i came i saw i come i see

- a hundred years hence - once a ROCer

2011-10-10T13:34:00.007+08:00

This passport was issued by the Republic of China consulate in Ipoh dated 20Oct 1948. It was the 37th year of the Republic of China. The in-country consul was Ibrahim TY Ma.

中華民國蘐照外交部駐怡保領事館
民國三十七年十月廿日

As could be known from his name, the consul was a Muslim from China. Perhaps it was along this practice of sending emissary that was familiar with the Islamic faith, that Brahmin Ma was chosen to Malaya. The best know of which was Admiral Zheng He of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644CE) – a Muslim from Yunnan province.

The fact that there was a ROC consulate in town was perhaps another testimony of the importance of Ipoh in the then British Malaya. With the opening of tin mining industry and there came huge migrant Chinese population.

It was well-known fact that Sun Yat-sen, had his revolutionary base in in Penang, while planning the Canton uprising. As to Ipoh, I was curious -

Googling thro the web –I was surprised to learn that Sun Yat-sen, while on a visit in 1906 to the Kinta Valley was hurled stones and cow dung in Menglembu, by supporters of a different political affiliation.

From citizens of ROC – or hua qiao – 華僑 - the folks have moved on to become - hai wai huaren – 海外華人- ethnic Chinese residing overseas.

From being a citizen of the ROC of China, when Malaya became Independent – dad being born in Malaya, got his citizenship as a citizen of Malaya. And when Malaysia was established – he naturally became a citizen of Malaysia.

At one time – in the early 1960/s – citizenship was a sensitive and hot topic. I recall being told by dad that cos he was a citizen, and being an offspring of a citizen, - by operation of law I was naturally a citizen of the land.

The Xinhai Revolution -辛亥革命 – or the Double-ten celebration to the ROC-er then, used to be celebrated with pomp in Ipoh, and I remember seeing an old photograph of a arch being built for the occasion in Hugh Low Street near the bridge.

To our ancestors – who left Qing China - 清朝代 -( 1644-1911) - there was ever the yearning to make it rich in Nanyang ( 南洋) to return to their poor beloved Tangshan (唐山)that they came from, to us there was the cultural China we hope to see prosperous & strong, and to our young ones China is an awakened dragon - counting in superlatives.

Postscript -

1. Xinhai　Revolution - 辛亥革命
Today 10Oct marks the 100th anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution. 辛亥革命
It brought to an end a centralized dynastic system that lasted for 2,133 year, (from 221BC to 1911CE).

Measured in the timeframe of the Chinese world view – with a continuous civilization of 5,000years, a century is perhaps, just a bleep in their historical clock.
Unlike the End of History by Fukuyama – to the Chinese history is an unending cycle – measured in cycles of ‘glorious ages’.

I wonder if they still call it the Double-ten Festival - 雙十節 - Shuangshi Jie - in Taiwan .

2. In 1948, dad returned to China with her mum – to attend to the burial, and family and matters of his late father who died in summer that year. This was perhaps his second visit back to the ancestral home since he was a child of 4-5years old.

3. The Star –

‘ Perak's former tin mining towns linked to Sun Yat-sen ‘ http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?sec=lifefocus&file=/2010/11/15/lifefocus/7366426

depot rd

/--/

老照片 –arabian garden – 星洲阿拉伯花园

2011-07-09T11:37:00.000+08:00

For a while I was wondering where this garden was.

It was taken in Jun/Jul 1940 – while dad was on a school excursion to Singapore with the Yuk Middle School graduation class -育才初级中学. Dad was 16years old then.

Written on the back of the photograph in Chinese was -星洲阿拉伯花园 - Arabian Garden, Singapore. A google on – Arabian Garden Singapore - did not throw up a meaningful link.

In the July issue of Biblioasia (Vol 7 Issue 2) published by NLB – there was a familiar looking photograph of the garden in the article on Serangoon, and it dawn on me that this garden was the Alkaff Lake Garden – located close to McPherson Road.
From the photographs - the scale of the garden looked grand, with the big lake and the small hill in the background. It must had been one of the must see – tourist spot in pre-war Singapore. Located – in the northern outskirt of the city – it brought to mind another privately developed garden in the vicinity that was lost in history. The garden build by Hoo Ah Kay located at Bendeemer Road.

The arch bridge provided an oriental landscape – and for a while I thought it was a early rendition of the Japanese garden on the Island.

References:

1. Alkaff Lake Garden
http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_604_2005-01-24.html
2. Bibioasia - NLB
http://www.nl.sg/NLWEB.portal?_cn_nodePath=NL/Publications/BiblioAsia&_nfpb=true&_cn_bookLevel=1&_cn_bookTitle1=Publications&_pageLabel=NL_CMSPage1&_cn_pageTitle=Biblio+Asia

3. Graduation class of 1940 – Yuk Choy Junior High, IPOH
http://kinkonkid.blogspot.com/2007_11_01_archive.html#1612674893254254403

4. Yuk Choy school
http://www.smjkyukchoyipoh.org/XiaoShi.html

19sep/mon - 4:35pm -

/--/

老照片 – to china 1927

2011-06-08T17:15:00.000+08:00

When the folks are no longer around to tell the tale, the only means to unravel the story behind the old photograhs is to postulate & from what one know and heared before from the elders.

Where were these two photograhs taken, who were they & when?

The ancestral home in China Songkou, Meixan- 松口，梅县。The courtyard of the house was much the same from what we saw years later on a visit in 1995.

There could not be any doubt that the litte boy was dad. These two photograhs were kept with dad’s other old photograhs all these years. The boy was possiblity 3 or 4 years old then. With that setting, the photograhs would then had been taken in 1927 or 1928 – and in the deep of winter.

As to the woman holding the hand of the little boy – it should be 2nd grand aunt ( 二伯婆). . The facial feature of this middle age woman, with strong cheek bones look similar to that of her in another photograh taken 20 or so odd years earlier in 1906. From the elders, she was tall of stature, and this was very much borne out in the photograh.

As to the grand old lady in a pair of round spectables, she must be great grand mother. She ought to be in her seventies by then. In the genealogical record she was addressed as a 黎氏 – from the Li Family – though there was no mentioned of her year of birth.

Postcript
1. For whatever reasons – dad had never told us of the family history or for that matter the folks in China. Possiblity cos it was a memory of of grief and anger, that to him was better left there and be forgotten.

For when his dad returend to China in 1947 & died a year or so later –it was a sad closing chapter of a 40 year sojourn in Nanyang.

2. In the geneological record it was recoreded that dad was half-adopted as a 2nd son to 2nd grand uncle -

過繼半嗣永亮為次子 guojibansi yongliangweicizi

The Gu-family (Koo) record- 古氏族譜革公派 - was completed in the 18th year of the Republic – 1929.

3. This trip was possibly dad’s first trip to his ancestral home to see his grandmother -travelling with 2nd grand aunt. His adoptive mum.

- 08Sep11/5:15pm/depot road

-//-

2555

2011-05-21T18:00:00.003+08:00

Year 2532

27Aug /18:55
Kinokuniya
Liang Court

It was the year of the Seoul Olympics. A month or so later shifted from SS2 PJ to Daisy Lane.

..this book was one of the first on a journey of discovering - the Light of Asia.

..mahaprajna & mahakaruna - knowledge & compassion..
..the many paths leading to the one realisation..

Year 2555

..the monkey mind..
..the universe in a grain of sand..

Perhaps it's the mind..that all that matters..

-//-

the hanami – ガンバレニッポン

2011-04-20T15:02:00.008+08:00

1981 April 09 -

When the JAL flight from Subang International Airport, KL touched down in Osaka, it was late eveing.

There were two seniors from the Osaka - University of Foreign Studies OUFS - to receive us. There was minimum conversation and after a 6-hour journey – these seniors came across as a little detached. They put us into a cab and we were on our way to the campus.

All in there were three of us from Malaysia – another male student, and a Malay female student. It was our first trip to Japan – to further our graduate studies in the - Land of the Rising Sun. And this was our first stop – to do a six month course in the Japanese Language before we moved on to the college of our major.

As we wound our way thro Osaka to the university campus in the North – it was already dark and we could not see much. I remember there were road works on a narrow stretch of roads, and the barriers that segregated the roads were well-lighted.

When we arrived at the foreign students dormitory - a resident lecturer who was in the office received us, and aided our registration. As it was still holiday season and the new academic term had not begun, the campus was very quiet.

After which an elderly caretaker guided us to our rooms. This old man was much friendlier – though we could not really make out what he said in Japanese – we found him to be helpful.

The dormitory canteen was closing for the day and there was only one staff left. As we had not had our dinner – she was kind to stay on to prepare a light meal for us.

Dawn broke early in spring.

It was barely 6am and it was bright outside. The weather was cold - much colder than Cameron Highlands - our only reference then of a cold day.

Spring came early that year.

The Sakura trees had already gotten into full bloom a week earlier. New leaves were sprouting - and we could still see the lingering flowers and it was the tail end of the cherry blossom season.

For a true hanami－花見– cherry blossom viewing, I would have to wait till the following year to experience the awe & splendor of the Sakura trees in full bloom.

Monitoring the advance of the Sakura trees flowering as it moved from the southern to the northern part of Japan was and is as much a national activity.

For the next two springs in Japan, I would be as eager as the locals, on the lookout in the TV forecast when the 桜前線 – sakura zensen - the Sakura front - would be reaching Tokyo.

Hanami – was also a time for merry-making – a time for picnic and party – to drink sake, sing & dance beneath the Sakura trees. After the harsh winter, it would be the first outdoor activity to celebrate the harbinger of spring. It was also a time to renew bonds with fellow students, teachers and colleagues.

The hanami was one of a list of many customs and traditions that was uniquely Japanese that I enjoyed during my stay in Japan.

2011 April 09

Due to the colder weather the Sakura season was late this year.

It was reported that many a Japanese in the spirit of self-restrain - jishu - 自粛 - & in empathy and solidarity - with their fellow countrymen hit by the Great East Japan Earthquake – 東日本大震災 - had refrained from celebrating hanami.

However, the 5th generation sake maker of Nambu Bijin – 南部美人酒 – traditional rice wine - located in earthquake-hit prefecture of Iwake - had loaded a plea in you-tube to fellow Japanese to put aside jishu & to go out to enjoy the cherry blossom viewing.

自粛して頂くよりも。。。
お花見をして頂ける方が。。。有難い。。

In addtion to all your donations in kind and spirit -which they are most thankful, the sake makers in the earthquake hit zone of Iwate prefecture would be most appreciative of your choice in drinking their sake at your hanami gathering … wherever you may be...

Gambare ! Nippon –

References:

1. 被災地岩手から「お花見」のお願い②【南部美人】
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UY0FtSqrMBc&feature=relmfu

2. ガンバレニッポン, 頑張れ日本, GAMBARE NIPPON - Go! Japan
- Rally to aid victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake

3 . QSL card – Radio Japan
DX - verification card

-//---

old photographs - 老照片 - the early generations

2011-04-08T18:08:00.015+08:00

1906-

The photograph was taken at the Young Cheong studio - 容昌in Ipoh.

Ipoh was written in Chinese as 壩羅 – Balo - instead of 怡保。

Seated in the middle was great grandfather and great-grandmother & their family. Grandfather the 3rd son was seated on his far left .

As the photograph was not dated, the year 1906 was derived at from the age of the baby seated on the lap of the lady dressed in peranakan attire on the far right of great-grandmother. The nyonya lady was grandfather’s wife.

According to the record in the family genealogical record – grandfather’s son was born in the year of Emperor Guangxu - 光緒乙巳年 – in the 7th lunar month. That would be Aug 1905.

Assuming that the baby to be about 6 to 8 months’ old, that would make put the photograph to be taken between Feb – Apr 1906.

Grandpa was born in the year 1883 – and he would be 23 years old.

What a dashing scholarly figure he looked - in his traditional garb, wooden cloth shoes with thick soles and complemented with a round fan. Being the 3rd in his family – he was known as Gu San - 古三– to his town folks in later years.

It was common then for young men to marry local peranakan ladies. Grandfather's first wife the nyonya maiden was from the Xie Family- 謝氏.

The Gu family genealogy - 古氏族谱- recorded that she gave birth to two sons and died at an early age of 22 years old. Only the first son survived to adulthood.

Grandfather two other brothers were in the picture. 2nd granduncle wasseated next to great-grandfather, and the one next to grandfather was 4th granduncle.

2nd granduncle's wife was seated next to great-grandmother. She was from China.

As a Hakka’s it was not a custom for the womenfolk’s to have dainty bound feet – for the Hakka women folks had to work in the fields, tending to the housework bringing up kids, and attending to the elder in-laws, while the husband venture out to work in distant land.

What was the occasion for this family photograph? Why was greattgrandfather and great-grandmother & all the family members here in Ipoh. Grandfather and 2nd grandunlce and their families stayed on, while great-grandfather, great-grandmother and 4th granduncle returned to China. How long was thier stay in Nanyang, and when did they return to China?

If I remember well, I heard from dad that great-grandfather initially went to Burma, that is Myanmar, but later made their way to Malaya. As such grandfather could have left the village for Nanyang - 南洋 - in the late 1890/s or early 1900/s.

Photographs of great-grand fathers’ and great-grandmothers’ graves in China, used to hang in the old house together with this photograph.

These questions of when the early generations left their village & what was the occassion for the gatherithing in Ipoh/Menglembu - were family history lost in antiquity.

Perhaps, some living elders who still have the answers, be it here or back in the village in China.

1926

This wedding photograph was badly soiled when it was salvaged from the old house 1A.

As a wedding memento - it was clearly dated and the event and date recorded in ink at the back of the photograph -
映於〡〩〢〧年乃民國〡〥年　六、二六号
陰暦丙寅五月十七日

It was taken on the 26June1926, the 15th year of the Republic in the lunar year of binyin on the 17th day of the 5th lunar month. The bridegroom, age 21, standing in the middle of the photograph in black suit and bow tie was the baby in the 1906 photograph.

Grandfather was seated on the right of the bridge, a maiden from the Liang family -
梁氏. Grandpa would be 43 years old.

Seated on this right was his 2nd wife, and our immediate grandmother. His peranakan wife – as we heard died at a young age and subsequently grandfather re-married. Grandmother was born in China and she was from the Zou family - 鄒氏.

Seated on grandmother’s lap was a baby - about six months’ old. He would be our 3rd uncle, while the groom being the eldest son of grandfather was our 1st uncle. The first of grandfathers’ sons from his 2nd wife, was dad. Dad was on the far right among the children seated on the floor in the front row. He was 2 years old then.

All in grandfather had six sons and 6 daughters that lived to adulthood - one from his firt nyonya wife, and the rest from his 2nd wife.

2nd granduncle and his wife, were seated on the right of the photograh. The adult womenfolks were his daughters, as we know that 2nd grandmother had three girls, and did not bore any male.

The house where this photograh was taken was in Menglembu. It was probably behind 1A across Jalan Lee Man Hin. That was before they moved to another house where the current police station is located. When I was small, I heard that dad was born in that house - and it was probably this house in ths wedding photograh.

Interestingly, there were two big lantern's - one was written with the characters - Gu Family and the other - Welcoming the bride. It was the custom and tradition of then, and these red character laterns were too seen in the peranakan wedding ceremony.

Gradfather returned to China in 1946 after the the Pacific War ended. By then he would have left his village close to 50 long years. His vision then was to bring his brood back to China.

However, before it could materialise, he passed away in 1948, and his wife, his children and the grandchildren remained in Nanyang...

Postscript:

This 1926 wedding picture, together with the 1906 photograph, was left behind in 1A when the family moved house in 1983. In the late 1980/s or early 1990/s went back to 1A and found these two photographs on the floor in dad’s room, beneath the windows. The photograph frame had rotted badly after years of exposure in a dank and humid room where water would seep thru the windows during heavy rain.

The numbers written in the back of the photographs consisted of Shuzhou numerals蘇州碼子– which was the numerals for Chinese accounting then -

Reference:

1. Chinese calendar – 万历年
http://www.51baozhi.com/wannianli/

2. Shuzhou numerals蘇州碼子 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzhou_numerals

3. 古氏族谱- 革公派 - Gu Family Record - Ge-gong branch -

卅五世 ( 35th Generation)

顺元公之子
鴻慶號雁如諡謹慈配李氏
生四子永明永亮永禎永祥

卅六世 (36th Genration)

鴻慶

長子永明
幼亡係錦榮錦麟錦桂房承鼎

次子永亮
清光緒辛巳（１８８１）年十？月廿三丑時生配李氏光緒庚辰八月廿六日生生一子錦麟嗣半子錦宏妾孫氏現生一子錦添

(2nd granduncle died in Lahat, Perak, and 2nd grandaunt in Menglembu. They were buried in the 'old hill' cemetry, Menglembu.

三子永禎　　
清光緒癸未年（１８８３）十月十七曰子時生配謝氏操烈廿二歳生二子錦榮錦鑫継妻鄒氏光緒壬辰（１８９２）八月廾日丑時生現生三子錦宏錦環錦琳　（後錦朱錦昌）

民國卅七年戊子年五月卄五日寅時去逝於梅縣松口諡慎詒公
民國卅七年戊子金秋月吉曰葬

Grandfather passed away in his homevillage Songkou, Meixian, in 1948, and buried there. While grandmother passed away in Menglembu in 1961 and buried in 'new hill'.

All their sons and daughters have too since passed away.

四子永祥
光緒戊子崴　（１８８８）四月廿七自曰配李世

(4th grandunlce and family remained in China. The elders from China mentioned that one of his daughters migrated to Malaya too).

/--/

clear & bright – 清明

2011-04-05T17:23:00.006+08:00

Living in the tropics where the climate is hot and humid the year round, an indicator of the passing of the seasons is the traditional festivals.

Qing Ming falls on 05April this year. Variously it is translated as the Tomb-Sweeping festival and it is a major event in the calendar of traditional Chinese festivals.

Its importance as one of the major traditional festivals is perhaps re-emphasized when Mainland China officially declared Qing Ming as a public holiday in 2008. Qing Ming has been a public holiday in Hong Kong and Taiwan all this while, though not a public holiday in countries in SEA with large Chinese diasporas. Qing Ming – in itself is one of the 24 solar nodes in the Chinese lunar calendar – as such it always falls with the first week of April each year - usual on the 4th or 5th of April.

Another traditional Chinese festival fixed by the solar term is Winter Solstices – which usually falls on the 2nd or 3rd day before Christmas.

The Qing Ming as I recall as a child:

When we were snall mum would used to tell us that a hundred days’ after Winter Solstice it would be the Qing Ming festival. Truly so – to be exact – it’s 104 days after deep winter – Spring is in the air.

However, in the tropical climate – there is nothing much to remind us of spring time, other than this festival – the big one after the Lunar New Year festivities. It’s the time again where we would have chicken for dinner.

Days before the festival – mum would earnestly prepare the offerings that would she would take on that day to the grave of the ancestors. There were the paper offerings of gold & silver – with pieces of paper sutra that she would bundled together with candles and joss-sticks. As the number of sets to prepare was quite many – she would mark each bundle neatly with a pencil to identify the relation that she had prepared for.

Other than the immediate members on dad’s side of the family, she would also prepare the offerings for members from her own side of the family, namely he mum, dad and her grandmother. This was because – she was the only daughter around that had the time to perform this annual filial task – as both her brothers had returned to China in the early nineteen fifties to support - the New China in construction.

As far as I could remember, the tomb-sweeping obeisance had never been observed on the actual day of Qing Ming. For one – it seldom fell on a weekend – a non-workday, and even if it was on a week-end, the ceremony was observed a week or so earlier for some feng-shui reason. Usually it would be by word of mouth round the community to perform the prayers earlier.

We would set off early at 8:00am where the air is till cool. It’s an extended family spring excursion of sort – with the uncles, aunt, cousins, nephews, nieces all in tow. It would take a half a day to make the rounds making the obeisance – with clearing of the weeds.

First it was to tombs of grandma and 5th uncles, on the new hill. After which it was to the old hill where 2nd granduncle and grandaunt – the elder brother of grandfather - were buried.

After these observances and prayers on dad’s side of the relation, mum would then make her way to offer prayers on her side of the relations. By the time all the prayers were done, it would be close to noon, and the sun is high.

As with other traditional festivals, the Qing Ming tomb-sweeping observances imparted an invaluable part of the Chinese culture and tradition to the young impressionable mind. For one it passed on values of filial piet. It also promoted family kinship and it was one of the rare occasions where the extended family of the same progenitor went on outing together – albeit to the hills.

Our elders would tell us stories that back in China then – Qing Ming festival would spread over many days- as they would literally had to hike to remote hills where the ancestors were buried.

The tread to the cemetery was also a geography lesson on China of sort. In each of the gravestone was carved the province and locality of deceased. Dad would point out to where these localities were in China.

The early migrants were mainly Cantonese and Hakka from Southern China. As such - 梅县 – Meixian, 焦岭 - Jiaoling, 五华-Wuhua, 兴宁-Xingning. 平远-Pingyuan, (the嘉应五属the five districts that make up the greater Jia-Ying district)，大埔-Dapu, 三水-Sanshui，东莞-Dongguan, ，江门-Jiangmen，清远-Qingyuan – became familiar names.

Well, so much for Clear & Bright..

Postscript –

1. The photograph - Menglembu cemetery view from the ‘old hill’.

The cemetery should be more than a century old. On Qing Ming tomb-sweeping day , the first stop would be to the - Dabogong Shrine - 大伯公庙 –dedicated to the God of Earth – the guardian of god of the cemetery - wooden building painted red.

Kledang Range - west of the Kinta Valley – in Perak, is located in the background. The grave in the foreground was built by the Menglembu Jiaying Assocation - a Hakka clan association. It was a - 总坟–a symbolic master grave dedicated to fellow sojourners from the home counties. It was consecrated 1941, Oct - 民国辛巳年.

The couplet:

萬里青坐凝紫氣 - a ten thousand li sitting on the green, the auspicious cloud gathers
五城芳草映斜陽 - the fragrant grass from the five districts, reflecting in the setting sun
澤蔭五城 – Beneficence to the five districts

References:

1. Qing Ming http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qingming_Festival

2. Menglembu Jiaying Association 万里望嘉应五属会馆
http://baike.baidu.com/view/286454.html

-//-

patching a heavenly leak - 補天穿

2011-02-22T15:56:00.002+08:00

The lunar new year is here and gone.

From the start of the new moon to the first full moon of the lunar first month – traditionally each of the new day’s within the fortnight was marked with a special event. The last of which is yuanxiao – 元宵 - or Lantern Festival.

In between - there is the day to mark the birth of man - the 7th day of the Lunar New Year –人日- renri .

On this day mum would cook a dish with seven different types of green vegetables. Some years we would have porridge cooked with slices of raw fish.

This tradition of taking raw fish & vegetables to mark mankind’s birthday has morphed into the colorful must have LNY dish 鱼生- yusheng - & the rowdy joy of tossing it sky high while mumbling lucky wishes.

Lest we may forget it all – I recall another tradition of sort in the first lunar month. The eating of fried nian-gao – 年糕 - which was made from slices of the sticky new year cake fried with flour batter.

Returning from school in the afternoon, mum would have the fried nian-gao ready in the kitchen cabinet. A variation would have the nian-gao sandwiched with pieces of sweet potato and fried with batter. This would be the first time that we had a taste of the nian-gao since it was made about a fortnight or so before the LNY.

The tradition of eating fried nian-gao fell on the 20th day of the First Lunar Month on the day known as –补天穿 - butian chuan - or day of patching a heavenly leak.

Legend had it that during a clash between the Water & Fire Gods, the Water God damaged the pillar that held up heaven and created a hole in heaven causing great floods on earth.

Nuwa –女娲 - a mythical female goddess – & the creator of mankind – seeing the suffering on earth went to patch the heavenly leak, and thus saving mankind.

This tale is as old as antiquity.

A google in the www has it that this day is still remembered and celebrated among the Hakka in the heartland in Southern China and in Taiwan – by preparing and eating sweet cakes made from glutinous rice.

Come to think of it – ours would perhaps be the last in our generation that would recall that we had this tradition of remembering this day - butian chuan - 补天穿 - by eating fried nian-gao.

Postscript –

1. Day of Patching a heavenly leak - 補天穿 - falls on the 22Feb 0211.

2. Nian-gao - 年糕 - & kagami-mochi - 鏡餅

Nian-gao - 年糕

The nian-gao was home made. It’s made of glutinous rice and sugar.

A fortnight or so before the LNY mum would buy a good quality glutinous rice from the market – and have it soaked overnight.

The next morning she would take it to a grinder – a family house in the neighbor that offered this flour grinding service - and had the rice grounded to flour.

The task of making the nian-gao would begin in the evening. The flour was kneaded with sugar.

As the sugar melted it would get sticky and thicker in viscosity on blending with the flour. As such it was quite a energy consuming task that required a strong pairs of hand.

Then, after an hour or so of kneading the even brownish paste would be poured into mold – of tin cans layered with banana leaves. Before dawn the next morning– the can would be steamed in a big wok for close to 10 hours.

During the nian-gao making, it was narrated by the elders that grandma was particular that there were no frivolous talk or inauspicious comments around the table. As kids would tend to babble freely, grandma was particular to have the kids to keep quiet if they wanted to watch, or to shoo the children away in they talk.

For it was believed that any inauspicious comments would affect the outcome of the nian-gao – and the nian-gao would not cook well and remain whitish, or water pock marks would form on the surface. This would be a bad omen for the New Year.

A rich brown nian-gao with a shiny surface - would be an indication of a lucky start to the coming New Year.

This would be the local version of nian-gao – with its roots from Southern China.

Later I got to know that the Shanghai type of nian-gao – pieces of white glutinous rice – is closer to the Japanese version – plain glutinous rice without sugar.

Kagami – mochi - 鏡餅

The Japanese nian-gao is known as kagami mochi. Kagami means mirror. As it is round – and with similar shape of a bronze mirror – as such it is called kagami mochi.

The Japanese nian-gao is too made of glutinous rice but without sugar added, as such retaining its white color.

As a New Year decoration or offering is that it is often stacked in double layer – with an orange or other auspicious decorations placed at the top.

References:

1. Nuwa - 女娲

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C3%BCwa
http://baike.baidu.com/view/604488.htm

http://www.nipic.com/show/3/26/cdee3992c0e0161b.html

2. Kagami- mochi -

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%8F%A1%E9%A4%85

/--

spring couplet - 桃符万户换新春

2011-02-02T08:59:00.007+08:00

What do a sprouting bean, young grasses, and the sun have in common? You could try a guess at the character.

Well, the character is the - zhuan form - 蒃体– of the Chinese word for –春 - SPRING – chun ， Though it has morphed into its present form - 春 - the element for sun - 日 - is recognizable in both the characters, while, the radicals for a sprouting bean and the young grass have been simplified into three horizontal bars and two left and right tops down strokes.

With the warm sun & seeds start sprouting, with young grasses appearing on the fields – nature is signaling the arrival of spring.

As a writing form to communicate the spring season – these elements of new life and energy – were clearly seen in the oracle bones characters of the Shang-Yin Dynasty - 商殷 - (1600-1046BCE）some thousand odd years ago.

Subsequently the sketch was standardized to the – zhuan form - 蒃体– during the Qin Dynasty 秦朝 (221-206BCE) in the reign of the First Emperor.

When nature awakes after a long wintry slumber, it is time to till & farm the land. As such, spring is also the season of a new beginning – of a new plan and a new starting. In the traditional agrarian Chinese society where livelihood is so closely tied to the land and the changing seasons the Spring Festival - 春节- chun jie – is akin to the beginning of a New Year – 新年-xin nian.

One of the traditional practices during the Chinese New Year – is writing spring couplet - 春联 - chunlian . The couplet usually in two stanzas of five or seven-syllable – praises the arrival of Spring and convey good wishes.

Here’s a seven-syllable spring couplet - adapted from a poem Wang Anshi – 王安石- (1021-1086CE) of the Song Dynasty - 宋朝 (960-1279CE).

爆竹一声除旧岁
桃符万户换新春

Baozhu yisheng chu jiusui
Taofu wanhu huan xinchun

-With a bang of the firecrackers - adieu the old year
Myriad families changing taofu – heralding spring -

Here’s wishing you - in the year of 辛卯 - xinmao - cyle of year of rabbit -
Good Heath & Good Luck & May your wishes come true -

安康如意
心想事成

Postscript:

1. Wang Anshi

元日 Yuan ri – Fist Day of New Year

爆竹声中一岁除
春风送暖入屠苏
千门万户曈曈日
总把新桃换旧符

屠苏　－　酒名用屠苏草浸泡而成，　据说饮了可辟瘟疫。旧时元日有饮屠苏酒的风俗

Tusu - name of wine, made from tusu herb, drinking will purportedly be able to prevent plague. In the olden days it is a custom of drinking tusu wine on the first day of New Year.

桃符　－　古时风俗，元旦用桃木板写神茶，邮垒二神名，悬挂门旁，　以为能压压邪

Taofu – a mahogany board written with the name of the gods – shencha and youlei – and hung on each side of the main door during new year to ward of evil.

Reference:

1. 王安石

诗文选评
高克勤撰
上海古书出版社，２００２第一版，２００４年第二次印刷
２００７年６月３０日百胜楼上海书局购　６元１５新币

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_Anshi

3. http://zhidao.baidu.com/question/20740431

/-------

– the little Vienna - Tilanqiao - 提篮桥

2010-12-14T11:55:00.001+08:00

“请问提虹口篮桥往那个方向走。我想要到'小维也纳'和以前日本人居住的地区去" – I asked the two elderly volunteers.

(Hi, could you point to me the direction to Hong Kou, Tilanqiao. I would like to go to ‘Little Vienna’ and the place where the old Japanese settlement was）

It was Sunday 29Oct morning. I left the hotel early - 7-Day-Inn in Guizhou Road - 贵州路 - heading north and east - crossing the Suzhou River.

The old post office – now the Shanghai Post Museum - was visibly the most imposing colonial style building on the north bank of the river. The clock tower and the tall columns basking in the morning ray were visible from afar- revealing a façade of Old Shanghai that aficionados of heritage buildings would lap with joy.

The two elderly volunteers were seated on a low chair along the pavement across the road from the museum. They should be at least in the eighties.

I knew that I was headed in the right direction – as I had just checked the map from the free internet logon in the hotel.

Furthermore, as with the previous trips with a map in hand, I love to explore the city on foot – and would get my orientation correct.

The Hongkou - 虹口－area in the NE sector was one part of city that I had missed in the previous trips, and on the itinerary this time – other than to visit the World Exposition – was to explore this area.

I had read of Hongkou as the Japanese settlement. A google on Hongkou also yielded Tilanqjiao - 提篮桥.

To escape persecution this was that part of Shanghai where most of the Jews from Europe were headed to prior to & during the WWII period in the 1930’s and 40’s. It also stated that this was the one last frontier Old Shanghai - where the old European style buildings were very much intact.

Bingo!– I thought. It added to my excitement and expectation as I stepped out enthusiastically into the cold morning.

The elderly guides looked at me expressionless – & thinking perhaps they might not have understood what I said - I repeated :

"提篮桥 ‘小维也纳’, 以前日本人居的地区".

(Tilanqiao –the ‘Little Vienna’ and the old Japanese settlement)

Then one of them pointed me across the road - in the direction of the old post office where I came from, and said :

"往前走。在前面的那条小巷,跟着那条后面的小巷往前走去。那条小巷.."

(Head straight . In the small lane in front – follow the small lane behind and go straight. Follow he small lane. ..)

I thanked them, and trusting what he said, I wandered forth. After a while I thought to myself –to go to Hongkou and Tilanqiao I should be heading towards the direction of the morning sun. However, crossing the road and into the little back lane – it was headed towards the direction I came from in the westerly direction, and away from the destination.

I then realized that - I could have been duped by these old gentlemen. He particularly emphasized to head towards the small lane and repeated - 小巷 – xiaoxiang .

I thought - these two elderly men could not - NOT have known Shanghai well, and being in the neighborhood of Hongkou and Tilanqiao – all the more they should know where these places were.

Tilanqaio – as I later got to pass by –had another landmark – the old Shanghai Prison .

Recalling the nuances and the way that he emphasized & repeated –小巷- xiaoxiang - the small back lane - these two elder men were taking a quick one on this visitor, I concluded.

Perhaps – Hong kou, Tilanqiao, Little Vienna – Japanese – were something not be to asked of– to these old gentlemen.

Well, Tilanqiao –Little Vienna did not disappoint. It’s a time tunnel into the 1940’s…you could chanced upon Zhou Xuan -周旋 - too..

Remember to bring along your GPS ….

References

1. Tilanqiao
http://www.zhongwenweb.com/tilanqiao.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilanqiao_Prison
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kinkonkid2010/page2/

2. Zhou Xuan - 周旋
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhou_Xuan
http://ikan.pptv.com/p/10098127/#1

1. 7-Day-Inn

http://www.7daysinn.cn/index.html

--------//-------

expo 2010 shanghai – 万国来泸庆世博

2010-11-30T12:20:00.003+08:00

This book – was perhaps the last of the many souvenir books published for the World Expo2101, Shanghai from May to Oct. The first edition was published in Oct 2010, the last month of the Expo.

After a 5 long month there were 73milllion visitors.

On the surface of it – this book seems anachronistic for this world event.

Here was a 21st century World Exposition showcasing forefront technology for a Better City, Better Life – and this author was romancing each of the pavilions and countries participating in the Exposition in old style penta and hepta – syllabic verses .

Much as the China Pavilion was trying to make a visual impact with this crimson edifice – this book in its un-assuming way celebrated the occasion in an age old traditional style – memorializing each of the 220 odd pavilions in millennium old style poetic verses.

Fans of Tang poems & into Chinese history would discern another correlation and the underlying link this book is perhaps trying to connote – the present day China and the China of the Tang Dynasty (618-907CE) close to 1,400 years ago.

The penta-hepta- syllabic style poem published in this book reached its maturity and was widely popular among the literati during the Tang Dynasty. That was also one of the high points of Chinese Dynastic glory and prestige. The so called – sheng shi – 盛世 – the pax Sinica .

During the reign of Emperor Xuan Zhong - 玄宗 (reign 712-756CE)– the zenith of the Tang Dynasty glory - poets such as Li Bai - 李白 - (701-762) and Du Fu - 杜甫 - (712-770) penned many of the evergreen verses that are still oft quoted in our everyday lives.

Coming on the heels of the 2008 Beijing Olympics & the 2009 - 60th anniversary celebration of the founding of New China, the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai – to the Chinese is another testimony that their country is on a much delayed wave of - 盛世. And the wish is that this - 盛世 - of the modern era - would surpass any of the dynastic great.

With almost all countries of the world represented in the Expo 2010 – as they said, the world came to China to throw a party for her – the author took pain & joy in penning a poem for each of the participanting pavilion.

This book – reminded me of a scroll painting that I saw at the National Palace Museum - Taipei - a few years back. It was a figure drawing of the envoys and visitors to the Tang court - each of them in their traditional costumes.

Perhaps it was very much with this glory of the Tang Dynasty in mind that the author penned this book of poems – welcoming the visitors from afar in the celebration.

Here’s what the author wrote of the - China Pavilion

中国馆 -

飞檐斗拱立中华
一色丹朱蔚赤霞
屹立东方涵四海
腾飞世界蕴奇葩
粮仓鼎冠天下富
改革开放百年达
宋画清明铺动漫
千年古柳绽新芽

Flying eaves – columns & cross beams (dougong) – upright– Zhonghua (China)
One color- red – colorful – crimson ray
Stand towering – East – encompassing – four seas
Ascend – the world – contain – this exotic flower
Granary – crown – all under heaven – prosper
Reform – opening – a century – achieved
Song Dynasty – scroll – Qing Ming river scene – unfold – animation
Thousand year – old willow – sprout - new shoot

Short of being able to put the poem into proper English sentences – the translation of each Chinese word seemingly is able to convey at least a sense of what the author is trying to paint.

Needless to say, there is a deep sense of pride that the country is standing tall in the east, with her new found confidence amongst nations.

Well, the impressionable landmark and other equally impressive buildings and hardware in Shanghai – a visitor would tend to easily mistook that China is among the league of developed nations-

However, behind the facade of these grand trappings, there is much to be desired of the software.

The two big banners over Exit # 8 – subtly revealed as much of what the Chinese wish in their populace :

展礼仪之邦风采
zhan liyi zhi bang fencai
To show a Nation of Etiquette

做世博文明游客
zuo sebo wenming youke
To be a Tourist of Quality

Perhaps one of the enduring etiquette the 73 million visitors took away with from the Expo 2010 – was queuing in an orderly manner, and wait patiently for their turn - even for 5 hours to visit the popular pavilions …

Postscript –

1. Tang Shan -唐山

How grand and great an impact did this Tang China left behind - you may ask?

- Its impact is so long lasting that Chinatowns throughout the world are known in Chinese as - Tang-People Street – 唐人街 – Tangren Jie – literary – Streets of People of Tang

(Except for Japan – where Chinatowns are known as – 中华街- chuuka gai – literary Chinese Street. For唐人街 – Toojin gai – or karabito gai – could mean a Foreigner Street for Karabito could also mean a foreigner in Japanese).

- Our forefathers who migrated to the Nanyang – would refer to their motherland as – Tang Shan – 唐山 – Land of the Tang & themselves as 唐人 – Tan ren – People of Tang.
- Bruce Lee’s first blockbuster hit – The Big Boss – in Chinese is called - 唐山大兄 - Tangshan daxiong – Big Brother from the Land of the Tang.

Perhaps we should revert to this reference and identify ourselves as Tangren – ethnic Chinese from Southern China who migrated overseas during the later 19th to first half of the 20th century.

- It is an oft quoted example from the Quran – to search for knowledge one would go as far as to China . That was the Tang Dynasty China that the Prophet was referring to.

2. World Expo Poems -

世博诗草 (Shibo shicao)
王智钓著 (Auother: Wang Shidiao)

华夏出版社 (Publisher: Huaxia Chubanshe)
2010年10月北京第1 版 (First edition)
价：28.00 元 (Price)

3。新加坡馆 - Singapore Pavilion

大地立陀螺
凭谁起乐盒
狮城交响曲
戏水涌泉歌
四柱撑天立
群星携海宝
到泸游世博

4。马来西亚馆 - Malaysia Pavilion

木船行欲启
两桅挂白帆
屋顶双飞翼
外墙百卉连
观光天塔侧
赏景雨林边
六甲槟城美
烹茶复推杆

5. Expo 2010 Shanghai -

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kinkonkid2010/page2/

References:

Emperor Xuan Zong – Tang Dynasty
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Xuanzong_of_Tang

Li Bai – Poet – Tang Dynasty
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Bai

3. Dufu – Poet – Tang Dynasty
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Du_Fu

-//-------

正月春联八月灯 – eighth moon lantern

2010-10-07T16:14:00.007+08:00

The autumn equinox day - 秋分–qiu fen – fell on 23Sep, a day after the Mid Autumn Festival – 中秋节。

Just as 春分 – chun fen - heralds the start of Spring - 秋分–autumn equinox marks the start of autumn. In the Chinese Lunar Calendar – the major festival to celebrate autumn equinox is the Mid-Autumn Festival.

(Similarly 春分- chun fen - spring equinox day is celebrated with the Lunar New Year)

Synonymous with the Mid-Autumn Festival is moon cakes and lantern, so much so that this festival is more popularly known as the Moon-cake Festival or the Lantern Festival.

When the Moon-cake Festival - 月饼节 - yuebing jie - is written in Chinese – how very - 俗 – su – coarse, crude and uncultured it rendered this festival. It is the most understatement and injustice to the celebration of the of autumn.

Well, to the many of us English educated and the anglicized – does it matter?

This is what Mid-Autumn festival is, namely moon-cakes and lantern, or at most the story of Chang-er floating to the moon after taking the elixir pill.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is more that just the many increasing varieties of moon-cakes that meet the eyes, and where the packaging cost seems more expensive than the cost of the moon-cake ingredients itself.

However, there is more to the Mid-Autumn Festival than just moon-cakes!

While listening to Capital FM95.8 (Chinese language channel) - over the Mid-Autumn Festival, it presented a facet of the festival that was much more refined and elegant that what the taste buds brought. The moon was serenaded in this season with music, songs and poems. It was of poems composed by poets more than a millennia ago, and the many beautiful pieces of Moonlight Sonatas of the orient, with - 月满西楼 –yue man xilou - Moon over West Pavilion - being one of the evergreens – and a must listen during the Mid-Autumn Festival season .

Further more, living in the tropics with the bright city lights does not do justice to celebrating the autumn moon. One would never be able to feel the gradual change in weather and enjoy the cool lightness of a moon-light autumn night where the hot sultry summer has given way to. Or witness the visual feast of autumn colors rendered by nature.

Perhaps the title – 正月春联八月灯 – is a manifestation of a yearning for this poetic side of autumn. Never mind it being amateurish, but it is an earnest attempt – to learn composing poems in the old style – the style that reached its celebrated height during the Tang Dynasty (618- 960 CE) – with what little self-tutored Chinese.

In the mood of being creative - the left over spring couplet –春联- chunlian - two lengths of red paper printed with gold motif and brush writing - were used to make two lanterns created out of the twigs of palm leaves

As such:

正月春联八月灯 – zhengyue chunlian bayue deng – literary means - First Moon spring couplet Eight Moon lantern.

That is - the spring couplet written in the First Lunar Moon was used to make lantern for the Eight Lunar Moon.

Being made of palm twigs the lantern looks distorted. However it’s a very green tropical autumn lantern – with no carbon footprint ...…..

Well, so much for the atumn lantern, a belated Mid-Autumn Festival greeting - from a millennia year old quote dating back to the Song Dynasty - 宋朝 (960-1279CE):

但愿人常久，千里共婵娟

- danyuan ren changjiu, qianli gong chanjuan -

Wishing you long life, and though separated by a thousand li, together let’s enjoy the moon.

Postscript:

1. 水调歌头 – Poem by Su-Dongpo 苏东坡 (1037-1101CE)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shu%C7%90_di%C3%A0o_g%C4%93_t%C3%B3u

2. 但願人長久 (詞牌-水調歌頭) - Wishing we last forever

Song sung by Teresa Teng ( 邓丽君) & the lyrics is the poem by Su Dongpo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XT1gENe-i6M

3. 月满西楼 –yue man xilou - Moon over the west Pavilion

One of the favorites – by Liu Jiachang- 刘家昌,

a very talented Taiwanese singer-song-writer of the 1970/s fame

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOg2FLjktLE

-//-----

街头街尾芽笼巷 – Re-cycling Geylang style

2010-09-06T15:32:00.006+08:00

Date: 05Sep (Sun)
Time: 6:39:43PM
Venue: Lorong 44

He was diligently at work on the Slumberland bed by the refuse dump site, reminding me of a skilled butcher at work - skinning and deboning.

With a paper cutter, he painstakingly slit the bed open around its side length and breadth wise. When it’s done he flipped open the top of the padding – exposing a neat array of spring coils set in a metal frame. He then meticulously removed the cotton stuck to the edges of the frame and coil.

When the last of the cotton padding and tattered cover were removed and dumped into the refuse bin, he then neatly bundled up the metal frame and spring coil so that it could be loaded onto his bicycle.

In between - I started a conversation with him as he went about his job, praisign him for his diligence and his virtue: 刻苦耐劳 –kekunai lao.

He said that his home town is in Jiangsu – 江苏省- Jiangsu Province. He came to Singapore a year odd ago, and sort of regretted the decision – for one he’s not gotten used to the hot and humid weather.

He said that the reason he decided to sign up as migrant indent labor because of the quarrel with his wife - 和我老婆吵架才出来的 - he wo laopo chaojia cai chulaide.

He had built a small apartment in his hometown. However his wife was not satisfied with it – and clamored for a bigger one. As such he told his wife, he would then venture abroad to work. He has two children at home.

I asked if he was taking the salvaged metal to sell it at the re-cycling shop across the road – he replied with a grim no for he knew of another location which would give him a better deal.

As if a hunter that has gotten his prized catch for the day – with a satisfied grin on his face, juggling his load he weaved his bicycle precariously into the busy evening traffic & down the neon lit Geylang Road.

Well, if you have any old refrigerator or spring mattress to dispose of – have them re-cycled…… Geylang style.

Reference :

1. 街头街尾芽笼巷 - jietou jiewei Yalong xiang

- Literary the Lorongs of Geylang – from the first lorong till the last.
- Lorong - Malay word for lane, or a side road
- Close to a distance of 2km in length – straddling on both sides of Geylang Road are the odd and even number Lorongs from Lorong 2 to the last Lorong 44.
- A colleague mentioned – “My wife will never want to go Geylang.” , even though he’s a long time resident. Perhaps it’s the notoriety & he should he forgiven.
-Geylang is so uniquely Singapore – without savoring the many good food there, one could not claim to be a true resident of the island.
- Just like a long-time resident of Tokyo would not have savored all of Tokyo without going to Shinjuku and the Kabuki-cho.

2. 刻苦耐劳 - kekunai lao

http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php

- to bear hardships and work hard (idiom); assiduous and long-suffering / hard-working and capable of overcoming adversity

3. 7D, Paya Lebar Road

Back of a row of old residential building along Lorong 41 as viewed from Paya Lebar Road, next to the Paya Lebar MRT station – Circle line exit.

7D, Paya Lebar Road used to be located here, however the block of building was torn down to make way for the Circle Line around 2004.

Rented a room here from Dec 1989 till Sep 1994.

-//----

the Little Tokyo that was - a stroll along Middle Road

2010-08-12T16:58:00.008+08:00

You have Chinatown, Little India, and well where Little Tokyo is – you may ask – considering the profusion of Japanese restaurants in Singapore lately?

If there is such a place – it was perhaps in Cuppage Center then in the 1970’s and 80's, and now at Mohd Sultan Road, with a concentration of Japanese restaurants, izakaya - 居酒屋 - traditional drinking joints, karaoke lounge, and where the Japanese expatriate would gather.

Well, pre-War Singapore certainly had one – an authentic Little Tokyo – that spread over a much bigger area.

Perhaps cos of political sensitivity & though these sites are not identified with a signboards, as with the historical buildings in the Civic district, Chinatown or in Little India, the Little Tokyo that was - is well documented in Japanese literature. And it was featured in the latest copy of J-Plus magazine.

Middle road – to the pre-war Japanese community was known as Chuo-dori – 中央通りThe Central Thoroughfare. Dotted along this road and its vicinity were shops and establishments – kimono shop, western apparels merchants, Japanese restaurants, eateries, clock shop, photo shop, dentistry, barbershop, hotels, , tour agencies, hospitals, schools, etc, - managed by the Japanese.

Here’s from J-Plus, a map of Middle Road, that identifies the vestiges of Little Tokyo – A stroll that will take you back to the old street scenes interposed against present day photographs. Here’s an abridged translation -

1) Beach Road

The Miyako Hotel, 都ホテル, and many Japanese shops were located in this three-storey building facing Beach Road, and located between Seah Street and Purvis Street (Hainan 2nd Street).

2. Middle Road,

This photograph was taken at the junction of North Bridge Road and looking towards the direction of the sea. With the road widening in the 1990's, it’s a pity that many of the buildings are no longer around. Middle Road was called the Chuo Dori – 中央道り- by the Japanese. Photograph showed road was flooded after a heavy rain.

3. Echigoya. 越後屋

This building was demolished in 1996 during road widening. It was what Mistukoshi Departmental Store is now then – the most popular and pride of pre-war Japanese shops. It was the first building in Singapore with an elevator when it was built in 1937.

4. North Bridge Road –

From 1905 – 1927 tram cars was a means of public transport, and it ran from North Bridge Road to Geylang. Visible in the photograph- the tram car rail track & electric post - next to where the National Library – opened in 2005 – is.

5. Malay Street

At Bugis Junction – next to Intercontinental Hotel - from the beginning of Meiji (1868) – this was the Geylang of the karayuki-san in their sojourn to the tropics. At its peak – there were close to 100 of these Japanese flesh trade joints, and as such - suteretsu –　ステレツ　－ derived from street – became a slang in Japanese.

6. Victoria Street

A 1920 picture of Victoria Street with the stately 3 story building -The Yamamoto Dentist – 山本歯科 posted with signboard written in Japanese, English and Chinese, The Japanese called this road – 本通り　－Hon Dori . Though nothing much of the old buildings are left, the St Joseph Cathedral is visible on the same side of the road further down.

Note :
Perhaps because of Japan’s early foray into western medical sciences, the Chinese wording on the signboard on the 3rd floor read -日本西法牙科 – that is literary - Western science Japanese Dentist .

7. Waterloo Street – Singapore Japanese Primary School – 新嘉坂日本小学校

The school started in 1912 from a wing of the Toyo Hotel located in Middle Road. The photograph showed the school hostel which was built in 1921, and was in operation till the end of the Pacific War.

The building has remained almost intact and is now the Stanford Art Center.

8. Middle Road – view towards Selegie Road from the Junction of Bencoolen Street.

The Japanese Consulate was directly on the hill behind the shop houses. The Star of David building built in 1928, still stands, and is occupied by shops selling local food.

9. Singapore Japan Club 新嘉坂日本人具楽部

This building located at the end of Middle Road was the Japanese Club, which was set up in 1922, and a part of the Japanese Association. Located in the building were restaurants, billiard room, and other facilities, as well as the office of the Japanese Association.

The present site is occupied by the Selegie Shopping Complex.

10. Japanese Consulate 日本領事館

The Japanese Consulate to Singapore was established in 1879, and moved a number of times. After which it moved to this hill location in Wilkinson Road, overlooking Middle Road. Since the end of the War, the building has remained, and is currently used as a art studio and gallery.

Well, the next time you take a stroll along Middle Road – from the junction of Beach Road, to Selegie Road – take this map along to enjoy a flavor of yesteryear Little Tokyo vis-à-vis the Singapore version..

References:

1) J-PLUS
http://www.j-plus.comm.com.sg/

A widely distributed bi-weekly magazine of the Japanese expatriate community in Singapore published on the 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month.

It’s cover printed on glossy paper with a touch of quality runs a caption in English – Total Lifestyle Magazine - has a catch phrase in Japanese – Live life in Singapore with a PLUS -

シンガポールライに『フプラス』を生み出す
shingaporuraifu ni purasu wo umidasu

This free magazine is available at Japanese establishments, such as restaurants , departmental store, and supermart.

2 ) Post war Japanese settlers in Singapore –

http://ourstory.asia1.com.sg/war/headline/japsettler.html
http://ourstory.asia1.com.sg/war/headline/japwoman.html

3) Middle Road
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Road,_Singapore#Japanese_community_and_enclave

4) The Japanese Association, Singapore
http://www.jas.org.sg/aboutus/about_en.html

The photographs in J-PLUS are attributed to JAS.

--//------

IPOH – Cinderella who lost her glass slipper

2010-07-30T12:29:00.012+08:00

Well, that is the the analogy of her current state - the Cinderella who has lost her glass slipper.

Perhaps for the baby boomers who are into their middle age, they would have many a story to share with their grandchildren on the – Golden Age of Ipoh.

Well, this was what Ipoh then enjoyed, as the book puts it – when tin was king. Ipoh was the center of the Kinta Valley – and as with the surrounding townships, she came into being because of tin.

Towards the close of the 19th century & into the early 20th century she was practically transformed from an up-river outpost located in thick equatorial jungle into a modern and well planned town. She was the commercial capital, educational & entertainment hub.

However, in her early boom years & and in the many cycles of high tin prices that brought to her town folks prosperity and economic comfort, she had been treated as the step-child by her colonial master. She was portrayed as the Cinderella of the FMS (Federated Malay States) and naturally the step mum was the colonial ruler.

She was denied a port linked directly to Lumut, though her early councilors had strongly petition for it. Among others she was also denied a smelting plant – and all the tin that she produced had to be sent to Penang to be smelted into ingot for export.

She was denied being given the state capital-ship despite having grown to be the premier township in the state, and the leading contributor to the FMS.

That Ipoh became the state capital was by the grace of her Japanese conqueror. The state capital was moved from Taiping to Ipoh, during the war years by the Japanese army.

Most Ipohites would not have known these facts, unless one is a history buff and keen enough to dig thro old records. Well, that was what the author of the book is and did -a medical doctor cum historian - he spent close to five years researching and writing the book.

Sources quoted were from the the early day newsletters, gazette, such as the Perak Pioneer, Times of Malaya & Perak Government Gazette, as well as from the Internet - IpohWorld, for many of the old photographs of yesteryear Ipoh.

Whatever it was, the Ipoh that we grew up in - was the pride of all. We used to boast that we were the cleanest town in the country -and I wonder if they still do such ranking now. We would bask in the glory of her millionaires, and often quote that Ipoh had the greatest number per area. Needless to say Ipoh has all these years maintainted her rank in the number one position when it come to - beauties.

Well, during the book launch at ISEAS, the professor rightly commented - that we Ipohites thought that we were the center of the world then. How true.

The clock struck midnight close to twenty five odd years ago when the price of tin collapsed.

Economically the town, no the city has dwindled into a state of stagnancy, since. Perhaps, Cinderella had it too easy then, for fortunes were literally made overnight when one struck tin.

Cinderella, has yet to find her new pair of glass slippers.

The present mood and state of Ipoh is perhaps well depicted in a photograph – captioned Today – (page 690) - togehter with a series of town scenes taken thro the decades. The photograph was most likely taken in the old town area – with the shop houses shut and one is a dilapidated empty shell.

Despite its quiet emptiness, and the lack of economic development leading to many a building falling into disrepair, Ipohites should all the more reflect on their proud history – and the contributions their forefathers did for Ipoh - be they the Yau Tat Shin/s who built Ipoh New Town or the Uncle Ah Ngau/s – who manned the gravel pump in the open cast mine eking a living to feed a brood.

Well, I always remember those big Chinese characters on the wall of the school located in the bungalow complex at the junction of Jalan Datoh and Chamberlain Road –

Coming from an English medium school, I had a limited knowledge of Chinese then, and did not know its meaning till much later.

Cinderella would not have deciphered them either , but her sworn-sister Maiden Hui - 灰姑娘 – Hui-guniang - should have no problem reading and internalizing the phrase -

自力更生艰苦奋斗

-zhili geng sheng, jianku fendou -

Perhaps it had a socialist slant when it was first written, but the message is every green. Well, learning Chinese could be meaningful & fun ...

References:

1. IPOH - When Tin was King

by Ho Tak Ming,
Perak Academy, 2009

http://www.arecabooks.com/webpages/books19.html

2. Ipoh World

http://www.ipohworld.org/

2. 怡保深斋学校 - Ipoh Shenzai School

One of the Chinese medium private instituitions started in IPOH, with Chinese as the medium of instruction. In early years of her inception and thro to the 1970/s, and as with many of the Chinese-based medium schools, they were a hot-bed of commuist ideology.

Often times - there was a thin grey line between what was cultural and what was ideology. And many a students could perhaps enticed into it cos of the cultural identity.

It was sort of a thing to be dreaded then if a family had a a left leaner or sympathiser. But in hind sight it could be the cultural draw more than the ideological chants that attracted them.

I remember out of curiostiy - one afternoon attended a meet the peoplel session of a reformed communist at the Wan Hwa Primary School hall, in Menglembu - in the early 1970's, organised by the specail branch. It was a female 'comrade' from Menglembu or from the surrounding area. Could not recall exactly what she said - but something to the effect on how she had fallen into the spell of the communist ideology.

http://www.djz.edu.my/campus/dzschool.php?id=21

3. 自力更生艰苦奋斗

自力更生 - regeneration through one's own effort

艰苦 - difficult / hard / arduous

A catch phrase commonly used by the socialist/communist camp in their struggle for self-what ever. Though outwardly the phrase connotes a socialist slant, but the the gist of it is to struggle against odds and adversity, and a renewal of one-self in times of trail and strive. For it celebrates - industriousness, honesty, scholarship, amongst others.

http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php

/--//

.. from port to port ...

2010-06-08T16:15:00.008+08:00

A handwritten date in the guide book to Portopia '81 – the Kobe Port Island Exposition – purchased at the Minoo Campus. (箕面キャンパス) , University Co-op –大学生協 - seikyo -( in campus store) , noted:

8Juy 1981
Osaka University of Foreign Studies (OUFS)

It was 3 months to the date on arrival at the university for a six-month intensive Japanese Language course. The Minoo Campus was a new campus site about a year or two old and located in the northern skirt of Osaka Metropolis.

The Osaka World Exposition – Expo 70 – was more than a decade ago, and the Okinawa Ocean Expo was more than 5 years ago.

The Portopia '81 was a celebration of Japanese technological innovation with the completion of the man-made island reclaimed from the sea off Kobe City,.

Quoting from the guide:

Mountains inching out to sea … A reclaimed Island 120 times as big as Koshien Baseball Stadium15 years in the making

Of the pavilions visited – was the IBM Pavalion.

Interestingly the theme of the exhibition was .. Japan’s continuing cultural adventure. -

The main exhibit was a 20-m long model of an ancient kentoshi ship . Officials, scholars, and monks from Japan travelled on these kentoshi vessels to the Tang court of Imperial China (Tang Dynasty 618-907 CE) .

Perhaps IBM – a leading US company had chose to feature the kentoshi - 遣唐使 –literary meaning envoys dispatched to Tang China - vessel then, was because - with Deng Xiaoping selected as the 1978 - Times Man of Year - there was plenty of goodwill and positive feel towards the country. China – was just starting on her first step towards the trail and error of the market economy.

At the OUFS - met the first of the exchange students send by the Chinese government to Japan. Two were from Shanghai and one from China NE – majoring in Japanese Studies. A hallmark of these students was their drab attire – the pride of the proletariat perhaps.

Fast forward Shanghai World Expo 2010 … what a generation make-th.

References:

1. OUFS - Osaka University of Foreign Studies – 大坂外国語大学

A search for OUFS lead to Osaka University School of Foreign Studies 　－.
大坂大学外国語学部　and came to know that OUFS had merged with Osaka University in 2008.

http://www.sfs.osaka-u.ac.jp/eng/

2. Osaka - Expo 70

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expo_

3. Potopia 81 - entrance ticket

3. Time Magazine – 1978 – Man of the Year

http://www.time.com/time/subscriber/personoftheyear/archive/stories/1978.html

---//--

. . . from - 浮屠 to 佛 to 仏 -

2010-05-26T12:54:00.011+08:00

A browse thro the bookshelves found these two books – spanning a period of 21 years odd.

The one in English - Buddhism in China – A Historical Study – by Kenneth Ch’en - bought in July 1988, not long after coming to work in Singapore at the Pearl Center next to Outram Park MRT Station.

The second book –written in Chinese by Ji Xianlin (1911.8.6-2009.7.11) – 季羡林自选集：佛 - Ji Xianlin Collection: Buddha - was a recent purchased in Nov 2009 at a Buddhist artifacts cum bookstore in Geylang East.

Among the number of books on Buddhism, and the many aspects of Buddhism – and being one interested in things historical – thro these readings – it has allowed me to gain a little insight into the spread of the religion from its cradle somewhere in Nepal to India and the rest of Asia.

Initial books were in English, and thro the years, thro self-study driven by an urge to understand one’s ‘mother tongue’ as well as to have a first hand knowledge of one/s ‘mother culture’ – it has gradually enabled me to read books in Chinese directly.

(If not directly – many of the web dictionary could help to translate the more difficult words)

The recent read by Professor Ji has an interesting article on how the Chinese word for Buddha - 佛 – fo - came about.

This single syllable word did not get into China directly from India but thro the translation of translated works of Tocharian - 吐火罗 - tuhuoluo - a defunct ancient tribe found in the Kushan Empire in NW India around 1st - 2nd CE.

Directly from India, Buddha was translated as - 浮屠 – futu – a two letter word – which is closer to its Sanskrit - 梵语- fanyu - origin. In early Chinese classics prior to adoption of the word 佛 by the literati, 浮屠 was commonly used.

Perhaps then,
释迦牟尼佛 - Shìjiāmóunífó - Sakyamuni Buddha – could be written as 释迦牟尼浮屠. –Shijiamounifutu .

And his teachings the Buddhist Dharma - 佛法 - fofa - would be written as - 浮屠法 –futu fa.

Well, with - 佛 – written as 屠法 – in this new ancient context it sounds and looks - 糊涂 – hutu - indeed!

(If you do not know Chinese - you can copy this word- 糊涂 - and paste it to the web dictionary in Reference - Mother tongue is fun! )

When Buddhism spread from across the mainland from China thro Korea tto Japan, the Japanese came up with a variant for writing 佛.

Perhaps the Japanese famous for their haiku –俳句 - short stanza poems and – and a knack on minimalism – ( they being the progenitor of using simplified Chinese characters ) simplified 佛 – to -仏 - and pronounced as – butsu - ぶつ - ( on reading) . or hotoke- ほとけ (kun reading ) .

Well, the Buddhist Dharma in Japanese is written as - 仏法. How then would you pronounce it : ぶつほう？butsu ho? No, it is - ぶっぽう - buttpo .

What a cupful indeed – from 浮屠 to 佛 to 仏 .. or was it just an empty half cup.

Reference:

1. Ji Xianlin - 季羡林

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ji_Xianlin
http://baike.baidu.com/view/17941.htm

2. 浮屠 to 佛

http://www.china84000.com/Article/club/fxrs/200907/12481.html
http://book.ifeng.com/lianzai/detail_2009_08/03/291932_12.shtml

根据上面的论述，对于"佛"与"浮屠"这两个词，我们可以作以下的推测："浮屠"这名称从印度译过来以后，大概就为一般人所采用。当时中国史家记载多半都用"浮屠"。其后西域高僧到中国来译经，才把"佛"这个名词带进来。范蔚宗搜集的史料内所以没有"佛"字，就因为这些史料都是外书。"佛"这名词在那时候还只限于由吐火罗文译过来的经典中。以后才渐渐传播开来，为一般佛徒，或与佛教接近的学者所采用。最后终于因为它本身有优越的条件，战胜了"浮屠"，并取而代之。
- 1947年10月9日

3. Tocharian

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tocharian_languages

4. Kushan Empire

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kushans

5. Chinese-English Dictionary

http://www.mdbg.net/chindict/chindict.php

---//

曾经上海 - the shanghai that was

2010-05-17T12:51:00.007+08:00

With the world expo and the focus of attention worldwide– what was the Shanghai then –

Perhaps then, thro the eyes and ears of this lass – probably in her sixteen to seventeen in the second half of 1930/s -

The rare treat to a movie to the cinema in Ipoh would be a made-in-Shanghai film. The high mandarin collar of her flower patterned Chinese dress –would have been tailored to the fashion trend in Shanghai. Her bobbed hairstyle popular in the 1930/s would have been the hairdo of the Shanghai actresses.

The latest Mandarin songs that she listened to would be from the parade of singers from Shanghai. The legendary Zhou Xuan-周璇 – popularly named the singer with the golden voice - 金嗓子 -. jin shang zhi - would come to represent the voice of the Shanghai of that era.

From the late 1920/s thro to the 1940/s – for close to two decades, the Shanghai recorded Mandarin songs crescendo to their golden age. Many of these songs would be what her children would first hear from their cradle when they grew up in the late 1940s to thro the fifties.

天上人間 - tian shang ren jian - Heaven on earth – re-rendered by the popluar Taiwan male crooner Fei Yuqing – was one song that she remembered well. She said that she learnt this song in her school days.

Many of the classic evergreen Lunar New Year songs – were written and fist sung in Shanghai. Akin to a Christmas is not one without listening to ‘White Christmas’ – the Chinese Lunar New Year - is incomplete without listening to the LNY songs like –恭喜恭喜 - Gong Xi Gong Xi - sung by the brother and sister team - 姚莉/姚敏 – Yao Li / Yao Min - and lyrics by - 陈歌辛 - Chen Gexin.

With the establishment of New China, the horses no longer galloped and the dancers no longer waltzed, and the bourgeois and the capitalist roaders took flight. Night Shanghai faded into a long slumber.

The baton of being the entertainment and cultural center of the Chinese diaspora – that is - huaren - 华人 –passed on Hong Kong and Taipei. From the 1970/s to the 1980/s came the likes of Sam Hui - 许冠杰 - and brothers and Teresa Teng - 邓丽君.

With her re-established glory and all the mega hardware - will Shanghai re-emerge as the cultural & entertainment center of the Huaren – 华人world?

Photographs / scan

1. Mum - (1922 to 1987) in her teens - probably in the mid 1930/s.

2. Book Cover -

A Short History of Shanghai -
FL Hawks pott - Kelly & Walsh, Limited

RMB 80.00 on 1999.11.10 @ Shanghai Pudong Airport -
first holiday trip to Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou

References:

1. 费玉清 - 天上人间(新茶花女电影插曲)
http://www.yue365.com/getgeci/63/13226.shtml

http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/t09WOBP6Ruo/

2. 周璇 -
http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/3YNC1BhlABA/

3. High collar Cheong Sam of the 1930/s

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheongsam

http://library.thinkquest.org/11518/customs/costumes/chinese/c-dress.htm

-//--

spring …a window into Japan

2010-04-06T15:50:00.008+08:00

Yesterday 05April, was Qing Ming – 清明. It is the first major festival after the Lunar New Year festivities in the Chinese calendar of traditional festivals.

Another must know of this season, other than it being the Tomb-sweeping day, is the Tang Dynasty poem by Du Mu – 杜牧 - 803-852CE , titled Qing Ming - 清明

清明时节雨纷纷，
路上行人欲断魂。
借问酒家何处有？
牧童遥指杏花村。

Tis the season of Qing Ming with misty rain filling the air
Along the path a traveler on foot filled with melancholy
Asked ‘Whence the wine shop? ‘
The little cowherd pointed his finger to the distant Qing Hua Village

Thro the millennium this poem has set the mood for the season. And even in tropical Singapore & SEA, where rain is expected practically daily – when it rains around this time of the year, the older Chinese folks would as a matter of fact quote – it’s because Qing Ming is near.

Where in the Chinese psyche – the start of April is perhaps rainy, a call to filial observances, across the ocean and east of the China Sea, and to the Land of the Rising Sun – April registers a differently mood altogether.

The rainy season of Plum Rain – 梅雨 - tsuyu - in the beginning of summer – is still two months away.

The mood is perhaps best conveyed by this QSL card from Radio Japan – with the pinkish blossom of Sakura busting onto the scene practically over night – to truly herald the return of Spring to mother earth.

In the Japanese literature many a story and poem starts with ….

満開の桜の木の下に - mankai no sakura no ki no shita ni ….
Beneath the full bloom Sakura tree. ..

The new fiscal and academic year starts in April in Japan. It is said that one of the first assignment of new hires is to go and ‘chop’ a place beneath the full bloom Sakura tree for the company picnic.

In our lower secondary school days in the early 1970/s we were taught the Japanese folk song - Sakura. We sang it in Japanese, but did not know what the lyrics meant, expect that Sakura means Cherry Blossom.

Japan then, was the premier developed country in Asia and well on her way to becoming the ‘Japan as No 1: Lessons for America” of Ezra Vogel best seller in 1979.

My window into Japan then – was thro Radio Japan, the shortwave station overseas station of NHK – the Japan Broadcasting Corporation. While my cohorts would listen to Bee Gees and Melody Fair, I would be tuned in to Radio Japan to the likes of such pops as:

Jirozu - ジローズ - 戦争は知らないこどもたち - sensoo wa shiranai kodomotachi - The kids who doesn’t know about war
Fuse Akira布施明 – シクラメンのかおり- shikuramen no kaori - The fragrance of Cyclamen

Fast forward:
April 05- 2010/Monday bulletin - Radio Japan – 3680khz 2300hrs UTC:
- This year’s Sakura bloom lasted a record of 10 days. In normal years it would be in full bloom on average for 8 days, and starts to fade. However because of the cold weather that followed after it blossomed; it lasted for a good 10 days.

To get into the mood of the Sakura season on this tropical island, a live Sakura in bloom was exhibited at Nee Ann City – the premier shopping center with Takashimaya as anchor tenant.

Meanwhile, the love affair of Singaporeans with Japanese food & things Japanese continues unabated …be it in hiragana or katakata … a brand with touch of Japanese seems to sell….

Postscript :

1. QSL card –
dated : April 4 – 1993,
address: 7D, Paya Lebar Road.
This QSL card from Radio Japan was dated 04April1993. It was an acknowledgement of the technical report on the reception condition of the shortwave broadcast

Though it is 17 years ago to the day that I got this Ｑcard, the engagement with Radio Japan goes back much longer and the first QSL card I got from Japan went back another 20 years before that – in the early 1970/s .

2. Yakun Kaya Toast @ Central
ヤクンカヤトース
http://www.yakun.com/

3. Japanese food stall @ Chinatown food center

まるはちまる - 080

References:

1. Qing Ming – blog Chinese poetry

http://www.chineselearner.com/chineseblog/2006/04/chinese-poem-qing-ming-by-du-mu.html

http://www.mamalisa.com/blog/qingming-poem-by-du-mu/

2. Poetry Qing Ming – in audio :

http://odeo.com/episodes/24461165-Lesson-152-Chinese-Poem-Qing-Ming

3. Du Mu - 杜牧

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Du_Mu

4. Sakura - Japanese folk song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKTRnO7SV68

5. Japanese pops

戦争は知らないこどもたち– ジローズ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzrZx0b6THU

シクラメンのかおり– 布施明
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSfmyedrDwk&feature=related

-//---

… the emperor’s portrait - a tale behind ...

2010-03-29T13:16:00.008+08:00

While preparing to shift, found this yet to be completed portrait inside the sketchbook. The grid drawing was dated 12.Aug.1995.

Well, it was done close to 15 years ago, and it seems that the drawing is awaiting to have it completed all these years.

And while trying to confirm if the figure was that of the Ming Emperor Yungle - 永樂 (1402-1424), I rummaged thro a pile of old newsletters. No, it was not Yungle, but Yung Lo’s grandson, Xuande - 宣德(reign 1425-1435).

The newsletters from which this picture of the emperor was copied was published by the National Palace Museum (NPM) Taipei - 国立故宫博物院展览通讯 -覽通訊, -

I was on their free subscription list for a number of years. First from the early 1970/s thro the 80’s with the address in 1A Menglembu, and later from the early 1990’s till 2001 after moving to Singapore.

Recalling how I first got to get the free copy, the - Voice of Free China - 自由中國之聲 - came afresh .

DX-ing, short-wave radio listening was, and is still is my hobby. It was then my window to the outside world for the boy from the small town. The world came alive turning the magic knobs on the Philips Philetta vacuum tube radio.

Among the many short-wave broadcasts varying from Radio Japan, Radio Beijing, Radio Nederland, BBC, and the Voice of America - the Voice of Free China (VOFC) was one of my most listened to stations. It beamed from Taipei, Taiwan to South-East Asia, in Mandarin, and the dialects – such as Hakka, Cantonese, and in English. The reception was pretty clear, and strong on the vintage Philips.

In each of the hourly shortwave broadcasts, it started off with the signal, then the announcement - This is the Voice of Free China, and the national anthem of the Republic of China – Three Principles of the People – would solemnly followed.

The Taiwan then was the bastion of things Chinese, and played claim to be the vanguard of Chinese culture. Thro the DX – technical reception report that I sent to the station, my name and address found its way to the National Palace Museum newsletter mailing list.

The short articles in the newsletter introducing the crème de la crème of the Chinese artifacts and paintings making their rounds at the various galleries provided a good insight to the readers of this wonderful work from Dynastic China.

For a period of time after moving to Singapore, I did not get to receive the newsletter until I re-registered with the NPM counter in one of the World book fairs in the early 1990/s. I continued to receive the newsletter through the nineties and into 2002.

However, when I got the 2001 edition – I thought that NPM had posted me a mistaken newsletter. Instead of the trademark cover with selections from its Chinese Imperial collection, this edition was a 1928 oil painting by Salvadro Dali - Carne de gallina inaugural.

Looking back, this was a perhaps the signal of the de-Sinicization process - 去中国化 that was to come in Taiwan. The pan-green DPP - Democratic People’s Party - won the Presidential office the year before in the May 2000 election.

Earlier on in 1998, the Voice of Free China was replaced with Radio Taipei International. With the opening of Communist China already into her 20th year, and the end of the ‘Cold War’ - Taipei had found that her beacon call – VOFC - had played her historical mission and had to be taken off-stage.

In 1970’s during the throe of the Cultural Revolution in mainland China, one would hear Radio Peking riling and purging Confucius, while and on the other hand, from the VOFC one would hear the solemn chants and tones from the bells in Taipei’s Confucius Temple - on the ceremony to commemorate the Sage’s birthday.

The past voices from the VOFC will always have a dear place in my heart.

References:
1. The National Palace Museum

http://www.npm.gov.tw/zh-tw/learning/quarterly/comint.htm

2. Voice of Free China - Radio Taiwan International

http://english.rti.org.tw/customerservice/FAQSubject.aspx?sid=65

3. 自由中國之聲 - zi you zhongguo zhi sheng - VOFC

http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%AD%E5%A4%AE%E5%BB%A3%E6%92%AD%E9%9B%BB%E5%8F%B0

4. Three Principles of the People 三民主義

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Anthem_of_the_Republic_of_China

--// --

遇寶 – a treasure awaiting re-discovery

2010-03-08T16:12:00.006+08:00

If the story in Wikipedia of how the early Cantonese named Ipoh were to be believed, then the Chinese character for Ipoh should be written as: 遇寶, instead of 怡保.

For :
遇寶 - yubao (pinyin) – yeebou (Cantonese) – meaning – to encounter - 遇 - treasures -寶

While:
怡保 – yibao (pinyin) - yeebou (Cantonese) – meaning to preserve/defend - 保 - harmony - 怡

However, in all essence, Ipoh’s first name I believe was Paloh . For the descendants of the early Hakka’s who were one of the earliest migrants to the mining outposts in the Kinta Valley have to these days call Ipoh as Paloh.

Whenever we want to go to Ipoh –we still say –– 上壩羅 - song baloh （Hakka）- shang baluo (pinyin) , meaning to go up to Ipoh.

For the term上 - 下 or 落 – shang and xia or luo - meaning up / above or down/below – is used as a verb here to mean to move in the direction towards or away from a place, and with the capital location as the source of reference.

Thus when we are returning from Ipoh to Menglembu – we say ：
落万里望 – luo wanlimoong (Hakka) - luo Wanliwang (Pinyin)

- this concept of - 上 - 下 came in handy when learning Japanese – for when one travelling in the direction toward towards Tokyo – it is 上がり – agari. While 下り- kudari - is moving away from the capital city -

Susequently when Ipoh grew and taken on a township - her name evolved from Epoh to Ipoh, and the Chinese equivalent is 怡保. A name meaning - defending or preserving harmanony.

Perhaps a aptly named new township - on the same theme of peace and harmony - as with Taiping - 太平 - the old capital of Perak State in the Larut Valley.

The early migrants to Ipoh are the Cantonese and Hakka’s engaging in the tin mining industry. They left the poor villages of Southern China, located mainly in the Pearl River estuaries and the mountainous regions of South-eastern Guangdong Province – 广东省.

Since then in 1978 when China opened her door and experimented with - socialist market economy - 社会主义市场经济 – many of these poor villages in the Pearl River estuaries have boomed into mega-factories for the world. And in many aspects, these once – poor villages are doing much better economically than Ipoh and her outlying townships in the Kinta valley.

Perhaps Ipoh is a city where her treasure is awaiting re-discovery. Since the collapse of the tin mart in the late 1970/s Ipoh has lay dormant for the greater part of the last 30 years, when the world passes her by.

And for the past year and more - it spiralled into political stalemate, bringing unwanted attention to this once peaceful valley.

With the resources of the world being depleted by the rising economies of the new world order, perhaps a re-discovery of the application of tin would make it viable to mine the mineral again.

The town that tin built would perhaps have her re-birth.

The Kinta Valley is awaiting the discovery of her - unobtanium – albeit all the good and green stuff.... I mean.

Postscript –

This pamphlet by Kinta Heritage was given me by my niece on a trip back to Ipoh last December.

A google on Kinta Heritage – shows a site awaiting update. And scan of this pamphlet is found in another blog, except the page on – Ipoh’s Living Heritage.

Markers with informative signboards were put up at the various historical sites in the vicinity of Ipoh civic center and the Old Town. However, as if it’s the norm of things, most of them are poorly maintained and in a dilapidated state.

Ipoh Heritage Trail – Map 1 – is map number one, and am eagerly waiting for the rest of the maps.

Kudos to Kinta Heritage for doing its bit for a treasure to be re-discovered.

References –

http://www.kintaheritage.com/blog/

http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%80%A1%E4%BF%9D

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipoh

http://ipohnkinta.blogspot.com/2009/11/free-heritage-maps-of-old-town-ipoh.html

http://www.lestariheritage.net/perak/index.html

http://ipohecho.com.my/v2/

-//--

shooting lantern riddles @ tiger terrace - 猜灯谜

2010-03-03T17:50:00.011+08:00

The celebrations to usher in the Year of the Tiger came to a close on 28Feb, Sun.

Over the fortnight from the new moon to thefull moon, there was much gaiety & boisterous happenings to renew one’s self and spirit . With the Resort Word Sentosa throwing its casino doors open on the most auspicious of day and time – the first day of the first moon @ 12:38pm, all the more – the celebration to welcome Spring in this city-state has morphed into a festivity to honor the God of Fortune.

Perhaps an indication of this trend it that it has become de rigueur - to end the lion dance with a big bang from a golden cascade confetti cannon, and shouts of - huat ah! – 發啊 – (Hokkien dialect) – meaning - prosperity!

A boisterous New Year

The Chinese are a loud and boisterous people, I’ve often told my Japanese friends. The louder the noise the merrier, I said. And – huat ah! , is the latest addition to this whole symphony of noise for the Chinese Lunar New Year (LNY) celebration.

Unlike the Japanese, where their New Year is celebrated in a more somber and quiet tone, such as with a rendering of the elegant koto - 琴- court music, the Chinese LNY – is celebrated with a bang. And the louder the bang the greater the fortune it will bring in the coming year.

Where are the boisterous bangs coming from:

- LNY songs: A LNY song is no longer a LNY song without an accompanying of cymbals, gongs and drums

- Firecrackers: The real sound of firecrackers could still be heard at Chinatown or at the River Hongbao - 春到河畔迎新年- during the opening and closing ceremony of the LNY celebrations. In their substitute are mechanical firecrackers driven by pneumatic devices that give a false punch.

- Lion and Dragon dance: Without the vigor and near deafening beat of the drums and cymbals the lion and dragon would be a lame and lifeless piece of cloth paper-maché.

- Lo hei : 撈起 - the tossing of raw fish salad is getting to be akin to yam-seng toast during wedding dinner, the louder the wish made, the merrier.

Shooting lantern riddles –

Lest be it taken for granted that LNY is but all noise, gambling and wishing for good fortune, LNY is also a time for literary pursuit. At a corner of the River Hongbao celebration, as in past celebrations, a stage was set up for ardent fans 猜灯谜 – cai deng mi - to test their skills on solving riddles.

This pastime has its beginning during the Song dynasty(960-1279AD), a millennium ago. On the 15th Day of the first lunar month, during the Lantern festival – 元宵节 - yuanxiao jie - the literati & the educated would hang riddles on lanterns, with each trying to solve the meaning behind it. As such these riddles came to be known an lantern riddles - 灯谜 –deng mi - and an activity – associated with the LNY celebration.

These riddles are also known as 文虎 –wen hu - literal tiger - in Chinese. The contents of the riddles are many facets & is a test of one’s general knowledge on current affairs as well as the classics. One has to solve what the word or phase that is behind the riddle.

Without a sound fundamental in Chinese & especially the written Chinese characters, and be up-to-date on current events in the Chinese newspapers, one would hardly be able to track down the – tiger.

The stage where the riddle is held is known as tiger terrace - 虎台-hutai - because solving a ‘lantern’ riddle’ is akin to shooting a tiger - a literary one for that.

A riddle that came on during one of the day’s that I was at the tiger terrace was:

从军出征在此时
-cong jun chu zheng zai cishi– now is to hour for the army to go on the expedition -

The riddle is to guess a well-known personality –

Well - the answer is:
伍茲 – Wuzi

In English it is - Woods.

The person who solved the riddles had to give an explanation as to how he/she arrived at the answer. The MC would determine if the answer was logically explained, and if it was he would strike a drum beat. The right answer was rewarded with a token.

As to the explanation on deriving the answer to the riddle:

For: 从军 - cong jun – means – to serve in the army or to gather an army

While: 伍 –wu – means - a squad of five soldiers

As such - wu is the answer to cong jun.

As to: 出征在此时 - chu zheng zai cishi – meaning – now is the hour to go on an expedition

The answer to it is - 茲 : zi – which is for Wuzi - the surname of a famous personality that has been hitting the headline lately.

The word 茲 - zi - is hinted in the riddle from the word - 此–chi -, and both words have quite a close sound and meaning - namely, zi - hereby, and chi - now, this. As such chi is also a pun on the word zi . (Confusing? lost? - you got to know some Chinese-ne, to get the logic)

The word - Wuzi - for Woods, is referring to Tiger Woods that is. His full name in Chinese is: 老虎伍茲 - Laohu Wuzi .

With -Lauhu – meaning – Tiger, and Wuzhi - a transcription for Woods, without a particular meaning.

Well, so much for the lantern riddles... isn't Chinese cool & hip..

LNY is not just all merry and money. In the midst of all the noise, feasting & the rolling of dices & clatter of chips – the Chinese New Year it’s also an occasion to brush up on one’s Chinese.

As to Mr Woods comeback, take heed, geomancers, punters – this is the year of the Tiger and for the Tiger….at least it’s written in the lantern…

Postscript –

1. River Hongbao

An annual event held by the Singapore River – to celebrate the Lunar New Year. Over a period of 8 days or so, there are nightly performances by cultural troupe invited from China with exhibition of lanterns, a giant God of Fortune structure, food and cultural fair adding to the festive mood.

With the Chinatown light-up, and Chingay Parade – it is one of the three main LNY public celebrations.

On the 3rd day of the LNY – MM visited River Hongbao celebration– 春到河畔迎新年. When he arrived there was a bustle of excitement in the air, and the folks were cramming around to get a glimpse. It was a pleasant surprise as it was the closest that I got to see him in person since coming here. And, thought Dad would be as old if he was still around.

The 18M tall God of Fortune showered golden confetti at regular intervals. And when MM was around, to add to the gaiety – the golden shower spurted forth from the gigantic structure.

2. 春到河畔迎新年

In Chinese the River Hongbao celebration – is referred to as:

chun dao hepan ying xinnian - meaning – the celebration of New year with the arrival of Spring to the River - the Singapore River that is. It is much more a cultured and poetic name than River Hongbao.

For - hongbao – 红包 –in pinyin – meaning the red packet – is a red envelope with money – given out during the LNY, for good fortune.

Perhaps, it would be considered an un-cultured term for such an important festival, to the Mainlanders if they could read the English term for it.

3. Spring Couplet – 春联

LNY is also a time to put up spring couplet – with phrases celebrating spring to & to welcome –harmony, happiness, health, & wealth.

The couplet that I wrote – a first - this year:

天将化日舒清景
室有春风聚太和

Tian jian hua ri shu qing jing
Shi you chunfeng ju taihe

Dawn soothes the morning calm
Spring breeze congregates harmony

References:

1.River Hong Bao

http://www.pandahome.com/temp/20100220/6342650473282.htm

- news carried in Chendu City web on MM visit to River Hongbao – adapted from LHZB – Chinese daily /Singapore.

2. Chingay parade –
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chingay_Parade_(Singapore)

2. Lo hei –撈起 - Yusheng salad -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yusheng

3. yam seng - drink to success
http://www.singlishdictionary.com/singlish_Y.htm

4. Lantern Festival and Lantern riddles -元宵节, 猜灯谜

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lantern_Festival
http://blog.sina.com.cn/riddleassoc
http://www.zaobao.com/chinese/region/singapore/festival/singapore_festival280101.html
http://baike.baidu.com/view/102576.htm

---//--

交春 – the start of spring

2010-02-04T11:05:00.006+08:00

On this day at the time stated in the Almanac- 通勝 – mum would made offerings to Heaven at the altar set up at the porch. On the altar would be a piece of red paper written with the phrase -迎春接福 . Another unique preparation for this offering was that in place of the usual porcelain censer for placing the joss sticks she would use a small basket filled with rice grain and wrapped with red paper.

At the end of the prayer session, she would request a male member of the family to paste the piece of paper over the front door of the house.

As a child I was always curious as to why this one of a special offering during the Lunar New Year period. Even if it was on the first day of Lunar New Year with all the offerings and prayes, , this offering would be made, on the specified time and then up went the small red banner up the front door.

As I grew older, and able to write with Chinese brush, I took on to write the words to welcome – the starting of spring, and paste the smaller red banner over the front door.

In our dialect this offering is called – gao chun -交春 - jiao chu (pinyin) – literary the interval to Spring.

The timing for gao chun is not fixed but changes each year on the day of - 立春–li chun - one of the 24 solar terms in the Chinese lunisolar calendar – which falls on the first week of Feb each year usually on the 3rd or 4th day.

This tradition of honoring the start of spring was not practiced widely even then. I noticed that among the households in our neighborhood and within our uncles and aunt, perhaps it was only mum that observed this custom. And now, it would be harder still to find a family that would still keep this tradition in the hometown, and certainly not in Singapore.

As a child I would hear the older folks mentioned that on this day one would be able to make an egg stand up-right when placed on the table. Perhaps it was a pun on the word - 立春– li-chun . While li - 立 - meaning to stand upright , and chun - 春- meaning the spring season, is also the same pronunciation for an egg.

The day of 立春 marks the start of spring. The phrase 迎春接福 - ying chun jie fu – means to welcome Spring and the good fortune that it brings.

In the traditional agrarian Chinese society – this was an important day with all its rituals and customs. The custom of pasting - 迎春接福–above the front door to welcome spring seems to be practiced only within the Hakka’s in Southern China – as a google indicates.

Postscript -

1. Chinese Calendar : 2010. Feb. 4

http://chinesecalendar.orados.com/

今天是農曆二十四節氣之首的立春, 代表著新一年的開始. 古時候的生肖屬相都是以立春為準, 一直到1914年才被袁世凱改成目前的農曆正月初一

- Today is the day of Li-chun – in the 24 solar cycle - Agrarian Calendar . It symbolizes the start of Spring. In ancient times, the zodiac year in which one is born was counted from the day Li-chun.

It was only in 1914, when Yuan Shih-kai, changed it to start from the First Day of the First Month of the Lunar calendar.

2. 交春 – Start of Spring

2010年2月4日6时48分，农历二○○九年十二月二十一日卯时立春（立春也叫打春）。北方就是这时，南放提前10分

- the time of gao-chun is 06:48 Northern China, and in the south it is 10 minus earlier.

Namely with the time 卯 - mao

http://wenda.tianya.cn/wenda/thread?tid=4ff659fd51d6244f

http://hk.huaxia.com/hxjk/jkys/shbj/2009/02/1307053.html

http://www.weather.com.cn/static/html/article/20090201/23265.shtml

3. The 24 Solar terms -

http://www.hko.gov.hk/gts/time/24solarterms.htm

4. Chinese Almanac –通勝 -tong sheng

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tung_shing

5. 立春 - risshun – Japanese

Li chun – is still widely celebrated in Japan as Setsu-bun 節分– or the bean throwing festival,.

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%AB%8B%E6%98%A5

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Setsubun

-//-

萬里郷情芽籠望

2010-01-29T12:35:00.006+08:00

上个月趁着长假回家乡去走了一趟。这三几年来，一年一度的回乡都转到阳历年年未十的二月分，而这正好又是冬至的季节。俗语说过冬大过年，回家乡过冬也是个挺好的选择。

在冬至那一天喝完早茶走在怡保市旧街场的商业街巷时听到一位商人和他的邻居店铺的老板说 - 又大一岁了。

听见这句话，觉得很温馨很有意思。小时候，每每过冬时常会听到大人说，吃了汤圆就又大了一岁。冬至过了就等待年了，而过冬就代表年就快要到来了。

这个概念过冬就等于过年在家乡的街头小巷还听得到 –

圣诞节前的那一周，家乡的天气早上清凉，一早起来感觉寒冷，蓝蓝的天空带来了北方冬天天气的气氛。那就又好像回到更远的那个乡镇去。那是客家山地的松口镇。

记起旅游客家本营的梅州松口镇已经过了有十二个年头了。那年和父亲们一起还乡刚好是挂着亚洲金融危机地飓风。冬至晚饭在香港吃完了的第二天就乘长途巴士到广州。然而过了一夜接着搭夜班火车往梅州去。

梅县松口是祖辈的老乡，是祖父们度过他们童年的故土。也许为了那个浓浓的乡情，年轻时离乡背井到了南洋来，度过了四十多年的岁月成家立业，最终太平洋战争结束后的 1946年还是选择归还乡度老年。

他和他的二哥如同大多数其他南来的客家乡亲都到去了锡矿生产地区。。也许这个位置在近打河流山谷刚开发的村落的地貌环境有些像他们家乡的山丘，他们定居了在这个名为万里望的小镇上。

从他少年下番到老大还乡的漫长岁月里，大时代的日子一幕一幕马不停蹄的在演变，从大清皇朝的崩潰到共和，从小战到战大战一直到新中国开国的前夕他在这两地的家乡建立了密切的来往。

记得小时候，有两大铁箱子从老屋搬过来的，里面载满着书信。那一件件传统红色信封上是贴着民国邮票，而贴着清朝的邮票的信也看过。因为不懂得中文，不知道信中写些什么，但都晓得那一封封的家信是两的来来往往的传家讯。

转眼间，光阴如箭从祖父下番到南洋已过了一百多年了。从祖父那一代开算起南洋这一方后裔面已经传到了第五代人了。而从万里望作为本营又在这五六十年里移民到别的地区去。

对于咱们生在万里望的裔孙家乡是在万里望，梅县松口已是个远方陌生的老家。以前和远在唐山老家的密切关系已被岁月冲得淡淡了，而那两地的来往也逐渐消失了。

多年来每每回到万里望都会去再次寻探这些家乡情。从中了解到我们各个族群是从哪里来，咱们的根在那里。

万里望镇真唯一的乡亲会馆是嘉应五属会馆。从会馆墙壁上挂着的先辈们的遗照中可看到祖父母的照片。小时候清明节去扫墓时父亲多次提过在总坟可找到祖父的名子。这回回乡也去寻查了战前乡亲会所修建的总坟。从刻在墓誌铭上先贤们的名列中了看到了祖父的名子，也解到祖父建总坟的一些贡献和捐贈。

乡情流长，万年青。

Postcript -

A thought of home from Geylang -

A check at the MD_BG Chinese-English translation web, 乡情 – xiang qin – is translated as nostalgia or homesickness which does not seem to fully convey what the phrase in Chinese means.

The trip home in December, was the annual ritual of ‘ balik kampong’ (in Malay), which perhaps much more aptly describes what going back to the hometown connotes.

It’s written in broken Chinese, and perhaps a more intimate way to convey the xiang qin .

//---

what wine do they drink in Geylang?

2009-12-14T17:13:00.003+08:00

It’s the time of the season for merry festivities – of sumptuous dinning with a glass of good wine perhaps.

Going by the flyers one gets in the letterbox – the bottle of wine would most probably be a chardonnay, a cabernet or a merlot from either the vineyards of France, Australia or California in the US.

With a picture of sleazy - where streetwalkers ply their services till the early hours of dawn on any fine weather weekend, the average Singaporean would perhaps find it hard to relate the finer taste of wine drinking with Geylang.

They do. At the Turtle House restaurant in Guillemard road, on the fringe of Geylang opposite Kong Hwa School, red wine & white wine is on the drink menu.

Well, other than the Turtle House, where else and what wine do they drink there?

As I was passing one good morning I chanced upon a few empty wine bottles left outside one of the many Chinese migrants operated restaurants along Geylang Road, and being curious of what wine the diners drink, I picked one up for a closer look.

Lo & behold, on a closer look – I was staring into history thro the empty wine bottle.

The label states:

Changyu Reisling Dry White wine
张裕雷司令干白葡萄酒

Changyu Pioneer Wine company Limited Yantai, China,
烟台张裕葡萄酿酒有限公司

It was a bottle of wine from China. And with it a note that explains the history of the Changyu wine, which perhaps of all wines sold in Singapore, has the closest connection with this island.

For Changyu winery was the pioneer wine producer in China. It was established a century & more ago in Yantai - 烟台 - Shantung Province, ahead of the better known Chinese wines abroad – such as Dynasty, or Great Wall.

The founder of the winery Chang Pi-shi - 張弼士 - aka Cheong Fatt-Tze - was the mandarin capitalist from Nanyang – (South-east Asia) who for a while was appointed consulate of the Qing court in Singapore in the 1890’s.

Well, Geylang is not just your any Geylang, it’s rich is history too, and even in the wine they drink…

Reference:

1. Changyu wine -
http://www.yellowmoonimports.com/changyuwinery/changyuwineryfacts.html
http://www.rmhb.com.cn/chpic/htdocs/english/200712/7-1.htm

2. Chang Pi-shih

Chang Pi-shih hailed from the Hakka district of Dapu.

At Lorong 22, Geylang is the Char Yong Association of the Dapu Hakka - a clan assocation with a museum on the upper floor -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheong_Fatt_Tze
http://charyong.org.sg/index.asp

3. Turtle House restaurant
http://www.sionglee.com/

-//-

the navel of japan - 諏訪湖 - lake suwa

2009-11-30T15:15:00.016+08:00

This view of Lake Suwa -諏訪湖- sometimes referred to as the navel of Japan – was taken on Sunday , Jun21, 1992.

In the vicinity surrounding the lake are three townships – Kami-Suwa - 上諏訪、Shimo-Suwa - 上諏訪 & Okaya - 岡谷.

Being located in the central highlands of the Honshu Island, with clean mountain air, the townships in this part of Japan was developed into centers for precision engineering, emulating the Swiss watch making industries with the likes of Seiko Hattori.

Lake Suwa, though not as famous as her sister lake in Shiga Prefecture – Lake Biwa - 琵琶湖 -the largest lake in Japan - the two lakes are however intimately linked by a melodious song – Lake Biwa Roving song – which any Japanese should be familiar with.

The author of the lyrics of this song hailed from Okaya. The statue of Oguchi Taro stands by the shore of Lake Suwa, and one can listen to the song from the musical box next to it.

There is a museum dedicated to this song, and there is no lack of version of this song in you-tube.

Suwa is also well-know for the Obashira festival. I came to know of this festival when I was there in 1992. Though I just missed it by a matter of weeks, I nevertheless heard from the locals that the festival is held once every 7 years.

It is perhaps the most dangerous of festivals in the Japanese potpourri of traditional festivals. The locals mentioned that in each festival one or two people would be crushed by the giant logs as the revelers rode on it sliding down a steep slope. The next will be held in 2010.

Comes winter when the lake is frozen, there would be a natural phenomenon where the ice would crack and form a pressure ridge cross the lake. The local would relegate this formation as the o-miwatari – a sign that the gods from the Shinto shrines are making the rounds visiting the other shrines located around the lake.

Perhaps that the Japanese are so attached to their land even if they had not been singing their national anthem in schools, is due in no small part to influnce of these culture and traditions -

- thro the poems that they pen to romantic lyrics and sung to enchanting melodies they inculcate a sense of longing, and bond with the tanah that nutured them.

- a love for traditional festivities that sprang from the hamlets ages ago and enjoyed with renew gusto in each cycle of celebration, thus linking them back to a past with deep historical roots.

Ours too – we have it on this island : in the likes of poems by Edwin Thamboo, the joget musical of Geylang, the Chingay’s, ...

If these cultural assets are liken to roots of a people, whereas the roots of Lake Suwa has sunken deep to the soil, the new roots of ex-Shonan, are as yet seems shallow and have yet to develop the same firm grip that has braved the test of time.

Ah, a nation in the making ….

Postscript;

1. Okaya

After having left the Japan upon graduation, and had not visited the country for close to 8 years, the trip was a welcome opportunity to renew ties with the country. It was the start of many trips then, the longest stay being from 13May – 27June 1992

The most frequent hotel to lodge in was in Okaya -岡谷. Daily drove to the workplace along the river bank to another township located close to an hour by car –Chino - 茅野.

Chino was the center of Chinon camera, which wound up its camera business close to two decades ago.

A set of matchboxes collected during the stay then, and I wonder if the hotels and restaurants still continue to make match boxes..

Reference:

1. Lake Suwa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Suwa

http://www.suwakanko.jp/

2. Lake Biwa Rowing Song - 琵琶湖周航の歌 - Biwako shyuko no uta

http://photoguide.jp/txt/Biwako_Shuko_no_Uta_Shiryokan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH3mtrS3xWo

3. Ombashira festival

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuvXk-zq4uI

http://www.onbashira.jp/

4. Lyrics of Rowing Song of Lake Biwa by the shore of Lake Suwa.

/--

three-hundred- thousand - 三百千

2009-10-09T12:38:00.006+08:00

When we were a kid, mum used to tell us over dinner that when she first started schooling – one of the text that she recited was the primer – Three Character Classic - san zi jing - 三字经

That was in early years of the 1930/s, and a decade & more after the 1919 May Fourth Movement in China, which revolutionized Chinese as a language – a watershed from classical Chinese to modern day Chinese. Among other things, classical education were frown upon by the intelligentsia.

However, in the small town of Menglembu, on the outskirt of Ipoh, & some where in the south seas – the Nanyang – 南洋 - the classics were still then a very much a part of the primary school text.

Among them were the :
Three Character Classic – 三字经 - Sanzhi jing
Hundred Family Surnames - 百家姓 – Baijia xìng
Thousand Character Classic - 千字文) - Qianji wen

Subsequently, when these texts were done away with in the school curriculum, and replaced by modern day primer, these classics managed to made it’s way into the family thro the yearly Almanac - 通書 – Tong shu or - 通勝 - Tong sheng.

As a kid, I would often flip thro the pages, and being educated in English in a mission school, the pages were Greek. Nevertheless, I was curious of what was written in there, and without the pinyin notations, neither could I pronounce the words.

These were part of the many early cultural mysteries that has enthralled me since. It was a part of the Chinese-cultural roots and make-up that I was trying to unravel –

And along the way, an interesting encounter -

The Purge –

The Three-Hundred-Thousand Classics, were almost annihilated in the first 30years of New China. In the later years of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1970), Confucius was purged. I recall the cover title in Mastika – a Malay language magazine - ‘Mao nak bunuh orang yang telah mati ‘ - Mao want to kill a dead person.’

As part of the DX-ing hobby, one of the many stations that I used to tune in to was Radio Beijing, and particularly the campaign to - Criticize Lin Biao and Confucius - 批林批孔 - pilin pikong.

The traditional value system expounded in the classics, with a two-thousand year old heritage and more, was scorned upon and purged in the political wild fire of the 1960’s and 1970’s – in the land of origin.

However, much of this value system was a matter-of-factly continued to be transmitted from mother-to-son in the Chinese communities beyond.

The Resurrection -

Well, of late, from the gaige kaifang - 改革开放- the opening up of the New China to the outside world in 1978 and especially so in the last five years, Fortune has once again found favor in Thee-Hundred-Thousand.

Speakers interpreting the Classics, and expounding Confucian thoughts have nowadays become celebrities, and ...

...To be rich & famous is glorious!

Postscript :

1. Majalah Mastika –

With a aim to improve Bahasa Malaysia –a compulsory language subject in the MCE Malaysian Certificate of Education Examinations - Form 5 ‘O’ level, used to purchase this Malay language magazine & the other was Dewan Masyarakat .

Mastika – a monthly publication similar in size to Reader’s Digest , with articles on general knowledge – world and local happenings.

2. A cycle of 60 years –壽 - 寿 & China’s National Day celebration – Oct 01.

In the traditional way of counting one’s age, the 60th year is much more important than the 50th, and it is accord a special word known as – shou – written in the full script as 壽 - or in the simplified script as 寿 .

A sexagenarian has completed a cycle of - jia zi - 甲子- in the Chinese calendar of heavenly stems and earthly braches -天干地支 .

The previous - 寿 – shou - celebration on such a grand scale, was perhaps last done when Emperor Qianlong 乾隆帝（1711-1799）of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) celebrated his 60th year reign. – 1796.

Perhaps, the Thee-Hundred-Thousand – and the classics will continue to exert a moderating influence on the new found pride and confidence of a New-New China.

Effectively,
–contrary to man being a sinner from birth, human was born inherently good nature ….

- to quote the opening phrase in : Three Character Classic – 三字经 - Sanzhi jing :

人之初 (rén zhī chū) People at birth,
性本善 (xìng běn shàn) Are naturally good.
性相近 (xìng xiāng jìn) Their natures are similar,
習相遠 (xí xiāng yuan) Their habits make them different

3. 三百千 Three-Hundred-Thousand

百家姓三字经千字文第子规
木子编
新疆少年出版社出版， 1996年7月第一版
定价27。80元

1997。12。23
探访客家祖地梅县松口旅程
第二站：广州市，古籍书店购
- purchased in Guangzhou on trip to ancestral village Songkou, Meixian

References –

1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Character_Classic

2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundred_Family_Surnames

3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thousand_Character_Classic

4) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tung_shing

5) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexagenary_cycle

6) http://ms.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majalah_Mastika

-//----

tide of history – reflection on century old primer from Kyoto

2009-09-29T11:08:00.004+08:00

Found this text book in Kyoto in a box of old books placed outside the book shop selling old books located in the north-eastern part of the city.

The date of publication - the 25th year of the Meiji Era, entitled – 帝国読本 - Teikoku dokuhon - An Imperial Primer - is 1892. It was the 8th in a series of reading text from Imperial Japan, dated

At 1 ¥00 (S$1.158) and for a 107-year old text book which is in a relatively well-kept condition – it is a memorabilia well worth its price. A good pick from this ancient but modern capital city, for someone who loves to old books.

For a item of similar item with this age, it would cost 20 times more at the Sunday Flea Mart in China Square.

Well, come to think of it – for a city with a continuous history of 1300-years, a 107-year old text book is but just a tiny pebble in her river of time . What it a century when time is flows in the millennium.

The owner of the text book had written his name Okunishi - in neat Victorian style English alphabet on the cover of the text. Inside the text is found the seal - 奥西 - in vermillion, stamped on a number of pages - to attest ownership.

Reminiscing the era in which this book was printed -

Since the start of the Meiji Era in 1868, it was a period of learning from the West, and writing one’s name in the English alphabet must be in vogue, then.

Within the contents of the primer, there were short chapters on geography of the world & modern sciences – explaining the cause of earthquake, and introduction to anatomy. It was a text to introduce western science and technology to the Japanese students.

By then, the Meiji restoration - 明治维 - was already into its 25th year of modernization. The foundation of a new society build on western science & technology was well on its way to enable Japan to - 脱亞入欧 – datsu A nyuu O – tuoya ru ou - that is - to literary pluck itself out of Asia and enter into the European sphere of civilized nations.

Interestingly, inter-woven into the text, were also short chapters embodying the essence of the Japan bushido spirit – on Japanese history, geography and Shinto-ism – the native religion of Japan.

Flipping thro the text, one could feel the flow of history on the fingertips.

One got a first hand glimpse of the teaching material that put Japan on the modernization path. In it the ideological essence of that era - 和魂洋才 - wakon-yōsai- meaning - Japanese spirit and Western knowledge & techniques - were written on its chapters. That was the part that Japan took to rise to be a world economic and industrial power.

Close to a century and a half have since passed, since the Meiji Restoration -

In between, the waves of militarism & pacifism have washed her rugged shores. In the rise and fall of nations, other Asian nations have been coming of age, since.

Would perhaps the Land of the Rising Sun come home to to roost again with her Asian neighbors, in the aftermath of the 2009 genreal election . . . and the spark to the begining of a new primer.

Postscript -

1. Kyoto – Old Book Fair　－古本祭り

Old book festival ＠ Shimokamo Kyoto held thrice yearly in May, August & November

http://openkyoto.com/sightseeing/market/kyoto-used-book-festival.html

2. 帝国読本　券之八　学海指針社編輯

明治二十六年九月十八日
文部省撿定濟

目次

第一課三種の神宝
第二　課八岐の大蛇
第三　課日本の武尊
第四　課日本ノ三景
第五　課日本ノ工藝
第六　課雪舟
第七　課地震
第八　課奥貫友山
第九　課蟻ノ話
第十　課節儉
第十一課山下禅尼
第十二課日用晝類
第十三課世界
第十四課支那
第十五課支那歴史
第十六課三韓征伐
第十七課弘安の役
第十八課朝鮮征伐
第十九課食物の行方　其一
第二十課食物の行方　其二
第二十一課飲食
第二十二課日用晝類
第二十三課仁徳天皇
第二十四課醍醐天皇
第二十五課國體
第二十六課國史大要　　其一
第二十七課國史大要　　其二
第二十八課國民ノ大義務　其一
第二十九課國民ノ大義務　其二
第三十課國民ノ大義務　唱歌

明治二十五年九月十八日　仰刷
同年　　　　九月十八日　出版
明治二十五年九月十八日　仰刷
同年　　　　九訂正　再発行

編者學海指針社
東京市日本橋區通油町拾六番地
發行者小林八郎
仰刷者小林清一郎
發賣所集英堂本店
仰刷所集英堂活版所

定價券八金十銭o五厘

Contents of text printed in 42pages of thin paper .

３．Wakon-yōsai (和魂洋才) 　－Japanese Spirit Western techniques

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamato-damashii

- Poster of - Sunday Flea Mart @ China Square -

-//-

bite me, if you love me! - the Geylang connection

2009-08-21T09:51:00.015+08:00

What has them in common -
- love me, bite me, duck neck, Fist of Fury- all in Geylang.

- Since moving to Geylang, I’ve been trying to catch up with all the wonderfully interesting shops and signboards along Geylang Road. Interpose with the traditional straits shop houses, and you will find vignettes of the sub-urbancenter in transformation

At a glance, I thought that the Chinwoo Athletic Association located in Neil Road had set up a branch in Geylang.

Though within Geylang precinct there is already quite a number of clan associations and clubs that offer martial arts and pugilistic training, and well, perhaps to attract the new migrants from our ancestor land and to boost its membership, the association had extended to the eastern part of the island.

- For Geylang is the under-declared Chinatown of 21st century Singapura.

However, I found it a little misplaced that the big sign outside the shop front should be titled – 精武門　－Jingwu Men. If it is a branch of the Chinwoo Athletic Association, & in keeping with the official name of Chinwoo Association worldwide – it should be - 新嘉坡精武體育會 – 芽籠支部. – Xinjiapo Jingwu Tiyuhui Yalong zhibu - Geylang Branch.

Well, 精武門 – Jingwu men – is the title of Bruce Lee 1972 movie hit, Fist of Fury – in Chinese. And getting all the more curious, and wanting to find out more what is in Jingwu men, I ventured into the shop to take a closer look –

Instead of a dojo – it actually is a kopitiam that started off selling the local fare such as curry chicken noodles & laksa. However, along with the influx of the new migrants, the kopitiam has transformed itself into a semi-pub, and with a front stall selling possibly the latest craze in Geylang –yabozi - duck neck.

Interestingly on the wall, I also found not one, but two photographs of the founder of Chinwoo – Huo Yanjia - 霍元甲(1867 – 1909 -haphazardly placed on the wall, among the mess of tables, chairs and drinking bottles.

Not in a million years, I thought would ever the upright and respectable HuoYanjia, approve of his photographs to be hung in a messy kopitiam-cum-watering hole, that is patronized by pot-bellied ah pek, (local dialect for uncle) & pandered by 流萤 – liuying – fireflies.

Well, in Geylang, Bugis, and Chinatown – there is a proliferation of - yabozi stalls and shops – usually branded as ：

武汉久久鸭脖子 – Wuhan 99 duck neck
武汉精武鸭脖子 - Wuhan Jingwu duck neck

Jingwu is derived from the street name – Jingwu Lu – 精武路 - in Wuhan which is supposedly the origin & center of the yabozi stalls.

There story had it that – one of the stalls invented the catchy phrase as its advertisement slogan:

爱我就啃我 - aiwo jiu kenwo - if you love me, bite me!

That is - buy my duck neck and you will be assured of a good, crunchy and tasty bite.

With this catchy phase, well, the rest as the say was history. Thro the web – this advertisement caught on China-wide.

If you go Beijing, you will not leave without having a taste of Beijing duck. If you go to Wuhan, having a bite of the duck neck, is a must taste in the itinerary. The duck biz – neck and all – is reportedly a RMB6 billion ($$1.25B) dollar business in Wuhan.

As Hou Yanjia is a native of Tianjin – 天津 (the city with the eco-project joint with Singapore), Jingwu - 精武- has long been registered as a trademark by a food business in Tianjin. And reportedly this Tianjing company has taken the Wuhan Food business to court for infringing on the word - Jingwu.

Perhaps – the Wuhan entrepreneur who ventured into Singapore has an eye for Geylang – for one, because of the congregation of the Chinese migrants there, and two, all the more because there is a free flow of love in Geylang…. if you love me, bite me.

Well, so much for the duck business, out goes the window Chinwoo & the founder…Geylang, Wuhan yabozi style.

Notes & references:

1. 精武 - Chinwoo - Jingwu

Chinwoo – possibly derived from the southern Chinese dialect, such as Cantonese - zingmou – is the same as - jingwu (pinyin).

Chinwoo Athletic association was spread to the Chinatowns world wide by the early migrants from South-china.

http://www.chinwoo.org/history.htm

This picture of the Chinwoo Athletic Association in KL was take in 2005 CNY period - @ Chinwoo Hill, close to KL Chinatown.

http://www.chinwoo.org.my/en/home.php

2. 霍元甲 - Huo Yanjia

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huo_Yuanjia

3 . Films on Chinwoo and its founder

- Fist of Fury - 1972 : Starring Bruce Lee & Nora Miao

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Lee

It was an impressionable film that I watched while in Form 3, in my hometown. I remember after the show, I reverted to using chopsticks for dinner that evening, instead of eating with fork and spoon.

- Fearless - 2006 : Starring Jet Li - & based on the autobiography of Huo Yanjia.,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fearless_(2006_film)

4. 鸭脖子 - yabozi –

Listed as the 10 ten snacks in Beijing Street food - reported in The Star, Toronto -

Yabozi (duck's neck) – The duck's neck is long and winding, weird-looking and leathery, but it's chopped up and makes a great snack-in-a-bag. The neck is marinated in brine with chilies, boiled and, finally, stir-fried. Its flavours vary from star anise to cumin, but this classic Wuhan snack will likely leave your lips buzzing. You don't need to spend an evening (and a fortune) in a fancy restaurant having Beijing duck to, well, eat duck: You can also buy whole ducks on the street.

http://www.thestar.com/living/article/469434

Tianjin net : (in Chinese)
http://www.022net.com/2007/7-13/465231232845408.html

5. 流萤 – liuying – fireflies.

This term is used in the local Chinese dailies to refer to the lady-of-the night, the street-walkers that congregate in Geylang area, from sun-down .

-//--

街头街尾芽笼巷 - active aging Geylang style

2009-07-13T15:50:00.008+08:00

In today’s ST there is a article on active aging. It’s the story of a retired lecturer who feeling bored after a month of migrating down under, returned to the city island to take up a teaching position in a polytechnic. He’s 70 years old.

Well, this photograph taken along Geylang Road tells of a tale that would hit this story of active aging on the head -

It was Sunday afternoon, 1:00pm, walking down Geylang Road from the junction of Guillemard Road towards city, and looking for a place to lunch.

This tanned sinewy Ah Pek – 阿伯 - with balding silver hair painting the shop front caught my eyes. As I was considering painting my new place myself, I thought it would be a fine opportunity to get some hands on free advice on painting from him.

So much for cultivating a kampong spirit in city living, and good neighborliness, it will also give me a chance to get to know some of the residents in this new neighborhood. Notorious though it may be – Geylang - there was a gang attack just the night before in the lorong nearby – there should be friendly souls around, I thought.

Sure enough, Ah Pek was an approachable and affable man, and probably the friendliest of folks that you could expect in a place such as Geylang.

He gave me a cheerful smile, while going about his job and said that the previous tenant – a hotpot restaurant named Alishan – had vacated the lot and he’s sprucing the place up looking for a new tenant. He’s doing up the whole shop by himself – electrical, piping, painting and all and is his own contractor.

He said that he had been working on the shop front for the past three days. First, repairing the cracks on the wall with putty, before applying the paint, and that the work though relatively easy, is strenuous, but it helped him saved without sub-contracting out the work.

Well, his reply fits perfectly to my intent. What he said next, all the more is no excuse not to do the paint job myself –

Ah Pek asked me:

你知道我几岁吗?
(Do you know how old am I?)

Looking at his sprightly self climbing up and down ladders, I attempted a guess - 70 perhaps.

He smiling replied:

我已经八十岁了!
(I’m already 80 years old!)

Ah Pek continued that a few years ago when he was younger, he even replaced the floor tiles on the five-foot way & decorated the facade of the Straits shop house, with a dragon motif.

Seeing that he’s so active for an octogenarian, I whipped out my mobile phone camera, and asked if I could take a picture of him.

Ah Pek gleefully replied:

为什么你要拍我的照片，我有什么美。你应该拍哪一个吗!
(Why you want to take my photograph, I am no beauty. You should be taking the picture of that one.)

He turned his head and gestured at the prettily dress lass that just walked pass.

So much on active aging – see you in Geylang . . .

Postscript

1 . 街头街尾芽笼巷

Jie tou jie wei Yalung xiang – literary meaning – up & down Geylang and its lanes

If Beijing has her hutong – 胡同 - and Shanghai the linong – 里弄 - then Singapore, would have or should it be had, Geylang & her lorong's - albeit a humbler version.

Straddling the two main roads – Sims Avenue and Geylang Road - that runs parallel the length of this sub-urban center are the many lorong (Malay) – 巷 – xiang – lane / alley. In all what’s left now is from Lorong 2 to 44.

The locals will head to Geylang – if one is in seek of durian. Pleasure quarters are on the even numbered lorong’s while gourmet offerings in general is on the odd number sector.
It’s the place in Singapore where heaven & earth meets - temples, mosques and churches are an alley’s apart with the house of vices.

While our ancestors gathered at Kereta Ayer - 牛车水- the defunct Chinatown- when they migrated to the Nanyang – 南洋 - a century and more ago, Geylang is alive with the new migrants and foreign labors from China – the new China-town.

Geylang is touted as one of the top 10 tourist attraction by Times magazine.

http://www.time.com/time/travel/cityguide/article/0,31489,1845806_1845592_1845748,00.html

2. Ah Pek – 阿伯

Uncle – in local Hokkien dialect to address an elderly man.

阿伯 - a bo ( pinyin) - ah pek (Hokkien) – ah bak (Cantonese ) : paternal uncle – who is older than one’s father
阿叔 – a shu - ah jik - ah suk: paternal uncle younger than one’s father

3. After lunch – went to visit to the museum and the Aljunied Library. On the way back at about 4:30pm, Ah Pek was still actively at work – clearing the back of the shop house. Another centenarian in the making -

4. Despite her notoriety & sleaze – Geylang was and is abode to learned monks and renowned artists – check it out:

http://www.museums.com.sg/MRM_konghiap.asp

http://www.tanswiehian.com/index.php?lang=en&CODE=05

http://www.nhb.gov.sg/www/pr/sam/Xu%20Beihong.pdf

-//-

and a 5-13 and a 6-4 : a ponder

2009-06-02T10:46:00.009+08:00

Where were you when it happened?

They were those defining events that you vividly remember where you were when the event happened. Of the many anniversaries in this year a thought or two on two of them that had a lapse of twenty years in between them -

May 13, 1969

– It was evening time, after dinner, and when the radio broadcasted that curfew was declared in Kuala Lumpur.

Though there was a flurry of news and activities after the General Election, , much of what was happening were lost to us kids, except that we were more interested if the next day would be a school holiday. I was in Standard Six (primary school ) , then.

Leading to the GE the coffee shop talk around town was whether PPP (People’s Progress Party) could perform as well without the fiery speeches of DR Seenivasagam, for he has passed away earlier that year. The party leadership went to his milder sibling SP.

Well, the Ipoh (should be the Kinta folks) ever proud of their – 骨气 – gu qi – hardened bones - once again threw their lot with the opposition party, and voted overwhelmingly for the PPP.

Rumors abound, and far away down south we heard of the fighting in the Chow Kit area, and fights up north in Sungei Patani.

However, in the Kinta area, as far as I could remember, and definitely not in my hometown, it was incident free.

Next to our house was a surau (a small mosque), and a family of Malays had moved in to stay there. This was our closest Malay neighbor. During the Hari Raya Puasa, & the Chinese New year we would continue to exchange gifts.

IN schools, the following year while in Form One – we started to recite the Rukun Negara – during morning assembly. During art lessons, the theme was on racial harmony– and I remember one of my art pieces depicting harmony among the races was selected fro display outside the Art room.

As the Merdeka kids – those born in the year 1957 – we were perhaps the pioneer batches of students in our education career that were affected by the NEP (New Economic Policy) and the National Language policies. We had to work extra hard to be assured of a place in the local institutions of higher learning’s.

While we entered Form Six – a number of Malay students from other schools came to join us – for ours was one of the 3 schools in Ipoh with Form Six/ pre-university classes. However, these students did not stay more than a term, for they left to join the Asasi Sains matriculation classes in the local university or those with better MCE (equivalent to SPM – O Level ) results went abroad to study.

In the space of National Language policy – we were one of the first batches to have our lecturers in University Malay to have our science courses conducted in Malay. Being from an English medium school – listening to technical lectures in Malay was something novel.

Well so much for May-13 and its after effect. The official reason then was that the riot was the work of communist elements. Forty years later, we have a greater clarity on the fallacies and facts.

It was hearting to note that Malaysia has moved one relatively peacefully i.e racially, despite the Mar08 political tsunami. It has in a way exorcised the ghost of 5-13.

However this racial harmony must be upheld and protected jealously at all cost, and pray that wise & leaders of integrity will continue to be nurtured by the land.

June 4, 1989

-After work that evening, I went to the roadside stall leading into Tao Payoh to buy a copy of the local Chinese evening newspaper for an update of what happened in Beijing Tiananmen square on that day.

Recalling the conversation some years earlier with the Chinese students while studying in Japan, that the 21st century would be the Asia Pacific century, we were hopeful of China rise then.

However, the mayhem coming out of Beijing on that day shattered whatever little hopes that were left of China playing a leading role in this dream.

Some of the new phrases that was added to my limited Chinese vocabulary were -
手无寸铁 – shou wu cun tie – with an inch of iron in the hand - namely defenseless
镇压 – zhen ya – suppression
血醒 - xie xing – bloody

The sea of banners and posters with their witty phrases and perhaps a reflection of the idealism of that time - calling for greater accountability, transparency, democracy - were captured in this book.

The title of the book - 天安門　落書 -Tiananmon rakusho – literary meaning -Tiananmen graffiti.

Though it’s written in Japanese, the catchy slogans will certain help to improve your Chinese。

Some of the phrases:

政府正腐 ( zhengfu zhengfu )
- punning on the word – the governement is really rotten

我爱面包，更爱真理　 ( wo ai mian bao, geng ai zhenli )
- I love bread, however I love truth more

八九年 Nobel 奖提名　　 ( Bajiunian Nobel jang timing
锂+ 硼 = 苯+ 氮 Li + Peng = Ben + Dan
北大化学博士 Beida Huaxue boshi )

- this was a jab at the then Prime Minister - Li Peng – 李鹏 -penned by Beijing University Chemistry Depart Doctorate students.

1989 Nobel Prize nominee:
Lithium + Boron = Benzene + Nitrogen

For Li Peng – 李鹏 – is similar in sound to Lithium (锂) and Boron (硼) . And Benzene (苯) and Nitrogen (氮) sounds the same as - 笨蛋 - bendan – meaning someone of low simple mentality.

要廉政，不要帘正 (yao lianzheng, buyao lianzheng)
- A pun on the word lian - 廉 – incorrupt, and 帘 (simplified form of 簾） - meaning hanging curtain.

This is a dig at paramount leader Deng Xiaoping – 邓小平 - a call for a clean government and not governing from behind the screen.

Well, so much for the dig and jab (no political message intended). Whatever it was - in her long history, it is still premature on a verdict to the June 04.

Twenty years on China has moved on, especially after the 5-12 Sichuan earthquakes, the Beijing Olympics, and lately the financial tsunami.

Despite being a hard-core green camp leader, it came as a surprise to read that the former VP of ROC- Madame Lu mentioned that the China of today was no longer the Communist China of June 04, and to look at her with a new vision.

Perhaps over the past 30years, China has taken three steps forward and a step back. The road leading to the rise of a nation is never smooth, and it will continue to be.

Along the long and winding road, we should take a pause at Victoria Park, to reflect on where we were then.

Reference:

1. 天安門　落書 (Tiananmon rakusho )

串田久治 (Kushida Hisaharu)
講談社、１９９０ (Kodansha)
紀伊国屋新宿
１９９２．８．２３（日）
あずさ号　→　茅野

Bought this book at the Kinokuniya Book Store, Shinjuku while on business trip to Japan in Aug 1992. Had went to Tokyo over the weekends on R&R then, and took the Azusa Express back to Chino.

Chino is located next to Suwa Lake - 諏訪湖 - in Nagano-ken - 長野県 – right in the middle of the Honshu main island.

Link :

1. Rukunegara

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rukunegara

/--

狮城萬里望 - beyond the lion city shores

2009-05-12T13:18:00.007+08:00

This stretch of the railway is not far from the Tanjong Pagar railway station, or more precisely the KTM – Keretapi Tanah Melayu – Singapore Station. It’s located next to Jalan Kilang Lama, off Jalan Bukit Merah. The yellow marker reads 779.75, and it’s possibly that distance in kilometer from Kuala Lumpur.

Twenty years ago used to cross the pedestrian bridge over this stretch over to Depot Road. With the office shifted back to back to Depot Road, it’s back again to crossing this railway line, each morning to work.

Though the city has undergone tremendous change physically over the past twenty years, if ever something that has not change in time, it would be this KTM railway and the Tanjong Pagar station. As they say – 五十年不变 – wushinian bubian – with hardly a change half a century.

Having grown up commuting on the KTM railway in the younger days, there is always a sense of fondness whenever one get to see the KTM railway line.

Traveling 985km north from this vantage it would take me back to my hometown – 家乡- jiaxiang – in Menglembu. - 萬里望 – Wanliwang. Though naturalized and this island has been home for the past 20 years and if home is where the heart is, then 家乡 – jiaxiang – will always have a special place in the heart.

What does the KTM railway line evokes?

Looking yonder - 狮城萬里望　－shicheng wanli wang - literary meaning – looking a ten-thousand li - 里 - from the Lion city, will recall some of the rides on the KTM:

1960’s - Ipoh to Malim Nawar
- The earliest train ride - from Ipoh to Malim Nawar in the 2nd half of 1960/s.

The youngest paternal aunt just married to Malim Nawar, a small town off the trunk road from Ipoh to Kampar. Though the town is off the main trunk road, it is connected to the Peninsula KTM railway grid – with a railway station in the center of the town. There was a important power generating station build during the colonial days, and this station provide electricity to the vicinity – a tin mining district of Kinta.

After the visit , Dad would sometimes let us to wait to take the train back to Ipoh, while was about a half hour or more away. To us kids, it was a memorable & fun ride.

At the railway station – Dad would point to us the holes in the lamp posts and said they were bullet holes left behind by the Japanese fighter planes while attacking the railway station during their conquest of Malaya and Singapore.

Early1970’s: Ipoh to Tanjung Malim -
- Towards the end of 1960 and thro to mid 1970/s

Dad went to work in Tanjung Malim, towards the end of 1968 and would used to visit him & occasionally with Mum. We would take the south-bound Morning Express from Ipoh. The Tanjung Malim Railway was just outside the town center town center. Dad would come down from his abode in the rubber plantation to meet us.

Tanjung Malim is a border town and is on this side of the Perak Stated with Selangor. It is growing to be the Proton City.

2nd half of 1970/s - Ipoh to Kuala Lumpur –
- From 1977 to 1980.

During the college days, KTM was one of the regular mode commuting from Ipoh to KL during the term break. The journey would take 3 hours or so, if there is no delay. And compared to the express bus plying the trunk road – as the North-South Highway was not ready yet, the railway was a viable alternative.

2nd half 1980’s into early 1990’s – to Singapore

These journeys were especially memorable – going down to Singapore for job interview, and would take the over- night train leaving KL for Singapore.

In the early 1990’s would continue to take the train to and from Ipoh-Singapore occasionally till the service stopped. It’s a long ride starting in the morning and if there was not delay would reach the destination on time in the evening. However, punctuality was not a pride of service of the KTM, as with the Japanese railway system.

With the much delayed completion of the dual track link between KL and Ipoh, and since December 2008, there is a regular daily shuttle service between the two cities. However the south-bound over night train direct from Ipoh to Singapore has been withdrawn and commuters will now have to transit in KL to catch the southbound train for Singapore.

Perhaps the dream track would be a shinkansen line between Singapore –KL-Ipoh-Penang.

However, with budget airlines flying to Ipoh from June 2008, it would perhaps it would take another 50 years.

Postscript –

1. 萬里望狮城

Punning on the Chinese name for my hometown 萬里望 – Wanliwang - town with a ten thousand li view - 萬里望狮城 – wanli wang shicheng – means viewing the Lion City from 10,000 (ten thousand) li.

Or, inverting the phrase - 狮城萬里望 – shicheng wanli wang - it literary means - to look a 10,000 li from the Lion City - that is, looking far and wide from the Lion City -

Instead of - 狮城萬里望　－it is - 狮城千里望 – because hometown - 家乡 - jiaxiang - Menglembu - 萬里望- in 5 km south west of Ipoh – is closer to 1,000 km north.

Reference:

1. Menglembu
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menglembu

2. 里 - Li
The li (里,) is a traditional Chinese unit of distance, which has varied considerably over time but now has a standardized length of 500 meters or half a kilometer (c. 1640 feet).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_(unit)

3. Tanjung Malim
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanjung_Malim

4. KTM - Keretapi Tanah Melayu

- Malaysia Railway Authority
http://www.ktmb.com.my/

-//-

kenanagan gambar lama - 老照片

2009-04-19T17:59:00.007+08:00

Disebaik setiap gambar lama adalah cerita-nya. Inilah sedikit sebanyak cerita sebuah panggung wayang di Bandarraya Ipoh yang tidak wujud lagi.

Captiol Cinema – antara theatre dengan cinema

Tarih yang tertulis di belakang gambar ini adalah 28.7.39, jadi umur gamar in hampir 70 tahun. Bagunan ini adalah sebuah panggung wayang lama yang terletak di lot sebelah Jalan Anderson and Jalan Theatre, Ipoh. Tetapi, kerana di jilat api beberapa tahun dahulu, pawagam in tidak dapat di nampak lagi pada hari in.

Tempat ini dibiar kosong. Kawsan-nya berrumput lalang dan lot ini disewa lekat kereata, sebagaimana lot-lot kosong dipusat bandaraya Ipoh kini.

Nama pawagam ini ialah Capitol, atau dalam bahasa logat Kanton (Cantonese) , bahasa berkomunikasi penduduk-penduduk kelompok majoriti orang keturunan Cina di-Ipoh adalah – Gi’ing dou - 京都 – ( Jingdu - dalam Bahasa Mandarin).

Locasi panggung wayang ini terbaik sekali, dan ia tepat di pusat Badar Baru Ipoh. Jalan di sebelahnya, Jalan Theatre –戏院街 – heiyin gai – (xiyuan jie - mungkin dapat namanya kerana panggung wayang lama yang asal berada disini.

Apa yang aku ingat kemungkinannya, adalah sebelum Pawagam Capitol baru ini yang dibina di sini, ia terlah wujud - 戏院 - heiyin - iaitu – theatre (dalam Bahasa Inggerris), disini.

Panggung wayang ini mempentaskan wanyang-wayang Cina, yang di-panggil – daihie – 大戏 -(daxi) . Daihei – atau wayang tradisi orang Cina, terutamanya opera Kantonis, adalah hiburan halayak ramai masyarakat Cina Ipoh, sebelum kedatangan wayang filem, atau movie. Wayang opera tradisi ini masih dipentaskan, tetapi selalunya dikuil-kuil, semasa beradanya kerayaan ditokong.

Sesungguhnya, bangunan yang menayang wayang-wayang filem dipanggil cinema – ia itu – 电影院 - dianyinggyuan – (dalam Bahasa Mandarin), dan bukan theatre – atau 戏院 – xiyuan. Jadi, bila bangungan cinema Capitol dibina, jalan di sebelabnya terus di panggil orangramai Jalan Theatre – atau Theatre Street, dan tidak ditukar ke Jalan Cinema.

Sampai masa sekarang, masyarakat Cina Ipoh masih memanggil pawagam-pawangam sebagi - heiyuen –戏院- (xiyuan) – atau theatre, contohnya - 丽都戏院 – Laidou heiyin – (Lidu xiyuan) - Lido Theatre - dan ini adalah satu panggilan salah. Ia mesti dipanggil sebagai –电影院- dinyingyuen – (dianyingyuan) - ia itu cinema , sebab apa yang ditayang adalah wayang filem, dan bukan wayang lakonan pentas.

Gambar lama Pawagam Capitol ini, mungkin diambil, tidak beberapa lama setelah pawagam ini siap di bina, ia itu ditahun 1930an. Ia terlihat baru, sebagaimana bangunanan-bangunan di Ipoh pada masa itu. Badar Ipoh sebulum Perang Dunia Kedua adalah sebuah bandar baru merancang yang terbersih dan mewah, terutamanya Bandar Baru Ipoh, di Persekutuan.

Mungkin Capitol adalah pawagam moden di Ipoh yang menayangkan wang filem yang terawal sekali.

Jalan-jalan raya disebelah Capitol kelihatan sunyi dan tidak ada kederaan kecuali sebuah basikal letak didepan pawagam. Disebelah kanan hujung gambar terlihat se-dua orang jalan kaki, dan antaranya seorang lelaki yang memakai baju & seluar panjang putih belaka dan bertopi hunter (hunter’s hat) . Ini adalah fesyen kolonial pada zaman pemerintah British, awal abad keduapuluhan dulu.

Tayangan Capitol – filem 1960an yang masih ingat

Pawagam Capitol mengembalikan kenangan-kenagan manis zaman 1960an, apabila saya masih seorang budak. Terus sampai ke tahun 70an, banyak wayang filem Shaw Brothers - 邵氏兄弟 - dari Hong Kong, ditoton di panggung ini.

Antaranya wayang filem enampuluhan yang masih ingatilagi adalah:

1. 杨乃武与小白菜 – The Adultress - 1963

Filem ini ditonton dengan ibu-bapa. Pada masih itu aku mungkin umur 6-7tahun. In-lah sebuah filem yang terawal yang saya lihat dan dapat ingati lagi.

2。山歌恋 - The Shepherd Girl - 1964

Filem in adalah satu muzikal – lagu-lagu nyanyain corak ‘mountain folk’. Filem in ditonton dengan makcik, ia itu kak sulong bapa. Makcik masih dating lagi, dan filem init dilihat dengan kawan lelakinya. Pada masa itu saya masih seorang budak darjah satu atau dua, di Sekolah Rendah Anglo-Chinese.

3。大醉侠 - Come Drink With Me - 1966

Filem in ditoton dengan kakak dan kawan sekolahnya. Filem –sword fighting – ini adalah satu sensasi hebat, dan panggung wayang sesak belaka setiap tayangan.

Ada banyak lagi wayang filem lain yang ditoton di panggung Capitol, dan juga di panggung wayang lain di badar Ipoh.

Pada masa germilang bandar Ipoh setlah Perang Dunia Dua, dari 1950an, di pusast bandar baru sahaja mempunyai 10 buah panggung – ia itu kawasan Ipoh New Town. Namanya berikut -

Lido - 丽都
Cathay - 国泰
Ruby - 宝石
Capitol – 京都
Odeon – 高亭
Grand – 大光
Eastern (?)－东方
Rex – 丽士
Majestic – 大华
Star –星光

Panggung wayang ini adalah satu-satunya kenangan - childhood to adulthood – saya di Ipoh.

Postscript –

1. Of the Malay language course

The last since I wrote in Malay was close to over 30years ago .

Being in an English medium school, there was only one Malay language course through out the whole education from primary to secondary school, with the highest Malay langauge examination being the Malaysian Certififcate of Examination / MCE in Form Five.

For what ever reasons, Malay was something to be feared then– cos if one failed it, one would flop the whole examination.

Perhaps it’s akin to the underpinning psychological stress of what the Singaporean students have for their mother tongue - the Chinese Language – where you need to pass it to pass the examination.

To keep in touch with the Malay langauge, have been listening to the RTM news, forum and documentary programs.

Whatever it is – interesting try to recall many of the words and sentences, and you never know that you really don’t know the word until you try to start to write it down in a sentenc.

To connect with our Malay friends and with this part of the SEA, knowing Malay is a re-requisite. Knowing another language is a window to another world.

Can cope with yet another language... ? MM says Malay important !

So much on learning the Malay language ...

2. Of Ipoh –

Found this book at the Tampines Library:

怡保城乡散记 - Yibao cheng xiang san ji -
Random notes on Ipoh and its surroundings
Author: Zhu Zongxian zhu/ 朱宗贤著 (1931 - )

The author was a Chinese school teacher in Ipoh, and this was a compilation of his recollections of Ipoh and its surrounding towns from the pre-war years to the present. It’s written in Chinese, and thus you have to know Chinese to read it.

http://thefreemedia.com/index.php/weblog/16197

http://johnnyseah.blogspot.com/2007/03/blog-post.html

http://blog.yam.com/ngnf/article/10330874

http://newarrivals.nlb.gov.sg/itemdetail.aspx?bid=12886794

3. Ipoh - Old road names -

To fellow Ipoh folks where the streets will forever be the Hugh Low or the Brewster's,

Not that we'll love the town less with the new names, it is the connection with history - of the town that tin built -

Anderson Road – Jalan Raja Musa Azia
Cockman Street – Jalan Dato Oon Jaffar
Cowan Street – Jalan Raja Ekram
Hugh Low Street – Jalan Sultan Iskandar
Brewster Road – Jalan Sultan Idris Shah
Osborne Street – Jalan Tahwil Azhar
Hume Street - Jalan Mesjid

Reference -

http://ipoh.com.my/map/ipoh/

--//--

...of the architectural link to being bi-lingual & bi-cultural

2009-04-06T11:23:00.010+08:00

It had been a long time since I read an English book – and this book from the Tampines Library was an interesting read -

1. Liang & Lin - Partners in Exploring China’s Architectural Past

In the dedication page the author wrote –

For our children and theirs –

It was a touching story. A story of dedication to their work, of perseverance against extreme hardship & even while seeking shelter in the remotest part of China away from the bombs and guns, Sicheng – Liang Sicheng - 梁思成 (1901-1972) the architect continued to work on his research and drawings. Amongst the many contributions to the architectural history of China – one of hi well known work was the pioneering research on the architectural history of China – written in modern architectural language, and first published in English.

The draft of this book was done over the 8years of Sino-Japanese War in China (1937 – 1945), and it had a very odd connection with Singapore

The heroic tale of this loving couple however had a sad end to their lives. The vivacious Whei – Lin Huiyin - 林徽因 (1904-1954) – writer, poet, cultural historian, and last but not least a loving wife of Sicheng - died of tuberculosis, in the early 1950/s, while Liang, as with all intellectuals who remained behind in New China even tho he had the opportuniy to leave – was struggled against by the system and died a sad man in the early 1970/s while the country was still in the throes of the Great Proletariat Cultural Revolution.

This story of the lives of the Liang’s , especially the pre-New China period ( pre-1949) would not have been known and left in vivid memories to the children of the two families, and their posterities living on opposite side of the Pacific Ocean had it not been for this true and lasting friendship between the author Wilma and her husband, John and the Liang’s.

From their first chanced meeting in old Beijing in the early 1930/s, when the Fairbank’s went to China to pursue their research in Chinese studies and history – it was mutual attraction for the young couples. They would converse in English – for the Liang’s were educated in the US, - while Wilma could hardly able to speak in Chinese when she first arrived. Moreover with the Liang’s intricate knowledge of Chinese culture and history – for they were offspring of famously scholar families – it was perfect network for the Fairbanks’s to things Chinese.

During their stay in China, Wilma and JOhn shared many a happy and adventurous time with the Liang’s – joining their friends for afternoon tea, and going with them in the 1930/s to rural China on an architectural field trip to study buildings from the Song Dynasty (960-1278CE)

The steadfast friendship and bond established - see them thro wars and revolutions, and to the reader, Wilma came across as a very dear & loyal friend – assisting Sicheng in whatever way she could to help him in his academic work and with material assistance during the war years. Wilma played a crucial role in helping to get this book – A Pictorial History of Chinese Architecture - published

2. A Pictorial History of Chinese Architecture

If Jackie Chan did not reneged on his pledge and his donation of old wooden houses from China had mad their way to the new university in the north-east, it would have been a story to tell how the coup was scored.

However the making of this book on Chinese architecture had an earlier tale and link -

The queer circumstances that connected this book to Singapore was an unglamorous one though. The illustrations that adorn the book had for a period of time were kept in Singapore, by a C Lau.

Wilma, who helped edit and publish this book in 1984, twelve years after Sicheng pass way, however mentioned in the Afterword in Liang and Lin – a grudging gratitude to C Lau – as the drawings were intact and in good condition after nearly twenty-three yeas.

C Lau had kept the ‘lost’ package of illustrations sent her by Wilma as directed by Sicheng in 1957. However, for whatever reasons C Lau who was then an architectural student in UK, had kept the parcel and did not forward it on to Sicheng. She subsequently brought it back with her to Singapore.

When China opened up and in 1978, Wilma heard thro a friend that visited China that a professor friend of Sicheng mentioning that Sicheng did not received the drawings from her. This set her puzzled and she felt indignant, and set about determined to find where the parcel went. After much detective work, Wilma traced the whereabouts of C Lau to her address in Singapore, and subsequently the parcel was miraculously recovered again in 1980.

The architectural drawings of ancient temples, pagodas and structures of Old China that are in this award winning book – A Pictorial History of Chinese Architecture. – had been kept in a corner in a corner of Singapore. The drawings traveled from China to the US in 1947 and from the US to England in 1957 and then from there to Singapore. After twenty-three years, the package was sent back to the rightful owner – Lin Zhu in 1980 by C Lau thro express mail from Singapore, and after much prodding from Wilma.

3. 城记 – The Record of Beijing

While Liang & Lin – describes the pre-1949 life of Siceng and Whei, their trails and tribulation in New China could be glimpsed in this book - 城记 – 看不见的北京城- chengji – kan bu jian de Beijing cheng – the invisible walls of Beijing.

This book is about how the walls of old Beijing came to be torn down, though there was a strong push by academicians to have them preserved. And center among them was Sicheng.

Post 1949 – Shiceng’s life was one on unending crusade to preserve the historical structures of Beijing – and prime among them were the magnificent walls and gates that encircled old Beijing. These walls build during the Ming Dynasty (1368 to 1644) and more than 400 years old. However, his was a futile struggle, and the walls were gone.

The author - Wang Jun - 王军 - had given the book and English titles - The Record of Beijing. Perhaps it was in deference to Sicheng, and his earlier work – A Pictorial History of Chinese Architecture. He and Whei were both bi-lingual and bi-cultural. Other than the title – this book is written in Chinese and I do not think that there is an English edition out yet.

Perhaps Sicheng and Whei – were born in the wrong period and wrong city, and possibly too advanced in their ideals in preserving the historical architectural structures of Beijing. Though these structures could be dilapidated, worn, and a hindrance to city traffic, the couple saw them as representing the soul and cultural roots and identity of the city. You tear them down and the city would be dead and your cultural identity scarred and lost forever.

For the idealism that they have for their be-loved city could not dove-tail with the vision of their new political masters. In rebuilding a new socialist China where the five red stars shone over the Tiananmen Square – the old must give way to new, however much Sicheng justified that the great walls were the handicraft of the proletariats.

For Sicheng – demolishing the East and West Gates that stood astride the left and right entrances of Changan Road into Tiananmen Square then, was like chipping off his left and right shoulders.

To read this book – you will need to know Chinese, and I don’t think there is an English translation, yet.

…Well, you see – tell you to learn Chinese and you don’t want. Better start learning Mandarin - 华语 - now ne – not only to speak but to read too -

It’ the month of the - Speak Mandarin Campaign - 华人华语 . There is much more than just solving the riddles in – 华文谁怕谁! - huawen shui pa shui - Mandarin - fear you not !

Postscript –

1. Chinese architecture and old Beijing walls and all

Ever interested in Chinese Architecture first came across the bilingual version of – A Pictorial History of Chinese Architecture – in 2001. This was a re-print of the 1991 first bi-lingual edition.

While on biz trip to Hsinchu, - 新竹- Taiwan in 2005 – I came across the book – 城记 - A Record of Beijing – and ever interested in old Beijing and her walls, I bought the book. It is a chronology on the call to develop a master-city plan for the capital of New China – and woven with it the tale of Sicheng’s crusade to preserve the walls from demoliton.

The glimpses of life lives of Sicheng and Whei is made more complete after reading - Liang & Lin , Partners in Exploring China’s Architectural Past – a new copy of the paperback version was on displayed at Tampines library, which I chanced upon. Wilma drew from the letters between her the Liang’s - spanning from the 1930/s and into the mid-1950/s.

2. Lin Zhu -林洙 - was Sicheng student and daughter of a close family friend. Lin Zhu married Sicheng, in the 1960/s - as much a companion as to take care of him in his later years. A virtue of young Chinese ladies – which have many examples – such as the marriage of a young Soong Mei-ling to Sun Yat-sen who was in his later years.

3. Speak Mandarin Campaign. 华人华语 -

The bi-cultural, bi-lingual cream of the greater Chinese community - could present day Singapore produce the likes of Sicheng and Whei? I am afraid not.

Singapore no longer has the - 低温 - diwen - the foundation and climate – to geminate this unique bi-lingual bi-cultural cream. The success of Speak Mandarin Camping – which started off as - 多讲话，少讲方言 – Speak more Mandarin, and less dialect – has produced a new generation of Singaporeans – whose first language is English, and with Mandarin - supposedly the mother tongue - as a distant second.

On the recent debate on dialects – and for those who thought that there is a value in it – they were berated as STUPID – on the suggestion of reviving the speaking of dialects. I think much of the debate is missing the jungle for the trees or the trees for the jungle.

With the effectiveness of the Speak Mandarin Campaign in diverting families from dialects to Mandarin, and with an education process, and a society that readily embraces western norms and cultures - and the bulk of the society and the elites are now invariably culturally illiterate with regards things Chinese.

The debate on dialects is more form then the substance. Without a strong ethnic cultural identity, Singaporeans, especially the Chinese-Helicopters (Singaporeans who graduated from mainstream - Chinese medium schools - defunct ) who made it in China, are concern that the young will be side-lined by China Chinese.

References:

1. Liang & Lin - Partners in Exploring China’s Architectural Past
Wilma Fairbank, University of Pennsylvania 1994
First paper back edition – 2008

2. A Pictorial History of Chinese Architecture - A bilingual Edition
By Liang Ssu-ch’ng,,

图像中国建筑史
梁思成　英文原著
费慰梅　编　梁从诫译
百花文艺出版社出版发行，２００１年一月第一版

2001.9.15, 星州商务

(Original:
Liang Ssu-ch’ng
A Pictorial History of Chinese Architecture, ed Wilma Fairbank. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press 1984.)

3. 城记 - – 看不见的北京城 – The Record of Beijing.
王军，高谈文化事业有限公司， 2005

购于-
台湾新竹新光三越
NT400， 2005。2。22 元宵前夕

Links:

1. Speak Mandarin Campaign - 2009

http://www.mandarin.org.sg/2009/

http://www.thechinesechallenge.sg/

2. Liang Sicheng

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liang_Sicheng

---------//

通勤の５９６３ - ハロシンガポール

2009-03-11T10:55:00.008+08:00

先月の中旬から事務室は元十九年前の場所の隣に移動し、それは　－德普路　－にある。朝の通勤は公衆バスなので、家は島の東周辺からやや中央部の西の方へ距離は２５キロくらいで、時間できには、約一時間半もかかります。

そして、目的地までに時間がたぷりありますから、バス内に何かやろうかと、時間がもったいないしないようにとおもう。しかし最近夜はあまり睡眠不足もあり、毎朝普段は何もやらず、バスに乗りすぐ、座ったまま二度目に席に寝てしみいます。　

しかし近頃、寝るよりももっと役に立つことを捜した、それは、通勤のゴクロサーン。

通勤の同時に、FM 96.3 ととも、日本の曲、情報を聞きながら、都会の市内の観光もなれ。

これはその二月の最後の職業日、金曜日朝の記事とその連想のこと　

7:38am：
- Temasek Poly – East Gate バス停留所- 23番号バスに乗り、Sony Ericsson 携帯電話のラジオをつけ、

It’s after the 7:00am morning main news bulletin - a relay of the news from NHK Japan.

The station started broadcast from 6:50am on weekdays from Mon to Friday. – with a 5 minute - ラジオ体操　- rajo taisoo － which to any Japanese would be a familiar tune to start the day with It’s a morning exercise tune that has its beginning it seems in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics - 45 years ago. As such a generation and a half of Japanese has been doing their daily morning calisthenics with this tune be it in school, factory, etc – ichi, ni, san, shi….

The program was dotted with a number of Japanese hits, and this was one of the starters　

Diamond Dust – by Kimura Kyotsuke came on the air, which was a birthday request on Happy Time –

Advertisement:
皆さんのお祝いでフオリブズケーキを...

- from Four Leaves cake shop – for your celebration. .. The cake shop is sponsoring cake for listeners with birthday request.

The Morning Navigator for the day was Sakamoto Megumi. Fax you happy birthday wishes and song request to 6258-5693. Mejumi-san the FM96.3 J Plus DJ awaiting your request, or e-mail her at 5963@ gomm.com.sg…

The jingle-
‘Hello Singapore, konnichiwa Japan, hi, to the world, FM96.3, J Plus’

Along PIE – at next the Paya Lebar Exit:
- A grey Friday morning sky which was liven up by a dash of pinkish purple bougainvillea blossom along the expressway divider.

Next a very Japanese song －懐かしいの名曲をおとこけする　－

夜空- Yozora - by Itsuki Hiroshi - 五木ひろし

It’s the 45th anniversary of Ituski Hiroshi since his debut with – 横浜たそがれ - Yokohama Tasogare

Hiroshi Istuki – one of the top - 演歌 - enka - veteran in Japan . His Japanese equivalent of the – country and western – never fails to pull at the heart strings of the ojisan & obasan – the uncles and aunties.

Yozora – Night Sky - an enka hit in the early 1980/s.

A stanza or two of the lyrics -
細い風の引き笛 ( light winds and cajoling of the flute)
夜空いつも一人ぼち　　（under the night sky ever alone）

7:56am:
- Getting off PIE and turning into Bendemeer Road. Passenger alighiting at - After Jalan Kolam Ayer バス停

時刻は七時五七分、交情報のお知らせです。Megumi-san came on with the traffic report. It’s relatively smooth following along the highways-

8:00am:
- ジジ通信社の提供で、ジジのニーズです。

Sponsored by JiJi News service, it’s an update of local happenings and international news.

8:03am:
– Approaching the junction of Bendemeer Road & Lavender Street and heading towards Jalan Besar.

The huge characters - 河南大厦 – Honan Building – came into view and on the opposite side of the Jalan Besar the newly completed City Light apartments.. – dwarfing the rows of Straits shop houses.

In the early 1990s the Buddhist Library, which is now in Geylang, was located at the Honan Building.

8:05 am :
–After Allenby Road – のバス停に下り、１４７号を待つ

It’s a convenient stop to change bus and take a – break - at the newly opened City Hub Hotel – Thangam Food Palace, especially when one drank too much water during morning breakfast.

A group of tourists from India was having their breakfast – a buffet of roti and curry.

From Jalan Besar onwards – weaning into the city proper and there are rows of delightful old shop houses. One can feast one’s eyes on this older part of the city which is still relatively intact –hardware & software- with a array of pre-war to pre-independence buildings – with a uniquely Singapore architectural style – and their traditional trade.

Pawn shops in 4 languages, photo studio from the 1970/s, electrical and hardware shops that are more than half a century old -

Indirectly opposite the bus stop, it’s the – 江西会馆 – and 1946, boldly visible.

8:12am
- get on Bus # 147 乗り換え、通勤のゴクロサンを聞きにつずけた

Another request came on:
We can make it – by Arashi

You don’t need to know Japanese to understand Japanese – for many of these pop hits have titles in English – plain simple English.

The title rendered in Japanese: ウイ　キーアン　メード　イット

8:17am:
-The jingle -
‘Hello Singapore, konnichi wa Japan, hi, to the world, FM96.3 J Plus, FM96.3 J Plus ‘

8:19am:
- Heading towards the junction of Bencoolen Street and Brash Bash Road – and getting into the Singapore Management University city campus compound.

- Singapore Arts Museum on the left and on the right a little up - Cathedral of the Good Shepherd

Bus turning right and headed towards the junction of Stanford Road & Hill Street – with CHIJMES on the left -

Song request:
Oeba Furenzu– by Taeuchi Maria.

Ahead it’s the - Singapre Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Armenian Church, the Central Fire Station, and the building with colorful louvered windows – that houses the MITA – Ministry of Information and the Arts - was the Old Hill Street Police Station.

Next the Singapore River came into view - with the Coleman Bridge - demarking the - Little City - 小坡 - and the - Big City - 大坡– with New Bridge Road and Eu Tong Sen – Street leading into Chinatown – 牛车水.

The Chinese New Year decorations are still up despite it being a month and more after the festival.

Perhaps we really need keep the bulls around in these gloomy times to reverse the ever down trend - 牛转乾坤.

8:29am:
- Another song request:

夢のつぼみ　ｂｙ　　リミオロメン

This song - yume no tsubomi - has gotten into the J One - pop chart, Megumi-san, pre-empted on what to expect later in the count down.

Advertisement came on:
'Canon delighting you always .'

すぎはキャーノンパワショトの提供です
Sponsored by Canon – an update on the sports & entertainment scenes in Japan -

以上、スポツの最新情報です、

'Canon delighting you always .'

すぎは芸能ニースです…

With the daily morning dose of Canon – the likes of Kodak, Hewlett-Packard, Dell - would be hard press to make a break into the Japanese expatriate market.

ご連絡をお待ちしています

8:33 am:
- After Blair Roadバス停

From the junction of Lavender Street - Jalan Besar – for the past 30 minutes – it was a journey thro the heart of Singapore – from the old to the historic.

This bus stop marks the end of the rows of Straits houses and shop houses, traveling from east to west - the most famous of which is the Baba House.

Well, not forgetting another historical landmark in this vicinity - the Singapore General Hospital. Within the hospital compound there is a cross that marks the atrocities of 1942..

8:35am:
- The jingle -
‘Hi to the world, FM96.3, J Plus, J Plus’

Coming on the air next was the Friday special - J One Hit Chart :

第６位..　
リミオロメン - 夢のつぼみ - Yume no tsubomi 　- by 　Rimio romen 　　
This is a new entry ー　ニューエントリ　ー　to the chart

第五位　　
浜崎　はゆみ - Dreams - by Hamasaki Hayumi
Another new entry and the promotional video was filmed in Shanghai -– 上海で撮えプロモション　ビデオ

第三位
まえおか　- Stay - by Maeoka

第二位
。。。(did not catch it – was getting ready to alight at the next stop)

第一位
あらし　- Beautiful Day - by Arashi

This hit moved one rank up from last week - 先週からOne rank up

J　Ｏｎｅ　ヒットチヤットはいかがでしたか？How’s the J-One count down? It was hosted by a pair of co-ed DJ/s -

And as usual with a mix of Japanese and English – and - you don’t need to understand Japanese to know Japanese –

For it is peppered with enough of English for you to follow thro and to enjoy the hits –

Talking about fusion dishes – this fusion of Japanese-English languages in the counting down has been a staple since…

Time machine:
1982 - Tokyo 横浜留学生寮 – foreign students dormitory : 先週から one rank up, ニューエントリー、etc -

8:47am:
- After Jalan Kilang Timor – Opposite Blk 28 バス停, Jalan Bukit Merahに下車, 事務室へ徒歩１０くらい . 途中ＫＴＭ－鉄度線とＰＩＥ高速道路に掛ける歩行者用橋渡り

Advertisement:
'CROWN ＬＩＮＥ日本の心をおはこびます...'
-Planning to move house? Crown Line – delivers with warmth

8:52am:
-The jingle:
‘Hello Singapore, FM96.3 J Plus , J Plus’

The day ended with a studio tour –

On that Friday morning - 27th Feb, lead by two of their Japanese teachers, a group of 36 NUS taking from the Japanese Language Center cramped into the FM96.3 studio and Megumi-san went live with them –

Well, that's it　－ご苦労さん　－GOKUROSAN 。

A daily journey commuting thro the heart of Singapore on # 147 while pluging on to the info-taiment channel of 5963　- FM96.3 - J Plus 。

Postscript -

1. 通勤　の　5963

5963:
Punning on– 5963 – pronounced in Japanese as - GOKUROSAN – which could be written as – ご苦労さん　― a polite phrase to show gratitude and encouragement.

The equivalent phrase in Chinese would be – 辛苦了 - xinku le – which means – you are tired, sorry to have caused you to work so hard.

通勤 - tsuうkin – meaning to commute to work
Traveling to work is really tough job nowadays – why you don’t know if you would have your job next -

Well, 確かにそうですね、通勤のご苦労さ。

２. 江西会馆　－Ｊｉａｎｇｘｉ　Ｃｌａｎ　Ａｓｓｏｃｉａｔｉｏｎ　－　ａｌｏｎｇ　Ｊａｌａｎ　Ｂｅｓａｒ

Well, talking about Jiangxi - 江西- a province from Northern Guangdong to the south of the Yantze River - towards the a recently discovery from conversation with a 79―year old maternal uncle while back in the home town in December vacation last year, that my maternal great-grand father was actually a native of Jiangxi – 江西 - a cloth merchant who plied his trade into the Hakka heartlands of Southern Guangdong province – .

Of Jiangxi – it is the home province of - Ouyang Xiu – 欧阳修 - (1007-1072) – one of the great Northern Song Dynasty ｐoet & statesman. Learning his poem - A Ballard of the Drunkard Pavilion –醉翁亭记 – . It’s especially good for relieving stress when he takes you into the woods for a drinking party.
。
Perhaps, maternal great-grandpa’s home village could be from the same village as this great man - Ouyang Xiu’s. Oh no,, it couldn’t be, mum’s family name was Lim anyway, and not Ouyang - 欧阳.

Addendum:

To: 5963@comm.com.sg

Subject: Song request　－懐かしの名曲放送時間：毎週月曜日～金曜日　午前7:17-7:24
Date: Wed, 25 Mar 2009 08:58:03 +0000

ＦＭ９６．３　Ｊ－ＰＬＵＳモーニングナビゲターＤＪさん、坂本さん　

こんにちは、この曲をリクエストをいただきたいです　
－結婚するって本当ですか

最近毎朝の通勤の時、ＦＭ９６．３　Ｊ－ＰＬＵＳを耳に向き、それは日本語の勉強としてをしながら、懐かしい日本語の名曲もたのしんでいます。始めてこの曲を聴いたのはもう３０年もたちました。（もう年寄りのおじさんなんです。）

それは、１９８１年のこと。その年の春、初めて日本へ留学生しにいきました。　最初の半年は大阪外国語大学で半年の日本語のコースを受けました。先生は私たち学生にこの曲をおしえてくれました。とても良い歌だと思って、私の懐かしい日本語の名曲のTop-Ten チャートの中にいすも入っています。

If you could kindly please play this song on a Friday morning - after the 7:00am news between 7:15am to 8:00am. If you could have the time in your program, please play the complete song. Sometimes I find that the natsukashii uta was cut too short - and could only enjoy part of the song. Thank you very much in advance. Have a good day and happy DJ-ing.

Best regards,
コンケン

--/

星州百姓庆己丑 - celebrating the year of the ox with the lao baixing – the connection hence

2009-01-28T11:27:00.010+08:00

这个新年待在狮城过牛年，和往年不同而又过得特别的不一样。虽然人在星州，但好像是在中国过年似的。自所以说好像在中国过年似的是因为初一初二在牛车水一带所遇到的都是来自中国的男女士们。本岛的华人从年三十除夕在牛车水办好年货后都躲在家里或到亲属朋友们家拜年去了。

牛车水就交给了- 有朋从远方而来的中国百姓们，亲也，乐也!

The Lunar New Year period holidays were spent in Chinatown – together with the mainlanders – baixing - 百姓. They are the common folks who are here as foreign labors, students, and without a better place to hang out, they gathered in Chinatown – to be with their own kind and to seep in whatever air of festivities that the sights and sounds the Chinatown could bring them.

With the local eateries all closed for two consecutive days, the only place that one could have lunch and dinner was at the restaurants run by the Chinese – that is the Chinese Chinese.

Well to differentiate the Chinese Chinese from the Singaporean Chinese, let’s refer to them as the Chinese from the mainland or the Mainlanders for short (this reference here is purely for ethnic identity, and with respect).

The fellow ethnic Chinese from China mainland are by and large different from the local Singaporean Chinese. Different – is because this wave of immigration of the 21st century is from the Northern and interior provinces of China, while the early immigrants of our forefather’s time were from the South-easterly costal regions and the island of Hainan.

The overhead bridge garden was a convenient and busy gathering point for the migrant workers who had a long holiday break. I had a chance to join in and listen to the conversation that this local old man had on the evening of the First Day of the Year of Jichou - 己丑年 - with the three fellow Mainlanders.

The local old man – let’s refer to him as Ah Pek –阿伯- uncle in Hokkien - is in his sixties, and probably a resident of Ngau Chiar Shui - 牛车水- Chinatown in Cantonese - all his life. His teeth are almost gone. He did not cut his hair for the New Year, perhaps he has not much left, and is the typical kopitiam - coffee joint ala carte local flavor - Ah Pek.

Together with him were two other local Singaporean Chinese, but because they could not speak Mandarin, this Ah Pek was the live wire, interpreter and spokesman for the mini New Gathering of the baixing –百姓- the hundred surnames – meaning the common folks.

What was interesting of this conversation was that – this Ah Pek is perhaps typical of the older generation of Chinese educated Singaporean Chinese, who still has a feel and connection with the fellow Mainlanders – verbally and culturally. A passing breed –

He introduced to the fellow Mainlanders that he is by dialect group Cantonese, while his two other fellow local Singaporean is Hokkien, and Teochew. He spoke in a mix of Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien and English. Whatever his two other fellow Singaporeans who could not connect with the Mainlanders in English, he helped them interpret to Mandarin.

He asked which part of China the Mainlanders were from and they replied – Henan – 河南省and Hunan 湖南. When he heard Henan – he immediately mentioned – Justice Bao – and sang and an aria from the popular TV drama series – Bao Qing Tian – 包青天-the incorruptible judge of the Song Dynasty – 宋朝 - 960 – 1279CE. And said the song Justice Bao is popular among the common folks here. Well, the cultural connection!

On Hunan, he mentioned Mao Zedong – 毛泽东- and Zhu Rongji - 朱镕基. Perhaps because it the Lunar New Year and with all its custom, beliefs and traditions, he proudly mentioned that Mao advocated atheism – wusen lun – 无神论- and demonstrated courage and break away with traditions. He mentioned that without Mao’s foundation, there would not be China today. You see, the depth and interest he knew of China !

Interestingly, he mentioned that previously the government was suspicious of Chinese education, and he was indignant about it. At the sideline listening, I was wondering how much the Mainlanders could relate to this episode of the local history where the Chinese schools in Singapore and the Malay Peninsula then, from the 1950/s to the 1970/s, were the hot spot of communist infiltrators.

On Zhu Rongji, Ah Pek spoke with respect and deference, and said that the former Premier Zhu had never allowed his children to be in politics - whether it is a fact or not. Well, …

He also jokingly related the difference between Cantonese - 粤语 - yueyu - and Mandarin –which he refers to as Guoyu - 国语 the National Language – that is – Mandarin or Putonghua – 普通话- which Taiwan -the Republic of China - still uses. He mentioned that in Mandarin, one would greet each other as - Ni hao ma or Hao bu Hao?– 你好吗? or 好不好? - in Cantonese he said that it would be disrespectful to use Ni hao ma - especially to female for cos in Cantonese - hao bu hao 好不好- means – are you sexy or not! In Cantonese hao means - sexy! Here, the ethnic connection!

Well, so much for the all the Bull… shit, it's time to leave for dinner!

It’s to North-Eastern China – Dong Bei Restaurant- 东北菜馆– at Mosque Street - for a treat of jiao zhi - 饺子- meat dumpling – a must have tradition in the Northern Provinces of China – regions north of the Yangzi River - 扬子江。

After dinner, it was off to the nearby LianZhong Wangba - 联众网吧- internet café to enjoy the recording of the – Spring Festival Year End Gala - Chunjie Lianhuan Wanhui – 春节联欢晚会。

A hundred years hence, 2109 - perhaps, it will be left to the descendants of these Mainlanders to make the connect with the Mainland…

Postscript -

1. Baixing – 百姓

Usually use with the adjective lao – 老 – Lao Baixing – 老百姓 - an intimate term – to mean the common folks.

President Hu and Premier Wen spent their New Year with the Lao Baixing in Jingangshang – 井冈山- the cradle of Chinese Communism, and the Wenchuan – 汶川- the epicenter of the Sichaun earthquake, respectively.

2. 己丑年 – Year of Yichou

The naming of the year using the Ten Heavenly Stems – 天干- tian gan - and the Twelve Earthly Branches – 地支 - dizhi - began more than 3000 years ago – with a cycle of 60years - is much older in origin than the 12 Chinese Zodiac cycle – 十二生肖。

3. 春节联欢晚会 - The Spring Festival Year End Gala

The Year End Gala Performance by CCTV broadcast on the eve of Lunar New Year - into it’s 28 odd years started with China opening up in 1978 - is a must see for the Chinese. It is as much a New Year traditional to the Chinese, as to the Japanese watching the - Red & White Song Festival - 红白歌合战大会 - broadcast by NHK on 31Dec, each year.

//--

this my kampong stay i will - the asli of ulu kinta

2009-01-02T07:15:00.009+08:00

It brings to mind the poem - Record of The Peach Blossom Garden - 桃花源记 by Tao Yuan Ming - 陶渊明 (372-427AD) who lived during the Eastern Jin period - 东晋 .

阡陌交通，鸡犬相闻。其中往来种作，男女衣着，悉如外人，黄发垂髫，并怡然自乐

Though it is not a path leading to the paddy fields, but a winding mountain road along a fast flowing mountain stream to a kampong, the description is of a peaceful and secluded place - where one hears the chicken and the dogs, where the old and the young are content and happy in one with nature. For a while it seems like I was in Tao’s Shangri-la – away from the maddening crowd, where time seems to have stood still, and life is simple and carefree. And it is surprising close to ‘civilization’.

The house is of bamboo walls, and the roof thatched with attap. Once warm up to the presence of strangers, the children and elders are friendly and they seem not to mind the intrusion of outsiders.

They are the Orang Asli – aborigines – of Ulu Kinta is a peaceful tribe living inn the outskirt of Ipoh 24 km odd in the North-easterly direction towards Tanjung Rambutan, on the foothills of the Main Range in Peninsula Malay.

The Orang Asli are the ‘original people’ of the Kinta Valley. They were here when Kinta was but a thick impregnable jungle and the only access was through the Kinta River and its tributaries. They speak a language different from Malay and the valley is the abode of the Senoi. Many years back I went to see the prehistoric Tambun Cave Paintings, and these paintings were possibly the master pieces left by the ancestors of these children. These paintings were 2000 years old, and the only rock art in Malaysia found to be drawn using heamatite (iron rust) while the others were painted with charcoal.

The usefulness of tin to the industrial age of from the later half of 19th century, and the subsequent discovery that there was an abundance of it the Kinta Valley opened up this area as the new frontier for tin mining. By then the mines in the Larut Valley with Taiping as the center, were beginning to be exhausted.

This group of children has the river and mountain as their play yard. They fear not the water rapid. They just stripped and leapt from the rocky slope and dived into the fast flowing waters just so as to impress this outsider and be captured in his 21st century trapping - the Sony Ericsson hand phone camera.

As a trade, the Orang Asli folks still gather petai from the jungle and sell to the middle man. The pungent jungle pea, which like durian - king of fruits with creamy seeds in a thony husk - you either like it or you don’t. It is deliciously crunchy when cook in spices and shrimps.

A thousand seven to eight hundred odd years ago when Tao Yuan Ming wrote this poem was written, the ancestors of this outsider were possibly still living in the plains of north China. Over the many thousand of years while the ancestors of this outsider have migrated far and wide with each major historic event, the Organ Asli has stayed put and faithful to their land.

Well, in the hustle and bustle of our daily lives, in each of us we yearn for our own - Tao Hua Yuan – the Shangri-la where living seems peacefully simple, and un-hurried.

Postscript -

1. Petai

I had wanted to by a few pods of the petai – however they were not sold loosely but in the bulk. A bundle of 200 pods – with each pod of 12 to 15 seeds– was quoted at RM80. At the NTUC supermarket – a tray of 20 odd seeds would cost S$2.50. It's 10x more.

2. Reference:

2-1. Kinta Valley – Pioneering Malaysia’s Modern Development –
Khoo Salma Nasution & Abdur-Razzaq Lubis , Perak Academy, 2005

2-2. Tao Yuan Ming -

a. Tao Hua Yuan Ji - Peach Blossom Shangri-la

Translation of passage in Chinese quoted above -

The fisherman saw paths extending among the fields inall directions, and could hear the sounds of chickens and dogs. Men and women working in the fields all wore clothing that looked like that of foreign lands. The elderly and children all seemed to be happy and enjoying themselves.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2090/2090-0.txt

b. Tao Qian

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tao_Qian

-//

a coffee to call home - 舊街場白咖啡 - white coffee a-la-carte Old Town

2008-12-30T07:58:00.010+08:00

Despite the news of economic gloom, this trip home seems that there is something stirring in the air in Ipoh - it is getting back into life again, albeit the city center. After having hollowed out the past decade or more, the stranded developments in the city center are back into completion, and with new projects beginning piling works.

Overlooking the Kinta River not far from the St Michael Institution, there is a row of newly opened chic Riverfront café. The internationally acclaimed super star daughter of Ipoh – Michelle - was the guest-of-honour for the opening. (The other famous daughter is Sybil Kathigasu – a war heroine during the Japanese occupation). Next to it a new hotel complex is getting into works.

Closer to the older section of the Old Town, and overlooking Ipoh Padang at the Lawyer’s row – a row of pre-war shop /cum office buildings - a few modern restaurants – i.e not your usual coffee shop style eateries - are up with decent good biz during lunch break.

Well, you still have the every green eatery - the likes of the Old town White Coffee -舊街場白咖啡 – gau gai cheong bak kafe (Cantonese) jiu jia chang bai kafei- (pinyin) -and the chicken hor fun – 河粉– rice noodles.

The Old Town white coffee label has leaped into Malaysia’s coffee billboard big time. With its fragrantly thick coffee with a chocolaty flavor, the die hearts Ipoh-rians would never a second have a second thought on their choice of the cuppa – be it UCC or Starbucks coffee.

Unlike the Singapore Katong Laksa along Easst Coast Road which has a few claimants and self-declared pioneers, the true blue Old Town White coffee is clearly identifiable to the corner coffee shop on this side of the road closer to the little India of Ipoh Old Town – the Kedai Kopi Sin Yoon Loong - 新源隆茶室- Sin Yoon Loong Coffee Shop.

Not so very long ago, a few many years back where - during the Chinese New Year festive mart at Kereta Ayer Chinatown – I was pleasantly surprised to be offered a tiny cup of the Ipoh Old Town White Coffee. Unlike the Ipoh Hor Fun, or even the Menglembu Groundnut, Old Town white coffee was a very local production and a localized name then.

Since then, as they said the rest was history. The Old Town While Coffee is getting to rival the Ipoh hor fun as the de-facto brand of Ipoh.

The Old Town White Coffee label has lent its name to a chain of coffee outlets in shopping complexes and popular joins in the cities. Like the Killiney Road Coffee or Toast - is a modern version of the traditional coffee shop.

The spark & inspiration to these local version of the café outlet would perhaps be the American coffee chain – with modern management and setting but offering a local taste and flavor.

It’s the 21st century version of the local coffee shop culture with each promoting its signature drink and specialty dish. Another modern twist of the café would be the - Hong Kong Cha Chan Tiang- 香港茶餐廰- with its never-to-miss milk tea.

Whatever the names of these modern local café outlet is – perhaps the name that would outlast it all would be the café that I saw in Ipoh , Jusco: It’s name in Chinese character is: ( well, haven’t I told you to learn Chinese, for you will miss much if you don’t)

講士講啡
- gong si gong fei –

Which literary means a place for a gentleman (or a gentlewoman) to chit and chat while having a cuppa.

Well, what ever it is the name to be, Kedai Kopi Sin Yoon Loong – the establishment in Ipoh Old Town - will continue to serve the unending stream of Ipoh-rians , as it has done so for the past 60 odd years and more - come what may

Postscript –

1. Well, now and then the entrepreneurial Ipoh-rians will throw up a nation wide food-ie craze. Close to two decades or so back – Ipoh style western steak pioneered by Leong Foo – generated an almost nation, if not a Perak-state wide steak craze. It originated some where in the Ipoh Garden eatery where the ex-wrestler ventured into food.

2. Perhaps we have not met for over 25 odd years or more. We were once in the same class in primary school in ACS Ipoh. He is now running the coffee shop together with his brothers, and the 3rd generation Wong of Hainanese stock－海南人－, and got to know that his mum is a Hakka　－客家人。

The coffee shop biz was pioneered by the Hainanese during colonial times. And as in Singapore and rest of the Peninsula Malay – in the early days, coffee shop biz was run by Hainanese.

A Hainanese and a Hakka mix was - perhaps unique to and a product of Ipoh. For in Ipoh – the majority of the early settlers were Hakkas, with a mix of Cantonese, while the Hokkien and Teochew were the minority ethic group

Being founded as a tin-mining town, Ipoh was where the migrant Hakkas congregated. The early Hakkas ventured from their homeland as miners. And the hills and mountains of Ipoh, remained them of the homeland in the mountainous areas of North-east Guangdong – 广东省－south China.

3. 講士講啡

Or in Chinese PRC, with simplified strokes : 讲士讲啡- jiang shi jiang fei – in pinyin

gong si gong fei – is rendered in Cantonese –the lingua franca among the ethnic Chinese in Ipoh.
It is to mean:
A gentleman having a conversation in a Café or about Cafe
With the 啡 – fei - from - 咖啡 – kafei – coffee

Or the pun:

讲是讲非 – jiang shi jiang fei - to chit & chat of the right and wrong.

For : 是非 – shi fei – means right and wrong.

/--

out of the blue - what's your hallmark ?

2008-11-09T13:03:00.004+08:00

1. the town painted blue
Having read of its opening in the ST, I ventured in search of the Baba House one Sunday morning. As I seldom had a good reason to wander westward of Chinatown - Ngau Chair Sooi - 牛车水- and being unfamiliar with the places, I was a little lost in my direction where this house was located.

The house is located in the far west of Neil road, adjoining Kampong Bharu Road at Blair Plain. Other than the Baba House, I was also pleasantly surprised to find an estate of conservation Straits Eclectic houses. In my many weekend strolls in Chinatown to take in the sights of this unique brand of local straits architectural style, in the shophouses, the clan associations in Ann Siang Hill & Kiong Siak Road, it did not occur to me that a piece of history is neatly tucked way in this area.

The blue color of this house seems familiar, I thought. It’s a deep blue color tending towards violet. Oh yea, it‘s indigo. Some ten years back, while on a visit to Penang, I’ve seen this color in another century old mansion. It’s the Cheong Fatt Tse (CFT) Mansion, located in Leith Street. I got to know of this house in the 3rd Hakka forum held in Singapore in 1996. CFT Mansion has since been converted into a boutique hotel.

Wondering, why blue, I did a google on – straits house, color blue & CFT Mansion, and found the answer in the entry on CFT Mansion – in wikipedia:

Quote:

The distinctive blue colour of the mansion is the result of mixing lime with natural blue dye made from the Indigo plant. The blue was very popular in the Colonial period and the dye was imported from India. The lime wash was very effective in a tropical weather as it absorbed moisture and cooled the house.
However the blue is a colour of death in Chinese culture and the practice was never introduced in Hong Kong. The house was originally painted white in the time of the owner, and the indigo was applied much later.

Unquote

The early settlements in the Straits in Penang, Malacca and Singapore were supposedly a townscape of blue colored buildings. However, considering that the Baba & Nyonya of old were as deeply steep in customs and traditions, with many pantang larang (taboo’s) it makes me also to think after reading this quote, would not the blue a taboo color too for the Peranakan.

Perhaps, the color blue chosen for the Baba House is our 21st century interpretation of what the houses and townscape was like then in the colonial period a hundred or more odd years ago in the Straits Settlement. It is a reflection of the color of a past era, rather than the actual color of the House of Wee. It could perhaps have been painted in a more auspicious hue, such as pastel red or maroon.

(CFT Mansion - Penang : photograph taken: 12Dec1998)

Unlike the linked Straits shop, the CFT mansion was build as a standalone complex. Perhaps because of its Hakka roots, it was very much simpler in style, and plainer in its overall ornamentation. In contrast to the southern Min-nan (Fujian) architectural style found typically in the Chinese temple architecture, where the roof is curved and heavily embellished with auspicious symbols and scenes from folklore, the CFT mansion has a much straighter line reflecting perhaps of elements of northern China architectural style – where the Hakka’s migrated from.

Talking about a standalone type Chinese style mansion, there is still one & only remaining on the island – the House of Tan Yeok Nee, located at the junction of Penang Road and Clemenceau Ave. After its make over as the Graduate school of the University of Chicago, this house is painted a pastel yellow. It's was build in a much earlier the period around, 1865-85, and a true blue Min-nan style Chinese townhouse. But it now sits oddly alone, incongruous with a backdrop of modern structures.

Had the city center been preserved of its pre-war townscape and many of the old architecture, perhaps the Lion City would have been in the map of UNESCO Heritage city, too. However that is left now of the city are pockets of old hardware that hardly have a discernable link to past.

2. Hallmark -堂号

Well, so much of the blue, I was next drawn to the two big golden characters hung above the main door of the Baba House.

Considering that this was the house of the Wee –黄 - Huang (pinyin) – shouldn’t these two characters be - Jiangxia - 江夏, rather than - Zhongsheng - 种盛 . For the - 堂号 – tanghao - literally hall mark - of the surname Wee is - 江夏 - Jiangxia. The family name instead is written on the lantern hung on the left side of the porch – 黄府 - Huang fu – House of the Huang.

江夏 - Jiangxia - refers to the place where the Huang clan originated, and it refers to a geographical location, usually located in the northern plains of China in the prefectures of - Shansi, Gansu and Hebei – 山西，甘肃，河北省. This was the - zhongyuan - 中原 – the Central Plain – irrigated by the Yellow River – 黄河 - and its tributaries, and supposedly the cradle of the Chinese civilization.

In the Europe, it would have been the coat of arms, while in Japan the Samurai family would has their unique – 纹章 – monshyoo - family crest. However, in China, with a strong Confucian influence of revering one’s roots, respect for education, and abhorring feud, there was never the evolvement of a family crest that identified with the militaristic. .

As such, according to the Chinese tradition, each family would have their family hall mark reflecting the place where their progenitor originated. The name – tanghao - could be translated as the - mark of the ancestral hall. When the Chinese migrated to the South Seas – the Nanyang – 南洋 - they brought along this tradition with them.

Other than using a geographical location the tanghao could also be in the form of a motto or part of a wise saying left to posterity by a venerable ancestors, to inculcate virtue, scholarship or righteousness, etc among their posterities.

As to why - Zhongsheng –种盛 - for this house of the Wee, it is probably named along the line of a family motto and one has to refer to their family genealogy. Zhong –种 - literally means seed or progeny and - sheng –盛 - flourishing, prosperity, or abundance. Perhaps, the venerable ancestors would wish for the clan to multiply and prosper.

What’s left of the hallmark?

Wondering how widely still is the practice of hanging the tanghoa prominently in front of their house still retained – I did a walk around the estate, and in Emerald hill, and Joo Chiat, on a little survey. Alas I could barely find more than a handful of houses that still continue with this tradition.

When the early immigrants that migrated to colonial Singapore & in the Peninsula, it was a common practice for those who have made it – and owning a house to prominently displace their hall mark in front of their house. It was to - 光宗耀祖 - guangzong yaozu – literary - to brighten one’s clan and to illuminate one’s ancestors, and to remind them of their roots.

To find your roots - some of the common tang hao - are:

陇西 – 李 - Longxi – Li (pinyin) – Lee (dialect)
西河 – 林 - Xihe - Lin – Lim
延陵 - 吴 – Yanling - Wu - Goh, Ng
太原 – 王 - Taiyuan - Wang –Ong
滎阳 – 郑 – Xinyang – Zheng - Chang, Chung

This house located in Emerald Hill, has the tanghoa as - 沛國– Peiguo . And its family surname is supposedly a Zhu– 朱 – Choo (in dialect ) meaning vermilion. It’s illustrious lineage would include the founder of the Ming dynasty – 明朝 ( 1368-1644 ) Zhu Yuanzhang - 朱元璋.

Other than in the form of a plaque, I found one with the tang hao written in crimson on two big lanterns hung from the verandah. It reads – 清河 – Qinghe - and the family surname should most probably be – Zhang - 张 - Teo ( in Hokkien) .

Perhaps this tradition of hanging the tanghao in front of one’s house is a tradition unique among the migrants. In the visit to the ancestral village in China many years back, I did not observe each home has a tang hoa hung on its doorway. However, each village would have their ancestral temples where members of the same surname would gather to venerate their ancestors – and each village would have sizeable members with the same surname. The tanghao is set at the ancestral hall.

Leaving behind their ancestral village, and wandering to the South Sea – 南洋 – the early migrants were usually a mix lot of different surnames, but from the same district of same dialect group.

In the foreign land, they would first and foremost gather to form clan associations of a certain dialect group or district. Subsequently, with sufficiently sizeable numbers, they would form clans of similar surnames – though not necessary from the same district or village.

For the individuals who lived dispersed on a foreign land, they took to identifying themselves by displaying their tanghao in front of each of their own house. Be it the grand mansion of the smart migrant who made it big, or the hardworking & thrifty migrant who made it good to build their first house of timber and attap roof, traditions ran deep, and they would proudly display their venerable tanghao - always to remind them of their roots.

This photograph is from my hometown in Menglembu. The tanghao tradition is kept pretty much alive in the old houses in the rural areas. It reads - 晋阳 –Jinyang – and the surname of the family is probably - 唐 –Tang.

Alas, be it here or there, one hardly could find this tradition being practised in the homes in the new housing estates and apartment blocks. It is no longer cool to display such archaic plaque - especially in front of one’s chic house.

Well, so much for the hallmark, and a bye-bye to another traditional practice...

Reference: -

1. Streets of George Town, Penang.

An illustrated guide to Penang’s City Streets & Historic attractions
Khoo Su Nin - 2nd edition 1994. First published in 1993.

Flipping thro this book and comparing it to the book, entitled:

Singapores 100 historic places, (National Heritage Board – first published 2002),

-one could not help but be amazed at how much the two cities have in common – physically. In the street names – you have or had it here, they have and still have it there, Armenian Street, Chulia Street, the clan associations, the Straits Eclectic shophouses/houses – architecturally so similar, and uniquely of the Straits.

The Singapore Street Directory (Edition 1988) - was the first that I bought when I first arrived in Singapore had Farquhar Street. However, a check in the Singapore Street Directory (New 2002 Edition) this street name is gone. It was located behind the New Seven Storey Hotel, parallel to Rochor Road. This hotel will disappear too in the new edition of the street directory.

2. Chinese surname

A good lead into the origin of the Chinese surname is found in wikipedia. However a more detail and indepth explanation of the tanghao is found in Baidu – the Chinese web seacher . However you need to read Chinese to understand the contents.

http://baike.baidu.com/view/50417.htm

In Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_family_name

3. The Peranakan Association -

http://peranakan.org.sg/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=184&Itemid=1

4. Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion - the Blue House

At the turn of the 20th century Penang, this Leith Street was supposedly the Hakka Millionaire Row’, with a concentration of wealthy Hakka migrants, and among them Cheong Fatt Tse. He was one of the pioneer Nanyang industrialist, and was once appointed the Consul- General in Singapore, of the Qing Court

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheong_Fatt_Tze_Mansion

http://cheongfatttzemansion.com/

5. Singapore – A guide to Buildings, Streets, Places
Norman Edwards & Peter Kayes, Times Book International 1988

Addendum - 2008.Dec.30

Saw this at the Sri Maju long distant bus head office terminal in Ipoh.

四知堂 - Hall of the Four Know

The bus terminal is the former mansion of the Yeoh Family – 杨 – the Yang Clan.

Why the ‘four knows’ - 四知 – shi zhi?

Legend had it that during the Eastern Han -东汉Dynasty – close to 2000 years ago. An official Yang was bribed to keep mum, by a governor, and that no one would know of the incident.

However the upright Official Yang replied -天知，地知，我知，你知 .
- meaning : heaven knows, earth knows, I know and you know.

To commemorate the up-righteousness and integrity of this predecessor, and as a teaching to their descendants, the Four Know became the tanghao - hall mark - of the Yang clan.

/-//

a sip of autumn - rangoon road

2008-10-03T11:42:00.007+08:00

It was in October, a Sunday morning last year, along Rangoon Road hunting for the bak kut teh - 肉骨茶 - rougu cha - shop made in-famous by the visit of HKG governor , I chanced upon this row of un-occupied houses.

Perhaps the clear blue sky and the bright morning sunlight did the tick of enhancing the old charm of these houses, and brought about a mosaic of colors. Moreover, the thin cluster of bamboo trees in front of the yellow house embellished the scene with a classic poetic look. For a while I thought autumn was in air, even in tropical Singapore!

Well, these old houses – the so named Straits town house or the Straits shop houses- is old charm Singapore, which I always find endearing, and uniquely of this part of the world. Pockets of them are still found on the island and whenever I see them in their best of light in the Sunday morning or evening walks, I will never failure to whip our my camera, and capture their beauty.

A year has passed since, & time to go for another sip of the tea and tuck in to the succulently fragrant pork ribs dip in deep dark sauce. And check it out if the autumn scenery is still there.

Considering that the area is a hot spot for boutique apartments, perhaps these houses being not under heritage protection should be razed to the ground by now, and the piece of autumn in the tropics is forever memory.

Well, perhaps not, since the dizzying prediction of the SGX hitting a 4K point by that year end, it has gone on a free slide with the pandemic from the america. That, should save the autumn sonata for a while ..

Reference -

a ) Ng Ah Sio Bak Kut teh - 黄亚细肉骨茶
http://www.goodfood.sg/bak_kut_teh

-//-

a postcard from beijing

2008-10-01T10:25:00.011+08:00

The postcard was stamped 1984.09.30,北京（Beijing）. It had a brief message written in Japanese which reads:

元気です。
国慶節が楽しみ！
10/30北京にて
Utanこと　　

Genki desu.
Kokkeisetu ga tanoshimi!
10/30 Pekin nite
Utan koto

I’m fine.
Looking forward to the National Day Celebration
10/30, in Beijing
From Utan,

In the haste of writing the postcard, he had mistaken it to be already in Oct, and had signed it off as 10/30 or Oct 30. For the next day was Oct 1, China’s 35th National Day Celebration.

Utan was his self-styled name that he gave himself. We were in the same research laboratory at university in Japan, and he was one of the closer friends among the lab mates. He was an undergraduate then, and I was towards the final year of my study when he joined the lab.

Utan was hairy for Japanese, and as he was coaching tennis, he was tanned and had a dark complexion. Coupled with his longish facial structure, and the fact that I was from the south where Orang Utan is a native; he jokingly gave himself this pet name. When I left Japan in the April of 1984, we continued to correspond for some years, sending each other festive greeting cards, and he would sign off with this pet name.

In that year, Utan was in the contingent of 3,000 Japanese youth. The invitation to the Japanese was extended by the President of China, Hu Yaobang,, when he was on a state visit to Japan in 1983, and with the intent of promoting understanding and friendship between the two nations.

The 1984 National Day celebration was a historic event, as it was the first major National Day celebration after the end of the Cultural Revolution. . Deng Xiaoping’s policy of reform and opening up – 改革开放- gaige kaifang - was into it’s 6th year, and the country was making steady but careful steps into market socialism with Chinese characteristics.

The National Day celebration of that year was a milestone, and a coming out party of sort to put aside the self-isolation policy of the old communist regime and to bury the misery of 10 years of internal fights – 无产阶级文化大革命 – wuchanjiejie wenhua dageming - of the Great Proletariat Cultural Revolution.

It’s 24 years, since this postcard came from Beijing, and this is the 30th year of the reform policy. Needless to say more, the face of China has changed beyond recognition, and the geo-political order East Asia, has undergone a silent transformation.

In the early 1980/s, the books on the shelves were - Ezra Vogel, Japan as Number One (written in 1979) , and ‘China, Alive in the Bitter Sea – by Fox Butterfield (1982). These were the two books I remember reading during my student years in Japan.

Fast forward to 2008 - how the world has changed. It is no less a year to remember with news out of Beijing.

Hardly has the warmth of the torch cooled off, with the promise of - one world one dream, 一个世界，一个梦想 – yigezhijie, yigemengxiang - from the Beijing 2008 Olympics, the world suddenly found itself in the melamine nightmare.

However, for Utan, it started much earlier in Japan – it was with the gyoza - 饺子- jiaozi -(flour dumplings with filling such as minced meat with vegetables), contaminated with insecticide.

Perhaps Utan could relate it well to what they have go thro too, but on ten fold the scale and affecting not only the country but the world at large, with the Tokyo Olympics of 1964, it came with the Minamata.

Well, perhaps that's part of the vicissitudes of - the rise of a nation – just as in life ...

Postscript -

1. Oct 1 - it’s a Hari Raya Puasa holiday in the Lion City.

The local newspaper has an analogy that - what the Beijing 2008 Olympics had done to Beijing, the F1 Grand Prix has equally done to the city state, i.e the prestige that it brought. The night race has transformed the city literary overnight in the eyes of the world is the jewel in the F1 crown that rivals Monaco!

Was it perhaps to justify for the investment poured in to get the venue ready, despite news of financial gloom and doom.

Reference :

1. Disclosing the "1984 secret"

The Beijing News (Chinese): Disclosing the secrets of 3,000 Japanese young people visiting China in 1984

During Hu Yaobang's 1983 state visit to Japan, he invited 3,000 young Japanese to visit China. The Beijing News looks back at that visit and reveals that one-third of those visitors now head Sino-Japanese Friendship Associations
http://www.danwei.org/

2. Minamata disease
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minamata_disease

/--

改革开放30年，从书说起

2008-09-26T16:48:00.007+08:00

这几本旧书，是是旧吧，还不算是什么老，是两三个周末前在牛车水的一个街边卖旧货摊位看到地。

一大早的清晨，摊主的一位老头正在开档，陆陆续续的把那些旧画老古董摆出来。看见有一大堆的旧书，我就走过去看看有些什么好书。蹲了下来三翻四找的去挑，问了问摊主一本多少钱，他回答通通每本一元。那算是便宜了，记得不久前在桥南路-Cross Road 交叉路口店铺后巷的另一个旧货摊，那位老头开价五元的一本旧书自己都愿化，这次可要买多几本了。

从书堆中就挑选了几本有文学为题材，在上世纪七十年代末，八十年代中国出版的三四本旧书。

为什么选择这些老书呢? 也许会问到，

也许那些书出版的年代对我来说是个很有意义的年代。那刚好是我离老家到吉隆坡上大学念书，然后又到日本国留学的一段时间。那个时候也刚刚好是赶上中国大陆改革开放的年头。从这些旧书中就会联想起近三十年前的往日旧事。

自己常常会觉得很奇，为什么从小学一直到高中毕业都是在怡保英华学校受英文教育的我会对华语华文和文化会产生那么常久，又没有断过的兴趣呢。那从中一个主要原因是家庭因素的影响吧。

也许家中姐哥们都受华文教育而我是一人单独唯一念英文为主的学校，从小就觉得排在哥姐的交谈以外。家中所看的报纸电影明星杂志，如《南洋商报》，《南国电影》都是中文刊物。而童年小时候又常听到亲属们在唐山中国的故事，所以在那个在生长的年月中，虽然在学校向西方英文语言所学，但是回到家的环境都是靠着东方而望的。也许就是这样潜意识中受到了音响，-寻言找根就化成了一个念头。

虽然中文还不行，写错字用错词，但是这么多年来自己一直在坚持的自学。没上过华语课堂，在阅读中有不认识的新字就去查字典，时而碰到有中国来的友人在旁，不懂的字会问问他们。就这样的一步一步用自己的时间和速度来学习，幸好语言的基础，母语是客家方言，学起中文来又很大的帮助。

近年来所买的书本，阅读散文之类的刊物都是中文版。写的日记，也在用中文为主。

记得留学日本国的三年间，和家里通信都是用中文写字。幸好，日本国通用汉字，买了本北京外国语学院编辑，商务印书馆香港分行出版的《中英词典》，就查这本词典，从大阪外国语大学的校园内留学生宿舍里给家人写下我的第一封中文信。那是1981年的5月份，初到日本的第一个月。

二十八年已过去了。

1981年的中国，刚是改革开放政策实行了的三个年头。 1978年邓小平到吉隆坡来访，刚好在吉隆坡年大学。如果没有记错，他来访的不久之前吧，是越南总理的先到来。

三年后从马来亚大学毕业后到日本留学，在大阪外国语大学学习半年的日语课程时，初次和中国留学生接触。

那时候的中国留学生看上去还是很简朴严肃，来自一个古来又锁国多年各国土。一般的学生们，又其实年纪比较大的还有的是穿中国特型的布靴，从中了看到了国家贫穷，还是很落后的。

从在大阪外国语大学的中国留学生们的谈话中也听说留学生当中有位是还是鲁迅的一位孙子。因为要和家人通信学写中文，在学习日文的课外中，自己也买了些日本放送协会 NHK 电视台发刊的教学中国语言的刊物。从那些刊物课程中，我初次接触到，《茶馆》，《沙子龙》，等作品，散文。

记得修读完学位后的第三年，在即将回国时，参加了日本大企业，三井船务- Mitsui Liner - 的百年庆祝游艇活动。在游艇上和同行参加游艇的有位来自中国的留学生谈起了中国近百多年来的历史，和未来的发展。我对他说这百多年来只是中国历史上的一段很短的时间，将来的二十一世纪，即将会是亚太世纪了。

虽然，京奥，神七都顺利圆满成功，中国以在迅速的发展和崛起，但从中时常会抛出为人伤感的事件。上次卖了两大盒的蒙牛牛奶，现在对中国制造，中国生产的食品得要问个清楚。去年在东京的一个夏季Fun Fair里听到一位卖烤鸡肉串的小伙子说，没有来自中国的鸡肉，自己以为日本人太过已敏感，太过已怀疑中国食品。现在不只是日本人了。

当然崛起的路是不容易走，何况国家那么的大，历史那么的悠久，传统习俗是不易改。以前盼望着中国站起来，中华民族的优良传统发扬光大。但是，今后强大起来的中国又会带来什么样的忧虑呢。

哎呀，中午吃饭时间已到了，肚子已饿了要去找点儿吃的去，都想了几十年，不再去想那么得多了。

Postscript:

The old books were purchased at the Sunday flea market in Chinatown. From the year the books were publishend in the early 1980/s, it is a reflection of self, and the opening up of China in the past 30years or so.

Books title:

1. 古代白话短篇小说

胡士莹选注
中国青年出版社出版
中国青年出版社印刷厂印刷
新华书店北京发行所发行

1956年12月北京第一版
1962年11月北京第二版
1980年10月北京第七次印刷
印数 426001 – 826000 册
定价：０．７７元

2。水泊梁山的传说
王太捷朱希江主编
中国民间文艺出版社出版
兰州新华印刷厂印刷

1985年5月第一版

印数：1- 180，000
定价：1.20元

3. 精读文萃

高校文科电大农大刊大高教自然考试写作参考读物

刘锡庆张继缅吴炫编

北京师范大学出版社出版
新华书店北京发行所发行
新华印刷厂印刷

1985年6月第1 版，
1986年2月第4次印刷

定价：2.55

印数：１９０００１－２９００００

----//

老照片: old photographs from the tanabe studio - high-color lifestyle of 1920-30’s Japan

2008-08-29T17:26:00.018+08:00

The title of the book reads – the Showa period as seen by the Tanabe Photo Studio.

For those of you with an interest in old photographs - laozhaopain – 老照片– this book would be a good read, albeit in Japanese and of Japan in the 1920-30's. It’s about life in pre-war Japan, in the early Showa - 昭和- period. A high-color – haikara – (to mean fashionable) lifestyle of chic western fashion & luxury enjoyed by the ordinary citizens.

Behind every old photograph – a story waits to be told, and old photographs are appealing because it tells of a past which is very much related to our present. It brings the past back to life, and there could not be a better way to hear the story than to hear it from the people who are the witness themselves.

The articles on the - laozhaopian - 老照片 - were written by the award wining lady author – Seiko Tanabe – who is the grand-daughter of the founder of the Tanabe Photography studio in Osaka. She was born in 1928, in the 3nd year of Showa. She wrote of her family, and her childhood to adulthood in Osaka, spanning a period of twenty odd years.

This period is specially meaningful and historic, as it covered the years leading to the 2nd World War. Many a times when we read of the Japan of this period, there would be a militaristic tone to it, and often what we would see in the pictures in our history books and museums are military personnel in uniform.

What was the everyday life like for the ordinary citizens of Japan then?

Perhaps because of the period of extreme hardship and poverty after the war ended, in between which Japan rebuild herself to become a world economic power and an affluent society, the author had chosen the theme for her articles – the fashionable lifestyle and the good life that even the ordinary folks enjoyed before the war.

This story rings a bell, as it was something that the post war baby boomer would be able to relate well too, for they would have heard it from their parents. Or for those who still have grandparents in their eighties and above.

On the island in the Straits Settlement and in Malaya, life was peaceful & easy then. The Straits dollar was strong, and with a pocket money of 5cts to school, it was treat – for a bow of noodles cost 2cts, and a cup of drink at 1cts. A dozen eggs would cost 15cts, and cost of living was cheap. Then came the planes, and with it misery and sky rocketing inflation.

Well was life like in pre-War Japan, Osaka

These photographs tell of the fashionable lifestyle and the luxury that the ordinary Japanese enjoyed.. These photographs escaped the bomb fires of the Allied planes over Osaka that destroyed the Tanabe Studio, as many of them were with the letters sent by her mum to her maternal village, reporting on the tidings of her brood. However, beneath a seemingly peaceful life adorned with chic trappings, the sound of war was not far off .

The two little children on the cover photograph are the author when she was 6 years old and with her younger brother, 4 years old, seated in a toy car. The photograph was taken at their Tanabe Studio in 1933 – Showa 8, Feb 25.

The author zoomed in to describe the little doll that she was holding in her left hand. It wasn’t a doll from France, though it looked Western at first glance, but a Made-in-Japan doll. It was a a Japanese doll called Ichima-san (as in Barbie). The doll had black hair and black eyes, and was chicly dressed – with a bonnet and a Western dress with lace. She went on to narrate the origin of the name Ichima-san for dolls. In the cast of performers of olden day Kabuki, there was a beauty by the name of Ichimatsu – 市松 , and thus dolls in Japan were called Ichima-san.

This photograph of a group of 6 gentlemen smartly dressed in coat and tie - was taken on New Year’s day, 01Jan 1938. The author wrote that the haikara fashionable attire reflected the modernism trend of the early Showa period. Or, more precisely the Osaka-Kobe brand of Showa modernism, as she puts it.

In the front row was her dad on the right, and two young paternal uncles. The three gentlemen standing behind were technical apprentices in the photo studio, and they came from distant prefectures to Osaka to learn the trade. It was perhaps a fashionable technical skill to pick up then – photography – and these young men would then return to their hometown to set up a photo studio, upon completion of their apprenticeship.

Interestingly it had the word Tanabe written in English on the photograph – and perhaps it was fashionable to learn English then, too. The author wrote that his youngest uncle, seated in the middle, studied English Osaka YMCA. And English was viewed with suspicion when the Pacific War broke out.

Beginning with the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese adopted the Gregorian calendar, in place of the Lunar based calendar. On New Year’s Day it is customary to put on new clothes, and instead of the traditional kimono, these gentlemen had chosen the modern western fashion of the day.

However, war came early to Japan.

Before the year 1938 was out, a member in the photograph – back row standing 2nd from right- received his draft order.

Six months ago the Marco Polo Bridge incident occurred in the outskirt of Beijing, on 07Jul, 1937. It ignited a declaration of war between Japan and China. The war was to last 8 long years.

The author observed the easy-going mood in this photograph of the send-off party. The party was organized by her grandfather (in the center bare bodied) for this staff of his (seated on the right) who was drafted. The reality of the war and the misery that it would bring had yet to set in; moreover, China was a far away country. It was a send off party and it was meant to be a happy occasion for good wishes. The backdrop of the picture were two banners, with bold Kanji – Chinese characters – 祝　応召　　足立多一郎　－ vertically written. They were well wishes , one from her grandfather and the other signed off as from the Tanabe studio.

The author a young lass of about 11years old, was a seated on the left. On the wall behind her hung the picture of the beauty of the Japanese cinema screen of the 1930/s Takamine Hideko - 高峰秀子 - with the Marcel wave hairstyle. This style with the finger wave was made popular in the nineteen twenties and thirties made popular by Broadway actress such as Lillian Gish and Ann Harding,

The author’s keen sight zoomed in on the plate of half finished western steak, laid out on the low table with the beer and sake. It was served with a pair of knife and fork, and she thought it incongruous with the tattered edge of tatami mat just below the table.

Well, so much for the haikara lifestyle of pre-war Japan ….

Postscript :

1. Japanese one point lesson:

a) 　ハイカラ - haikara

This word is derived from English word – high color. As it is an adopted word - or 外来語– gairaigo - it is written in katakana form.

It is used as an adjective to mean: smart, posh, dandyish, chic, fashionable modern.

ハイカラな男 - haikarana otoko – a dandy
ハイカラな車 - haikarana kuruma – a posh car
ハイカラ服 - haikarana fuku – a smart, chic or fashionable dress

彼はいつもハイカラな服装をしている。
Karewa itsumo haikarana fukusoo wo kiteiru.
He is always stylishly dressed.

It is an adjective that ends with a - な – na. In Japanese language there are two categories of adjectives – one ends in - い – ii , while the other in in - な – na. The - い – ii – adjectives are mainly for words that are native to Japanese, while the - な – na - adjectives are words adopted from Chinese or other foreign language.

b) 召集令状 - syoosyuu reijyoo　－ Draft order

The author had notated this phrase -アカガミ- akagami – meaning a red lettered mail. Whoever received this letter would need to report for duty, a serious matter.

祝　応召 – syuku oosyo - meaning to extend good wishes on the draft call
徴兵 – chyoohei – conscription, recruitment
徴兵検査 – chyoohei kensa – physical examination for conscription

In the early years, drafting age was 20years old. All male on reaching the age wouldl old would need to undergo the physical examination for conscription.

Reference:

1. 田辺写真館見た ”昭和”
Author: 田辺聖子
Publisher: 文芸春秋
Published: 2008.5.10

The caption on the red promotional flyer that wraps round the book reads – even in the prewar days everyone enjoyed a life of high-color - ハイカラ – haikara –( to mean fashionable, chic) and extravagance – 贅沢 – zeitaku (or luxury) .

The series of articles was first published in the Japanese monthly magazine - Bungei Shunshyu –文芸春秋 - from Jan 2003 to Oct 2004. It was later complied into a book.

Purchased -
明正堂書店　－東京都　台東区上野４－６－４
2008.5.18 (Sun)
¥600 (S$48.10)

2. Dictionary:
旺文社シニア英和辞典　– Obunsha
最新漢英辞典- Charles Tuttle

3. Japanese actress – Takamine Hideko 高峰秀子

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/é«å³°ç§å

4. 1920’s hairstyle

More on the lady hairstyle of the 1920’s:
http://www.1920-30.com/fashion/1927-hairstyles.html

//-

a tale from selat-pore: dance of the mer-dragon with the little red pearl

2008-08-16T15:50:00.011+08:00

Many a tale has been written about the Merlion, and here is one more to add to the mythology.

Long long ago, feeling bored one day, the prince of the great kingdom of the archipelago decided to take leave of his princess one afternoon to venture beyond his shore to seek some adventure.

As the legend goes, when Sang Nila Utama, landed on the island with his retinue, he saw a strange & strong creature ambling on the shore. Not knowing what it was he asked his general whol told him that it was Singa-the-Lion. Sensing that this was a good omen, he decided to settle down on the island and name the place after the Singa – calling the ir Singa-pura - meaning the city of the Singa or the Lion-city.

Seeing that man had taken over his playground on the beach, the Singa-the-Lion got angry & ran off into the deep of the jungle. Lion vowed that he would never wander and play by the sea again as long as he had four legs.

Under the wise rule of the prince, the Singa-pura prospered Traders came from far and wide - from the land of the elephant and the land of the dragon. In the long and dangerous sea journey, these men from the different lands brought along their animals from their land of origin, well as mascots.

These animals feeling bored in a strange land, soon roam off into the jungle to seek play mates. They found Singa-the-Lion, and soon became great friends and companions.

Deep away in the tropical paradise, Singa-the-Lion and his new friends, Gajah-the-Elephant and Naga-the-Dragon would picnic by the refreshing stream. Singa-the-Lion introduced them to the thorny fruit of the jungle, the Duri-an which his new friends soon grew to love.

Meanwhile, the people having not seen Singa-the-Lion for such a long time forgot about Singa and soon change to call their place Selat, the Selat-pore. For selat - means the waterway between two land mass – that is the straits. And it was where their perahu and junks passed each day.

One fine day, Singa-the-Lion and his friends Gajah-the-Elephant & Naga-the-Dragon wandered into the lower reaches of the Rochor stream. After playing all day, they got tired. Lion & Dragon went to rest near the waters edge, while Elephant wandered further inland.

While they were napping, they suddenly felt that the earth shook violently and then heard a loud boom. They thought it was a bad dream. In fact a big earthquake happened in a neighboring land and it had together triggered a violent volcanic eruption. Black clouds soon overcastted the sky. The great chasm of the earth, generated a great wave that swept into the jungle, followed by a fierce storm of thunder and lightning.

Singa-the-Lion got very frightened and panic as they were caught in the waters gushing inland. In the avalanche of the Tsunami and the great turmoil and on the verge of drowning, Singa-the-Lion found a charged of energy when he was hit by a flash of lightning. Singa-the-Lion suddenly found that he could swim like a fish. On turning to look at his limbs, he found that his body was transformed into a fish tail, and he swam to safety.

Naga-the-Dragon too was struck by the lighting. He found that his lower body too was transformed into a fish tail while his upper pair of limbs was changed into a pair of wings. And well, Gajah-the-Elephant was resting further inland on higher ground and he was spared the wrath of the Tsunami.

In the confusion, the three good friends got separated – where are they now, you may ask?

Centuries past and fast forward to the 21st century –

Singa-the-Lion, became the Mer-the-Lion – 鱼尾狮 - yuweishi – literary a lion with fish tail. He had kept his vow. No longer has he his limbs and he has his proud fish tail to display as he returned to frolic by the sea. He has moved house not so long ago to a new spot further out by the river mouth,that has been turned into a bay. He daily sprouts water from this lion’s mouth – welcoming friends from afar – what joy!

Mer-the-Lion has a great influence on the land. The water he sprouts into the bay while standing in a north-easterly direction enhances the meridian forces and brings wealth and prosperity to its people.

Lately a huge wheel went into operation and that deem affecting the fengshui - 风水- the wind and the water elements – of the land. As it was rotating in an outwardly direction from the bay, the Fengshui master – 风水师傅- fengshui shifu - observed that all the good fortune that he sprouts was being wheeled away - in the wrong direction!

It would be bad business for the Flyer, as well as affecting the Qi – 气- in Shenton, the financial district beyond. Thus a six figure sum was paid to re-program and change the direction and have it rotating in-ward towards the bay.

Gajah-the-Elephant has settled up river in the land of the Rangoon bird. He too has brought life and prosperity to the place and continues to welcome his relations from afar.

Whence, then Naga-the-Dragon?

Last week, while traveling along Jalan Besar on the way downtown and while looking out from the upper deck of the double deck bus, I found him there. He has a full grown fish tail and with a pair of wings, he is now the winged Mer-the-dragon-鱼尾龙-yuweilong. He has become a straits born Selat-pore dragon, just like his good old friend Mer-the-Lion, a tru-blue specie of Selat-pore.

While his friends have moved on and made it big in a new environment, he is in a little laid back habitat, perching on the front of the old straits shophouses – waiting for his chance to swim & soar.

When the Fengshui master saw him, he portends that the days of Mer-the-dragon is soon near – all the auspicious elements in heaven, on earth and in man are aligned for his resurgence.

Meanwhile, Selat-pore, in the great Tsunami had been reduced into a little red dot. However, out of the calamity and with the baptism of the volcanic fire it had also been transformed. It has metamorphosed itself into a little red peal. This pearl would soon soar above the bay, stirring Mer-the-Dragon out of his long slumber.

For the Fengshui master says - that when Mer-the-Dragon soars to the sky to dance with the red peal, it will stir up waves in the bay, and the whole land will be churned into – 风生水起 - feng sheng shui qi - literary the rising of the wind & the gushing of water – a metaphor for vitality, good fortune and prosperity. For in he cycle of the five elements, the water element symbolises weath.

Mer-the-dragon will soon join his friend the Mer-the-Lion by the bay. He will display his skills soaring high into the sky just like the Black Knight, and diving deep into the sea while tango-ing with the red peal. His act of - 飞鱼尾龙吐珠 – fei yuweilong tu zhu – will invigorate the yin –阴and the yang- 阳 - elements of the land and bring it to an unprecedented level of prosperity and abundance.

Whoever has the good fortune to chance to get a glimpse of Mer-the-Dragon in his dance at the bay will win big at the casino, and hit every jackpot!- the Fengshui masters tells.

In no time, Mer-the-Dragon will come the twin symbol of Selat-pore, together with Mer-the-Lion.

Fast forward 2108 – a century hence –

The way of the Tao that gave birth to Mer-the-Dragon & Mer-the-Lion, was soon lost among the descendants of the dragon of Selat-pore. For they no longer understand the interpretation of the five elements and the inticate working of the forces of the meridian, nor able to harbor the energy of the yin-and-yang forces for the good of the land. They no longer could decipher the way of the ., and out of ignorance, called the Tao the Tao.

Not knowing the way of the Tao – the roots of the descendants of Selat-porean, got shallower and shallower, and this has the Jade Emperor worried. For, when the next Tsunami hit the shores of Selat-pore, they would not have much to cling on to.

Well, so much for the tale, time for Saturday lunch date, and catch Kung-fu Panda…

Postscript:

a) Straits shophouses

It’s uniquely a local flavor, and you know that you are on home ground when you see them – the straits shophouses. Many of them are embellishment with traditional motifs with Chinese, Western and Peranakan influence.

There is a good collection of Straits shophouses along Jalan Besar and in the vicinity of Syed Alwi Road. Though most of the building is a little run down, they have continued to retain the ‘soul’. With, the business and family life together, they intermingle into a lively and authentic atmosphere. These shophouse from post war or re-build after the wall, and more than half a century old.

b) Decorative motifs - winged mer-dragon.

The winged mer-dragon - 鱼尾龙 - is found on the shop front along Jalan Besar, together with the neighboring shops decorated with a winged tiger and winged Qilin – 麒麟 – another mythological animal。 These are auspicious animals in the Chinese mythology, symbols that brings good fengshui and help to stabilize & balance the Qi – 气 – energy forces - surrounding the building.

As to the mer-dragon, I believe its inception is earlier than that of the mer-lion. Though the dragon is considered a hybrid mix of a reptile, fish and deer (with horns) or what ever – its body has scale of a fish, but its tail is flare like a gold fish in traditional Chinese form, and with four clawed limbs.

This mer-dragon has no limbs, and its body is that of a fish and the tail in the shape of a dolphin. Perhaps inspiration that created the mer-dragon is the same source that inspired the creation of the mer-lion. It is not the mermaid sitting in Copenhagen harbor. It’s rooted in Chinese mythology.

Singapore a port city – with the tail of the fish to represents the maritime aspects, and the dragon head its Chinese roots.

3. Selat-pore - 石叻坡 –

The old name for Singapore as the early migrant Chinese would call it, instead of - 新加坡 – xinjiapo - as I learnt, was : Selat-pore.

Selat – is the Malay name for straits. The first inhabitants of Singapore were the Orang Laut – the sea gypsies – of the Malay Archipelago. They could have been the first to refer to Singapore as Selat – the straits – i.e the water mass separating the peninsula land mass from the main island, or the water ways between the islands, where they took shelter.

This photograph of the palanquin for the gods – was taken at Hong Lim Food Center, behind the Chinatown Point complex. It’s at a celebration of the the month of the Hungry Ghost – seventh month of the Chinese lunar calendar. This festival in actual fact should be called by its proper name, namely - zhongyuan jie – 中元节 – the Zhonguan Festival . It has its origin in Taoism, a mid year summer festivity

In Japan this festival is celebrated as Ochuugen - お中元 - a mid-year gift exchange season, which culminated in the visit to ones hometown to pay respect to the ancestors at the family’s grave.

On the plaque in the center in the center of the palanquin is written -石叻坡- 唐朝府
(written in the original way of writing Chinese, from right to left). 唐朝府 – tangchao fu - a Taoist temple group that organized the celebration.

Well again, story short, with a discerning sight, one can find nuggets of the past, here and there buried in the concrete jungle.

4. IR by the Bay -perhaps STPB could consider building a statue of the Mer-Dragon dancing with the pearl at the IR, to complement the Mer-Lion tale. It will be one more fengshui tales for the tour guides to enthall the casino guests from the land of the dragon.

Reference:

1. Tao - 道 - Dao (pinyin)

Lao Tzu – The Book of Tao and Teh.
Translated by : Gu Zhengkun
Peking University Press, Beijing 1995

老子道德经 – 汉英对照
辜正坤译
北京大学出版社

Quote:

道可道，非常道
名可名，非常名

Dao ke dao, feichang dao
Ming ke ming, feichang ming

The Tao that is utterable
Is not the eternal Tao;
The name that is namable
Is not the eternal Name.

The opening quote in Chapter One, from the Book of Dao and De (pinyin ) .

Lao Zi -was the head of the imperial library of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770-256BC), and believed to live around the same period as Confucius (551-479BC) .This is a good book to start on the Tao – the Way. It is very readable and with an excellent introduction to Lao Zi and his philosophical system.

Purchased at :
World Trade Centre – World Book Fair ; 世界贸易中心- 舒展
1997.June.22 , $7.00. The Commercial Press Limited – Clebrates 100 years – 1897 to 1997

-//-

where have all the tea leaves gone? a tale of the likes of - 牛车水- ngau chair sooi - in transition

2008-08-13T14:45:00.011+08:00

It faded quietly into history. Unlike the 7 Storey Hotel at Rochor or the National Stadium – its passing was without any fanfare. As it was not reported in the newspaper, there was no shutter bugs buzz snapping a lasting shot for memory.

In it’s making over; the shophouse has kept its architecture very much intact. The new color tone of pastel purple, with the front painted light beige and the multi-colored frame on the upper floor patio gave it a pleasant refreshing look. Surprisingly or surprisingly not it has kept the motifs of the Chinese characters on the shop pillars. And for someone who does not read these characters, they might have thought that the characters are a part of the deco of the art gallery.

The boldly formed characters reads - 广珍茶庄 – Guangzhen Chazhuang - or - Gwongzhen Chazhong – (Cantonese) - meaning - Gwongzhen Tea Manor. Its former self was a shop trading in Chinese tea. It was one of the last of the - 老店铺 – lao dianpu – old shop houses along Smith Street, that had keep its original trade selling various varieties of tea from China. I believe, the dim sum restaurants- 点心茶楼 - or the bak kut teh - 肉骨茶 - in the vicinity of Chinatown would have gotten their daily tea supply from this shop.

Though painted over with a coat of emulsion the Chinese characters on the pillars are still very much visible. The Tembusu Art Gallery which took over the shop had perhaps thought that the characters have some artistic touch and had decided to retain them. However, there no longer is the fragrance of tea wharfing from the new old shop house though there are traces of tea lingering on its shop front.

About the Chinatown you can find this phenomenon repeated in the renovated shophouses - a modern establishments retaining an element or two of the old Chinese characters, which is an anachronistic miss-fit.

The new business that took over the shophouse had perhaps thought these Chinese words still look pretty and bold. It would not be too jarring to their trade, and had kept them there - feng shui or no feng shui – 风水 – even if it renders their name incorrectly. They exude a character – so to say – that the modern signage hardly could match.

It’s perhaps a reflection of the cityscape in transition - a reluctance to discard the traditional in total, but keeping elements of them but albeit in a masked mode. For these are the finger prints that have a distinguishingly unique local flavor in all that is modern and global.

Though the shophouses in the Chinatown area are preserved, however something seemed amiss. Perhaps that was what Kit Chan, the Singapore singing sensation, meant in her recently National Day interview, she quoted- that she could no longer recognized the Chinatown that she grew up in – the Chinatown of the 1970s and 80’s. Perhaps, she still could, the physical buildings are still much intact in form, however much of the soul is gone.

I came to Singapore in the closing year of the 1980’s and had a chance of to catch a glimpse the tail end of it’s past – the past that Kit grew up in. There was still the old Tai Dong dim sum restaurant along Pagoda Street – 大东海记。 It opened for business at 6am in the morning. Many a Sundays, I would jog from Geyland-Guillamard Road starting off at 5am, and be there as one of the earliest customers for the weekend morning treat.

After breakfast the bill would be settled in Cantonese. For a plate of dim sum costing $2.70 the attendant, already way past his prime, would called it out as – 两两礼拜 – liongliong leibai - literary meaning – two taels & a Sunday. It reflected a facade of the ingenuity of the Cantonese dialect with an entrepreneurial flowery pitch. For Sunday is equivalent to a seven. That was the way that they counted it out in the dim sum restaurants in Ipoh, KL and even in Hong Kong, too.

Alas, though they have cloned the Tai Dong Restaurant along the junction of Smith and Trengganu Streets – Da Dong Restaurant – in Mandarin - was no longer its former self – unpretentious, and for the locals. It has pretty lost much of this - Ngau Chair Sooi - touch and transformed into another Chinatown restaurant. The staff members are young pretty lass from China who speak in Mandarin. Weekend biz starts from 11am and as with much that is main street Chinatown, it’s targeted at the tourists. Well, and nobody wears wooden clogs anymore!

Well the likes of Gwonzhen tea manor along Smith Street are gone for good. Others have morphed into the pretty tea joints – offering a cool and comfortable place to sip Chinese tea in a hot Sunday noon. Their - lao dianpu – - 老店铺- old shophouses – will no longer be there , though their – lao zhihao - 老字号 – their old trade names – may continue business in modern convenience, without characters.

Postscript:

1. Shitamachi – したまち　－downtown

So much for downtown Singapore, how is downtown Tokyo –the shitatmachi district of Ueno-Asakusa －上野―浅草.

Well – along the streets of Ueno, Asakusa- you can hear the voices of children. You can see old ladies sweeping the streets. Old trades are thriving and there is a daily life 24/7.

This photograph was taken in downtown Tokyo in the Ueno area. It is an old shop cum office and residence engaged in the traditional construction business. It is next to a modern apartment building, but the old trade has continued to stay – a refection of old Tokyo of the Edo Era.　－江戸。

As for Singapore – Chinatown – along the streets of Duxton and Ang Siang Hills one could hardly find a sign of life after the last of the pub closes at the wee hours or the night. There was still the shop that sold wooden clogs many years back – but it was mainly kept for the tourist, I thought then. However that was gone too, for you cannot just survive by tourist alone.

2。老字号 – lao zhihao

Though they may no longer occupy their original the lao dianpu - 老店铺– the original old shophouse –many of the lao zhi hao - the established brand with a good old tradition and tale behind it - continue to prosper in Ngau Chair sooi - the Chinatown.

Some of the lao zhihao -老字号 - ( pronunciation rendered in Cantonese) :

白花油 – bak fa yau - traditional Chinese medical ointment – a must stop shop for tourist from Hong Kong
大中国 – dai zungguo - traditional Chinese pastries - with the hot selling moon cake in the signature paper bag come each Mid-Autumn festival
林志源– lam zhiyuen- Dried meat – when you see snake of long queue outside the shop, you know that Chinese New Year is round the corner.
东兴饼家 – dong heng bang-ga – Tong Heng pastry shop – a must for ordering traditional wedding cakes to sent to one’s bridge.

These are the brands that maketh the place and help to render it a continuing soul -

3. Photograph

Gwongzhen Chazhong – 05September 2002 - Smith Street

-//

a guest re-view of the yamato

2008-07-19T11:28:00.012+08:00

A search on the web of Huang Zunxian (1848-1905) – 黄遵宪－ (HZX) - throws up many links, and there is no short of information about him that can be trawled from the internet. He is one for serious research by the academics on modern Chinese history.

A talk last Saturday, at the Ying Fo Association-新加坡应和会馆- at Telok Ayer Street prompted me to search thro my library of books and pull out this booklet that I had of him.

The topic of the talk was – Understanding Japan Anew – 重新认识日本 – chongxin renshi riben.

The talk was divided into two topics of an hour each and was conducted in Mandarin. The first hour was by a journalist of the local Chinese daily who is a commentator on Japan - its politics and society. The second hour was by an assistant professor cum CEO industrialist who is the president of the association. The common thread between HZX and the two speakers is that, they are of Hakka – 客家－ethnicity.

Perhaps this talk was organized because of the recent thaw in relationship between China and Japan – and to give the folks here an afresh understanding of Japan. The recent normalizing of relationship between China and Japan, which was frozen during the Koizumi years, and which culminated in mass demo in China, I believe have a subtle but significant impact on how the local Chinese here, particularly the older Chinese educated folks view Japan.

And this talk was held to give an afresh perspective on our understanding of Japan. And who would be more qualified and better to do that than these two gentlemen who were educated in Japan, and are also deeply engaged with Japan in their career. In Mandarin they are the - 日本通 - riben tong - an old Japan hand. While in Japanese they would be deemed the – 知日派 – chinichi ha – zhire pai (pinyin).

The two terms would have a different connotation perhaps – with the- 日本通 – taking a on a more neutral stand of being an expert of Japan, while -知日派 – in Japanese would carry a meaning of being pro-Japanese.

Now back to HZX, the Hakka connection and Japan –

A diplomat and great literary figure of the old school HZX lived the twilight years of the Qing dynasty　（清朝）. In 1891 he was posted as the High Commissioner of the Qing Emabssy in Singapore.

I first got to know of HZX while attending the Hakkalogy conference in Singapore in 1996 in the search of my ethic roots. On a trip to the ancestral homeland the following year I visited Meizhou－梅州－and his old residence – 人境庐 – renjing lu . The souvenir booklet was from the visit, and it has a brief introduction of his life history, his works and his residence.

HZX - is perhaps the first Chinese –日本通 – of the modern era. After passing his imperial examination in 1876, he was posted to the embassy of the Qing Court in Japan the following year as a diplomat. While he was there, he researched the history of Japan and studied her experience of nationhood during the Meiji Restoration – 明示維新。

He subsequently wrote the - History of Japan - 日本国志 – riben guozhi. He has also another welll-known work on Japan. The close to 200 odd poems that he penned on his observations of Japan & her society during his stay there was later complied into an anthology of poems known as - 日本杂事诗 - riben zashi shi .

Well, so much for the Hakka connection and Japan, it was perhaps only logical that the Hakka association in Singapore organized the talk – to re-afresh the understanding of the locals of the Yamato race – 大和民族 – dahe minzhu.

Postscript -

1) On 知日派 & 親日派

While studying in Japan – there was a Japanese senior who was my research lab mentor and we used to talk about non-academic stuff when we go out for lunch. He would jokingly said that if it was during the War, one would be considered a - shin nichi ha – 親日派 – qingri pai - namely belonging to the pro-Japanese clique if someone were close to Japan then.

親日派 – shinnichi ha - is definitely a term for the pro-Japanese, while - 知日派 – chinichi ha - could mean some who knows Japan.

2) The 2nd speaker was prepared for tough questions from the audience, and he had well prepared himself and anticipated that. After all the positive pointers that he presented of Japan in the talk, an elderly member from the floor during the Q&A session asked – what were some of the negative things about Japan.

The 2nd speaker was all ready to flash out on the screen, old photographs of WWII Japanese occupation of Syonan - 昭南– school children bowing to the - Hino maru - 日の丸 sketches of atrocities of the Japanese military by artist Liu Kang.

Singapore’s government policy towards Japan had since the 1960/s been to forgive but not to forget. Being a small island nation, she has to take a practical and realistic stand – and even though there was a significant Chinese population that has lived thro the Japanese occupation – cool headed policies that benefited the country took precedent above all else.

Japanese industries were encouraged to invest in Singapore, and over the years there is a strong community of expatriate on the island – living as it had been always in their own community.

Which, in actual fact the Japanese community in Singapore is nothing new. They were first here as early as the 1850/s and culminated in a community of traders and karayuki-san – 唐行きさん－in the late 1800/s and early 1900/s. There was even a street called Japan Street – which after the war it was named Boon Tat Street.

3) Japan Street

Boon Tat Street, as I read somewhere was once called Japan Street in the pre-war days. Why is the street located near to Telok Ayer in a Chinese enclave named Japan Street - were there many Japanese Shops around the area too, other than in Middle Road area? Yet to find that out-

4) The talk
新加坡应和会馆-新加坡日本文化协会-联合主办

重新认识日本 - 讲座联新书发布会
日期：2008年7月12日（星期六）
主讲者：
（1）应和会馆会长濑副教授
<传统社会与高科技社会 – 日本内部的文化冲突>
（2）资深时事评论家黄彬华
<中日“同文同种”是误区>

Title of talk: Understanding Japan Anew

Speakers:
1) President of the Yin Fo Association:
<Traditional Japanese society and its high tech society – the clashers internally within the Japanese civilization>
2) Journalist and commentator Huang,
<China & Japan: the misconception of - of being of the same language (writing script) and roots>

Reference:
1) Renjing lu - 人境庐 (booklet)

<人境庐>
梅州市人人境庐文物管理所篇
撰稿：谢继
出版时间：一九九五年十二月

Renjing lu (name of the residence of HZX in Meizhou)
Complied by: Meizhou city – Renjing lu - Cultural relic management section
Author: Xie Ji
Date publishL 1995.12

人境庐 - Renjing lu – which literary - means a dwelling set at the edge of human habitat - is derived from the beginning of a phrase in a well-known poem by Tao Yuan Ming 陶渊明 aka Tao Qian 陶潜　(365-427AD) , Drinking Wine - 饮酒

Web link :

a) Huang Zunxian -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huang_Zunxian

b) Tao Qian
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tao_Qian

Drinking Wine – 饮酒
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/drinking-wine/

/--

mountain folk song 客家山歌 let you guess - a refection on speaking dialect

2008-07-01T14:42:00.016+08:00

A few Sundays ago, I discover that history need not be confined to just the tangible – the physical buildings such as the old shop houses or go on an archeological dig up Bukit Larangan or Fort Canning.

For there is the intangible aspects of our heritage that is also intimately link to history. It’s in each of us – the language that we speaks, the songs that we sing and the tale that we tell , which is the part of oral and cultural heritage. That is our ethnological & social history.

A reflection of our oral heritage – the Hakka dialect

It was the last of the series of talks cum forum on Hakka culture organized by the clan association – The Ying Fo Hakka association - 应和会馆 - located at Telok Ayer Street. - on Hakka folk songs – 客家山歌 . It was in celebration of its 186 anniversary
.
Though the clan building, its structure dating back to 1882 is still standing strong after 120 over years and with a few good rounds of renovation, it dawn on me that many of the oral and cultural heritage of this dialect group will so be gone - without a conscious effort of preservation and promotion.

Of all the five major dialects spoken in this city state – Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese, Hainanese and Hakka - the dialect that will most likely to disappear soon among the local born Singaporean population would be Hakka.

With a community that constitutes less than 10% of the local born population it is perhaps around the two hundred odd thousand range. The Hakka community is geographically relatively much more diversely spread that other dialect groups. There no longer is a Hakka enclave and you could not longer find a concentration of Hakka/s in a certain locality on the island. To Kereta Ayer – you can discern that this has a concentration of Cantonese, to Purvis Street – the Hainanese, or Hougang you have the Teochews, and the Fujianese around the island.

To get to hear Hakka spoken, the most likely place to go is perhaps visit a traditional Chinese herbal medicine shop or a pawn shop – the traditional trade of the Hakka here - and look for a middle-aged person who could perhaps still converse in their mother tongue. Well, and that is fast vanishing if it had not.

It’s thus not a surprise to see that in the Channel 8 program on one’s roots – 追根到底 - zuigen daodi – the hosts had difficulty to pick someone around the city that could speak Hakka.

Being brought up speaking Hakka, there is a certain measure of nostalgia attached to the dialect. While studying in Tokyo, when I had a yearning to hearing Hakka, I would drop in to Ginza – the shopping & pedestrian paradise of Tokyo. For among the tour groups from Taiwan, there was a chance that someone among them would speak the dialect.

If Hakka is heard in Orchard Road, or out on the streets or in Chinatown among the younger population – you can be guaranteed that they are not local born. Most probably these youngsters are from the Silver State of Perak up North in the Peninsula, or from Kulai, Johor or perhaps from the outskirt of KL or from Sabah in East Malaysia, This is where the Hakka dialect is still being kept alive cos of its relative high concentration of the dialect group there.

Other than it is a minority population in the city-state, the demise of the Hakka dialect could also be due to fact that Hakka is linguistically closer to Mandarin than the other dialects - that to speak Mandarin, you just need to tune the pronunciation a little to sound like Mandarin. Thus perhaps the community found it relatively easy to jump start the - Speak Mandarin Campaign - in the days of -多讲华语，少讲方言. – Speak more Mandarin, Less of Dialect.

Among the nephews and nieces in the hometown, who are educated in English & Malay & have not learnt a word of Mandarin in school, I find that they do not have much of a problem picking up Mandarin. Most likely it is because they spoke Hakka at home and have a foundation of the language in the dialect.

The diversity of the different dialect groups that had enriched the Chinese community on the island – could be glimpsed as a museum exhibit from the static display at the annual River Hong Bong - 春到河畔 - festivity put up by the different clan associations during Chinese New Year. It’s the annual parade of our heritage – our roots, where we came from, & the trade that the early migrant communities were engaged in.

Perhaps it was due to this awareness that if you don’t use it or promote it will be gone, that a Senior Minister after learning his mother tongue for years, for the first time address parliament in the Tamil language, last week.

Well, so much on the dialect, now back to the mountain folk song –

The folk song that the Hakka is known as - Hakka mountain Songs - 客家山歌 – hakka san goh (hakka) - kejia shange (pinyin) . I had always wondered why the Hakka is known for their mountain folk songs, and how did they developed their singing prowess.

The answers came in the talk by Ms Xu Qiuju –徐秋菊 – an authority on the folk songs as well a champion singer herself from Meizhou – 梅州 - the heartland of the Hakka/s located in North-eastern Guangdong Province - 广东省.

I was also surprised to know that my ancestral village –松口 - Songkou (pinyin) - Tsung keau ( hakka) - featured prominently in the folklore of the Hakka songs. For since time antiquity – all the Hakka mountain folk songs came from - Tsung keau!

Mountain song of the Hakka

Why is the folk song of the Hakka/s always known as - 山歌– shan ge (pinyin) - or san goh (Hakka) – songs of the mountains, you may ask.

The Hakka - 客家 – kejia (pinyin) as the name suggest means - guest people. They migrated from the plains of the Yellow River in Northern China to the highlands of Southern China close to the borders of Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi - 福建, 广东省，广西省. Historically it could be divided into 5 major waves of migration over a period of close to two thousand years – escaping from wars & internal struggles, and invasion of the northern barbarians.

As the story went, the Hakka being later migrants to Southern China, they had no other choice but to settled in the mountainous regions that surrounded their river routes that they took to moved southwards. For the plains and fertile land had already been occupied by the locals- such as the Cantonese –known as - 本地人- bendi ren - in Guangdong province. The later migrants were thus called – 客家人- kejia ren - or the guest people, to differentiate them from the locals.

These escaping soldiers from the North, inter-married with the women of the mountain tribe who then beget the Hakka that we know of today. Being occupiers of the vast mountain ranges, and their dwellings remotely located, the yells and calls they made to keep in contact with each other across the hills evolved into sing-a-song pitch which subsequently gave birth to the mountain folk songs, so the story went.

The traditional Hakka folk songs were ballad based on a set tunes in hepta-syllable liner. The themes of many of these songs were love songs and teasers sang in duet among the young men and maidens while out in the mountain - moving from hill to hill or to collect firewood, etc. There are song duel, where they were composed and sung impromptu.

They are songs of love, of joy, of sorrow, of advice derived from the wisdom of the common folks. They were supposedly to have a tradition as old as the - Book of Songs – 诗经- shijing - the collection of poems from antiquity during the time of Confucius.

Hakka mountain folk song – was never really a accepted as a mainstream culture among the educated elite of the traditional Hakka. For being steeped in the Confucian traditional moral and ethics, they would frown upon the expression of love in the crude and uncultured prose sang in duet among the young men and maidens. However among the common folks, the songs were a lively part of the Hakka folk culture.

There was many a tale of this smart & quick-witted maiden who in a song duel was no match for the scholar.

In the 1960/s - while the hills in the west were alive with the Sound of Music from Julie, out on the highlands to the east, it was reverberating with the mountain folk songs of Third Sister Liu – 刘三姐- Liu Sanjie.

This hit musical movie from Communist China, which was filmed in the scenic Guilin - 桂林 , Yunan Province - 云南省- was adapted from a Hakka folklore. Liu Sanjie used her singing talent – in the songs she sung to defy the oppressive bourgeois landlord. It was also a love story - Liu San Jie, found her prince charming that could match her singing talent during the annual Song Festival up on the mountain.

Songkou - Tsungkeau – 松口 or 从口

My ancestral hometown –- 松口 - Songkou (pinyin) - is pronounced as - Tsung keau - in the Hakka dialect. Going by the Hakka sound - Tsung keau – could be written as 松口 or 从口.

While:
松口 - means mouth of the pine trees i.e the name of the town; it could also mean -
从口 - coming from the mouth:

Thus when challenged to a singing duel by a scholar coming up river on a boat to the village looking for this pretty and talented maiden - Third Sister Liu, Liu Sanjie sang -

自古山歌从口出，哪有山歌船载来

- Since antiquity the mountain songs came from TsungkeauWhence have you the mountain song delivered on a boat? -

(punning on sound Tsungkeau – i.e coming from the mouth )

Hearing that, the scholar was dumb stuck and could not find a better phrase to reply her. Since then this lyric has been synonymous with the village and the Hakka mountain songs.

Whither Hakka mountain song –

It’s heartening to hear from Ms Xu that that in recent years there is a revival of sort of Hakka folk songs among the common folks in China. With the promotion and call for the preservation of Intangible cultural assets- Hakka mountain folk songs has been identified as one of the intangible cultural asset in China for preservation and promotion.

As in elsewhere in the world, traditional culture is losing it draw to the younger generation. In order to entice their interest & with the keen interest among the young in China to learn English, Ms Xu explained that English phrases have been interwoven to the lyrics folk songs – and hope that it could do the trick.

Thus you have -

唱首山歌 let you guess ! (chong shu san goh let you guess )
- Sing a song of the mountain, to have you guess

(note: the hepta-syllable lyrics– which is the length of ballad line )

What an odd animal it had created! Imaging a Scottish folk song from the highland interjected with - ni hao ma – 你好吗 – meaning how are you.

However, I cannot help but to be amazed at how the Chinese have taken on modernization and globalization in their stride. And considering Meizhou is relatively a up country county in the highlands.

Barely 30 years ago, before the country open up to the outside world by Deng Xiaopeng, - 邓小平 - and during the days of the Cultural Revolution – Hakka mountain sound would be banned, and what more English - this would be anathema & the composer would be banished forever to toil in the labor camp!
.
Mountain song in the city

Fast forward back to the 21st century – the connoisseur of these mountain songs are a very select group of aunties and uncles, who have heard them sung by their grandparents.

Among the audience in the talk, someone asked Ms Xu how she would propose to promote the mountain song in Singapore. She said that it’s best to get the young to be interested – and when they go for mountain song classes to bring their kids, oh no, their grandchildren along!

I wonder, with the passing of this generation of aunties and uncles, grandmas and grandpas, who would be left in the city state to enjoy the songs of Ms Xu and her pupils. When the young became aunties and uncles they have nothing to be nostalgic about the mountain songs, much less understanding their mother dialect.

Postscript –

a) Mountain song class

If you wish to learn some Hakka mountain song, a weekly class is organized by the Ying Fo Hakka association at Telok Ayer Street, (website of the association below)

b) A lesson in Hakka - faan poh - providing a glimpse of our origin

The common /colloquial term for 'woman' in Hakka is - faan poh - 番婆

番 – faan – meaning foreign, from another group, clan or tribe
婆 – poh - meaning the female gender – woman,

Thus – faan poh – means women from another tribe or group.

This phrase probably came about when the escaping soldiers from the North met the tribal women in the mountain ranges of South China – who were the – faan poh – And whom they took as their wives later.

Thus – from the intangible asset –of the dialect – one could get to know the origin of once ancestors through the fossilized words and vocabulary.

Without knowing the dialect – the future generations of Singaporean of Hakka ancestry would be poorer in their understanding of their roots and having a living link to it. What fun – dialect!

(other words with fann eg :　Tomato – 番茄 – fanqie （ｐｉｎｙｉｎ）– a foreign import in ancient China )

b) Hakka – the mountain dwellers

There is a saying in the Hakka heartland of Guangdong Province 广东省 –
山区客家谚语 (yanyu)

逢山必有客
无客不住山

- In every of the mountains there ought to be Hakka living
And, no Hakka who does not live in the mountain -

c) Hakkalogy

At one point in time in the 1980/s Hakkalogy - 客家学 – as a social study became in vogue. Then, the three head of states in China, the greater China region & SEA were all of Hakka ancestry – namely Deng Xiaoping - 邓小平 - of China, Lee Tenghui - 李登辉- of Taiwan and LKY of Singapore.

In November 1996, Singapore hosted the 3rd International Hakka Convention – 第三届客家国际检讨会。

In conjunction with the event an exhibition was held at the national museum:

客从何处来？从“过客”到公民客家文化源流展
From “Guest People” to Citizens - The Hakka Exhibition

Organizers:
Singapore History Museum
Nanyang Khek Community Guild Singapore – 新加坡南洋客属总会

Reference:

1) 客家山歌 - 非物质文化遗产丛书

刘晓春胡希张温萍
浙江人民出版社 2007年3月

Book title: Hakka Mountain Song – Series on Intangible Cultural Heritage
Publisher: Zhejiang Renming Chubanshe 2007.03

Other intangible cultural heritage of China – that is kept alive in Singapore:
南音 - nanying

Nanying - traditional song and music on traditional instruments with it's origin during the Tang Dynasty. It is still kept alive by an ensemble with the Hokkien Association at Telok Ayer Street.

2) Photograhs :
-A scenic drive along road up Mt Yinna - 阴那山 (taken in 25Dec1997 on visit)
-Quay at Songkou overlooking the Meijiang River - 梅江 - where the ancestors board the boat down river to the Nanyang - 南洋 - the South Seas (24Dec1997)

2) Links -

Ying Fo Hakka Clan Association:
http://www.yingfofuikun.org.sg/

Songkou:
http://www.mxskz.com/

Intangible cultural asset – UNESCO :
http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/index.php?pg=home

Hakka – wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakka_Hill_Songs

Hakka Hill song – wikipedia :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakka

/--

an afternoon in tokyo - from tea water to 仏蘭西 cuisine

2008-06-09T17:27:00.016+08:00

On a bicycle in Tokyo, one was able to cover a number of places which the usual foreign tourists would not cover. You get to get a glimpse of how the Tokyoites live as you cycle around the metropolis at your own casual pace.

17May/ Saturday afternoon

Ochanomizu - 御茶ノ水 - Literary means – water for making tea. This photograph is taken from the bridge over the Kanda River next to the Ochanomizu train station.

Leaving Asakusa at around 11:30am, it took less than an hour to reach Ochanomzui Station - お茶の水駅.

The first I heard of Ochanomizu was related to the Ochanomizu University - お茶の水女子大学 . Although there are other universities around the area, I remembered this university well, because, we had a - kompa - a sort of a drinking party - with the female students from this university.

The Ochanomizu University is the leading all girl university in Tokyo and Japan. As we were from the top technological university in Tokyo we were able to arrange for a party with the female college students.

At the party, it was an immersion into another aspect of Japanese culture -

The female students would take the initiative and be the first one to pour beer and sake – Japanese rice wine - for the guys. The party was held close to Valentine’s Day. And on that day it was again the ladies who took the initiatives to send us guys - nice little boxes of chocolates! What a blessing it is - or was - to be a male – in Japan..

The Nikolai Cathedral

Other than being the center for higher leaning, Ochanomizu is also well-known for another landmark, the Nikolai Cathedral - ニコライ堂。

What Tokyoites do a Saturday afternoon – you may ask.

As it was a warm May afternoon - in and around the compound of the cathedral, there were close to 30 odd - obasan – おばさん aunties- and ojisan – おじさん - uncles - sketching and painting.

I was sort of taken by surprise by the number of aunties and uncles – and even - oji-i-san - おじいさんgrandpa – painting this cathedral, engaging in this artistic pursuit. In Singapore, one would perhaps find them playing mahjong.

Why this building, and not another Shinto temple or shrine. Perhaps, it was the exotic charm of old European architecture and the west that that was the draw.

The Nikolai Cathedral was build around the same time as the National Museum of Singapore in the 1880/s and took seven years to complete - from Meiji 17th to 24th year. It is noted as the biggest Byzantine structure in Japan. On Sunday, church service, albeit the Eastern Orthodox tradition, I think – is still conducted. It was designated an Important Cultural Treasure – 重要文化財- by the Ministry of Education in the 1960/s.

Yushima Seido - 湯島聖堂　- Shrine of Confucius（孔子庙）

Looking down the slope from the Ochanomizu Station and wondering what this grey dark colored building in traditional architecture was, I cycled over. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was a shrine build in traditional Chinese architecture style and dedicated to Confucius.

I was taken quite aback that the whole shrine complex has a very subdue and grey tone – with - black colored walls & pillars and roof of grey green tiles. Though it’s the first time anywhere, that I had visited a shrine dedicated to honor Confucius, I struck me as strange on why this color scheme for this Confucius temple.

Well, this is another aspect of the Japanese culture shock that I had to ‘acclimatized’ to when I first went to Japan. The Japanese sense of traditional color – is very different from that of the Chinese culture– well that of the Chinese culture in the current scheme of things – that is the recent dynasties from the Sung onwards, perhaps.

A black walled temple – could perhaps be a Taoist Temple in China, but would not have been one dedicated to honor Confucius. For a Confucius shrine would be bestowed the same honorable color of golden tiled roof and crimson wall. This is the color of the palace of the emperor. Well, on the other hand, the palace of the Japanese emperor never would have it in such bold colors as well – of crimson red wall or golden titled roof.

And way back in antiquity – the Chinese emperors of the Chin- 秦朝- and - Han - 汉朝 Dynasties if you notice in period dramas i.e. dramas that are authentically portrayed – were dressed in black gown. For the color of black – in - Yi-Jing - 易经 – the Book of Change – signifies Earth. That is, abode of the Son of Heaven & earthly power. Perhaps the authentic color should be black then.

Taking about Confucianism –

This temple looks quite empty and run-down though it is big. I wonder if this temple perform the annual rites though on the altar is laid out with various paraphernalia to honor Confucius. Perhaps not, for since the Meiji Restoration and with the call to reject things Asian and embrace the European civilization – 脱亞入欧 – and last they would honor would be the Sage. Confucianism was backward and hindrance to progress. Unlike Korea, there don’t seem to be any diehard Confucian scholars in traditional costumes and all - in Japan.

In the early 1990/s in one of the lectures on Confucianism by Professor Du of Harvard, in Singapore that I attended, he lamented that though Confucianism originated in China more than 2500 years ago, the model students are in Japan & Korea. As an ethic Chinese and a Confucian scholar he felt sadden about the whole state of Confucianism in the Chinese world then.

Coming on the heels of the 1970/s and the campaign in China to denounce Lin Biao and Confucius – 批林批孔 – pilin pikong - one could not expect anything more, could one.

Well what a turn of fortune has Confucius underwent again barely 30 years on. Lun Yu – 论语 - the Analects - has been given a new interpretation to 21st century living and a new lease of life by the likes of Prof Yu Dan – 于丹 - a lady lecturer from Beijing – on the popular CCTV lecture series. It reflects another step in heralding the revival of Confucianism, and as mass culture.

Perhaps, with the renaissance of Confucianism, the Japanese may someday start to officially perform the rites to honor Confucius again in the temple. Then would it be rejoining the Asia – i/e the Far East family of nation again – that she left more than a century ago.

Hibiya Park – Matsumotoro – 日比谷公園 - 松本楼

Though I have visited Hibiya park a number of times, I did not know that it had such a historic restaurant in it’s midst, until I read of it in the ST , where on May06, 2008, PM Fukuda of Japan hosted President Hu Jin Tao of China to a dinner at the Matsumoto Ro - 松本楼 - famous for its French cuisine - 仏蘭西料理– furansu ryoori - fine dining.

On this trip I marked it in my itinerary as one of the palace to visit.

One of its most distinguished guests was Dr Sun Yat Sen. 孙中山. The great grandfather of the present owner Umeya Shoya - 梅屋庄屋 - was a close friend and ardent supporter of Dr Sun’s & donated generously to his revolutionary cause. While in Japan, Dr Sun would occasionally drop in to this restaurant. Umeya had organized many a functions at this restaurant to introduce Dr Sun to his Japanese supports.

At the lobby of the restaurant stands an old piano, a 1907 make, by the predecessor of Yamaha Piano. This is only one of 2 set left in Japan. In 1915, while on the run from the failed republic, Dr Sun married Soong Mei Ling - 宋美岭- at the Umeya residence in Tokyo. To while away her time while waiting to return to China, Madame Soong would tinkle at the piano.

Well, on - 仏蘭西 – has the same pronunciation as the katakana form -フランス – Furansu – the Japanese name for France ?

Interestingly, in the menu France cuisine is written in Kanji as – 仏蘭西料理– furansu ryoori - instead of – フランス料理 - furansu ryoori .

Perhaps it’s rooted in history - 仏蘭西料理 - certainly looks more cultured, refined, romantic and with a character, than - フランス料理. So when you are looking for fine western - French dining in Japan, look out for - 仏蘭西料理- instead.

See, again knowing Kanji or Chinese characters is a great advantage in Japan.

However, though France in abbreviated Kanji is written as - 仏国 – Fukkoku – it is never use together with the term for cooking/cuisine - 料理 – ryoori – meaning cooking/cuisine.

For 仏国料理 –could also to mean - cooking from the land of Buddha!

So much for an appetizing and confusing afternoon…

Postscript –
.
1. 湯島聖堂 – Yushima seido - Shrine of Confucius

The 5th Shogun of the Tokugawa Shogunate, who was very much inclined towards Confucianism, built this shrine & residential college in 1690. The shogun would organize lectures on the Analects -论语 - and promote its learning.

In 1797 the Bakufu administration expanded the residential college & named it after the birthplace of Confucius - 平昌坂学問所. For the next 70 years, up till the Meiji Restoration of 1868, this was the center of education of the Edo period.

In the 4th year of the Meiji Era, in 1871, the Ministry of Education, as well as the National Museum was located here. Subsequently, the Tokyo Normal College (the predecessor of Tsukuba University) and the Tokyo Ladies Normal College －東京女子師範学校　－( the predecessor of the Ochanomizu University were located here too.

The Shrine to Confucius was burnt down 4 times, and each time it was rebuilt. It was destroyed in the great Kanto earthquake of 1923. The present structure of reinforced concrete was built in 1935. However the gate - 入徳門 - located at the bottom of the slope, was the original structure from 1704, and it is dedicated an important cultural treasure)

(Adapted from the synopsis at the entrance to the shrine)

2. Matsumotoro - 松本楼

http://www.matsumotoro.co.jp/

3. 仏蘭西 vs 法蘭西- Furansu

In Chinese – France is written as - 法兰西 ( simplified Chinese) or - 法蘭西 – (traditional script). In short it’s - 法国 – faguo – land of Law (literary).

Knowledgeable Japanese would avoid using仏 and use 法国, instead. For 仏 when pronounced as - butsu – hotoke – means Buddhism. When pronounced as Futsu –it means French. (ref - Wikipedia )

– Japanese blog on France -仏蘭西
http://parisblog.exblog.jp/

4. Ochanomizu University
http://www.ocha.ac.jp/

--//

i came i saw i come i see

- a hundred years hence - once a ROCer

老照片 –arabian garden – 星洲阿拉伯花园

老照片 – to china 1927

2555

the hanami – ガンバレニッポン

old photographs - 老照片 - the early generations

clear & bright – 清明

patching a heavenly leak - 補天穿

spring couplet - 桃符万户换新春

– the little Vienna - Tilanqiao - 提篮桥

expo 2010 shanghai – 万国来泸庆世博

正月春联八月灯 – eighth moon lantern

街头街尾芽笼巷 – Re-cycling Geylang style

the Little Tokyo that was - a stroll along Middle Road

IPOH – Cinderella who lost her glass slipper

.. from port to port ...

. . . from - 浮屠 to 佛 to 仏 -

曾经上海 - the shanghai that was

spring …a window into Japan

… the emperor’s portrait - a tale behind ...

遇寶 – a treasure awaiting re-discovery

shooting lantern riddles @ tiger terrace - 猜灯谜

交春 – the start of spring

萬里郷情 芽籠望

what wine do they drink in Geylang?

the navel of japan - 諏訪湖 - lake suwa

three-hundred- thousand - 三百千

tide of history – reflection on century old primer from Kyoto

bite me, if you love me! - the Geylang connection

街头街尾芽笼巷 - active aging Geylang style

and a 5-13 and a 6-4 : a ponder

狮城萬里望 - beyond the lion city shores

kenanagan gambar lama - 老照片

...of the architectural link to being bi-lingual & bi-cultural

通勤の５９６３ - ハロシンガポール

星州百姓庆己丑 - celebrating the year of the ox with the lao baixing – the connection hence

this my kampong stay i will - the asli of ulu kinta

a coffee to call home - 舊街場白咖啡 - white coffee a-la-carte Old Town

out of the blue - what's your hallmark ?

a sip of autumn - rangoon road

a postcard from beijing

改革开放30年，从书说起

老照片: old photographs from the tanabe studio - high-color lifestyle of 1920-30’s Japan

a tale from selat-pore: dance of the mer-dragon with the little red pearl

where have all the tea leaves gone? a tale of the likes of - 牛车水- ngau chair sooi - in transition

a guest re-view of the yamato

mountain folk song 客家山 歌 let you guess - a refection on speaking dialect

an afternoon in tokyo - from tea water to 仏蘭西 cuisine

萬里郷情芽籠望

mountain folk song 客家山歌 let you guess - a refection on speaking dialect