She is 78 years old and Malaysia is the whole world she lives in. Her father came to this land from Fujian at the age of 17, and she met the British, the Japanese, and UMNO. One by one, they came and went, and the days didn't change much, and there wasn't much change between people
Reporter/Liu Danqing (From Kuala Lumpur)
Chen Aiqin has two stories, one is her own and the other is her father's. One is still happening, the other is gone. She is 78 years old and Malaysia is the whole world she lives in. She's cut glue, she's been to the sea, she's seen death, she's seen money. When she was miserable, all four sisters were sent to the orphanage; when she was rich, every factory was hers. That's the thing to say.
From Fujian to Nanyang first from the love of the father, that was 1920. The boat traveled for 3 months, out of Fujian, down to the South China Sea, the wind and waves were strong, and many people died. It was hot, it was hotter on the ship, malaria, infections, serious illnesses, and just one person was gone. Don't talk about people, how much did the ship sink? I don't remember. When he got off the ship, Chen Guangsheng was 17 years old, and he had seen him die of poverty, and he wanted to live well. Poor and hungry. In his hometown of Gutian, Fujian, he had had enough of that bean. The chopsticks reached into the urn, but the urn was very small, and a chopstick came up to only clip a bean. A bean and a bowl of rice, this is a meal. The day before he left, he threw the hoe into the ground, stopped drying, and left. No luggage, no money, just a pair of hands, a life. In the 1920s and 1930s, wars and wars ruined the calm days of China's southeast coast, and from there 5 million people went to Nanyang to make a living. Someone went to Singapore, someone went to Borneo, and that's how he came to Malaysia. It was called "Malaya" at the time, and it rained all year round, and something grew in the ground. The British had long since arrived, taking bananas, palm oil, tin ore, hardwood, and cocoa. What can't be taken away is the rainforest, the island, and the rain for 12 months a year. Nor did these belong to the Malays, who were exiled on their own land. Chen Guangsheng lived here for 70 years, he married a woman, gave birth to a child, and died here, buried here. Of course, when he disembarked, he couldn't think of that far.
Marrying a Malay woman was too hard. Every morning, Chen Guangsheng went to work at 5 o'clock, was searched, entered the garden, and cut rubber. A pound of glue costs a penny. With this money, he bought materials, raised pigs, sold them, and a few years later he begged for a woman. Her name was Wu Jinshi, she was a Muslim, half Chinese and half Malay, dark-skinned, wearing a sarong, speaking Malay, and praying every day. At that time, the Malays only provided for their sons to study, and their daughters were sent to others when they were a few years old. Wu Jin Eleven grew up in Malacca, with a hot and stoic personality. This is exactly for Chen Guangsheng's temperament. It was not uncommon for foreign Chinese to beg for a Malay woman. Most of the time, people on both sides do not communicate with each other, the Malays are in one district, and the Chinese are not fluent, let alone intermarried. This is called "divide and rule", the British way of dealing with the colonies. Malays are natural Muslims, can not change, can not choose, married to them to believe in Islam, taboo, Chinese can not do. And the Chinese worship their ancestors, the land, the bodhisattvas, and worship everything, and the Malays can't understand it. The Malays are gentle and shy, planting a little field, not saving money, not counting for their children, and eating one day at a time. In Malaysia, the days are not sad, a large rain forest, a year of rain, a little effort, luck is coming, nervous what? The Chinese can't see this - what does it mean to be alive without saving money or leaving it to their children? As for the small business of the Malays, the Chinese seem almost a joke: this pile of five cents, that pile or five cents, three piles of how much? I don't know. The Chinese have suffered hardships, and they have all the strength to do anything, opening mines, doing business, opening banks, and their lives are open. "You are beggars in your own land, look, the shops are all Chinese!" The British said this about the Malays. In Malaysia in the 1820s and 1830s, the Chinese mined and did business, the Indians cut rubber, the Malays did some farming and fishing business, among the three trades, agriculture and fishing were the poorest, and their life was far inferior to that of the Chinese. "You ate ours and used ours!" The Malays would be so dissatisfied with the Chinese.
Daughter "Love Kiss" In 1937, he became a father, and the small days were enough for him to be busy. The daughter is very beautiful, called "love kiss", which has the meaning of precious and precious. This daughter hurts the most, looks like a mother, but has a temper like him, dares to break in, is not satisfied, and has been thinking about things since she was a child. The sisters went to Singapore to learn to perm their hair, and she didn't go, "What's the point?" "She followed her father to cut the glue, and her father had something to do, she did the work, no less than the men, and the glue workers obeyed her." At the age of 12, she has helped set up a small stall, a cart of cassava, through the paddy fields, and pushed to the city to sell. It was the rainy season, and the water rushed from the river and poured straight into the field, and she grabbed the handlebar and was beaten by the water. The cassava weighed heavily, blocking her, and the water hit her body and ears, and she looked back, and behind her was a canal several meters deep. It was common to die and throw away that year. Wu Jinshi gave birth to 10 children, and 4 daughters were sent to the "Girls' Hall", which is an orphanage run by the British, some eat, some wear, better than the family. There are many children, can not feed, shallow a pot of porridge, spoon down a few times is gone. But the children still came out one by one, no way. As for these 4 children, the love relatives have not seen, and there is no news, or they have died. She was old, with white hair, dark skin, deep eyes, a meter seven in stature, with a little mixed-race look, a top, flowery and thin, very tropical dress. At the age of 78, the skin, hair, and figure have been taken away by time, but a pair of eyes and spirit still exude a kind of wildness and boldness, living like her mother. In her spare time, she also came to the ancestral hall to see, and sat with the same age Runmei, and the two drank tea between them. In Kuala Lumpur, there are many such Chinese ancestral halls, clan relatives and guild halls, hundreds of people, most of whom are of the same surname, and there is time to worship the ancestors. The incense was heavy and a muggy and quiet afternoon.
The superior "Runmei" is that aging makes them equal. The same age, the same surname, a clan relative, and all speak Chaoshan dialect, they became close. But 60 years ago they were two classes. Runmei, 12, does not sell cassava, she studies, is educated in English, works as a nurse at Methodist Girls' School , and has a maid at home. She was a famous person, and her grandfather came over a generation ago, a generation before the beloved family. Her grandfather's name was Chen Xiulian, and on the stone tablet of the ancestral hall, his name was "Xiulian Gong", "My ancestors of the Chinese nationality, for more than a hundred years, sailed terraces and colonized the soil", which is about her grandfather. Grandfather came to mine. In 1848 and 1880, two large tin mines, Larat and Rinta, were produced in perak, northwestern Malaya. In the 1880s, 8 Chinese came here to work as miners. Chen Xiulian was a teenager, not afraid of suffering, and he was clever, and he had a career in a few years. First opened a mine in the bow banana garden, called "Hongfa", and then opened another, called "Longxing", specializing in tin mining, and a road was named after him. At its peak, there were hundreds of people in a large family, 7 wives, 6 children, 25 grandchildren, and each wife had her own servant. The family talks about the old-fashioned. The parenting of the child is very strict, the underage child can have a maid, but be respectful, she washes the dishes, you have to take the dishes down, this is the upbringing. The servant cannot be called "hey" and "hey", the more inferior, the more respectful, the beggar comes to give money. But for the child himself, if one steals something from the other and makes a fuss, both are beaten; the daughter goes to school, and the teacher must first send a whip. Sincerity, honesty, forgiveness, and decency are Chen Xiulian's family rules. An uncle stole the family's gold bars and was expelled from the house by his grandfather, dying without recognition. But the British didn't care about that. You don't recognize your son, but after death, your inheritance will still be divided among him, and this is the law. As for the family's funeral, marriage, worship of ancestors, marrying several aunts and wives... This kind of custom is ignored by the British, according to your own rules. Xiu Liangong had no way, and when he was dying, forced by law, he gave this son a hundred horse yuan, and the other sons each had ten thousand yuan. "It's strict, people care about right and wrong, everything is in order." Runmei said she likes the old rules. "Order was better then than it is now." At the age of 78, she lives alone, and now that the security in Malay is not as good as before, she is always worried about being robbed and beaten. "People are too bad, too naughty, they're soiling the world." She speaks English, uses words well, and even complains are British.
English, the symbol of identity This English is also a symbol of identity. Love kiss does not speak English. In the colonial period, English was the first class, you have to enter the upper echelons, seek decent work, English is a must. In official documents, in government, in court, everything is written in English, and after knowing this, you enter another class. However, the number of British education is limited and is only open to the upper class. The superior refers to the merchants, the nobles, the elite... Malays, Chinese, and Indians all have it, and "superior" is about identity, status, and money, regardless of race. British-educated children talk differently, their etiquette is different, their style is different, and they have to enter high society when they grow up. As for the "inferior", of course, their children are also inferior, the previous generation of rubber, the next generation continues to cut rubber, they speak their mother tongue is enough. In the 1930s, English-speaking, British-educated Malays accounted for less than 0.1 percent of the Malay population. The number of elites must be well controlled, which is the main point of the ruler's management. The British believed that the Chinese, Indians, and Malays should speak their own languages and play their roles, and not challenge other classes. In this ancient colony, the British were truly aristocratic. Until now, Runmei would not talk about Chinese. But that only proved that she came from an extraordinary background. She was forgiven by her own people.
After being imprisoned in 2000, aiqin went to Japan once, and in the park, a group of people bowed to the emperor's statue and called her, but she did not go. "I don't, I don't bow, I don't for the rest of my life." Beginning in 1942 and ending in August 1945, the British were gone, the Japanese were gone, and my father almost died. During World War II, the Japanese occupied Malaysia and ruled for 3 years and 8 months, which was the only period of Japanese rule in Malaysia. She can't forget those days. One afternoon in 1945, three Japanese people came, next to a Taiwanese translator, and asked Wu Jinshi, "What about your husband?" "I don't know." The woman replied, holding 3 children in her hands and one in her belly, and loved her when she was 5 years old, and her two younger sisters were still young. The Japanese did not move, but the Taiwanese were anxious, a slap on the face, the woman's head was tilted, and one ear was deaf. My father was found out of an old house in the suburbs and put in jail for "helping the Communist Party." This is a capital offense. In 1942, the Japanese conquered Malaysia, and the Communists were sworn enemies. Communists, Japanese, British, Malays... In fact, in Chen Guangsheng's mind, these are all the same, he does not care about politics and justice. It was a Communist Party who approached him, "Can you give two bags of rice a month?" "At the time he was a foreman, a little bit of power, two bags of rice a month, which wasn't difficult. The Communists, fighting the Japanese. In his superficial understanding, it was a "good man." Two bags of rice a month, a bag of 200 pounds, were carried out of the British factory for more than a year. As for what the Communist Party stands for, what it opposes, what it does, and where it comes from, he has no idea. In fact, the "Marxist Communist Party" has long existed, and it was established on April 30, 1930, and at the beginning they opposed the British government, went into the forest during World War II, fought guerrillas, and became the main force of anti-Japanese resistance. The "defense against communism" has also begun long ago, and when British rule, "communism" is a taboo. For example, cutting glue, rubber workers entering the garden to search the body, lunch boxes also look, afraid that you will bring rice to the Communist Party to eat. Later, rice was not allowed, only bananas. After a day of drying, there was no food to eat, a dozen bananas went down, and my stomach was cold and greasy. But the more they do this, the more they have to help, the Communist Party is a good person, always saying that it wants to liberate Malaya and resist Japan. As for stealing rice, the Communist Party said it would not commit a crime — even if Chen Guangsheng did. But on the day of the accident, he froze. When the Japanese came to arrest people, among the people who broke into the group was the "Communist Party" who asked him to bring rice. Chen Guangsheng recognized him at a glance, "That man has defected to Japan and become a traitor!" "It's the dad he identified." "Betrayal, betrayal, surrender ... Such things are light, prostitution and murder are all, and everything is chaotic during the Japanese rule. Loving relatives is still young, and I just think that all this is a bit absurd, people are like this today, tomorrow is like that; about justice, more a day a claim. And good people, bad people, relatives, she can't tell and can't think through. Living in this land, she understood one thing, no one can rely on, only on their own. After Dad went to jail, everything changed. When they see the Japanese flag, they must bow; when the soldiers come, they must bow even more, they hold guns, and if they do not bow, they will beat people. The school also changed and began to teach Japanese, whether you are Chinese, Indian, Malay, you can't learn it without learning. It's a lot harder than when they were British. Eight months later, my father came out of prison, too thin, bloodless, white and transparent, with bones coming out of his skin one by one. The Japanese sentenced him. Lying down, pouring water into the stomach, pouring it until the belly bulges up the boss, can't fit it, presses it out with a wooden board, and then irrigates it. Eating worse, a piece of cassava a day, when the wind, Chen Guangsheng saw what to eat. Grass, banana peels thrown by the Japanese, and chili peppers in the yard. At the end of World War II in 1945, Japan surrendered, and "if I didn't surrender, my father would die." After that, Chen Guangsheng changed a person. Eating, drinking, gambling, beating women, drinking today, getting drunk, not hurting children, and the business is getting worse and worse. His outlook on life changed suddenly.
Malaysia is independent but will live on. The Japanese are gone, the British are back, one by one, like a marquee. This time the British stayed for 12 years, from the surrender of Japan in 1945 to the independence of Malaysia in 1957, and in 12 years, ai kin grew into a real girl. At first, someone came to her and asked her if she wanted to marry a rubber worker or a pig. That's the average girl's choice. For a tapping girl, what else can be done? A pair of hands are rough. Cute kiss does not do, the matchmaker walked one after another, she did not marry, but life seems to be getting better. She was eating more and more, she had money to go to school, and when she was cutting rubber, she heard that the British were leaving, and that the "UMNO" they were fighting for independence. UMNO was founded in 1946, the year the British came back and went, and after losing power once, they thought the country was too loose. So a "Federation of Malaya" was created, and the Chinese, Indians, and Malays all had citizenship rights. The Malays disagreed, especially the nobility, the elite, the intellectuals. In this land, they have always had privileges, and suddenly they are equal, how can it be? On 11 May, UMNO was established as the National Wiccan Unity Agency, which refers to the Malays. On August 2 of the same year, the "Indian Congress Party" was established, and three years later there was the "MCA" to represent the Chinese. Umno has the most people and the most power. From its inception, UMNO occupied more than two-thirds of the seats in the National Assembly, and it was not until the third election in 1969 that it lost this number for the first time. At present, of the 222 seats in the Malaysian Parliament, MCA has only 7 seats. As for the "Commonwealth" and "Citizenship", these were soon broken because UMNO opposed it. At that time, the love was still young. At the age of 16, she began to recognize words, cutting glue in the morning, learning to cut clothes at 1 p.m., ordinary accounts, as soon as her brain passed, she cleared, and her father said that if you are a son, I will definitely send you to do business. Dad is old, but he is still cutting rubber in the Rubber Plantation of the British, and has become a foreman. The boss is very serious about him, because he always has a way to cut more than others. After 12 years, his temperament returned, he was not willing, he did not want to go on like that, the wine was still drunk, but the work also began to do. The rubber plantation is big and deep, the deepest part, the weed is how tall a person is, the rubber tree grows inside, people can't get in, Chen Guangsheng will take people to cut the grass, the grass is cut, the snake also drills out, that work is not easy to do. One day in 1957, he finished work as usual, usually received the salary and left, but this day the boss gave him a letter of recommendation, all in English, Chen Guangsheng did not know a word. "Take it and get a job, whoever looks at it will want you." The boss told him so. The boss left, never came back, and this year Malaysia became independent. The British also left, and UMNO became the administrator of the country. It is said that the Malays, Indians and Chinese rule together, but everyone knows that the Umno people have the final say. Everything is different, it is not good or bad. People should be divided, Malays are first, Chinese and Indians are second. Loving kisses and dads are second class. In fact, I don't hate the Malays, they are quiet, shy, usually lazy, people are not bad, they can't do business, how can they suddenly become first-class people. This is called "Malay supremacy" and is written in the Constitution. It is okay for a second-class person to become a first-class person, and you have to marry a first-class person and convert. Marry a Malay man, believe in Islam, wrap up in a turban – how does that work? Love and affection. Chinese school she can no longer study, the school should be reformed, become public, as for the language of instruction, either Malay, or English, or not to graduate. Because Malaysia is Malay, Chinese and Indians are outsiders. When he left his hometown and first arrived in Malaya, Chen Guangsheng was an outsider, and the British were also outsiders when they were young, and now half a life has passed, and he is used to living in old age - still an outsider. Where is home, China can't go back. This year, I was 20 years old and saw electricity for the first time. An electrician came to her house, looked at her, and said he was going to connect the wires. She invited him into the house, a young man, from the city. "He has craftsmanship, from the city." That was her first thought. "Other girls like it when they see the handsome, I won't, I think things." She values opportunities and the future more. At the time, electricians were a fashionable trade that could take her out of the village and out of the rubber plantations. She wanted to marry this man. She looked at him, looking down at him, her braids and leaning against the door. The man's eyes were sharp, and he picked her up at a glance. "I was beautiful when I was a girl, and he liked me when he saw me!" She had suffered hardships, had a fierce temperament, and had a different demeanor than other girls. The marriage was thus settled.
Loving the kiss succeeded and he became her husband, and later became a burden to her, which is a later word. In the next 60 years, she changed from a hazy, longing girl to a mother of 7 children. Poor, bitter, rich, nothing can make her afraid, this is probably another kind of sadness. After all, whose life is not absurd. At that time, Chen Guangsheng had fiercely opposed this family affair. The young man was not surprising and had no property, and only knew a craft. He burst into tears. Crying tears your heart out, like you want to cry out the tears of a lifetime. Loving relatives is still young, and I don't know that the luck and misfortune, turbulence and changes in this life will begin with this cry. In 1967, the Business of the Chinese was generally getting better and better, and the Ministers of Industry and Commerce and the Minister of Finance were all Chinese. Although there are many restrictions, in terms of economic policy, this Umno head named "Tunku Duck DuLaman" is still quite caring for the Chinese. In the 1960s, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and South Korea became rich one by one, and they were called the "Four Asian Tigers" and were economically disadvantaged. Life in Malaysia is much better. The days of loving relatives are not good. Men are sick, diabetic, and not afraid of mouth, temper is getting worse and worse. Seven children, one smaller than the other, were taken care of by her alone, inside and out. Many people around are getting rich, and loved ones also want to try. But all the belongings are only 300 yuan, and once the loss is over. Men disagree: What business does a woman's family do? What do you know? It was the spirit that played a role, the one that Dad had when he went to Nanyang. This is the gene left to her by the previous generation, in her bones, in the blood, can not be thrown away and can not escape. At the age of 30, she went out, took out all 300 yuan, gambled, and it was over. She put on the first batch of clothes, some good style socks, pants, small shoes, a piece of 5 cents, changed hands and sold 1 piece. Love relatives have learned to cut clothes, sharp eyes, people love beauty, the goods are always better than others, not quality, is that style. People began to come to her, initially some of her peers, "Give me a little of your goods, two dozen or three dozen, I'll sell in another district, I can't stop you." "So everyone came to shop, sometimes the stalls were opened for an hour and they were sold out, and there were still people waiting at the door when they came home." 1 piece of clothing is sold from 1 piece to 2 pieces, and 12 pieces are earned in a dozen. At that time, as for Chinese, religion, first-class, second-class, etc., many restrictions, she did not have time to pay attention. Poor and scared, she just wanted to live. "Money is good to make! People send money to you themselves, and my business is getting bigger and bigger, going to the factory to get clothes, one car at a time. After 5 years, guess what, I spent 860,000 yuan and bought a factory! "Love dear memories. On the day she took down the factory, she was tired and tired, and the whole person was hollowed out. But she succeeded! She wanted to stop anyone who came by and say to him, look at me. But no, she was quieter than ever, and amazed at why happiness could hurt people. The feeling was very internal and personal, and she understood her father in this moment. Why did he come and why did he stay. Because here, everything can be, legend can also be, as long as you suffer and don't take it seriously. On the way home, she calculated that after that, she would go further away to do goods, go to Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, and make the business bigger, so that 7 children would have no worries about food and clothing. But back home is another world. The man asked her out loud, why don't you cook? Out so long? I am hungry. She washed her hands and went to cook. A few years later, her husband died.
"Chinese, burn it" just did business for two years, love is full of business. "Honestly, I don't have any opinions on politics, I make clothes every day, and I don't read the newspapers!" She didn't know the limelight had changed. Including many of her Chinese, life is getting better, but the Malays are still poor. Although they have privileges, that is the business of the elites. In the government office, 8 out of 10 people are Malays, but does that have anything to do with the people? The Chinese can't get in, they don't even enter, they concentrate on business, and they live a life where they can hardly see Malays in the business field. "The Malays were not likely to do business at that time, and although the Malays who were educated in English were very powerful, they were not the same kind of people as the common people!" Love kiss said. There are also guarantees, such as taxis, which only the Malays can drive, but this income is close to the minimum guarantee, and it is okay to live and get rich. For example, malays go to school and have lower admission scores than Chinese. But this convenience is not caused by conceit, but by more inferiority. Civil servants are also only for the Malays. But the average civil servant has a low income and is just subsistence. The Chinese and Malays have little contact, and the educated are better off. In college, you can be friends with the Malays, talk, chat, swim together, but you can't mention politics, privilege, religion. By 1969, Malay incomes were below the poverty line, and half of the Malay families in West Malaysia earned less than RM200 a month. They are even poorer than Indians, with a poverty rate of 64.8 per cent for Malays, 26 per cent for Chinese and 39.2 per cent for Indians. In 1969, UMNO lost power in the general election and the Chinese opposition won. The Chinese won over the Malays. The victors paraded through the streets holding banners and, as they passed the residence of the Minister of State of Selangor, they fought with the Malays. On that day, the beloved hid in the house, afraid to go out, afraid and stuffy. She always remembered the Malays she had seen as a child, and they were lazy and shy. How did it come to be what it is today? So many Chinese were killed. She heard that someone had come out of the theater garden and was directly strafed. Martial law lasted for 5 days, rioted for half a month, 196 people died, not all Chinese, but also Malays, 439 wounded, 39 people simply disappeared, can not be found. "You are beggars in your own land" and "The shops are all Chinese", this has been said to the Malays since then. It has its usefulness in creating hatred, and for the colonizers, division is easier to manage. At the time of the general election, people's positions became clearer, the Chinese voted for the opposition, the Malays voted for UMNO, and the more they hated, the firmer their position of opposition. But who has benefited and who has suffered? Love does not understand.
What are good times and who knows? Many things are not understood, and there is no need to understand. At 78 years old, she has seen too much. A generation is old, another generation is born, as for what is a good era and what is a bad era, who knows? She put 6,000 yuan in the ancestral hall, hung up her father's photo, and offered an offering when she had time. After the age of 70, she has a concept of death, the previous generation died, and then it was time for her, death is like queuing, Dad is in front, she is behind. She was old and lived with her son. The son is not easy, the business has lost money, go around, and borrow from her, borrowing hundreds of thousands of pesos. To say that it is to borrow is actually to give. Her generation is like this, the previous generation asked them to want, the next generation also asked them to want, filled in here, blocked there, a lifetime passed. At the age of 78, she still likes to go out alone, and after decades of being alone, she can't stand having more than one driver. But it's not like it used to be. "Beware of being robbed and beaten, dangerous!" The son reminded her. Smashing and robbing has only happened in recent years. You can't stop walking, don't look back, that means what are you waiting for, a motorcycle immediately copied past you, the bag is gone. Overpasses, roadsides, cars, these places do not stay, night road less walking, everyone is in danger. Even the home is equipped with monitors, mobile phones are connected to the Internet, feel free to take a look: is it stolen? The smashers and robbers are generally Indians, but also lower Malays. From rubber plantations to slums, Indians have been almost abandoned for a hundred years. Isolation, neglect, poverty... Not only Indians, but also Malays carry emotions. "If you're a Chinese passing through the Malay district, it's better not to stay," said Mr. Chen, a younger generation in the Chan family. That doesn't feel good. When going to the hospital, the Chinese are more expensive than the Malays; when buying a house, the Chinese Indians pay the full amount, and the Malays have a 7% discount. Islam allows Malays to be polygamous, and children to be raised by the government, not Indians and Chinese. After Mahathir came to power in 1981, the privileges of the Malays became more pronounced. As a result, as before, one wave supported UMNO and the other supported the opposition, and the Chinese felt, "The opposition party will come up!" "Will it really be good? Love don't know. She had met the British, the Japanese, the Communists, UMNO. One by one they came and went, and one by one they left, and the days did not change. The relationship between people has not changed much. At the age of 78, Aiqin started a small business again, not much, but this is her own, and she does not give it to her son. In her eyes, the government, the son, the political party... It's not reliable, only the money is real.