Author: CHUNG Yoon Ngan
Date: 01-05-12 02:22
200 years of Hakka People in Penang, Malaysia
紅毛丹, 開紅花, 出嫁妹子轉娘家,
娘望望, 心肝肉, 老子望望一朵花,
哥哥望望親姊妹, 嫂嫂望望惡冤家!
The rambutans bloom red flowers,
Married daughter returned to her parents house.
Her mother looked at her affectionately,
Her father looked at her like a flower.
Her elder brother looked at her dearly,
Her sister-in-law looked at her like a deadly enemy.
A Hakka folk rhyme
-------------------------------------------------------
The first Hakkas in Penang, Malaysia
In the eighteenth century, the island of Pinang was under the dominion of
the Sultan of Kedah. The Malay called the island, Pulau Pinang (Pinang means
betel-nut and Pulau means island, in full betel-nut island). It was called
Betal-nut Island because there were a lot of betel-nut trees growing in
the island. According to the book "Penang in the past" written by卜克望
(Brookman), there were only fifty eight Malay and Chinese fishermen living
along the seacoast in the island.
In the earlier years of the reign of Qian Long Emperor (乾隆皇帝 who reigned
from 1736AD to 1795AD) of the Qing Dynasty (1644AD to 1912AD), around the
years from 1740AD to 1760AD, there were three Hakka Chinese, Zhang Li (張
理), Qiu Zhao Jin (丘兆進) and Ma Fu Chun (馬福春). Zhang Li and Qiu Zhao
Jin were from the county of Da Pu (大埔縣) in Guangdong province (廣東省
) and Ma Fu Chun was from Yong Ding county (永定縣) in Fujian province (福
建省). Among the three, Zhang Li was the eldest, Qiu Ma Chun was the second
and Ma Fu Chun was the youngest. The three of them formed a britherhood and
agreed to venture to Nanyang (南洋) or South Sea.
From Da Pu, the trio took a small boat and sailed along the river of Han
Jiang (韓江) to the town of Chao An (潮安). From Chao An they might have
walked to the harbour city of Shan Tou (汕頭). They stayed in Shan Tou for
several days before they embarked on a junk for the Malay Peninsula. The
junk sailed across the South China Sea and reached Pinang Island after several
weeks at sea. The trio finally landed on the shores of the present day Tanjung
Tokong in Penang Island.
The present day Penang Island was an island of tropical forest. The trio
cleared the forest and established their own farms. They lived in different
places near to each other. Although they did not live in the same place
they agreed to meet regularly in a chosen place. When they met they discussed
and planned how to cultivate their fields. They were like three brothers,
looking after each other, as they were living in a wild country. To them,
as pioneers, life was hard and tough.
There was an occasion when Zhang Li did not turn up in the meeting place
for sometime. Qiu Zhao Jin and Ma Fu Chun wondered what could have happened
to him. They went to see Zhang Li and they could not find him in his hut.
They searched the vicinity and they could not find him. Several days later,
they eventually found him dead in a stone cave nearby. Qiu Zhao Jin and
Ma Fu Chun buried Zhang Li near the cave where he died.
Several years later, in 1785AD, the Sultan of Kedah gave permission to the
British East Indian Company to establish a settlement on the island of Pinang.
The following year in July, Captain Francis Light landed on the island
and hoisted the Union Jack on the sparsely populated, jungle smothered island.
Captain Francis Light signed a treaty with the Sultan of Kedah by paying
the sultan $6,000 a year, while the Company was on the island. Thus Captain
Francis Light officially took possession of Pinang Island on behalf of the
British Government. The total population was about one thousand when Captain
Francis Light landed on the island. The British named the island Prince
of Wale Island (威爾斯太子島). However, the local population continued to
call the island Pulau Pinang. Later the British renamed it "The Island of
Penang".
In order to encourage trade and commerce, the British made Pinang Island
a free port which meant no taxes were levied on exports and imports. Trades
from China, India, the Dutch East Indies came to trade in Pinang Island.
Within eight years the population increased to about ten thousand and 7,858
of them were Chinese, according to the Braddell census report. The Chinese
population was 8,963 in 1830; 15,457 in 1851; 28,000 in 1860.
Qiu Zhao Jin and Ma Fu Chun died of old age during the early of this period.
They were buried in the Chinese cemetery. Later, the Hakka Chinese in Pinang
Island reburied them next to Zhang Li. A little temple was erected in honour
of them. It was called 大伯公 ( Toa Peh Gong in Hokkien) named after Zhang
Li, since he was the eldest (大伯 or Da Bo). Gong (公)was the title given
to honour the eldest.
Fifteen years after the landing of Captain Francis Light, that was 1801)
a Jia Ying Assosication (嘉應會館) was established in Penang Island. Originally
the association was called "仁和公司 (Ren He Kongsi)". Later it was renamed
to "客公司 (Ke Kongsi)", "嘉應館 (Jia Ying Association)", "嘉應州公司 (Jia
Ying Zhou Kongsi)" and finally settled with the name of Jia Ying Association.
According to the title the site of the Jia Ying Association was at No.22
Toa Peh Kong Street (Jala Tanjung Tokong), in George Town.
According to Kerrie Chong, my Hakka friend, who was born and grew up in
Penang, I quote:
" When they died they were all buried in the graves on the temple grounds.
Their grave stones are still there and are located behind the temple. I
vividly remember them as it has been like nearly forty years since I last
went there. As a child, it was kind of spooky and scary to walk pass these
graves."
Kerrie Chong told me that the temple owned a shop opposite the temple. The
shop had become a famous coffee shop/crab restaurant [I had frequented that
crab restaurant several times when I was in Penang]. Chong Chee Yoon, the
father of Kerrie's godmother was the original lessee. According to Kerrie's
godmother, Chong Chee Yoon was given preference to anyone else over the
lease due to the fact that he was a Hakka and also bore the surname Chong
[Zhang].
Kerrie also told me:
"Chee Yoon was actually my 'Pak Kong' as he was my grandfather's elder brother.
He came about obtaining the lifetime lease from the temple authorities
around 1950 - 1951. Apparantly, he paid them the grand sum of MYR5000 -
$6000 as "Heong Yew Looi' (oil lamp donation) probably as a token. He then
leased the shop to the famous crab restaurant........As children, we used
to find so fascinating as we could hear the sounds of the waves breaking
on the rocks below while we were holidaying there. We have many happy memories
of our time there.
Chee Yoon passed away in 1964 and his daughter [Kerrie's godmother] then
inherited the lease agreement but due to old age and the fact that she was
leaving Penang for interstate, she returned the shop and all to the temple
custodians in 1999 - 2000.
As a final word, she told me that a similar temple was also built in King
Street in Penang. So perhaps we could check on that too?"
There are many restaurants, from the beach area at Tanjong Tokong [Tanjong
means promontory and Tokong means Chinese temple] stretching the 11 kilometers
to Telok Bahang. The dishes the restaurants serve are the delicious, fresh
seafood, soup with sharks' fins etc.
The Hakka Consulars in Penang, Malaysia
According to a document in the ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Qing Dynasty,
in 1890, Xue Fu Cheng (薛福成), the Qing Ambassador to Britain, wrote to
the Foreign Ministry asking the Qing Authority to establish a Consulate
in Penang to look after the commercial interest of the Chinese residing
in Penang and in the several states in the Malay Peninsula. At that time
there was already a Qing Consul-General in Singapore and the Consular was
Huang Zun Xian (黃遵憲 1848 to 1905), a Jia Ying Zhou (嘉應州) Hakka.
The Qing Authority approached the British Foreign Office and it was agreed
that a branch of the Singaporean Consul-General was to be established in
Penang Island. The year was 1893. Knowing that approval had been granted
for the establishment of a Consulate in Penang, Xue Fu Cheng wrote to the
Qing Authority recommending Zhang Zhen Xun (張振勛) to be the first Consular
in Penang. However, when Xue Fu Cheng's letter arrived at the Foreign Ministry
on the 8th March 1893, the Qing Authority, Huang Zun Xian and the British
Colonial Authority in Penang had already agreed and appointed Zhang Bi Shi
(張弼士) as the first Consular in Penang.
Zhang Bi Shi was born in DaPu (大埔) in Guangdong province. In 1856 he went
to Batavia (present day Jakatar, the capital of Indonesia) to work. In 1875
he went to Acheh (present day North Sumatra) to grow pepper. Later he and
Li Ya Yi (李亞義) the Kapital China in Batavia established a partnership
business in Penang Island. Zhang Bi Shi settled down in Penang. In 1886
Zhang Bi Shi established his own company, the famous Wan Yu Xing Kongsi
(萬裕興公司) which was a shipping company with boats sailing between Penang
and Acheh. Zhang Bi Shi also ventured in tin mining in the states of Pahang
and Selangor.
For thirty seven years, from 1893 to 1930, the Chinese Consulars in Penang,
presenting the Qing Authority and the Republic of China, were Hakka Chinese.
They were:
(1) Zhang Bi Shi (張弼士) Da Pu (大埔)
(2) Zhang Yu Nan (張煜南) Jia Ying (嘉應)
(3) Xie Chun Sheng (謝春生) Jia Ying (嘉應)
(4) Liang Bi Ru (梁碧如) Jia Ying (嘉應)
(5) Dai Xin Ran (戴欣然) Da Pu (大埔)
The early Hakka Chinese education in Penang, Malaysia:
The Hakkas always paid great attention to their children's education. As
far back as the 1850s, (note; the British officially took possession of
the island of Penang in July 1786) the Catholic Christian Hui Zhou (惠州
) Hakkas organized " Study Chinese" classes in their churches in Ayer Hitam
and Bukit Mertajam. The children studied the Chinese four books and the
five classics.
Other than the Chinese classes in the Catholic churches there were also
private institutions for studying Chinese. The official record of the first
private Chinese school was in 1888. The Cantonese and the Hokkiens established
a private Chinese school in the area near the present day Lan Wah Ee hospital
in Green Lane. Not long after, a Hui Zhou Hakka, Huang Chen Qing (黃陳慶
), a leader of the north Malayan Chinese, built a Chinese school in Bukit
Mertajam. A Hakka, Zhuo Kun (桌坤) from Jeleung Dong (直落洞), built a private
Chinese school and a Chinese temple in the same area.
In 1893, the Hakka millionaire, Chung Keng Kwee (鄭景貴 Zheng Jing Gui)
built a Chinese school for all the Chinese children irrespective of their
dialects. Chung Keng Kwee made his fortune from the tin of Larut, in the
present day town of Taiping (Peace in Hakka).
In March 1901 the Hakka Association in Penang established an Educational
Institution called Chong Wen She (崇文社). The founders of this Educational
Institution were:Liang Bi Ru (梁碧如), Hu Zi Chun (胡子春), Chung Keng Kwee
(鄭景貴), Dai Xin Ran (戴欣然), Rao Fu Chang (饒芙裳), Xiong Yu Shan (熊
玉珊), Wen Zong Jin (溫宗錦), Lin Shi An (林世安), Li Feng Bao (李鳳苞),
Li Mu San (李慕參), Zhang Xian Chen (張顯宸) and Yang Shao Fen (楊少芬).
The Educational Institution organized campaigns to encourage the Chinese
in Penang to respect for education. The motto of the campaigns was "Jing
Xi Zi Zhi 敬惜字紙" or to respect the words written on the paper. The Educational
Institution established a free of charge private school for all the children
irrespective of their dialects. The school also enrolled the locally born
Chinese children with the intention of giving them a classical education
so that they would not forget about their roots.
In 1903, the first modern Chinese school was built in Penang. It was called
Zhong Hua Xue Tang (中華學堂) which was the progenitor of present day Zhong
Hua Primary and High School of Penang. Each of the following wealthy Hakkas
donated five thousand Straits dollars to the building fund and they were,
Zhang Bi Shi (張弼士), Hu Zi Chun (胡子春), Dai Xin Ran (戴欣然), Liang
Bi Ru (梁碧如) and Xie Rong Guang (謝榮光). Zhang Bi Shi contributed seventy
four thousand dollars to buy the land.
The Chinese society in Penang welcomed the establishment of Zhong Hua Xue
Tang. This school was also recognized by the Qing Government (清朝). In
1905 Zhang Bi Shi was appointed by the Qing Goverment the Commissioner of
Education of Nanyang (南洋管學大臣). On behalf of the Qing Government Zhang
Bi Shi donated a large number of books to the school. A library was built
to store these books. Zhang Bi Shi not only donated fifty thousand dollars
to build this library but also gave an amount of one thousand and two hundred
dollars annually to meet the upkeep of the library.
Zhong Hua Xue Tang also conducted night classes which could be the first
in the history of Malaya. Due to the influence of Zhong Hua Xue Tang, the
Jia Ying Hakkas (嘉應客屬) in Singapore also built the first modern Chinese
school in 1906. There were shortage of teachers in the Zhong Hua Xue Tang.
Liang Bi Ru wrote to the Education Department in the provinces of Guangdong
(廣東省) and Guangxi (廣西省) asking the Qing Government to send teachers
to Penang. Hu Zi Chun, the Yong Ding Hakka was elected the governor of the
school.
In 1908, these three Hakkas, Xie Chun Sheng (謝春生), Liang Bi Ru and Dai
Xin Ran, built a Chinese school called Chong Hua Xue Tang (崇華學堂) which
was the progenitor of the present day Shi Zhong Xue Xiao (時中學校). The
Hakka Associations in Penang welcomed the new school. When this school was
established all the students attending classes in Chong Wen She were transferred
to this school. In order to safeguard the school, each of these three wealthy
Hakkas contributed ten thousand dollars to buy five shops for the school.
The rent from the shops was to sustain the administration fee of the school.
With extra funds from the rent the school also gave scholarships to poor
students.
Other than Zhong Hua Xue Tang and Shi Zhong Xue Tang, the Hakkas in Penang
also established many Chinese schools. In 1911 Hu Zi Chun established a
girls school. Due to the shortage of teachers the school closed down. The
girl students were transferred to Chong Hua Xue Tang. This was the beginning
of Chinese co-education in Penang.
A Yong Ding Hakka by the name of Zhong De Zhi (鐘德志) established a school
called Tong Shan Xue Tang (同善學堂). In 1915, he also established a school
for the girls. In 1914, Zhong Le Chen (鐘樂臣), a Da Pu Hakka, established
a school for the "Babas" to learn Chinese. [Babas means a Malaynized Chinese].
In 1920, the Hui Zhou Hakkas (惠州客人) established a part-time-study school
for those who could not attend full time study. The governor of this school
was Huang Jiao Bo (黃嬌伯).
Chung Ling High School (鐘靈中學) was the first Chinese high school in Penang.
It was built in 1923. The Hakkas in Penang not only built school in Penang
Island but also in Mainland Malaya, Singapore, China and other places.
Source:
200 years of Hakka People in Penang
Published by Persekutuan persatuan Persatuan Hakka
The Federation of the Hakka Associations in Malaysia
Posted to Overseas Chinese Forum at asiawind.com
By CHUNG Yoon-Ngan (鄭永元)
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