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Another project of the Hinghwa Heritage Centre
Thailand
Monks in Robes
Source: AI-Generated Illustration
Hinghwa Eminents
(THAILAND)
Source: CCTV 4
The proximity of the northern Malaysian states to the southern provinces of Thailand made cross-border movement relatively easy. Many enterprising Hinghwa who had initially arrived in Malaya soon made their way north, settling in Southern Thailand in places like Hatyai and Songkhla, which eventually became their new homeland.
One notable figure was Lin Zongmo, a protégé of Yeow Weiqi. Lin founded the Ban Swee Hin Company, which began by dealing in bicycles and later expanded into automobiles and spare parts. He would go on to become the wealthiest Hinghwa in Thailand.
Attempts to uncover more information about the Hinghwa community in Thailand, however, have proven difficult. Sadly, I was told that most people there today are unaware of the once-prominent Hinghwa clan that dominated the transportation industry in Southern Thailand.
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Ng Boon Hua
(黄文华; 1922-2016) (Thailand)
LH: Ng Ah Poi (1912 - 20 Jan 2014) (Author's mother)
RH: Ng Boon Hua (Jason's uncle)
Source: Author
Ng Boon Hua, my maternal uncle, first arrived in Singapore and worked as a rickshaw puller. Later, he moved to Thailand to stay with his elder sister in Pattani Province. It was there that he found love and settled in the Land of Smiles.
He eventually relocated to Songkhla, where he became a bicycle mechanic.
His determination and skill led him to start his own bicycle business.
In 1951, his elder brother, Ng Boon Sian (黄文贤; 1913–1998), joined him in Thailand for a period. However, he soon returned home to care for their mother. His sense of filial piety was so strong that while others were fleeing during the civil war, he went back toward the danger to ensure their mother’s safety.
Tragically, he was unable to return for many years. It wasn't until the early 1990s that he finally reunited with my mum, his sister, for what would be the last time. I was fortunate enough to meet him again in Putian before he passed away a few years later.
I was also lucky to meet Uncle Boon Hua when he visited my mum for the last time. Those moments, though brief, left a deep impression on me.
As for my mum, she was initially hesitant to leave her mother behind to marry my father, who was, at the time, also a rickshaw puller. In an amusing twist, the matchmaker had sweetened the proposal by claiming that my father had a “sports car.” Years later, my mother confided in me that what ultimately convinced her to marry him wasn’t the flashy (and imaginary) vehicle, but the fact that he had steady work as a bicycle mechanic.
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In Memory
黄文贤
(Ng Boon Sian)
Source: 黄凤林
Reflections on a Matchmaker
My heart was heavy on both occasions when I met him, once in Singapore, and then again in Putian, China.
When he was in Singapore, I learned that he was a matchmaker. He had a dry sense of humor. Out of curiosity, I asked him how he was doing. With a straight face, he replied, “Not bad,” explaining that both the bride's and groom’s families would give him a red packet for a successful match. He added that a young man in the house without a wife could go crazy. In Hinghwa, he said:
I chuckled as we continued our dinner.
Interestingly, the Chinese character 好 (hǎo), meaning “good,” is composed of two parts: 女 (nǚ, woman) on the left and 子 (zǐ, child or son) on the right. Together, they form the idea of “goodness,” perhaps reflecting an age-old recognition that the union of a woman and child symbolizes harmony and continuity.
What my uncle once said, that a wife brings peace to a household, finds a poetic echo in the character 安 (ān), which means “peace.” This character is made up of 宀 (roof) on top and 女 (woman) underneath. The image evokes a sense of calm and stability: peace prevails when there is a woman beneath the roof.
In this light, having a daughter is not only a blessing, it is “good” in the most fundamental sense, for she brings both joy and peace to the home.
As he continued talking with my mother, I noticed how the years had worn him down. He was tall but looked too thin. I couldn’t help but think of the life he had endured -- famine sweeping across China, years of hardship, and war after war.
Around 1977, when my mum returned to visit her own mother for the first time after leaving for Nanyang on 19 March 1938, they would talk through the night by candlelight, its flickering flame dancing between their faces. When I visited them around 1995, it felt as though time had stood still. As a native of Putian, I saw that, at the time, it was little more than a large slum. I stood frozen, trying to comprehend all that my uncle and his family had endured. It slowly dawned on me: if our parents had stayed, many of us -- the descendants of pioneers in the Nanyang, might have simply lived out our lives as farmers.
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“Dak boh ye, na li bo lao ma, yi dak dik eh chor, chai yo nai.”
没有老婆的年轻人每天都会发疯, 你知道吗?
“Dak boh ye, na li bo lao ma, yi dak dik eh chor,
duh chai yo nai.”
"A young man without a wife can go crazy every day,
you know or not."
Learning Hinghwa with Jason
Image Source: Tik Tok
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