In brave search of Fujian roots

IT was when China announced its no-visa rule earlier this year that two friends seized the opportunity to travel to the Fujian Province to learn more about their Foochow roots.

Diana Lin and Grace Tiong, two remarkable women in their 60s and 70s, respectively, braved the journey without knowing anyone from that part of China.

Their mutual friend Veronica Wong was sceptical: “You two are really brave, especially now that you are both past the age of 60.

“Even if you could find your ancestral villages, would you still have any relatives there?
“Must you really go?”

The two friends just chuckled at the remark, and went ahead anyway.

From Malaysia to Fujian

Kanowit-born Diana and Sarikei-born Grace have travelled together many times, having gone to China’s Yunnan before the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, the Fujian trip, which was initiated by Diana, was their first time travelling without being a part of an organised tour group.

“Being in a big group would not afford us that luxury of pursuing our personal objectives,” said Diana, who engaged a tour agent in Xiamen to arrange the return flight tickets via online.

Upon arrival in Xiamen, the two ventured out to travel, by land, to Minqing County in Fujian, home of their ancestors.

Diana, now residing in Seremban, said her parents arrived in Kanowit from Fujian in the 1940s.

She had attended the Kanowit Rural Improvement Secondary School (now Sedaya) before landing a job in Miri and later, joining the Shell Company to become its business analyst.

Grace, a fourth-generation Foochow-Sarawakian, said her great grandparents arrived in Sarawak in the early 1900s.

She received secondary education in St Anthony’s School in Sarikei.

Like Diana, Grace later came to Miri to work, where she landed a job as a business analyst at a private hospital, and continued on there until retirement.

On their Fujian adventure, Grace remarked: “We both did think that we might disappear and never see Sarawak again.

“Well, wonder of wonders, I believe that God’s mercy got us through.”

Xiamen’s highlights

Upon their arrival in Xiamen, Diana and Grace were picked up by a contracted local tour guide, Ling Ze Sing.

“Our Xiamen outing was very exciting,” said Grace.

“We were brought to the Gulangyu (Island), also well known as the capital of piano in Asia.

“It was so clean and serene, it looked like a movie set!”

The two later found out about the famous oyster fritters costing RM4 a piece.
“The fritters were really delicious and authentic. We did not regret buying them – although, in Fuzhou City later, we bought them at 50 sen apiece!” said Diana.

They also got to visit the 400-year-old Round Mud Castles – also called ‘tulous’ –famous for their history of being a safe abode for the Hakka people who had migrated from northern China to the south, fleeing from the barbaric Mongols.

Today, these ‘tulous’ are listed as a Unesco World Heritage site. Each has two storeys and accommodated more than 200 residents.

“We paid 10 Chinese yuan to visit a room and get a view from the second storey.

“It was quite unfortunate, however, that meals were not included in our tour, which would have been an eye-opening experience for us to compare the culinary similarities and differences of Hakka food in China and Malaysia,” said Diana.

Village of King Sar

The two later reached Diana’s ancestral village, King Sar, also known as the village of origin of many Foochow tycoons of Sibu.

“It was extraordinary,” said Diana.

“I met my Fujian relative Ling San Ping and a cousin Ling Teck Liong, the village headman. It was like magic that they knew about our arrival after our driver had sent words about some overseas relatives coming.

“We stayed at Teck Liong’s place, which was big and modern.”

Diana said Teck Liong was able to relate to her everything about their clan, even showing her the handwritten genealogy book.

“The book goes back to seven generations. I learned the names of my Fujian grandfather and other direct ancestors.

“I really must thank my ancestors for having painstakingly recorded the Ling family’s history.

“This is so amazing!”

Teck Liong also brought his guests to see the original home of Diana’s father, at Wu Li, which was quite nearby.

“It was a very emotional moment for me when I stood there and remembered my father, who from here, travelled all the way to Kanowit so many years ago to start a new life.”

Incredible family reunion

They later went to Grace’s ancestral village, Nee Du, about a 20-minute drive from King Sar.

“Was it fate or coincidence for me to find my grandmother’s Fujian mud house? There was no prior arrangement from Sarawak. It just happened,” exclaimed Grace.

She related about her paternal great-grandparents having arrived in Sibu in 1908, and settling down at a site near the Chung Cheng Secondary School in Sibu.

Her grandmother had told her about her Fujian mud-walled house, with its small windows, in Nee Du.

“Our driver, Ling How Cheok, had told Teck Liong about my wish to visit Nee Du. Immediately, connections were made and we were taken to the Tiong Ancestral Hall.

“They knew exactly where to find my grandmother’s house! And yes, it was exactly as she had described it,” Grace enthused.

She later found out that the ancestral hall, despite the implication of the name, was not a temple and neither was it a memorial place.

“It’s a real living accommodation for the present generation, but there are lots of inscriptions on the walls indicating the family history,” she said.

At the hall, Grace met an uncle, Tiong Hua Yung.

“It was incredible to be able to meet an uncle in Nee Du. This was all unplanned!”

The reunion with Uncle Tiong called for a celebratory dinner that evening. After dinner, Grace and Diana checked into a mini hotel near the Tiong Ancestral Hall.

A legendary deity

Another amazing thing that Grace discovered was that the Tiongs of Nee Du had an ancestor, Zhang Sheng Jun, who was a healer and a martial artist.

Ancestor Zhang has more than 350 temples around the world, including one in Melaka, commemorating his life.

He is now regarded as a deity, having been known to bring about miracles during and even after his lifetime.

Born in 1139 AD, the man was also known as ‘Zhang Ci Guan’, and he hailed from Yong Tai County, where his home village was ‘Yue Zhou’, or ‘Moon Village’.

He was also known by many other names such as ‘Jian Lei Yue’, ‘Wu Lei Fa Zhu’, ‘Fa Zhu Gong’, and ‘Zhang Gong Sheng Jun’.

His father was a court official, Zhang De Ren, and his mother was Guo Shi Niang.

A legend recounts how Zhang single-handedly dug a canal in the village, meant to channel water from the mountains to irrigate the padi fields there.

The villagers were so grateful that they all gathered and together, kowtowed to him as a gesture of respect and gratitude.

After that they rose, but Zhang was gone.

It was then that they immediately knew it was the legendary Zhang Sheng Jun who had saved them from an impending famine.

There were many wondrous exploits of Zhang, including using his magical skills to bring rain during a long drought and single-handedly fixing wide stretches of mountain paths.

Zhang would usually appear as an ordinary passer-by, and he seemed to be helping farmers a lot.

He helped in bringing rain to Minqing, assisting the Foochows grow their rice.

In the early 1900s, a famous Minqing man, Wong Nai Siong, brought over 1,000 fellow Foochows to settle down in Sibu, at the invitation of the then White Rajah of Sarawak.

These pioneer farmers established a productive ‘agricultural miracle’ from a peat swamp in the Rajang Delta.

Despite Zhang’s legend status, Diana and Grace said not many present-day Foochows in Malaysia, themselves included, knew about him.

“If we had not gone to Fujian, we would not have known this legend,” said Diana.

Nevertheless, they both felt really grateful that their forefathers had brought them out of China to live in Malaysia, a land of great promises.

Still, they were also happy to have been able to undertake this Fujian trip and would want to do this adventure again.