Thank you

["S. L . Lee" <sllee@asiawind.com>]

Dr. Liew,

Thank you for your compliment. Wish you will join us in our discussion. You
can tell us more about the Hakkas in your area. The forum is open to all who
identify or with interest in traditional Chinese Hakka culture. Whether you
can speak or write in Chinese is not an issue. There are many of them like
you in this forum.

SL Lee

===================================

Dear LEE Siu-leung:

I wish to acknowledge the depth of knowledge imparted by accessing
your "Forum" website and am grateful for the innovation of the
Internet for making this possible.

I am a second generation "Fui Chiu" Hakka ("Moi Yen" mother) in
Malaysia, who underwent an entirely English-medium education, and is
near illiterate in the written Chinese language. Through neglect and
non-use, I have also lost much of my verbal Hakka dialect and has also
neglected to teach my 3 children this cultural heritage.

I attempted to trace my family's genealogy through oral history, but
unfortunately ended with my grandfather who was a seafarer involved in
the emigration of Hakka labor from So. China to the then Malaya which
was under British colonial rule. My matriarchal grandmother had
decided early that his only son's (my father) future would be greatly
assisted by an education in the English-medium system, where he did
excel in the Malaysian Civil Service prior to his early retirement.
Similarly, my grandmother dictated that all her grandchildren followed
an English-medium education.

I note with regret that this linguistic deprivation has cut me off
from exploring an interesting avenue of academic enquiry, but your
website has certainly filled part of the void for me and other
westernized "overseas" Hakka Chinese.

 Thank you and best regards,

    [Dr. LIEW Kon Wui]
     Assoc. Professor
School of Biological Sciences          Tel: + 60 - 4 - 6577888 ext.
4001
   Universiti Sains Malaysia
   11800 Penang, Malaysia              Fax: + 60 - 4 - 6565125