Papa's family

Despite the tough time growing up, Papa was a happy man. He was never bitter, and was always kind and loving to his family. He was a very gentle man. He has a good voice, and can sing Chinese opera songs, and played the Er Wu (a two stringed Chinese violin.) As a child, I used to admire how much Papa can do, and how knowledgeable he was, despite not having an actual schooling for education.

When we were growing up, we lived downtown in a house (96-B) on King Street. This was a pre-war rental, so the rent was not allowed to go up after the war. We pay $10.50 (Malaysian dollar) a month, so it was very low rent. What came with the low rent was the low maintenance. The landlord does not do any maintenance. We have to do it. We white wash the house once every few years, and do whatever needed done to the house.

The house, which still stands today, was made of brick and mortal. The brick walls are about a foot thick, and are covered in plasters. On top of that, we white wash them to make them look clean. With the tropical weather, all that rain and sun, it will soon weather down, and look dark and dingy. The house is two stories tall. The ground floor is very tall, about 15 feet tall. The house was longer than it was wide. At the front of the house was a swinging door. This is fortified with a pair of heavy ful

l height doors. When you walk through the front doors, you step into the living room. The living room was about twenty by thirty feet. On both sides of the front wall were windows, with steel bars outside. Under the left window was a secretariat table, the kind with a half-curved cover that you can pull down to close up the contents of the table. There were drawers with all kind of junks like pencil, rubber, hammers and screws and nuts. On top of the table was a Phillips radio. This was a vacuum tube radio, with a green magic-eye. The magic eye opens wide when you get good radio receptions.

Next from the table was a wooden 'couch'. It is a Chinese style couch, so no cushions. On the couch was a full length green rubber mat. The advantage of the mat was that it was cool in the hot weather.

On top of the couch was a porcelain pillow and a

wooden pillow. Both gave good support for a good sleep.

Further from the couch, you will come to the landing for stairs that leads upstairs.

is

From the right side of the living room, you come to an opening to a corridor that leads to the back kitchen. The kitchen is covered by the upstairs kitchen, but otherwise opens to an air well that takes up two-thirds of the width of the back of the house. The air well goes all the way up to the sky, and is how air circulates from the front of the house to the back of the house, giving you a lot of breeze all day long, until you close the front doors at night. This was a brilliant design for a house for the hot climate.

In the middle of the living room is a large partition or wall. On the wall was a full length altar. On the left side was the Choon family ancesters. In the middle was the image of General Kwan, who mercilessly slaughters all evils in the land. On the right side is a small altar for the Go

ddess of Mercy.

Under the altar, on the floor, is the altar of the Earth God.

In the middle of the living room was a large round marble table. Grandma and Ah Yee had their meals on that table. At night, after supper, we use that table to study. When I was young, I joined my Fourth, Fifth and Sixth uncles, and Siew Loon, Siew Kai and myself, all sitting around that table and all studying our own books. The was one activity that I enjoyed doing, studying with everyone.

Behind this living room wall was a small room. Grandma lived there with Ah Yee. Ah Yee preferred to sleep on a long bench in the cool corridor. She was able to sleep on this foot wide bench without falling off.

Upstairs were two rooms. A smaller "tail room", and a bigger front room. We had the two rooms until in 1957, when Fourth uncle Cheng married. Then he and Fourth aunt took the smaller room. The Mui family crowded into the front room, a family of nine in one room.

In this picture, Grandma was sitting in the middle. Papa sat to her left, and in one rare appearance, it was me sitting left of Papa.

In front of me was Siew Cheong, then Siew Seng, and Sui Laun rounded up the front row.

Behind was Sui Fun and Mama. I don't know where this picture was taken, or what the occasion was.