Before Indonesia's independence in the last century, Chinese in Nanyang, most of them started from being "new customers" and slowly learned to do business in foreign countries.
Due to the long history of Chinese people coming to Indonesia to make a living, they have formed a relatively large and relatively independent ethnic group in the local society. They are also Indonesian Chinese, but they have gradually evolved into several branches with different origins and classes. Over the years, the author has been engaged in biographical writing in Indonesia, because of his work and interests, he has made a little observation and research on the relevant historical evolution, and now he has sorted it out to provide some interesting historical materials, and also asked the Fang family to supplement and correct.
Stingy "Senior Baba"
Judging from their mutual and respective titles, there are roughly the following types:
One, "Baba (Baba pronunciation: Pa)". What is "Baba"? —— The descendants of Chinese born of the intermarriage between early overseas Chinese and indonesian indigenous women. The male one is called Baba and the female one is called Nyonya.
At that time, the overseas Chinese who crossed from china to the south naturally did not know the local language. In order to earn a living, they left early and returned late, and their children began to learn the language from swaddling, and could only speak the local dialect with their mother, who did not know Chinese. At that time, most of the mothers who were locals had no culture, and the children were all popular slang, and these children also learned some chinese fathers' hometown dialects, and the two languages were mixed with each other, forming a very special "Chinese Malay language" for the "Baba". Of course, "Baba" can speak a pure and fluent local dialect, which is a characteristic that distinguishes them from other Overseas Chinese.
Old photographs of wealthy Chinese in the railway town of Purwokerto in Central Java, taken by Mr. "Spring Rain", a hong Kong literary friend.
Although the patrilineal ancestors of "Baba" are overseas Chinese, they are emotionally closer to their mother's side, and their living habits are not much different from those of Indonesians. In the Dutch-Indian era, some wealthy "Baba" were single-minded in keeping up with the Dutch and striving to receive Dutch education, thus becoming the "darlings" of the Dutch rulers. In this way, they began to look down on the Chinese who had just come from completely Chinese descent, and especially looked down on the new overseas Chinese who had just come from China and could only engage in lower-level work.
These so-called high-ranking "Baba Baba" may not know that in some places, there are many "Baba" compatriots with the same identity as them, but in fact, they have been living the bottom life of a peddler and a pawn. For example, in Tangerang near Jakarta (formerly known as Wenden in Chinese), there are still a large number of Chinese descendants, which are no different from the Indonesian locals. The Chinese community here occupies a very special position in Indonesian society, they are the oldest group of Chinese permanently settled in Indonesia, which can also be called a typical type of "Baba".
As early as the early 15th century, their ancestors came to today's Tangerang, an industrial city on the western edge of Jakarta. Nowadays, the Chinese here are different from the Indonesian Chinese community in the traditional impression in many ways, they are basically working class, either as farmers, or as tricycle drivers, small traders and shop owners, most of them belong to the ordinary people who lead cars and sell pulp, and there are few rich people with deep wealth.
Because they had been intermarried with local Sundanese and Badawis for many years, they had darker skin, did not know Mandarin at all, and did not even know the Chinese surnames of their ancestors. They are well integrated with the local peoples and have no opposition to each other. Although they are of chinese Indonesian descent, the values of the Tanglang "Baba" Chinese are very different from those of the Chinese living in Jakarta, Medan and Pontianak, and are basically exactly the same as the locals.
Nyonya's Yp (an Indonesian term for an older woman) who lives in the township of Tangerang is boiling brown sugar. (Photo credit: Guardians of Tradition by Leo, Jakarta Post)
Nevertheless, these "Baba", who do not understand Chinese and have lost the concept of Chinese vernacularity, are after all related to the Chinese, and this community still retains a large number of ancient Chinese traditions, and they still live those traditional Chinese festivals according to Chinese customs. When the New Year is over, I will also buy a Spring League and paste it on the door, although I can't read Ding, but I know that what is written on it is an auspicious word of blessing peace.
A couple of Chinese newcomers dressed in Qing Dynasty-style costumes for the wedding. The ancestors of the Chinese here came to Indonesia since the Qing Dynasty, and they may think that this ancient costume still represents traditional Chinese culture. (Photo credit: Guardians of Tradition by Leo, Jakarta Post)
In addition, once upon a time (and now it is almost the same), some of Indonesia's large cities with higher status "Baba", although they do not know Chinese characters, most of them like to read classical Chinese novels translated into Malay, and they have great respect for the 100 single and eight generals of "Water Margin" and Liu, Guan, Zhang, Zhuge Liang, Cao Cao and other characters in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".
The Indonesian version of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" Taoyuan Sanjieyi and Zhao Zilong single-rider rescue Ah Dou books that I saw in a bookstore in Surabaya. The picture below shows an Indonesian Chinese martial arts novel in the same bookstore.
However, they and other Overseas Chinese are disgusted with each other and are more difficult to get along with.
I went to Bandung Cai to write a biography of Mr. Li Xiangsheng, the predecessor of the overseas Chinese leader, and his eldest daughter, Li Huizhu, told me one thing:
"In the sixties and seventies, when our friends got married, everyone would give gifts. Bandung has some friends who read Dutch in their early years and have no Chinese education (i.e., the aforementioned Baba), who seem to be a little unsatisfactory in terms of human sophistication. For example, once my classmates got married, those friends who were educated by foreigners, 16 people together bought a sheet to give gifts, and very carefully wrote the list on the paper. When my mother knew, she was very dissatisfied, and she said to me: Huizhu, if you want to express your heart, you must buy a separate thing to give to others, you can't be so stingy and give people jokes. ”
All in all, during the period when the Dutch ruled Indonesia, the "Baba" were a group of Chinese who felt good about themselves and had a higher social status.
Overseas Chinese students with a sense of superiority and new customers of the peasant worker style
Second, overseas Chinese students. What is an expatriate student? That is, my parents and grandparents are Chinese, but I and even my parents' generation are overseas Chinese born and raised in Indonesia.
The older generation of overseas Chinese students can not only speak Mandarin, but also speak the dialect of their hometown in China's ancestral homeland, and their Indonesian dialect is also very authentic. They all identify with their homeland and regard Indonesia as their homeland. Because Indonesia has interrupted Chinese education for more than 30 years, the younger generation of overseas Chinese students today will not know or speak Chinese if their parents do not send them to Singapore, Taiwan or Chinese mainland to study. Compared with overseas Chinese from China, overseas Chinese students have a sense of ownership in Indonesia. In addition, although overseas Chinese students are not as hard-working as the Chinese from China and dare to fight and dare to break through, their demeanor is more calm and civilized than the overseas Chinese "new customers" who have just arrived in Indonesia, which makes them talk about their origins, and they also have a little sense of superiority.
An expatriate girl riding an imported Italian motorcycle in the 1950s.
Third, "new customers". The so-called "new customers", as the name suggests, the overseas Chinese newcomers who have just come to Indonesia to seek a life are also. Except for a very small number of rich sons whose parents and elders have already created a foundation here and who have directly inherited or assisted their parents in managing their property as soon as they come, the vast majority of "new customers" are poor domestic families, who come from the bumps of the sea, and as soon as they come ashore, they are all dressed in rustic style, behave in a restrained manner, and look afraid, which is almost the same as the migrant workers who are looking for an opportunity to get out in China's big cities today. In the Dutch and Indian era, the "new customers" were mostly engaged in the small business of walking the streets and alleys and selling baskets, so the "new guests" at that time, like the newly enlisted recruits in the army, were the lowest class of overseas Chinese.
Only when the "new customer" has lived in Indonesia for ten years and eight years and has become a good job of the local situation, can it gradually evolve into an "old customer". At this time, some of the "new customers" of that year, have achieved a little success in their careers, most of them will find an overseas Chinese student to be a wife in the local area, and those who are married will try their best to take over their wives and children in China. They are still working very hard and hard, but they are quite calm. Chatting with the new compatriots after tea and dinner, while they were training or encouraging this batch of "new customers", they couldn't help but think about it and reminisced with emotion, how he had done a very simple thing when he was a "new customer" in the past... (The above narrative refers to the relevant content of "The Vicissitudes of Overseas Chinese" provided by his late best friend Mr. Hui Sunxiong (Chao Hua," published by the Hong Kong Commercial Press in April 1990, I hereby explain and thank you!) ）
Fuqing overseas Chinese predecessors treat "new customers" like this
Among the overseas Chinese from all provinces of Indonesia, the help of Fuqing people to "new customers" is the most touching.
Another Fuqing man from his hometown from the south came ashore, penniless, empty-handed, looking around, dazed. How does he live? Don't worry, a person who has the ability of relatives, friends, relatives and friends will naturally be taken in by relatives and friends and arranged for a job to make a living; if there are no relatives and no reason, or relatives and friends are incompetent, they will certainly be taken in by a certain "head family" (people with prestige in the same village).
The "head family" led people to visit a few fellow villagers who had already saved a little, and then said: "So-and-so's old family, when they first arrived, have no money to do things, let's help him do a "dry meeting". What is a "dry meeting"? It is a kind of interest-free economic mutual aid organization spontaneously established by overseas Chinese in Fuqing, which is specially used to raise funds to help "new customers" or people who have suffered unexpected disasters. As soon as the "head family" opened its mouth, as long as the fellow villagers had money in their hands, they would never stand idly by. You are twenty, he is fifty, put together a hundred or two hundred shields, and the "new customer" can take the money to make a small deal.
Doing business slowly makes money, and then return the money one by one, one year or two years can be, three years or four years can be repaid does not matter. But business is not necessarily successful, there is also a sub did not earn, but the cost of the loss. How is this good? You still don't have to be too discouraged, Fuqing people are different from the bold atmosphere of other people, at this time it is highlighted. The villagers look at it, as long as they don't eat, drink and gamble to lose the old money, not only do not want you to pay back, but also do "dry meeting" for you, until they learn to do business.
This unique way of helping "new customers" is simply heart-warming and tireless, and has almost become a rule established by overseas Chinese in Fuqing throughout Indonesia.
Anecdotes of the early years of the little newcomers "letting go"
In November 1937, a small 10-year-old "new guest", He Longchao (the protagonist of the first biography of overseas Chinese written by the author in Indonesia in 2004), came to the home of a family of He surnamed Fuqing in Temanggung, a small county town in Central Java, Indonesia, and also received the help of this kind of "cadre association" from his fellow villagers.
In the first few days, He Longchao, who had just come from his hometown in China, felt fresh and interesting everywhere. Children are always the most cold to eat, and Long Chao is no exception. He took a little money given by His grandmother (Fuqing dialect: Mother), went around the town, and found that there were many watermelons here, although they were not large, but they were very sweet, and after cutting, there was a grain of sugar in the middle of the "core" set in the gourd. There is also an Indonesian, carrying a burden to sell a kind of kebab food, is grilled with chicken, called "satay". Bought a few strings to taste, fragrant and spicy, and with a little sweetness, which Fuqing did not have.
In addition, the Indonesian Patong people open a small restaurant "Nasipadang" is also very strange: customers come in, do not have to order, just sit down at the table, the owner will immediately make the dishes that have been prepared, covered in a glass cabinet one by one curry chicken nuggets, fried chicken nuggets (Ayankolun), dried fried fish or steamed crab, black curry sauce beef, steamed eggplant, etc., and a few cardamom, bowl by bowl, for customers to eat. After eating, the shop guy came over with a smile on his face, just glanced at the dishes in the bowl, instantly understood in his chest, ate, wrote on the bill, did not eat without paying back, subtracted the rest, point charges, and there would be no mistake at all. The guests left, and the leftover dishes were brought back to the glass cabinet bowl by bowl, and the guests came again, and then laid out and eaten. So back and forth, after eating, wash the dishes, fill the dishes and then serve them to the guests.
He Longchao thought at that time that if it was a restaurant in China, the boss also dared to sell it like this, and it was strange not to scold the guests to death!
But in Indonesia, this kind of restaurant business is not good. He later understood that this was Indonesia's most famous Patong rice, which was a must for the Nanyang Islands. Its biggest feature is that it is prepared in advance for a variety of main dishes and side dishes, there are fried, boiled, marinade, cold mix and other varieties, condiments are mostly made of chili sauce, turmeric juice, coconut juice, curry, etc., and the prepared dishes are placed on the plate in the glass window, and can be taken as you like. Eat "Nasipadang", the most special of its green pepper paste, which put a lot of palm oil, fragrant, oily, you only need to eat a few times, if you do not go to padang restaurant for a few days, the heart is like a cat scratching itch unbearable, it can be said that like opium is simply addictive.
When he first came to the town of Light, there were also things that made Xiao He Longchao angry.
In the nearby countryside, there is a group of Indonesian children, dark-skinned, who come out to play every day and run around in groups. Seeing the white and pure Little Longchao, he squeezed his eyebrows and shouted at him, "Kinakina, Babipu for a chicken!" Babipu for a chicken! "Calling and calling, as if with ill intentions. Long Chao couldn't understand it, learned to listen to his mother, and then asked his mother: What do those little fans call me? Mom told Long Chao that they were cursing you and calling you a little white pig from China. Long Chao was angry, but he did not immediately ignore the Indonesian children, but as soon as he had the opportunity, he pestered the adults to learn Indonesian, he learned quickly, and in just one week, he could confront those little boys. Scolding urgently, Xiao Fanzai ran over to beat him, Long Chao was not as tall as them, but he was not afraid, he pounced on them and fought with them, his clothes were torn, his hands were scratched and bleeding, and he did not cry. After fighting twice, the local child saw that this Chinese child was not good at bullying, and did not dare to provoke him again.
A statue of a farmer in a light-filled urban area.
After a month or two of hard work, He Longchao's Indonesian level has been able to chat with the locals for a while. He sometimes helped Yi Milk sell things in his small shop, and the account was always calculated quickly and accurately. Sometimes Abba would take him to the countryside to sell cloth, travel through several nearby villages, and become very familiar with some old customers. So Long Chao told his parents that he would also do business and go to the countryside one by one to "release accounts" to Indonesians.
The so-called "money lending" is to issue small loan sharks to Indonesians who want to buy things in the countryside. At that time, the indonesian small towns and rural natives had a habit of buying things and liked to borrow money from Chinese, they thought that Chinese were very rich, so they had a superstitious idea: "Borrowing Chinese money to buy things may bring me good luck!" ”
Indonesia is beautiful and rich in products, in addition to the endless fish and shrimp in the sea, more is a variety of fruits; in front of the house, on both sides of the road, there are fruit trees everywhere. Hungry, pick a hanging banana, peel and eat of course no problem, pay attention to a little, then cut the inner gourd into a section, roll some rice batter, fried in a hot oil pot into a golden color, it is simply a high-grade snack; thirsty, if you don't want to drink spring water well water, hold a coconut back with a knife to split, clean and sweet coconut juice to drink, it is refreshing. Coupled with Indonesia's tropical location, the annual temperature is around 312 degrees, the locals wear a shorts and undershirt for life, and there is rarely hunger and cold.
Because the natural environment is too unique, Indonesians are optimistic and romantic by nature, they have no concept of saving money, and they spend money immediately after earning money, spend it and borrow it, and then pay it back.
The above habits of the local indigenous people have brought business opportunities to the courageous and extremely industrious Fuqing Rongqiao, and a profession of "letting go" in the countryside has come into being. The so-called "accounting" was a kind of small and micro amount of usury at that time, which seemed to be the professional field of The Indonesian Fuqing people, and overseas Chinese from other provinces had not been involved. Surabaya, Bandung, Semarang, solo Many of the older generation of Overseas Chinese from Fuqing have had this experience. By 1942, after the Japanese occupied Indonesia, Indonesians seemed to be smarter, and the "release of accounts" slowly faded out of the market.
When He Longchao first arrived in Central Java, Indonesia, only a few months later, he proposed to the adults that he also wanted to go to the countryside to settle accounts. When the villagers who lived in the same big house heard him say this, they all praised the child's brain and ambition. There are twenty or thirty of them, one person out of two shields, fifty or sixty guilders to do the capital, you can go to the "account". He Longchao had just turned 10 years old at the time, so the young child wanted to borrow this kind of "dry meeting" money, and naturally his parents were the guarantors.
In 1946, He Longchao was engaged to Lin Yuzhen, a Chinese expatriate girl, in Indonesia.
How did the Long Dynasty release its accounts? He came to the countryside to find out whose family wanted to buy something or do something, so he took the initiative to send the money to the door. Javanese have a characteristic and are accustomed to expressing their needs in a more tactful way. The person who wanted to borrow the money looked at it, and before I could say anything, the Chinese kid brought the money, so he was very happy, and he extended his thumb: "Agabaga!" (Hello) Then lend me 5 shields okay? ”
Long Chao nodded, felt 5 shields from his pocket with his right hand, and handed them over with a smile, the business was closed. On the island of Java, the central Javanese are the most moderate, and the country farmers are also polite. At that time, people were extremely simple and simple, yahua put accounts, only need to remember in the small book which day to lend a few shields, what time to repay, and even the borrower's signature. For example, just now the person borrowed 5 guilders of money, said that after 15 days to pay back 7 shields, then come to collect the money.
Among the Fuqing people who "put accounts", He Longchao, a small "new customer" who went to primary school and can write and speak, is already a literate reader, and there are many fuqing new customers who are much older than him, who are illiterate in China, Chinese can not speak, can only speak the Fuqing dialect "sweet potato dialect", and learning Indonesian is also very slow. When I arrived in Indonesia, I was blind even more blind without knowing a single letter. However, they also do this kind of "accounting" business, can not write, how to remember the name of the borrower? Then draw a picture on the book instead, you can understand it yourself! Just like Gao Yubao, an illiterate writer in the Chinese army at that time, he also wrote a very influential autobiographical novel "Gao Yubao" by drawing pictures, which was later even translated into seven or eight foreign languages and distributed to several countries. The human miracle created by the older generation in that year is such a cow! Even if you are a doctor who learns to be rich in five cars, you may not have such a big impact, so you have to obey.
I was in Indonesia, and in order to learn more about the situation, I also went to the Bandung Fuqing Hometown Association for an interview. Mr. Chen Qingzhang, the secretary general of the association, a 70-year-old expatriate student, said that when his father first came to Indonesia, he used drawing pictures to remember people's names.
How to remember it? For example, my father put an account on an Indonesian named "Slip of the Tongue" (transliteration), and he had to write down the debtor's name. But his father could neither write Chinese nor Indonesian characters, so he used his brain: the pronunciation of the word "lament" was similar to the pronunciation of "shoes" worn on the feet of Fuqing dialect, so his father drew a shoe on the book. The pronunciation of the word "slip" seemed to mean that the Fuqing dialect was hanging in mid-air, and my father drew another line obliquely on the shoe, so that he could call out the name of "slip" at a glance. Ha! This is what my father told me personally when he was alive...
"People back then, unlike now, would not steal and slip, and they borrowed money and did not rarely pay their debts." Mr. Chen Qingzhang said that if they all borrowed money and did not repay it, there would be no such business of letting go of accounts done by Fuqing people.
Some people may ask, when He Longchao was a child, how much was the 5 guilders of money that he gave to others? Is a few bucks worth borrowing? You don't know how much money you had back then! 3 shields can buy back 100 pounds of good rice, and 10 shields can buy a dark and polished Dutch "Fonai" brand bicycle. Therefore, 15 days can earn back 2 shields, the profit is already very rich.
As soon as the agreed repayment time arrived, Long Chao went to ask for the account. Although he had to walk a long way over the mountains, he did not go empty-handed every time, and he also carried a few pieces of cloth, and by the way, he did another piece of cloth business. People here buy cloth, they also like to pay on credit, and when the clothes are worn, they will pay back the money to buy cloth.
In general, He Longchao's memories of this experience are mostly warm and pleasant.
"It was so nice that the people of the countryside were full of light in that era!" Although people are not rich, they can really do it all night. Sitting in Mr. He's room at night, listening to his memories of the pleasant past, the old man's face would overflow with a kind smile, and his wide brow would become more and more stretched. We were also infected by his good mood and relaxed.
Listen to him for an example:
"Once I went to ask for an account, it was late, and it was an Indonesian old man who borrowed money, and I happened to meet him on the road. Seeing me, the old man said, Ah, I want to go out to watch a play, the door of my house is only a board pedal, you go and push it open. I put all my money under the pillow on the bed, how much I owe you, how much to pay back, you go and get it yourself. Well, goodbye! The old man was very happy and went to see the play as soon as he waved. I went to get the money as he said, and when I looked, it was like that. ”
In his later years, Mr. He Longchao, after telling the author about the above experience before his death, looked back on the past and could not help but sigh with emotion: "At that time, the natives of the Indonesian countryside were really simple and kind, completely unlike some of our Chinese, who loved to play with their hearts and eyes, calculated others at every turn, ate your money and told you to have bitterness! ”
So, to this day, what is the author's personal experience in Indonesia over the years? As far as some of the people and certain things I have encountered can probably be described by the idiom of mixed feelings. If it is expressed in a simpler word, it can only be "huh"...
In 2007, I took a photo while interviewing in the old town of Jakarta.