Photo 1 -The impressive entrance to "Ang Kia Chu 公仔屋" our ancestral house.
Photo 2: In front of the Yeo Clan "Si Tng 祠堂" in Chwee Kee SiaStanding from left - Khin, Heng, the three Yeo elder clansmen from the village, Siang, Doris, Ngoh, Tiang, Song Piak;
Squatting from left: Jennifer, Caroline, Chris, Su-lynn and Hsiao Yun
On 23 December 2007, my family (all 12 of us) found our “roots” when we stepped foot in the compound of the “Chwee Kee Sia Yeo Clan Association temple" 水墘社杨氏家庙济美祠堂 (photo 2) as well as our family home known as “Ang Kia Chu 公仔屋" – dolls’ house because of the many colourful, ornate figurine structures that used to adorn the roof peaks and eaves of the house. The basic structure of the house, at least a century old, has remained although all the figurines are gone (photo 1).
The house must be very grand during our late grandfather and father's time, with an impressive entrance with folding wooden door panels, the engravings and designs of which are still faintly visible today. (see Photo 1). In fact, my sister, Khin commented that the ancestral house was grander than what she had expected and better than the "hotung" that she had visited on her recent trip to Beijing.
It was a moving and poignant moment for us although this humble account may be nothing compared to other famous stories such as Alex Haley’s famous work “ROOTS”, an international bestseller in the 1970s in which Haley traced his ancestry back to Africa.
Humble though our story may be, we were very happy and overjoyed that we were able to accomplish the first of our missions for this great family trip – to find our late father’s ancestral village in Theng Hai (澄海), about 20 kms north east from Swatow (汕头 ) in Guangdong Province (广东), China.
For my eldest brother, Siang, he felt relieved that he had fulfilled his responsibility to bring his wife, his siblings and a few of the 3 Gs (the 3 nieces, one of whom is his daughter) to our ancestral home (Ang Kia Chu) which we so often talked about. Siang has more emotional links with the family house as he was able to show off his “room” which he was bequeathed with, as the eldest grandson of my late paternal grandparents. The small room located on the right side before the entrance to the main hall which was now spartanly furnished except for the family altar, is occupied by a distant relative and her family. On the left side of the main hall is Uncle Varasin’s (our Bangkok uncle whose father was my grandfather's half brother who migrated to Thailand) inheritance which unfortunately, we were told unofficially, had been sold.
For my eldest brother, Siang, he felt relieved that he had fulfilled his responsibility to bring his wife, his siblings and a few of the 3 Gs (the 3 nieces, one of whom is his daughter) to our ancestral home (Ang Kia Chu) which we so often talked about. Siang has more emotional links with the family house as he was able to show off his “room” which he was bequeathed with, as the eldest grandson of my late paternal grandparents. The small room located on the right side before the entrance to the main hall which was now spartanly furnished except for the family altar, is occupied by a distant relative and her family. On the left side of the main hall is Uncle Varasin’s (our Bangkok uncle whose father was my grandfather's half brother who migrated to Thailand) inheritance which unfortunately, we were told unofficially, had been sold.
Although the relative who is Uncle Varasin's cousin, was only distantly related to us, she was very hospitable and friendly. She could remember Ngoh and Siang who had visited the ancestral house in the early 1980s with my father just before his death in 1983. We called this relative "Ah Gou 亚姑 ". She served us Chinese tea, starfruit (which she planted in a small pot in the courtyard) and even prepared dumplings with sesame (tang yuan) for us, the day before being "tang jeok" 冬季 - the start of the winter solistice.
The ancestral roots of the Yeo clan can be traced back to the Southern Song (南宋, 1127–1279) dynasty when the Song lost control of northern China to the Jin Dynasty. During this time, the Song court retreated south of the Yangtze River and established their capital at Lin'an (now Hangzhou). Based on the document detailing the history of our Yeo clan, our patriarch was a scholar (學士) from the late Southern Song dynasty(末南宋) by the name of Yang Dong Gao (杨东皋).
The “Si Tng” (Chwee Kee Sia Yeo Clan Association temple)
水墘社杨氏家庙 as our 祠堂 was called, was originally constructed on the southern bank of the Chwee Kee Tee but moved to the northern bank during the reign of the Qing emperor Kang Xi (1685). It was reconstructed in 1791 during the reign of the Qing emperor, Qian Long. In recent times, the "Si Tng" has undergone further renovations as we found the "Si Tng" very new, impressive, clean and well maintained.
水墘社杨氏家庙 as our 祠堂 was called, was originally constructed on the southern bank of the Chwee Kee Tee but moved to the northern bank during the reign of the Qing emperor Kang Xi (1685). It was reconstructed in 1791 during the reign of the Qing emperor, Qian Long. In recent times, the "Si Tng" has undergone further renovations as we found the "Si Tng" very new, impressive, clean and well maintained.
In the main hall of the “Si Tng” were placed all the Yeo clan ancestral tablets. On the left wall were plaques with inscriptions of names of the ancestors of the Yeo family who came from this village as well as donors who contributed to the rebuilding fund; in fact it was possible to trace which generation of the Yeo family one came from the 16 characters representing the various generations ... 诗书传家 孝友敦笃 ..... for example, my late grandfather’s generation was the “Yew” 友 generation, our father and uncles belonged to the “Toon” 敦 generation while the generation below was the “Tok”笃. We met three elderly men in their 70s and 80s who belonged to my grandfather’s generation – the “Yew” generation and one of them remembered my late third paternal uncle (father's younger brother and his wife (who migrated to Singapore later than my late father,) as well as my late mother’s visit there in the 1960s. No one could miss that this was a Yeo clan temple as besides, the big signboard at the entrance, there was a big red flag with the family name “Yeo” (杨), hung on one of the walls inside.
Adjacent to the main hall of the temple, on the right hand side, there were some newly renovated rooms which served as offices as well as housed among other things, paintings, cultural artifacts and social records of the Yeo Clan. This clan association- cum- family temple therefore served as a social, cultural, recreational and musical venue for the local Yeo clansmen. In fact, when were there, a few members performed Teochew music on their musical instruments at the entrance to the “Si Tng”. However I must confess that on hindsight, we did not show as much appreciation as we should, as we were too busy talking away or snapping photographs.
None of us could have imagined that we were able to locate successfully our late father and ancestors' village during this trip as we were only armed with the following information – “Theng Hai” 澄海 (prefecture), “Tang Oh” 东湖 (township), “Chwee Kee Sia” 水墘社 and “Ang Kia Chu” 公仔屋 . In fact, we could not even locate “Tang Oh’ on the map. However, by some divine power, we stopped at the 外沙公安局 Police station (in Theng Hai) where the station inspector, a 3-star officer, did not himself know the location of “Chwee Kee Sia” but he remembered he had a comrade who fought the Vietnam war (China-Vietnam war) alongside with him who used to live in “Chwee Kee Sia”. So he called this comrade who led the way followed by the police car driven by the station inspector with my brother in the front passenger seat and our coach with the rest of us, from the suburban streets through narrow alleys and then into the unpaved lane leading to Chwee Kee Sia.
My sister, Ngoh expressed what we all felt when she commented that she “was impressed by the helpfulness of the local police who certainly went out of their way to help. What we had hoped to achieve at the (外沙公安局)police station was for the police officer to take out a map to show some directions to the village. Certainly we had not imagined that the police officer would call an off duty colleague to lead our coach right to the Chwee Kee Sia Yeo Clan Association" . We also shared the sentiments expressed by my youngest brother, Heng , who said, "It was a pleasant surprise that we were able, in a land well known for its bureaucracy, to encounter such helpful police officers who would so readily go out of their way to help a motley bunch of Overseas Chinese trace their ancestral roots." You will definitely not be able to get this service from a Hong Kong or Singapore police station.
Reflections
1. We consider it a great blessing to be able to make this memorable and nostalgic trip to our ancestors' village as one big family. The 12 family members comprised (1) Siang - eldest sibling, (2) Tiang - eldest sister, (3)Ngoh - second sister, (4) Khin - youngest sister, (5) Heng - youngest brother, (6) Doris - Siang's wife, (7) Song Piak - Tiang's husband, (8)Jennifer - Heng's spouse, (9) Chris - Jennifer's sister, (10) Su-lynn -Siang's daughter, (11) Caroline - Ngoh's daughter and (12) Hsiao Yun - Khin's daughter. It is not often that all twelve family members were able to take leave or to be available at the same time to make the trip together. And what was more fantastic was the speed at which this trip was planned and decided. Over one weekend after a popiah lunch at Siang's place, the flights and hotels in Swatow and Guangzhou were booked and confirmed over the internet after numerous frantic phone calls to and from Singapore, Hongkong and Mumbai, India where Hsiao Yun was on an overseas work assignment. A week later, we were off and away on our "pilgrimage" from 22 December to 25 December 2007 in Swatow followed by another three days' shopping spree in Guangzhou.
2. We had a really meaningful and nostalgic trip, thanks to our collective karma, efforts and co-operation. The reasons why I wanted to write this humble account of our family trip included the following:
(a) to record our successful mission mainly for our own consumption as our memory tends to be very short;
(a) to record our successful mission mainly for our own consumption as our memory tends to be very short;
(b) to share our experiences with other family members who did not go on the trip; As expressed by Heng who said " It’s a shame the others in our family may not have another chance to experience this in person … so I guess Tiang’s idea of a blog is the next best thing for us to share our experience with all others."
(c) to emphasise the significance of knowing one's ancestral roots.
3. This trip re-confirmed for us the importance of knowing one's ancestral roots. To quote the late President of Singapore, Dr Wee Kim Wee in his autobiography, "Wee Kim Wee - Glimpses and Reflections" (page 157), "Until we know our heritage, our ancestors and how they struggled and worked their skin off since leaving their native village and motherland, we can never fathom the depth of their cultural differences that exist in Asia and beyond."
As we stepped into the family house, "Ang Kia Chu" 公仔屋 we felt proud that our ancestors owned one of the well known and beautiful houses in the Yeo village at that time. The present condition of the house is a far cry from its former glory when the roofs and walls were adorned with colourful clay statues and figures of human beings as well as flora and fauna. We have some ideas of these figurines as our late mother had the foresight to retrieve a few pieces of these relics when she visited the Yeo family house in the 1960s before the Cultural Revolution. These prized possessions are now kept in Siang's home.
4) My late father, Yeo Chark Juay 杨作锐 (alias Yeo Toon Chong杨敦崇 ) left his native motherland when he was 16 years and arrived in Singapore as a "sinkeh" 新客 (migrant from China) around 1930. He worked as a cook in a Yeo clansman's shophouse (Yeo Thong Huat 杨通发) in Beach Road. Later he shared and started a small market stall selling dried food stuffs in the now demolished Joo Chiat Market with a partner. This business partner's mother- in- law (Luck Hiang Ee 六香姨 - 6th aunty Hiang) - match-made the marriage between our late father and mother who had also migrated with her parents and sisters to Singapore (Hougang) before World War II. My late father used to peddle his tricyle from Beach Road to Joo Chiat to get his supplies to sell. Through sheer hard work and frugal living, my late parents managed to open a small provision shop at 1019 Geylang Serai after the war and in the early 1960s, had another provision shop at 983 Geylang Road. (Both these two shop houses have since been demolished and the area is now part of the Malay Village). Considering their humble background, it is indeed no mean feat that my parents were able to support five out of our six siblings through university . Coincidentally, my second brother, Yong Huat who did not receive a tertiary education by choice and who is the most streetwise among us, was not able to make the trip as he has to attend to his shop.
5) It is interesting to note that Hsiao Yun, our niece, commented that it was lucky her late grandfather (our father) decided to seek his fortune in Singapore - otherwise her mother (Khin) would not be alive as she would have been "chopped" off under the one child policy of China, favouring males. On the other hand, Heng found it hard to imagine that our forefathers had to trek hundreds of kilometres through mountainous terrain (which took us several hours in a coach on the highway) and over the seas to find a better life for themselves and their future offspring.
6) When we were at the Yeo Clan "Si Tng", we were very impressed that it was possible to trace one's ancestors from the records that were kept there. However, as my sister, Ngoh lamented, we are sad that the connection with our ancestral villages is likely to end with our generation. As the second generation after my parents, my siblings and I grew up listening to their childhood experiences in China, so we could relate and visualise them when we set foot in their native village/s. However, except for the three nieces who went on this trip, it is unlikely that the rest of the immediate Yeo family in Singapore would feel the emotional links with our ancestral home and the "Si Tng" in Chwee Kee Sia, Tang Oh, Theng Hai.
7) This trip also confirmed for us why our late father and his relatives from Theng Hai were such food connoisseurs who relished and appreciated good food especially seafood prepared in typically Teochew style. Theng Hai is situated near the sea and seafood was and still is in abundance there. Besides seafood such as lobsters, flower crabs, fresh fish and all kinds of shell fish, Swatow is famous for its "oh luak" (oyster egg), braised goose including goose feet, liver and other offals, "koo chye" kuay and "ark balling". Fortunately this tradition of eating and appreciating good Teochew cooking and food will continue beyond the third generation, judging from our nieces - Su-lynn, Caroline and Hsiao Yun's love for good quality Teochew food.
8) All in all, all of us found this sentimental trip a very memorable and meaningful one. Heng described it as a "journey full of discovery - not just to trace our roots - but to appreciate the strength of clan relations and the importance of "si tng" in holding together the history of the family clan as well as the community at large." In addition, for Khin and the rest of us, the pilgrimage to our ancestors' villages has been very educational. We learnt geography - the locations of Swatow (Shantou), Theng Hai(澄海), Kek Sai (揭西), Mee Oh (棉湖) - and these places which we had heard our late parents and relatives mentioned in our childhood days, are now no longer just vague names to us. Moreover, we now know the differences between a province省, county/prefecture 县, district 区, city 市, township 镇, village 乡 and commune 社. In fact, Khin aptly commented that this trip was different from the other tours that she had made - it was a memorable trip of a lifetime. We certainly agree.
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