The "Nanyang" experience
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1thebloke
I was born in Malaysia, left the country for a tiny island in the Indian Ocean at about 20 years old, spent a few years in New York and then about fifteen years in Australia before coming to Southern California (where there are an abundance of overseas Chinese) so I sort of identify with Chinese immigrant stories in different parts of the world.
As someone who grew up in South-East Asia, I find myself identifying with my unique background as a Chinese person for even though we Chinese in South East Asia may feel passionately Chinese, some how when we interact with other Chinese around the world we begin to feel that we are not quite that Chinese. We have this ambivalence about the place we call "home."
For instance, it grates us when people refer to us as "Malay" because for Chinese persons in Malaysia, "Malay" refers to not only a different race, but potentially to also the race that had in some way oppressed us to a large or small degree.
But, when we open our mouths to speak, our Chinese dialects betray us for they are mixed up with Malay accents and idioms!
Anyone else from Malaysia, Singapore or Indonesia? Or know someone from there?
A book that tells our story poignantly is Among the White Moon Faces
by Shirley Lim, a professor of English at UC Santa Barbara, who is herself from Malaysia.
As someone who grew up in South-East Asia, I find myself identifying with my unique background as a Chinese person for even though we Chinese in South East Asia may feel passionately Chinese, some how when we interact with other Chinese around the world we begin to feel that we are not quite that Chinese. We have this ambivalence about the place we call "home."
For instance, it grates us when people refer to us as "Malay" because for Chinese persons in Malaysia, "Malay" refers to not only a different race, but potentially to also the race that had in some way oppressed us to a large or small degree.
But, when we open our mouths to speak, our Chinese dialects betray us for they are mixed up with Malay accents and idioms!
Anyone else from Malaysia, Singapore or Indonesia? Or know someone from there?
A book that tells our story poignantly is Among the White Moon Faces
by Shirley Lim, a professor of English at UC Santa Barbara, who is herself from Malaysia.2belleyang
>1 thebloke:--thebloke and author of this group, welcome...yah! finally!! I imagine you have incredible stories to tell, far different from our North American accounts, so I've been waiting for you to sign in.
3mvrdrk
A family of friends of ours is from Singapore. They speak English because he and she speak different dialects of Chinese. The funny part is their kids may have grown up in Singapore, but don't eat anything spicy - they prefer British food.
There are historically Chinese in lots of countries where they are badly discriminated against. It's very sad.
There are historically Chinese in lots of countries where they are badly discriminated against. It's very sad.
4belleyang
thebloke, can you tell us a little about your childhood? I know it's a very wide question,but what games did you play, what was school like, how did the Malay kids treat you, did you go to Chinese school, when did your ancestors go to Malaysia, what part of China were they from, what foods do you miss? Your experience, to me, is very--sorry to use the term-- "exotic."
Also, how do you like Southern California? Do you feel this is your home?
Also, how do you like Southern California? Do you feel this is your home?
5thebloke
Hi Belle,
Hmmm... so many questions! Let me tackle a couple of them through some quixotic anecdotes.
My mom & dad had only 2 sons. My elder brother was also the eldest grandson in a clan of a patriarch (my grandfather) who had 7 sons and 7 daughters from 2 wives (1 passed away before he married another, "replacement" wife) and 4 concubines, 1 of whom ran back to China before the Communists took over and who was never heard again (reportedly she also took some family valuables with her). Let's get back to my brother! :) He was sent to the best English medium school in our small little town. My mom wanted to send me to the Chinese-medium school because of that, but reportedly uncles came down hard on her. She was not educated beyond Primary Grade 3 because the Japanese Occupation of Malaya interrupted her education. My dad too had his illustrious education cut short (he has kept his school commendation letters and one letter from his school principal appealing to my grandfather to allow him to continue his education because of the promise he showed, but because times were hard and he was needed to help with the family "business" he had to stop school). All his siblings were able to complete college level education and became professionals, most of them school teachers or government workers as those kinds of careers were deemed the most stable. Hence, my uncles and other relatives were seen as "professionals" who knew what they were doing, and wanted all the grandchildren of my grandfather to have a "proper education" and in those days, a "proper education" meant going to an English medium school. So I was switched from the Chinese medium school to an English medium school.
Wow! This is the first time I put that piece of my family history in writing!
Anyway, second anecdote. I was in Year One or Year Two in primary school and one of the periods were dedicated to either Religious Instruction (for Muslim children it meant instruction in the Al'Kitab, and for Christian children it meant instruction in the Bible) or "Mothers' Own Language" classes. So, the Muslim kids went off to their classes. When they returned, each proudly held a book which they showed us but then pulled away from us before we could touch them, claiming that we cannot touch their "Holy Book" or we would contaminate them! In my young mind, the wedge was beginning to be planted to separate "us" from "them". Later on in my life, the national government's effort to bring the races together (especially after the infamous May 13 racial riots incident) were somewhat successful in that many of us non-Malay indeed bought the message of racial harmony, multiculturalism and even bought into the ideals of the new economic policy which favored the purportedly poor and underprivileged of the country even though that was defined unfortunately along racial lines. However, as we grew up and especially in later years of High School and beyond, the lines of division were finally etched permanently in our psyches.
I remember sitting together after the High School Exam results were published with two very good friends who were Malay (by the time we were in High School, genuine friendships were made across racial lines). One had achieved similar test results as I did. We both received a "Division I" in our Test Scores. Division I means the highest grade, but then there were also individual scores within subject areas. In order to get a place in the government post secondary institutions, one must not only achieve a Division I but also get "Distinction" or honor grades in specific groupings of subjects. I had received two Distinctions, one in English and the other in Literature. My Malay friend who had a Division I also had a couple of distinction awards. Then there was this other Malay friend who had only received Division III with no distinctions. I remember we were both trying to cheer him up.
Several weeks later, the list of names of those who gained entry to post-secondary institutions were announced. My Malay friend who received a Division I had gained entry to post-secondary education and also a government scholarship offer to study abroad. My friend who received the Division III also got admitted to post-secondary studies. I was not because apparently my distinctions were not enough since they were deemed to be in similar subject areas. There were different standards for us because I was not of the correct race. My two friends are "bumi putras" - prince of the earth by virtue of being of the right race and religion. Now, my two Malay friends were trying to console me!
After that, I found that my Division I test scores did not help me to secure a job nor second choice education among the non-academic post secondary institutions. These institutions gave first preference to those who did not gain entry to universities and so on and who had achieved a Division II or III, and employers told me that they couldn't employ me because with my good marks in high school, I would leave them for some form of higher education! The only way of course was to leave the country which I eventually did!
So, in answer to your question, the Malays mostly treated us Chinese quite well, and many of them were our friends. It is the government or the system that created an adversarial economic or systemic relationship along racial or ethnic lines. It is sad.
Even today, there are such injustices as the Lina Joy affair that illustrates how the system blocks basic human rights to their own citizens just because they decide to choose differently than the government wishes.
Hmmm... so many questions! Let me tackle a couple of them through some quixotic anecdotes.
My mom & dad had only 2 sons. My elder brother was also the eldest grandson in a clan of a patriarch (my grandfather) who had 7 sons and 7 daughters from 2 wives (1 passed away before he married another, "replacement" wife) and 4 concubines, 1 of whom ran back to China before the Communists took over and who was never heard again (reportedly she also took some family valuables with her). Let's get back to my brother! :) He was sent to the best English medium school in our small little town. My mom wanted to send me to the Chinese-medium school because of that, but reportedly uncles came down hard on her. She was not educated beyond Primary Grade 3 because the Japanese Occupation of Malaya interrupted her education. My dad too had his illustrious education cut short (he has kept his school commendation letters and one letter from his school principal appealing to my grandfather to allow him to continue his education because of the promise he showed, but because times were hard and he was needed to help with the family "business" he had to stop school). All his siblings were able to complete college level education and became professionals, most of them school teachers or government workers as those kinds of careers were deemed the most stable. Hence, my uncles and other relatives were seen as "professionals" who knew what they were doing, and wanted all the grandchildren of my grandfather to have a "proper education" and in those days, a "proper education" meant going to an English medium school. So I was switched from the Chinese medium school to an English medium school.
Wow! This is the first time I put that piece of my family history in writing!
Anyway, second anecdote. I was in Year One or Year Two in primary school and one of the periods were dedicated to either Religious Instruction (for Muslim children it meant instruction in the Al'Kitab, and for Christian children it meant instruction in the Bible) or "Mothers' Own Language" classes. So, the Muslim kids went off to their classes. When they returned, each proudly held a book which they showed us but then pulled away from us before we could touch them, claiming that we cannot touch their "Holy Book" or we would contaminate them! In my young mind, the wedge was beginning to be planted to separate "us" from "them". Later on in my life, the national government's effort to bring the races together (especially after the infamous May 13 racial riots incident) were somewhat successful in that many of us non-Malay indeed bought the message of racial harmony, multiculturalism and even bought into the ideals of the new economic policy which favored the purportedly poor and underprivileged of the country even though that was defined unfortunately along racial lines. However, as we grew up and especially in later years of High School and beyond, the lines of division were finally etched permanently in our psyches.
I remember sitting together after the High School Exam results were published with two very good friends who were Malay (by the time we were in High School, genuine friendships were made across racial lines). One had achieved similar test results as I did. We both received a "Division I" in our Test Scores. Division I means the highest grade, but then there were also individual scores within subject areas. In order to get a place in the government post secondary institutions, one must not only achieve a Division I but also get "Distinction" or honor grades in specific groupings of subjects. I had received two Distinctions, one in English and the other in Literature. My Malay friend who had a Division I also had a couple of distinction awards. Then there was this other Malay friend who had only received Division III with no distinctions. I remember we were both trying to cheer him up.
Several weeks later, the list of names of those who gained entry to post-secondary institutions were announced. My Malay friend who received a Division I had gained entry to post-secondary education and also a government scholarship offer to study abroad. My friend who received the Division III also got admitted to post-secondary studies. I was not because apparently my distinctions were not enough since they were deemed to be in similar subject areas. There were different standards for us because I was not of the correct race. My two friends are "bumi putras" - prince of the earth by virtue of being of the right race and religion. Now, my two Malay friends were trying to console me!
After that, I found that my Division I test scores did not help me to secure a job nor second choice education among the non-academic post secondary institutions. These institutions gave first preference to those who did not gain entry to universities and so on and who had achieved a Division II or III, and employers told me that they couldn't employ me because with my good marks in high school, I would leave them for some form of higher education! The only way of course was to leave the country which I eventually did!
So, in answer to your question, the Malays mostly treated us Chinese quite well, and many of them were our friends. It is the government or the system that created an adversarial economic or systemic relationship along racial or ethnic lines. It is sad.
Even today, there are such injustices as the Lina Joy affair that illustrates how the system blocks basic human rights to their own citizens just because they decide to choose differently than the government wishes.
6belleyang
Fascinating, thebloke!! Could you pllease continue and tell us about why your ancestors left China?
7thebloke
Hey Belle,
I think my grandfather traveled to "Nanyang" during the turn of the last century (circa 1905) to escape the famines and hard times that had hit the Southern Chinese regions at the time (he was from Meixian in Guangdong). He either traveled with his father or his grandfather, and he very quickly started working in the tin mines. By the time my father was born, he had rose in the ranks to become one of the head Chinese workers (also known as the "Kapitan") and the British colonial lords did not like to deal with these Chinese "coolies" so they employed intermediaries who supervise the Chinese laborers.
The supervisors became the hr department for all the lower ranking tin mine laborers and they also became the de facto social and welfare department, the counselors and sometimes, the union representative. My grandfather, it seemed was also an expert kung fu exponent, and so he also provided protection to the Chinese workers against the Malay workers who sometimes get into altercations with the Chinese folk and come in a mob with their machetes and other weapons to settle the score. Apparently, my grandfather would lead the charge to defend his workers against these bullying attacks.
He also hired his son (my father) to keep the log and the time and attendance books and organized pay and holidays for the Chinese laborers. Perhaps that was where my dad learned to be an expert with the abacus (years later, he would challenge me with the abacus and me using a calculator and I would lose - either he was super fast with the abacus, or I was just lousy at the calculator and math, or both! hahaha!)
I never learned why my grandma's family left China for the then Malaya. I think perhaps she was sent from China to marry my grandfather because she didn't have many relatives in Malaya and growing up I remember she used to travel regularly back to China to visit the relatives.
On my mother side, I did not have much of an idea of the family history. Whereas on my father's side the family had a record of ancestors going back 28 or 29 generations, my mother's family did not have such a rich history and apart from the fact that the grandfather that I know was not her father (her father passed away and her mother remarried), the only other fact that I know of her ancestry is that her family came from Hainan Island.
An interesting story my mom used to tell us is that during the Japanese Occupation of Malaya, she was separated from her family when the invading Japanese army stormed into town, but unlike some other unlucky children who were bayoneted or raped by the Japanese soldiers, a soldier picked her up and spoke to her in Chinese. Apparently he was not a Japanese but a Taiwanese captive soldier who was incorporated by the Japanese into their military.
I think my grandfather traveled to "Nanyang" during the turn of the last century (circa 1905) to escape the famines and hard times that had hit the Southern Chinese regions at the time (he was from Meixian in Guangdong). He either traveled with his father or his grandfather, and he very quickly started working in the tin mines. By the time my father was born, he had rose in the ranks to become one of the head Chinese workers (also known as the "Kapitan") and the British colonial lords did not like to deal with these Chinese "coolies" so they employed intermediaries who supervise the Chinese laborers.
The supervisors became the hr department for all the lower ranking tin mine laborers and they also became the de facto social and welfare department, the counselors and sometimes, the union representative. My grandfather, it seemed was also an expert kung fu exponent, and so he also provided protection to the Chinese workers against the Malay workers who sometimes get into altercations with the Chinese folk and come in a mob with their machetes and other weapons to settle the score. Apparently, my grandfather would lead the charge to defend his workers against these bullying attacks.
He also hired his son (my father) to keep the log and the time and attendance books and organized pay and holidays for the Chinese laborers. Perhaps that was where my dad learned to be an expert with the abacus (years later, he would challenge me with the abacus and me using a calculator and I would lose - either he was super fast with the abacus, or I was just lousy at the calculator and math, or both! hahaha!)
I never learned why my grandma's family left China for the then Malaya. I think perhaps she was sent from China to marry my grandfather because she didn't have many relatives in Malaya and growing up I remember she used to travel regularly back to China to visit the relatives.
On my mother side, I did not have much of an idea of the family history. Whereas on my father's side the family had a record of ancestors going back 28 or 29 generations, my mother's family did not have such a rich history and apart from the fact that the grandfather that I know was not her father (her father passed away and her mother remarried), the only other fact that I know of her ancestry is that her family came from Hainan Island.
An interesting story my mom used to tell us is that during the Japanese Occupation of Malaya, she was separated from her family when the invading Japanese army stormed into town, but unlike some other unlucky children who were bayoneted or raped by the Japanese soldiers, a soldier picked her up and spoke to her in Chinese. Apparently he was not a Japanese but a Taiwanese captive soldier who was incorporated by the Japanese into their military.
8belleyang
thebloke--Wonderful family history. I hope you are leaving the stories for your children. My great-grandfather on my mother's side was also from Meixian, Guangdong. He was a Hakka-"Ke Jia."
Yah, my mom can beat me on the abacus, too :)
Yah, my mom can beat me on the abacus, too :)
10belleyang
Ha, ha, indeed. I wish I'd learned to use the abacus. Mom tried to show me, but I never made an attempt to absorb the lesson. Too bad. I just like the sound of the clacking. My father said at the grain brokerage, owned by my Grandfather, dozens of accountants would work in unison to make sure the tallies were accurate.
11yangguy
Dear thebloke: You ask about knowing someone Chinese from Malaysia. Kui Shin Voo, currently at Baylor University in Texas, is from there. If you contact me, I can tell you how to get in touch with him.
In October 2004, I went to visit our oldest daughter, Evelyn, who was studying International Studies at Nanjing University. yangguy
In October 2004, I went to visit our oldest daughter, Evelyn, who was studying International Studies at Nanjing University. yangguy
