Author: CHUNG Yoon Ngan
Date: 01-03-12 02:06
My Family in the British Colonial Malaya - 1858 to 1960 (4)
074. The ex-leader of Hong Men League ((洪門派) dies -1946
One day, there was a commotion in the village among the men. Everyone of
them was going to Pusing to attend an important function. Most of them cycled
there and some went there by walking. Later it was learned that the Hong
Gun (洪棍) or the leader of the Pusing branch Hong Men League had died and
the men were going there to pay their respect.
Father and practically every Chinese living in the vicinity of Pusing at
that time belonged to a secret society. The difference was whether he was
a active member or just a sleeping member. Father was a non-active member
of the Hong Men League (洪門派). [ Please refer to my post on "the secret
society - Hong Men.]
Currently it is believed that there are about 40 secret societies in Perak
State, Malaysia. In Ipoh city alone there are five of them. The strongest
two of them are the Xiao Ling Ba (小零八) and the Xiao Hua Ji (小華記).
The other three are Hong Shun Tang (洪順堂), Li He (力合) and Hai Shan (海
山), but they are noy as achive as the former two. Xiao Ling Ba, Hong Shun
Tang and Hai Shan often clash among themselves over the controlling of territories
in Ipoh city.
Other than Ipoh city there are many other secret societies in the small
towns and new villages. In my hometown, Pusing, we all know that the town
is controlled by Hong Men but the Police Sergeant had warned the leader
and members of Hong Men not to create trouble otherwise he would destroy
them. So far the members give no troubles to Pusing.
There were many active secret societies in Malaya in the 19th and 20th centuries.
When a new emigrant (Xin Ke 新客) arrived in Malaya he felt safe if he could
be protected by an organization for any unforeseen calamities. Many of the
new migrants joined a secret society for protection and to seek for assistance
in many forms in a new country. The commonest one among these secret societies
was the Hong Men Pai (洪門派) or the Hong Meng League.
The Branches of Hong Men League in Malaysia 馬來西亞的洪門支派.
(01) 三八二一 (3821)
(02) 鳳凰山 (The Phoenix Hill)
(03) 五指山 (The Five Fingers Mountain)
(04) 五色旗 (The Five colours Flag)
(05) 洪順堂 (Hong Shun Tang)
(06) 三百六 (306)
(07) 老君 (The Old Gentlemen)
(08) 君聯 (The United Gentlemen)
(09) 龍虎堂 (The Hall of the Dragons and Tigers)
(10) 百龍虎 (The Hundred Dragons and Tigers)
(11) 廿一 (21)
(12) 廿四 (24)
(13) 馬來洪門 (The Malay Hong Men)
(14) 九六九 (969)
(15) 馬來零八 (The Malay 08)
(16) 印度黑豹 (The Indian Black Panther)
(17) 印人一條心 (The Indian One Heart or The Indian Satu Hati)
(18) 馬來一條心 (The Malay Satu Hati or The Malay One Heart)
(19) 紅金龍 (The Red Dragon)
(20) 紅雙堂 (The Hall of Double Red)
(21) 紅花 (The Red Flower)
(22) 零八 (08)
(23) 小零八 (The Little 08)
(24) 卅二黨 (The Gang of 32)
(25) 二龍虎 (The Two Dragons and Tigers)
(26) 廿一海 (The 21 Seas)
(27) 義洪山 (The Righteousness of Hong Mountain)
(28) 紅虎 (The Red Tiger)
(29) 零一 (01)
(30) 小零一 (The Little 01)
(31) 小三王 (The Little Three Kings)
(32) 印人黑鷹 (The Indian People's Black Eagle)
(33) 洪金龍 (The Hong Golden Dragon)
(34) 洪盟會 (The Hong Alliance Association)
(35) 紅日山 (The Red Day Mountain)
(36) 二零四 (204)
(37) 合和堂 (The Hall of Combined Harmony)
(38) 興聯會 (The Association of United Prosperity)
(39) 黑籠(The Black Dragon)
(40) 海山 (The Sea and the Mountain [Note: Yap Ah Loy's Branch] )
(41) 義興黨 (The Gang of Righteousness and Prosperity)
(42) 王虎山 (The Wang Tiger Hill)
(43) 小白虎 (The Little White Tiger)
(44) 二零 (20)
(45) 小白雄 (The Little White Male)
(46) 仁義堂 (The Hall of Benevolence and Justice)
(47) 小金龍 (The Little Golden Dragon)
(48) 小龍虎 (The Little Dragons and Tigers)
(49) 五龍 (The Five Dragons)
(50) 小三六 (The Little 36)
(51) 一點紅 (The One Red Dot)
(52) 洪花黨 (The Flowery Gang of Hong)
With compliments from 郭仁德 (Guo Rende),
The contemporary Malaysian writer
The neighbour of Father's grocery shop was a Hakka lady who was living with
her son who was born in Jamaica. Many years ago her husband left for Jamaica
to do business. Since the her husband did not return but sent her his first
born son that was the Hakka old tradition.
Her name was Chin Lian (陳蓮) and everyone in the village called her son
Ah Fan because he was half African and half Hakka Chinese. Actually Chin
Lian's madam surname was Cao (曹 for Cao Cao 曹操). She took her husband's
surname Chen (陳). Ms Cao Lian (her madam name) was a Tongyangxi (童養媳
or child-bride) to a man bearing the surname Chen (No one remembers his
full name). Mr Chen's parents were in Tang Shan (唐山 China) and he had
an uncle, father's younger brother, in Jamaica (占美加). Before she was officially
married to Mr Chen the uncle of Mr Chen, in Jamaica, sent for him saying
that he needed a close relative to help him to run the business. So Mr Chen
decided to go to Jamaica with Ms Cao Lian instead of being a tin mine worker
in the village. However, Ms Cao Lian did not want to go and told Mr Chen
to send for her after he had made plenty of money. Actually Ms Cao Lian
did not want to leave her parents who were also living in Kampong Sayap.
Several years later, Mr Chen sent for Ms Cao Lian. At those time it would
take months by ship from Malaya to Jamaica. She was too afraid of going
alone and she decided not to go. Several months later, Mr Chen again begged
Ms Cao Lian to come to Jamaica to join him. Again Ms Cao Lian declined.
Then Mr Chen wrote and said that he would get married if she refused to
join him. Ms Cao Lian wrote to Mr Chen asking for his first born son if he
were to get married there. Mr Chen agreed. He married a black Jamaica girl.
Several years later, as promised, Mr Chen sent his first born son to Ms
Cao Lian. Having had a son she took her husband's surname Chen and was known
as Madam Chen Lian. In order to respect the son of Chen Lian those children
who were younger than him called him Ahfan Kuo (亞番哥 or elder brother
Ah Fan).
Believing that no girl would want to marry her son when he grew up Chen
Lian bought a baby Hakka girl as a Tongyangxi for her son. Many years later,
after the war, Ahfan Guo had a few children and no one called his children
Ahfan Zai (亞番仔) because they looked more Chinese than Ahfan Kuo.
Since Father started the business of dealing in rubber and tin ore with
his partner, Huang Renan (黃仁安), in Pusing town, he was very busy and
seldom returned to Sayap Village. But he was still the Village Chief. First
Uncle was running the grocery shop with the help of Grandmother who had
become half blind. Father's brother-in-law, He Cai (何財), the husband of
First Aunty, was employed by Father to be in charge of the smoke-house (煙
房) which was used to smoke rubber sheets. The value of smoked rubber sheets
are worth much more than un-smoked rubber sheets. A smoke-house (煙房) was
an air-tight two story large shed built of wood. Father's smoke-house was
built near the Lower Pond (下塘) as the village folks called. It was created
from a swampy land when the British built a railroad by filling an earth
road in the middle of the big swampy land creating two ponds. The upper
part of the swamp was called Upper Swamp and the lower part Lower Pond.
All the rubber sheets collected in Pusing were transported by a lorry to
the smoke-house. There were four large cement water tanks. He Cai had to
fill up the tanks with water by a water pump that was installed near the
pond. Sometimes it took him two to three hours to fill up the tanks. Seeing
him struggling to fill the water tanks, my three elder brothers took turn
to help him to pull the water pump to extract water from underground to fill
the cement tanks. It was a hand water pump but it required strength to pull
the lever. I was too young and did not have the strength to pull it. Father
employed two of our aunties and three or four women from the village to
help He Cai scrubbing off the dirt from all the rubber sheets with water
from the cement tanks before they were being hung up with bamboo rods on
the upper floor of the smoke-house. When upper floor was full with rolls
and rolls of washed rubber sheets, a few large rubber tree logs were placed
in a specially constructed large fire place with a cement top for burning
the logs. The my aunty, He Cai, would light fire to burn the logs. It required
smoke but not fire to smoke the rubber sheets. Therefore during the process
of smoking all the windows and doors of the smoke-house were closed air-tight.
After about a week or more days of smoking the rubber sheets were then
'cooked' that is they became transparent. The value of 'cooked' rubber sheets
were worth much more than the ordinary raw rubber sheets.
When the cement tanks were filled with water and work would not start until
the next day. I would invite a few of my friends to swim in the cement tanks
which were about four feet high which were just like swimming pools for
kids. We had to make sure that we had to washed our bodies clean without
any dirt before we jumped into the tanks. He Cai did not mind us for swimming
in the tanks as long as we did not dirty the water. We all had a good time.
Some of the kids would spent the whole day and night in the smoke-house.
It was just like a slumber party. It had been going on like that for a long
time until the Emergency (a war between the British Colonial Authorities
and the Malayan Communist Party) started.
School days were six days a week. From Monday to Friday was ordinary school
days but on Saturday the pupils had to go back to school for essay writing
which usually lasted until about eleven o'clock in the morning. Then we
went home for lunch. After lunch instead of allowing us to have free time
Father sent us to a village school for a few hours to stop us for running
wild. The village school was in an empty house because the family of the
house owner had relocated his family to live in the State of Pahang in the
east coast of Malaya. The school teacher was called Zhang Fulai (張福來)
whose profession was tapping rubber. In actual fact he was studying Junior
Middle Two at Yoke Choy High School Ipoh when the Japanese came. It was
too old for him to go back to school after the war. He became a rubber tapper.
However his calligraphy was very good. Every year, a week or so before the
Chinese New Year, one could see him writing New Year Couplets to sell in
the market in Pusing. Unfortunately, during the Emergency, the 'Hill People
山頂老' or members of the Malayan Communist Party from the village suspected
he was a police informer. One day the 'Hill People' had him killed while
he was tapping rubber in his own rubber plantation.
Occasionally, on Sunday morning, I and a group of boys from the village
went to the rubber plantations, near the jungle, to collect firewood. There
were plenty of small broken branches and twigs on the ground. Twigs were
very good to start a fire for cooking in the kitchen. Having collected a
lot of them we used lalang (tall grass) as ropes to tie them. We placed
the heavy bundles on our heads and carried them home. It was fun as we talked
and sang the songs we learned from school, while we were collecting. Now,
when I recall it I feel that at that time we were very happy. We were just
a patch of happy kids. Usually we returned home before lunch time. I remembered
that Grandmother used to fry a duck egg, an extra food, for my lunch saying
that I deserved it.
It was time to catch birds after lunch. There were a lot of quails and sparrows
in the bush which was the unused mining land where long new grass had regrown
after the land had been mined. we usually set traps to catch them. Even
now I still remember how to make a bird cage by using bamboo sticks that
had been cut into small strips. We sang the ditty that most of the kids
in the village knew how to sing. I had no idea who taught us. It could be
brought to the village from the Old Mountain of our ancestors - Dongguan
county China (中國東莞縣). It is like this:
一隻鳥子倆隻眼
一隻鳥子倆隻眼,---Yi zhi niao3 zi3 lia3 zhi yan3,
倆個腳子繞繞動;---Lia3 ge4 jiao3 zi3 rao4 rao4 dong4;
A little bird has two eyes,
And two legs that move round and round;
一雙羽翼一個尾,---Yi shuang yu3 yi4 yi ge4 wei3,
一個嘴子尖尖尖;---Yi ge4 zui3 zi3 jian jian jian,
It has a pair of wings and a tail,
And a little pointed beak;
喙了米來又喙粟,---Hui4 le mi3 lai2 you4 hui4 su4,
鳥子鳥子飛飛飛.---Niao3 zi3 niao3 zi3 fei fei fei.
It pecks rice as well as millet,
Little bird, little bird, fly, fly, fly.
Posted to Overseas Chinese Forum at asiawind.com
By CHUNG Yoon-Ngan (鄭永元)
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