overseas Chinese representatives from the region met to establish a regional body to co ordinate regional relief work to support China against Japanese advancement. These delegates founded the Nanyang Federation of China Relief Fund(南洋华侨筹赈祖国难民总会)and elected Mr. Tan Kah Kee(陈嘉庚)as the chairman. The regional headquarter of China Relief Fund was located in Ee Hoe Hean Club, Singapore.
The motor crew rightly ended their trip at Penang Anti War Memorial at the foot of Penang Hill, Air itam on 30-7-2011. A memorial ceremony was also held to pay respect to the war martyrs. It make their trip ending more meaningful.
Suggested readings/websites:
1. MALAYAN VOLUNTEERS IN CHINA , The Straits Times, 26 July 1939, Page 16( This was the report of one of the non Chinese volunteer, Dara Singh from Taiping)
2. Flying Tigers, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Tigers
3. Heroic contributions of the Nanqiao ji gong; The Star, dated August 8, 2010; http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2010/8/8/lifefocus/6746729&sec=lifefocus
4. 南侨机工, http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/4H0cbh8ncHM/, Part 1-3
View Larger Map
Many people have seen the tall memorial while traveling to Penang Hill or Kek Lok Si, but not many people know the story of the memorial. It is located just opposite SJKC Kong Ming Pusat or Kong Ming Main Chinese Primary School(公民国民型华文小学总校)which is located at 39-A, Jalan Air Itam, 11500 Ayer Itam, The school is also the trustee for the annual memorial service for the war martyrs. It is beside the Air Itam Government Clinic(Klinik kesihatan Air Itam) and Anglican Christ Church, opposite the Lye Lye Coffee Shop. If you travel from the city it is along Jalan Air Itam, until you reach the junction at the foot of Penang Hill, just opposite the Kong Ming School, the memorial is located right at the corner.
It is popularly called Penang Chinese Anti War Memorial,an anti war memorial. But behind the monument there are many touching stories. The memorial to commemorate the Chinese people of Penang who died in World War II. The Chinese name of the monument is Penang Chinese War Memorial for the Nanyang Transport Volunteers and the Martyrs of the World War II(槟榔屿华侨抗战殉职机工和罹难同胞纪念碑).
The memorial was built in 1946, but only officially opened on 1-11-1951 @11 a.m. by the late Lim Lian Teng. Below the memorial was buried the ashes of the bones of many martyrs who died during World War Two, collected from all over Penang. It was not only built to remember the WW2 martyrs, who died for their resistance to the Japanese Imperial Army, and also to remember the Nanyang Transport Volunteers who died while volunteered their service as truck driver and mechanic during the Sino Japanese War(which was part of Pacific War or WW2)at Burma Road,in Yunan,China. The Chinese inscription on the monument was as below;
槟榔屿机工与殉难同胞纪念碑文如下：
慨自滔天涡水，起于芦沟；刮地腥风，播及槟屿。凡是侨居华族，莫不切恨倭奴，出力出钱，各尽救亡天职；无老无少，咸怀抗战之决心。是以募机工，大收驾辇车 之利，技参军运，竟树蜚邹挽粟之功。矢石临头，都无畏色，而疆场殉职，宜慰忠魂也。迨日敌偷渡重洋，首沦孤岛，先而肃清文令，更颁炮烙之刑。公治被诬，同 羁缧绁；赢秦旧虐，重演焚坑；暴骨露尸，神号鬼哭。虽汤州十日，无此奇冤；嘉定三屠，逊兹浩劫也。所幸两声原子，三岛为夷；八载深仇，一朝暂雪。茅飞扬 日旗，虽远竖于东瀛，而内烁青磷，尚游离于南廓。客过回首，空怀堕泪之碑；鹤化辽东，未见表忠之碣。言念及此，情何以堪！槟屿赈会，早经议决，极思掩盖， 藉安英灵。奈经处处搜寻，始得一丘之萃。兹者卜地旗山之麓，建立丰汗；招魂槟海之滨，来归华表。漫说泽枯有主，定教埋石无忧，庶几取义成仁，恒千秋而不 朽；英风浩气，厉万古而常昭。
Each year on 11th of November at 11.a.m., a memorial ceremony will be held at the memorial, representatives from the Chinese community will be there to pay their respect to the martyrs. Some time, some Japanese will also come to join in the memorial ceremony. Recently even the Chief Minister was there.
Most of us are familiar with the story of the Japanese occupation during the World War Two, from 1941 to 1945. The local Chinese also called san-nee-pei-go-quai(3 years and 8 months). But the story of Nanyang Transport Volunteers, not many are aware of it.
Nanyang Transport Volunteers((南侨机工)1939-1946
In 1939, 3,200 young men from South-East Asia, historically was called Nanyang(南洋) by Chinese, most were from Malaya, left their families and homes voluntarily to travel to China to work as drivers and mechanics during the Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945. They left in 15 batches with 9 of 15 batches leaving from Singapore. The volunteers are called Nangiao ji gong(南侨机工)or “overseas Chinese mechanics”.
These 3200 volunteers included Indian, Malay men and four Chinese women. They were responding to China Relief Fund’s call to sustain China’s war materials supply chain during the Sino Japanese War. The China Relief Fund or Nanyang Federation of China Relief Fund(南洋华侨筹赈祖国难民总会) or Nangiao Chung Hui(南侨总会), an association founded on 10-10-1938 by 170 overseas Chinese representatives from the Nanyang region. Their objective was to coordinate regional relief work to support China against Japanese advancement. Mr.Tan Kah Kee(陈嘉庚)was elected as the chairman. The regional headquarter of China Relief Fund was located in Ee Hoe Hean Club, Singapore.
On 7-2-1939, an announcement no. 6 issued by The China Relief Fund, calling all able Chinese mechanic and drivers to volunteer for relief work in China. The responses to the call was tremendous, many Chinese responded to the call and went for interview. The first batch selected consisted of 80 pioneers. They left Singapore on 19-2-1939, 11 days after the announcement. They were known as Nanqiao ji gong(南侨机工) or “overseas Chinese mechanics”. The group however included both mechanic(修理工)and drivers(司机), Ji gong(机工) means workers on the machinery or vehicle, which included both mechanics and drivers. The volunteers, consisted mainly Chinese from Nanyang, but also included Indians, Malays,Indonesians and Burmese. The sent off ceremony attended by many was the hot news in Singapore. The initial 80 was called Eighty Pioneer(八十先锋),who left on 18-2-1939, just a day before Chinese New Year. They made history for Nanyang Chinese. (Note: You can see the photo of the first batch Ji Gong at the official website of Ee Hoe Hean Club(怡和轩俱乐部), http://www.eehoehean.org/?page_id=45)
There were 300 volunteers from North Malaya of Penang, Kedah and Perlis; of which 233 were from Penang. A list of the volunteers can be seen from the Sin Chew Daily dated 25-7-2011 North Malayan Edition page 20. In Penang, the sent off cemory were held at Choon-man-yuan or Wembley Park(春满园”游艺场), and there were long procession, by people of Penang to provide moral support to the volunteers, matching and walking all the way to clan jetty(Ong Jetty). Whenever batches of volunteers were going to China(via Singapore), there were big crowds sending them off, it was reported that there was an incident the wooden plank bridge of the jetty collapsed, and people fell off to the sea, due to overweight by large crowds standing on the plank bridge. They departed from Clan Jetty to Singapore. When they arrived at Singapore, their accommodation was at Nam Tien Hotel in Singapore prior to final departure by ship to Vietnam. A grand sent off was again at Singapore with big crowds sending them off at the Singapore old harbor(新加坡红灯码头). From the port at Haiphong, Vietnam, they went to Kunming,Yunnan, China. Sad to say ,Wembley Park has demolished recently for redevelopment, Nam Tien Hotel is still around.
According to Yunnan Province archives, records of the second brigade of Overseas Transportation Teams dated June 30, 1941, showed there were 97 non-Chinese mechanics – among them 55 Indians, 18 Malays, 11 Burmese and two Indonesians.
These volunteers’ task took them along the Burma Road, a more than 1,453km-long route that began at the rail head town of Lashio in north-east Burma (or Myanmar)(缅甸腊戌)and wound its way across mountainous terrain through the province of Yunnan in the south-west corner of China to end at the provincial capital, Kunming(中国云南省昆明市).
Of the 3,200 who went to Yunnan, about 1,028 died in Yunnan, out of 2,000 that still alive, half of them remained in China, and half come back to Nanyang. The one remained were those who had started a family in China, or who missed the last trip for home.
The first batch returned to Singapore with the help of United Nation in 1946, arrived at Singapore on 4-11-1946. After the war, China civil war started, the Nanyang volunteers and their families had to face another war period as civilian. Even after the establishment of People Republic of China in 1949,when communist took over China, the 1,000 who remained was treated as Chiang Kai Shek or KMT's soldiers experienced political discrimination. During the unfortunate incident of Cultural Revolution(1966-1976), they were prosecuted and discriminated due to their "polluted cultural background" as Nanyang ji gong, which was treated as link to KMT. They faced extreme hardship, and some committed suicide. Today, many of them had died of old age, and not many remained. Their contribution was forgotten as time passed, and no body remember their heroic act in China until 1985, when official recognition was given by the Chinese Government.
The Burma Road(滇缅公路)
By the middle of 1938, the Yunnan-Burma Road, laid along segments of that ancient trail, was completed and ready for heavy use. (The Yunnan-Burma Highway and Yunnan Economy During the Periods of Anti-Japanese War by Li Cheng, Journal of Asian Culture and History, Canadian Center of Science and Education, ccsenet.org.)The Burma Road(滇缅公路) is a road linking Burma (also called Myanmar) with the southwest of China. Its terminals are Kunming, Yunnan(中国云南省昆明市), and Lashio, Burma(缅甸腊戌). When it was built, Burma was still a British colony.
When the Japanese began blockading China’s seaboard in 1937 to cut off access to overseas war materials, the Chinese Government turned to this inland route that crossed its border to maintain a tenuous link with the outside world.
The Chinese government officials began the process of shipping military supplies from Irrawaddy River ports to Lashio for transportation into China via the road, they realised there were not enough skilled drivers and mechanics in China to service this overland route.
Malaya and Singapore had an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 skilled workers, according to research done for a documentary film made by a Chinese TV station and museum about the Nanqiao ji gong.
So in February 1939, a recruitment drive began in Singapore that called for drivers and mechanics aged between 20 to 40 years old to come to China’s aid. The drive was held under the aegis of the China Relief Fund that had initially been formed to raise funds from overseas Chinese to aid China during the Sino-Japanese War.
The response to the call was astonishing: within a matter of months more than 3,000 men, and not all of them Chinese either, from this part of the world volunteered, eventually joining tens of thousands of mainland Chinese in plying the 1,453km Yunnan-Burma Road(滇缅公路), China’s only link with the outside world after 1941. There were 3,192 from Nanyang.
According to the researchers, upon arriving in Kunming(昆明), the Nanqiao ji gong were sorted into Overseas Transportation Teams(华侨先锋运输队) and given additional training. Initial groups of drivers were under Team NO: 11, 12, 13 and 14, and then two Oversea Chinese Convoy Teams No. 1 & 2 were formed. The mechanics were assigned to the repair stations along the Kunming(昆明), Guiyang, Chongqing and other places of major Automobile Repair Factory. In the period, at the Burma Road, there were 17 transportation brigades of about 3,000 vehicles, while six of the teams were established by the Nanyang Chinese driving trucks, which accounted for one-third of more than 1,100 vehicles.
It was these men’s job to ferry fuel, weapons, ammunition and soldiers to various parts of China. In return, the Chinese Government provided food, accommodation and medical support and a monthly salary of between 69 and 74 yuan, which was quite low compared to wages for such jobs in Malaya and Singapore at that time.
The route traveled over two mountain ranges, crossing three rivers and countless gorges over more than 400 bridges; it ran along the edges of cliffs and slopes and there were long stretches with sharp and precarious bends, as the road rose from about 600m to over 2,000m above sea level along its length. And then there were mosquito-infested jungles where deadly malaria was rampant.
Burma Road drivers ferried SOE and Force 136 operatives on their missions. Tan said: “We had a saying that if a truck flipped over on the highway on the first day of the month, it would reach the bottom only on the 15th. It was a very dangerous road. It was not paved and not wide enough for two vehicles to pass each other. The drivers needed to have very good skills.
The reality was that by the time the war ended in 1945, about one-third of these volunteers had given their lives in the line of duty; some remained in China to find a living and got married and settled there. Only about 1,200 eventually returned to South-East Asia
走遍中国-再会吧,南洋--南洋华侨机工 Part 1 of 3
走遍中国-再会吧,南洋--南洋华侨机工 Part 2 of 3
走遍中国-再会吧,南洋--南洋华侨机工 Part 3 of 3
The Nanyang Transport Volunteers was assumed to be a Chinese man. But some non Chinese responded to the call. One of the non-Chinese volunteer, Col Dara Singh, from Taiping wrote on his experience as Malayan Mechanic Volunteer in the Singapore newspaper, The Strait Times, dated 26-7-1939.
MALAYAN VOLUNTEERS IN CHINA Taiping Man On Dangers And Thrills Of Supply Routes (Taiping, July 24, 1939). THRILLS and danger that go hand-in-hand in the daily life of Malayan mechanics who are now doing service in war torn China are described in a letter from Dara Singh(The Straits Times, 26 July 1939, Page 16)
Dara Singh was adopted by a Chinese family who educated him at King Edward VII School in the town. He used a Chinese name to register, a name of his Chinese brother, Wong Ah Leng. He was initially rejected during interview, but he appealed to Mr.Tan Kah Kee, who appealed to the Chinese authority to accept him. Dara was finally accepted and become the first non -Chinese volunteer. Darqa become close friend with General Stillwell, commander of the US Army in North Burma during his stay in Yunnan. Dara created a bodyguard for the general and became his interpreter. He rose to the rank of Colonel.
There were 5 females,Pai Sek Keow(白雪樵,白雪娇)，Li Yue Mei(李月美)、Tan Keow Chin(陈侨珍)、Wu Siew Fen(吴秀芬) and Choo Sek Chin(朱雪珍)(Please take note the names were merely translation from Chinese name, it may not be the same in actual register). Pai, Li and Tan were from Penang. Li Yue Mei was know as modern Hua Mu Lan(当代花木兰), as she also disguised as a man to serve in the Nanyang Transport Volunteers as a driver, just like the ancient Chinese woman heroine. She was discovered only after an accident, but she was saved by a fellow driver, Hainanese Yang Wei Quan(杨维铨), who was surprised that he was a woman. Li later married Yang. The life of this brave Penang girl can be a touching story like Hua Mu Lan. But sad to say she committed suicide and died during Cultural Revolution, unlike ancient Hua Mu Lan who retired with honors. Pai Sek Keow(白雪樵，白雪娇) is another brave girl who joined the volunteers, she was a teacher from Union School, now Union Primary School or Sekolah Rendah Jenis Kebangsaan (C) Union at Burma Road, Penang. She may be one of the pioneer school teacher of the Union School in 1938. She wrote a touching letter to the parent before the departure. She came back to Penang after the war in 1946, working as teacher in Hock Kien Girl School(福建女校), now Penang Chinese Girls High School or PCGHS(槟华国民型女子中学). She was sacked due to political involvement in school. She later joined a private school. On 1-10-1949, the day Chinese communist formed the People Republic of China or PRC, she raised the first PRC flag in the school, and was captured by the British and sent to Ipoh prison, accused her as communist. In those day under colonial rule, it was a norm for Chinese school to raise ROC flag in school each morning, it is also normal to change flag when China was taken over by PRC. Due to the incident, she was treated as hard core communist, and banished to China by British colonial government. She later become a secondary school teacher, lecturer in Guangzhou Teacher's College(广州师范学院), and retired as Asst Professor at age of 70. She is now retired , still living and staying in Guangzhou.
The Monuments
In 1946, after the end of the world war 2, the local Chinese in Penang built a monument in memory of civilians and Nanyang Transport Volunteers who lost their lives during WW2, it is commonly known as Penang Chinese Anti-War Memorial. The actual full name of the memorial is Penang Chinese War Memorial for the Nanyang Transport Volunteers and the victims of the world war(槟榔屿华侨抗战殉职机工罹难同胞纪念碑). The monument is located at the foot of Penang Hill, Penang, Malaysia(槟城升旗山). It was reported that there is another at Kuala Lumpur Kwang Tung Cemetery(吉隆坡的广东义山亭).
In China, only on 7 July 1989, the Yunan government constructed a monument,"赤子功勋", in memory of Nanyang Transport Volunteers at Kunming, the capital of Yunan Province.(昆明市的西山森林公园建有“南洋华侨机工抗日纪念碑).
There is another memorial monument at Wanding(畹町), Ruili(瑞丽市),opened on 12-12-2005.(云南瑞丽市畹町经济开发区南洋华侨机工抗战纪念碑).Ruili is a border town with Burma, Wanding Border Economic Cooperation Zone (WTBECZ) is a Chinese State Council-approved Industrial Park based in Wanding Town, Ruili City, Dehong Prefecture, Yunnan, China, founded in 1992. Wanding Bridge(畹町桥)is the bridge at the border between Burma and China, where the Nanyang Transport Volunteers crew had pass through.
The Journey to Burma Road in remembrance of the Nanyang Volunteers
Initiated by the KL & Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall and organized by Malayan Second World War History Society(滇缅公路马来亚二战历史研究会), and Persatuan Hope Negeri Johor, (柔佛河婆同乡会青年团), a group of history enthusiasts commemorated Nanyang Volunteers with a journey from Singapore to Kunming.
Their starting point was the Ee Hoe Hean Club,(怡和轩)in Singapore Chinatown,since Ee Hoe Hean was the headquarters of China Relief Fund and the send-off location for many batches of Nanyang Volunteers.
Nanyang Federation of China Relief Fund(南洋华侨筹赈祖国难民总会) was formed in 1938, when 170 overseas Chinese representatives from the region met to establish a regional body to co ordinate regional relief work to support China against Japanese advancement. These delegates founded the Nanyang Federation of China Relief Fund(南洋华侨筹赈祖国难民总会)and elected Mr. Tan Kah Kee(陈嘉庚)as the chairman. The regional headquarter of China Relief Fund was located in Ee Hoe Hean Club, Singapore.
The motor crew rightly ended their trip at Penang Anti War Memorial at the foot of Penang Hill, Air itam on 30-7-2011. A memorial ceremony was also held to pay respect to the war martyrs. It make their trip ending more meaningful.
Suggested readings/websites:
1. MALAYAN VOLUNTEERS IN CHINA , The Straits Times, 26 July 1939, Page 16( This was the report of one of the non Chinese volunteer, Dara Singh from Taiping)
2. Flying Tigers, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Tigers
3. Heroic contributions of the Nanqiao ji gong; The Star, dated August 8, 2010; http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2010/8/8/lifefocus/6746729&sec=lifefocus
4. 南侨机工, http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/4H0cbh8ncHM/, Part 1-3
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Penang Asam Laksa ranked No 7 in the world's 50 most delicious foods
Penang Laksa ranked No 7 in the world's 50 most delicious foods. Wah, so proud. This is what they commented on Penang Laksa.
No. 7. Penang laksa, Malaysia
“Poached, flaked mackerel, tamarind, chili, mint, lemongrass, onion, pineapple … one of Malaysia’s most popular dishes is an addictive spicy-sour fish broth with noodles (especially great when fused with ginger), that’ll have your nose running before the spoon even hits your lips.”
Read more: World's 50 most delicious foods #2 | CNNGo.com http://www.cnngo.com/explorations/eat/worlds-50-most-delicious-foods-067535?page=0,1#ixzz1TaIL5ss7
Penang Laksa, the correct name should be Penang Assam Laksa. Penang Assam Laksa which was developed from the original Malay Laksa, was a Peranakan or Nyonya food, a merger of Chinese and Malay food elements found in Malaysia and Singapore, and to a lesser extent Indonesia and Siamese influences. You can found many types of Laksa in Malaysia and Singapore, Asam Laksa however is uniquely Penang, and it is commonly add with the word Penang, Penang Asam Laksa to denote authentic or original.
Why call it Laksa?
The origin of the name "laksa" is unclear. There are many theories on the derivation of the names;
(i) One theory traces it back to Hindi/Persian lakhshah, referring to a type of vermicelli, which in turn may be derived from the Sanskrit lakshas (लकशस्) meaning "one hundred thousand" (lakh). This theory has its credit, obviously laksa cannot be Chinese food, it is high probably the food with maritime root. The theory hold ground as historical Malaya was culturally and politically under the Indian influence.
(ii)It has also been suggested that "laksa" may derive from the Chinese word lak-sa(辣沙) , meaning "spicy sand" due to the ground dried prawns which gives a sandy or gritty texture to the sauce. It is sound Cantonese, but Penang's majority population of early Penang was Fujian people, speaking Minan dialects. So the possibility is remote. However it was normally called for a curry noodle or curry mee by Chinese from Ipoh to Kuala Lumpur, which is not Penang asam laksa.
(iii)The name comes from the similar sounding word "dirty" or "lasam", in Hokkien due to its appearance, the base soup with the fish meat into fine form,coupled with the prawn paste, it has a dirty look. But do you accept the dirty name given to food, especially nyaoya food, it is not their culture.
(iv) can it be from the Penang Hokkien word, rubbish, "lapsap". "Lapsap tang" means rubbish bin or pail. Laksa is lapsap, you just throw all ingredient things to make Penang Asam Laksa. Anyhow, it stick.
Looking at the history, the Indian influence in Malaya is apparent, and it is obviously with maritime influence. Laksa Assam may be derived from Asam Pedas Ikan Soup(Malay sour fish soup)without noodle, may be found by Malay fisherman/pirates or the Indian sailors ; later some inventive Chinese nyonya may just added the noodle,to form the laksa noodle, the Laksa noodle is unique, unlike other flour noodle(normally yellow) or rice vermicelli(white color); the prawn paste or hae kor, which is uniquely typical Penang; together with the herbal leaves(called Ulam in Malay) from the Siamese influence, spices imported from Indonesia, adding more spicy and greenery, the new product formed is called Penang Assam Laksa. The Penang Assam Laksa is actually the mix of various cultures that influence the Penang island in historical days, it is the reflective of the political and cultural influences. This may possibly be the historical part of it...... and it originated from Penang.
Thus Penang Assam Laksa can be considered as heritage food of Penang with long history, fully match with the Heritage City of Penang.
Types of Laksa
There are two basic types of laksa: curry laksa and asam laksa. Curry laksa is a coconut curry soup with noodles, while asam laksa is a sour fish soup with noodles. Thick rice noodles also known as laksa noodles are most commonly used, although thin rice vermicelli (bee hoon or mee hoon) are also common and some variants use other types. Penang laksa is called Penang Asam laksa, a sour type. Some innovative Penang hawker, some time ago come up with Laksa Lemah or coconut milk curry laksa,without asam or tamarind, some called it Siam laksa(暹叻沙).
In Malaysia, there are many types of laksa, some called it Malay laksa. You have the famous Laksa Johor and Laksa Kelantan, which are laksa lemah. The sour laksa type or assam laksa, you have Kedah Laksa, Perlis laksa from Kuala Perlis, which are similar to Penang laksa, except the ingredients. Kedah laksa use rice to make noodle and served with sliced egg; Perlis laksa served with catfish and eel fish. Ipoh laksa is actually Penang laksa, but more sour without prawn paste hae kor. Kuala Kangsar Laksa is more unique, noodle is made of wheat flour (usually hand made), you can found it in tourist complex near Perak River.
But the most memorial laksa that I ever tasted outside Penang, was the Trengganu laksa sold at Kuala Trengganu chinatown, Kampong Tiong, near an ancient bridge in late 70s. The fullness of fresh fish meats make the laksa really different. The shop no longer open today.
Asam Laksa
Asam laksa is a sour fish-based soup. Asam (or asam jawa) is the Malay word for tamarind, which is commonly used to give the stock its sour flavor. It is also common to use "asam keping" also known as "asam gelugor"(this is the name where Glugor town derived), dried slices of tamarind fruit, for added sourness. Modern Malay spelling is asam, though the spelling assam is still frequently used.
The main ingredients for asam laksa include shredded fish, normally kembung fish or mackerel, and finely sliced vegetables including cucumber, onions, red chillies, pineapple, lettuce, common mint, "daun kesum" (Vietnamese mint or laksa mint) and pink bunga kantan (ginger buds). Asam laksa is normally served with either thick rice noodles or thin rice noodles (vermicelli). And topped off with "petis udang" or "hae ko" (蝦羔), a thick sweet prawn/shrimp paste. For Penang Asam Laksa, it must served with hae ko, otherwise it is not Penang Laksa.
(source: wikipedia)
Talking about Penang Asam Laksa; I still remember my days of Laksa during the childhood days. I still remember the Nyonya cake shops at Kimberley Street. The shop that sell nyonya cakes and laksa . The shop not only selling wholesale at their shop, but also retailed by a team of Indian mobile laksa sellers. The Indian hawkers will carry rattan baskets of their cakes using pole over their shoulder. This is similar to the Nasi Kandar seller in the old day. The pole is called Kandar, thus derived the name of Nasi Kandar or Kandar rice(Pole rice). Cake basket was shouldered by the seller from one end of the "kandar" pole, the other end is the boiling laksa pot or container . The basket is layered, and packed with the nyonya cakes fresh from the shop. The pot of laksa soup is make warm by charcoal stove. This was the street hawkers that walking around old Penang streets. They were selling their nyonya cakes and Penang assam laksa to the office workers and families, especially stopping at the back lane where the family neighborhood normally gathered. It normally come in the afternoon. The laksa sellers is part of the old Penang mobile street food hawkers, just like top-top mee, nasi kandar etc. They left their shop at noon, and will return in the evening.
For the neighborhood, especially the poor folks, the best time is when the hawker returned, any leftover from their daily sale need to dispose off fast as the food cannot be kept for the next day, they normally throw it away. The price after the evening will be cheaper. We always buy the laksa from the hawker for our dinner, that was our special dinner in our childhood day. It is cheap and nutritious, and moreover for the family, the laksa soup can take together with rice. We always asked for more laksa soup. That was my memory of laksa during the childhood day. But the nyonya cake shop today no longer around.
The next laksa experience was the laksa hawker at Maxwell Road infront of Li Teik Primary School. This laksa hawker stall catered for school children. Its patron included school children from Li Teik and Chung Hwa Confucious school next to Li Teik. As it was also opposing the bus station of Hin Company or blue bus, the school children arriving from schools or going to schools by bus in the afternoon , may treat it as their lunch for the day. Beside the laksa stall ,was the tang-hoon fishball stall. These two stalls were the most popular among the school children. Sometime the cinema goers nearby will patron the stalls. At the time, it is no longer for daily dinner needs, we go for pineapples and spicy ingredients. The laksa must be spicy until sweats dropped from our face, and then only it is the best laksa. Another ask is asking for fish, “ ei hu bak lah”, or pineapple…..”ei ong lai lah”… Maxwell Road no longer around, and my school building had demolished for KOMTAR project, the taste of Laksa still linger in my memory.
The most famous laksa stall is Air Itam Maket Laksa Stall. But I do not know why they always called it Kek Lok Si Laksa Stall. Is it because there was another Laksa stall at Kek Lok Si?. But this laksa stall , located just beside the entrance of Air Itam Wet Market, can be said branded laksa stall in those day. The tourists will insist to have a bowl of laksa there before they left Kek Lok Si, or Air Itam. May be there are few commercial laksa stalls at tourist area, this stall was popular with the tourist, until today. In those day, Kek Lok Si was a must visit tourist area in Penang, the stall was having very good business from the visitors to Kek Lok Si. For Penang kid, may be for our poor family, you only have the chance to try it during Chinese New Year that means once a year, as part of Chinese New Year treat. The feeling of dressing in new clothing and eating laksa at the same time, sometime until your new clothing also get wet with sweat, when the soup is hot, and the day is sunny. It was always worth the experience, as during Chinese New Year, there were always long queue.
After many years away from Penang, whenever I was in Penang, it is always Penang Asam Laksa, Char Koay Teow, Hae Mee, Chee Cheng Fun, Curry Mee……But Penang Laksa is always special personally to me. After retirement, and returning to Penang, looking for Penang laksa all over Penang island, seeking for the taste of my childhood, the taste of my school days; but sad to say it never around. At time I was crazy about Balik Pulau laksa, going there many times just for laksa. I once tried the laksa sold by an Indian hawker sellers, a retailer from the modern nyonya cake shop in the old city, but now no longer using kandar pole, their containers and baskets are now in the carriage of tricycle, but the laksa no longer taste the same, as laksa from Kimberley Street.....
Suddenly I realized my taste bud must has changed due to aging, I will never get back the taste of childhood laksa, the taste of school days’ laksa….. I can only linger in my memory, the taste of old Penang laksa.
Laksa to me, was experience of the childhood dinner; was fond memory of the school days; Laksa is always my favorite street food.
And it is now the 7th most delicious foods in the world…..
If you're away in a foreign land and missing this Penang favorite, give this recipe a try. For a full recipe go to the blog at http://assamlaksainmudgeeaustralia.blogspot.com
No. 7. Penang laksa, Malaysia
“Poached, flaked mackerel, tamarind, chili, mint, lemongrass, onion, pineapple … one of Malaysia’s most popular dishes is an addictive spicy-sour fish broth with noodles (especially great when fused with ginger), that’ll have your nose running before the spoon even hits your lips.”
Read more: World's 50 most delicious foods #2 | CNNGo.com http://www.cnngo.com/explorations/eat/worlds-50-most-delicious-foods-067535?page=0,1#ixzz1TaIL5ss7
Penang Laksa, the correct name should be Penang Assam Laksa. Penang Assam Laksa which was developed from the original Malay Laksa, was a Peranakan or Nyonya food, a merger of Chinese and Malay food elements found in Malaysia and Singapore, and to a lesser extent Indonesia and Siamese influences. You can found many types of Laksa in Malaysia and Singapore, Asam Laksa however is uniquely Penang, and it is commonly add with the word Penang, Penang Asam Laksa to denote authentic or original.
Why call it Laksa?
The origin of the name "laksa" is unclear. There are many theories on the derivation of the names;
(i) One theory traces it back to Hindi/Persian lakhshah, referring to a type of vermicelli, which in turn may be derived from the Sanskrit lakshas (लकशस्) meaning "one hundred thousand" (lakh). This theory has its credit, obviously laksa cannot be Chinese food, it is high probably the food with maritime root. The theory hold ground as historical Malaya was culturally and politically under the Indian influence.
(ii)It has also been suggested that "laksa" may derive from the Chinese word lak-sa(辣沙) , meaning "spicy sand" due to the ground dried prawns which gives a sandy or gritty texture to the sauce. It is sound Cantonese, but Penang's majority population of early Penang was Fujian people, speaking Minan dialects. So the possibility is remote. However it was normally called for a curry noodle or curry mee by Chinese from Ipoh to Kuala Lumpur, which is not Penang asam laksa.
(iii)The name comes from the similar sounding word "dirty" or "lasam", in Hokkien due to its appearance, the base soup with the fish meat into fine form,coupled with the prawn paste, it has a dirty look. But do you accept the dirty name given to food, especially nyaoya food, it is not their culture.
(iv) can it be from the Penang Hokkien word, rubbish, "lapsap". "Lapsap tang" means rubbish bin or pail. Laksa is lapsap, you just throw all ingredient things to make Penang Asam Laksa. Anyhow, it stick.
Looking at the history, the Indian influence in Malaya is apparent, and it is obviously with maritime influence. Laksa Assam may be derived from Asam Pedas Ikan Soup(Malay sour fish soup)without noodle, may be found by Malay fisherman/pirates or the Indian sailors ; later some inventive Chinese nyonya may just added the noodle,to form the laksa noodle, the Laksa noodle is unique, unlike other flour noodle(normally yellow) or rice vermicelli(white color); the prawn paste or hae kor, which is uniquely typical Penang; together with the herbal leaves(called Ulam in Malay) from the Siamese influence, spices imported from Indonesia, adding more spicy and greenery, the new product formed is called Penang Assam Laksa. The Penang Assam Laksa is actually the mix of various cultures that influence the Penang island in historical days, it is the reflective of the political and cultural influences. This may possibly be the historical part of it...... and it originated from Penang.
Thus Penang Assam Laksa can be considered as heritage food of Penang with long history, fully match with the Heritage City of Penang.
Types of Laksa
There are two basic types of laksa: curry laksa and asam laksa. Curry laksa is a coconut curry soup with noodles, while asam laksa is a sour fish soup with noodles. Thick rice noodles also known as laksa noodles are most commonly used, although thin rice vermicelli (bee hoon or mee hoon) are also common and some variants use other types. Penang laksa is called Penang Asam laksa, a sour type. Some innovative Penang hawker, some time ago come up with Laksa Lemah or coconut milk curry laksa,without asam or tamarind, some called it Siam laksa(暹叻沙).
In Malaysia, there are many types of laksa, some called it Malay laksa. You have the famous Laksa Johor and Laksa Kelantan, which are laksa lemah. The sour laksa type or assam laksa, you have Kedah Laksa, Perlis laksa from Kuala Perlis, which are similar to Penang laksa, except the ingredients. Kedah laksa use rice to make noodle and served with sliced egg; Perlis laksa served with catfish and eel fish. Ipoh laksa is actually Penang laksa, but more sour without prawn paste hae kor. Kuala Kangsar Laksa is more unique, noodle is made of wheat flour (usually hand made), you can found it in tourist complex near Perak River.
But the most memorial laksa that I ever tasted outside Penang, was the Trengganu laksa sold at Kuala Trengganu chinatown, Kampong Tiong, near an ancient bridge in late 70s. The fullness of fresh fish meats make the laksa really different. The shop no longer open today.
Asam Laksa
Asam laksa is a sour fish-based soup. Asam (or asam jawa) is the Malay word for tamarind, which is commonly used to give the stock its sour flavor. It is also common to use "asam keping" also known as "asam gelugor"(this is the name where Glugor town derived), dried slices of tamarind fruit, for added sourness. Modern Malay spelling is asam, though the spelling assam is still frequently used.
The main ingredients for asam laksa include shredded fish, normally kembung fish or mackerel, and finely sliced vegetables including cucumber, onions, red chillies, pineapple, lettuce, common mint, "daun kesum" (Vietnamese mint or laksa mint) and pink bunga kantan (ginger buds). Asam laksa is normally served with either thick rice noodles or thin rice noodles (vermicelli). And topped off with "petis udang" or "hae ko" (蝦羔), a thick sweet prawn/shrimp paste. For Penang Asam Laksa, it must served with hae ko, otherwise it is not Penang Laksa.
(source: wikipedia)
Talking about Penang Asam Laksa; I still remember my days of Laksa during the childhood days. I still remember the Nyonya cake shops at Kimberley Street. The shop that sell nyonya cakes and laksa . The shop not only selling wholesale at their shop, but also retailed by a team of Indian mobile laksa sellers. The Indian hawkers will carry rattan baskets of their cakes using pole over their shoulder. This is similar to the Nasi Kandar seller in the old day. The pole is called Kandar, thus derived the name of Nasi Kandar or Kandar rice(Pole rice). Cake basket was shouldered by the seller from one end of the "kandar" pole, the other end is the boiling laksa pot or container . The basket is layered, and packed with the nyonya cakes fresh from the shop. The pot of laksa soup is make warm by charcoal stove. This was the street hawkers that walking around old Penang streets. They were selling their nyonya cakes and Penang assam laksa to the office workers and families, especially stopping at the back lane where the family neighborhood normally gathered. It normally come in the afternoon. The laksa sellers is part of the old Penang mobile street food hawkers, just like top-top mee, nasi kandar etc. They left their shop at noon, and will return in the evening.
For the neighborhood, especially the poor folks, the best time is when the hawker returned, any leftover from their daily sale need to dispose off fast as the food cannot be kept for the next day, they normally throw it away. The price after the evening will be cheaper. We always buy the laksa from the hawker for our dinner, that was our special dinner in our childhood day. It is cheap and nutritious, and moreover for the family, the laksa soup can take together with rice. We always asked for more laksa soup. That was my memory of laksa during the childhood day. But the nyonya cake shop today no longer around.
The next laksa experience was the laksa hawker at Maxwell Road infront of Li Teik Primary School. This laksa hawker stall catered for school children. Its patron included school children from Li Teik and Chung Hwa Confucious school next to Li Teik. As it was also opposing the bus station of Hin Company or blue bus, the school children arriving from schools or going to schools by bus in the afternoon , may treat it as their lunch for the day. Beside the laksa stall ,was the tang-hoon fishball stall. These two stalls were the most popular among the school children. Sometime the cinema goers nearby will patron the stalls. At the time, it is no longer for daily dinner needs, we go for pineapples and spicy ingredients. The laksa must be spicy until sweats dropped from our face, and then only it is the best laksa. Another ask is asking for fish, “ ei hu bak lah”, or pineapple…..”ei ong lai lah”… Maxwell Road no longer around, and my school building had demolished for KOMTAR project, the taste of Laksa still linger in my memory.
The most famous laksa stall is Air Itam Maket Laksa Stall. But I do not know why they always called it Kek Lok Si Laksa Stall. Is it because there was another Laksa stall at Kek Lok Si?. But this laksa stall , located just beside the entrance of Air Itam Wet Market, can be said branded laksa stall in those day. The tourists will insist to have a bowl of laksa there before they left Kek Lok Si, or Air Itam. May be there are few commercial laksa stalls at tourist area, this stall was popular with the tourist, until today. In those day, Kek Lok Si was a must visit tourist area in Penang, the stall was having very good business from the visitors to Kek Lok Si. For Penang kid, may be for our poor family, you only have the chance to try it during Chinese New Year that means once a year, as part of Chinese New Year treat. The feeling of dressing in new clothing and eating laksa at the same time, sometime until your new clothing also get wet with sweat, when the soup is hot, and the day is sunny. It was always worth the experience, as during Chinese New Year, there were always long queue.
After many years away from Penang, whenever I was in Penang, it is always Penang Asam Laksa, Char Koay Teow, Hae Mee, Chee Cheng Fun, Curry Mee……But Penang Laksa is always special personally to me. After retirement, and returning to Penang, looking for Penang laksa all over Penang island, seeking for the taste of my childhood, the taste of my school days; but sad to say it never around. At time I was crazy about Balik Pulau laksa, going there many times just for laksa. I once tried the laksa sold by an Indian hawker sellers, a retailer from the modern nyonya cake shop in the old city, but now no longer using kandar pole, their containers and baskets are now in the carriage of tricycle, but the laksa no longer taste the same, as laksa from Kimberley Street.....
Suddenly I realized my taste bud must has changed due to aging, I will never get back the taste of childhood laksa, the taste of school days’ laksa….. I can only linger in my memory, the taste of old Penang laksa.
Laksa to me, was experience of the childhood dinner; was fond memory of the school days; Laksa is always my favorite street food.
And it is now the 7th most delicious foods in the world…..
If you're away in a foreign land and missing this Penang favorite, give this recipe a try. For a full recipe go to the blog at http://assamlaksainmudgeeaustralia.blogspot.com
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