Wednesday, September 30, 2015

WW2: spine and back cover










I was born in Borneo, nine years after the end of the World War Two. An era where there was no electricity, no radio and no televison. Grandfathers, Grandmothers, Mom and Dad spent evenings telling us of The Mukden Incident, or Manchurian Incident, 9-18 , 九一八事变 and the heinous Japanese occupation 日本占领. The favourite hero was Captain Fong.
The impact of Captain Fong was so great that Luke, my Grandfather was still telling about his hero for twenty years. Fifty years later, his grandsons were rehashing Ah Kung’s hero. His great grandchildren in faraway Australia and New Zealand are very proud of this Captain Cina.
The older grandchildren thought Captain Fong was a figment of Ah Kung’s imagination. When I wrote "From China to Borneo to Beyond," 海外华人的中国魂, a journal of my people I did not include it in the Chapter of “World War Two.”
It was only in 2014 when Ann connected with Larry Wong, curator of the Chinese Canadian Military. During our discussion, it dawned on me and my brother Joseph that Captain Fong could be an alias of Captain Cheng. I confirmed it with Larry Wong. I felt by omitting the Chapter on Captain Fong, we omitted an important part of our History.
The Canadian soldiers worked in secret in the Canada military Operation Oblivion, people did not know they existed.
To do justice to Captain Fong/Roger Cheng and his men, I wrote this fiction/nonfiction book.

$10 million gift for cancer research in Auckland


The donation by Mr Liangren Li is for cancer research at the University of Auckland’s Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences. The Li Family Fund will be set up as an endowment fund that will provide annual interest for investing in cancer research.
“This gift to the University is extraordinarily generous not only in its scale, but also in the multigenerational commitment that the Li family has made to support an ongoing programme of research. It will have a profound impact on our ability to develop new treatments for cancer,” says University of Auckland Vice-Chancellor Professor Stuart McCutcheon.
Dean of the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, Professor John Fraser, says “We are delighted that Mr Li has chosen the Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences to receive such a generous donation, the single largest donation in our 50 year history.”

https://www.fmhs.auckland.ac.nz/en/faculty/about/news-and-events/news/2015/9/4/-10-million-gift-for-cancer-research-in-auckland.html

Saturday, September 19, 2015

Photo hunt: wed








My niece Katie's wedding in June 2013. Katie is half Chinese, and half Australian. Her groom is Australian. Kate researched and chose to do a Chinese Wedding Tea Serving ceremony. It was wonderful. A eye opening to all the guests and Chinese too. She chose me to help her pour the little cups

http://whistlestopphotohunt.blogspot.co.nz/

Female journalists.



On Friday, I met at Bruce Mason Centre, at the Special Photographic Exhibition Commemorating the 70th Anniversary of the End of the War of Resistance Against Japan.two lovely ladies Momo of momoxtm, designer and Janet Chen Of SkyKiwi.

Perhaps if I were to turn the clock, I would use my writing skills and become a journalist.

Raising funds for the Motherland to fight the Japanese.




With the Fall of Nanking, Overseas Chinese patriotic to China as Mother land raise funds to remit to China.

My grandfather Chan Kee Seng went to raise funds among his villagers.

In New Zealand, the Chinese raised more money statistically than anywhere else. They raised in today's term, $18 million.







Special Photographic Exhibition Commemorating the 70th Anniversary of the End of the War of Resistance Against Japan.







On Friday, I was invited to the Auckland Chinese Community Centre Inc and New Zealand Chinese Association Auckland Inc to the Opening Reception of a Special Photographic Exhibition Commemorating the 70th Anniversary of the End of the War of Resistance Against Japan.
It was also 918, the day the Japanese invaded China. The Mukden Incident, or Manchurian Incident, was a staged event engineered by rogue Japanese military personnel as a pretext for the Japanese invasion in 1931 of northeastern China :wiki

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mukden_Incident

Friday, September 18, 2015

The Mukden Incident, or Manchurian Incident, 918 , 九一八事变


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRP-VrXqTII

 On Friday, I was invited to the Auckland Chinese Community Centre Inc and New Zealand Chinese Association Auckland Inc to the Opening Reception of a Special Photographic Exhibition Commemorating the 70th Anniversary of the End of the War of Resistance Against Japan.

As I looked at the photos, I think of 9-18 九一八事变 that started it all.


The Mukden Incident, or Manchurian Incident, was a staged event engineered by rogue Japanese military personnel as a pretext for the Japanese invasion in 1931 of northeastern China, known as Manchuria.[1][2][3]
On September 18, 1931, Lt. Suemori Kawamoto detonated a small quantity of dynamite[4] close to a railway line owned by Japan's South Manchuria Railway near Mukden (now Shenyang).[5] The explosion was so weak that it failed to destroy the track and a train passed over it minutes later, but the Imperial Japanese Army accused Chinese dissidents of the act and responded with a full invasion that led to the occupation of Manchuria, in which Japan established its puppet state of Manchukuo six months later. The ruse of war was soon exposed to the international community, leading Japan to diplomatic isolation and its March 1933 withdrawal from the League of Nations.[6]
The bombing act is known as the "Liutiaohu Incident" (simplified Chinese: 柳条湖事变; traditional Chinese: 柳條湖事變; pinyin: Liǔtiáohú Shìbiàn, Japanese: 柳条湖事件, Ryūjōko-jiken), and the entire episode of events is known in Japan as the "Manchurian Incident" (Kyūjitai: 滿洲事變, Shinjitai: 満州事変, Manshū-jihen) and in China as the "September 18 Incident" (simplified Chinese: 九一八事变; traditional Chinese: 九一八事變; pinyin: Jiǔyībā Shìbiàn).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mukden_Incident

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Burong Tiong/hill mynahs













My sister is married to a Tiong. I tease my nieces and nephews they were so important that they name a CITES II bird after them.

Where I lived in Singapore, the Nanyang Technological University situates at an old primary forest. As Singapore developed, the parcel of primary forest gets smaller and smaller. We still get many wild animals like snakes, ant eater, pangolin, wild pigs, insects etc.

A pair of hill mynahs have been visiting my bedroom window and my neighbouring unit at 33A Nanyang View. One morning I woke up to the sweet calling song of this rare bird tapping at my bedroom and bathroom window. They tap on the glass windows.
Their fleshy yellow wattles make them very attractive to look at. The whistling is very loud. They sound like Tiong,

 I teased her that the birds mistook my house for hers in the downtown Singapore. In Indonesia, these birds are called Burong Tiong, or the birds that make the sound Tiong.
Hill mynahs have a mainly black plumage that shimmerswith tinges of green and violet in the sunlight, a white patch on each wing, and yellow feet. They have fleshy yellow wattles across their necks, red or orange bill and yellow skin areas beneath and behindtheir eyes. Males and females are very similar in appearance.

Because they are so rare, people sell them in the black market for four hundred dollars each. I joke with D that I should open the window and catch the birds. Later, there were two more pairs.

The photograph here is taken from my bedroom. The birds were outside the stairway of the empty unit next door. One of the birds is pecking at the bathroom window.

NTU has staff from all over the world, and many are curious to see such birds on the campus. They come to my house to see this rare sight. I posted this to the NTU residents' website and generated a lot of interest.



ABC Letter J for Jungle and Dr Henry Chan.





Henry with his lovely wife Elley and his lovely sister, Me.

 The guide tells us what not to do.

 A yellow sign to advice  people what no to do. My brother Dr Henry Chan,  takes his son Jonathan, to appreciate nature at a young age. 6 years ago, Jonathan took me to the same place.

My husband the water engineer is attending the Australian and Ports conference. One of the talks was by my friend Ngarimu, on the environment from the Maori protocol prospective.

I thought of my youngest brother Dr. Henry Chan Chok Khuang and his lovely wife Elley Lina. I am very proud of Henry as he works for humanity and we share a lot of ideals.He is always traveling and attending conference on the environment. We tease him to be the protector of the orang-utan in the jungle.

He is leader for the Heart of Borneo (HoB). The Heart of Borneo Leader for WWF in Malaysia and Indonesia since March. He is based in Kuching but he travels a lot.

Recently, I made a friend, and she said," I like Henry, he loves trees and I like trees." I didn't tell her, I like  trees too.

https://www.facebook.com/BorneoRainforests 
https://www.facebook.com/wwfhob
http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/borneo_forests/





-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Session 3: Societal Response to Environmental Governance in Malaysia
Chairperson:Dr. Henry Chan Chok Khuang
Fellow, Asian Public Intellectuals

Environmental Movement in Malaysia



We were caught in a traffic jam. It was caused by a fire.



http://abcwednesday-mrsnesbitt.blogspot.co.nz/

Sunday, September 6, 2015

Friday, September 4, 2015

Dogs: a man's best friend.



My brother Joseph loves dogs.
My daughter Gabrielle loves dogs.

I don't mind dogs,
May be because I was bitten before.

My friend Oliver's dogs died.
These dogs were like children.

My thoughts for you Oliver.
t





Methodist Secondary School , Father



My friend Chang Yi is incredible. She has resources to dig up old photos. This is a photo, the date not ascertained. It is a photo of the staff and students of my old school.

Father is in the white long pants. Father taught in this school from 1947 to 1956 when he got a scholarship to England. I feel very emotional seeing this photo.

Methodist school is also my alumni. I was a Methodist Kid right when I was conceived, to Primary School and to Upper six.

Thank you Chang Yi.

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Entertaining with magic and peanuts.


When Dad went to England, we moved back to the village in Lanang Road.


We did not have electricity, radio and TV. So we made our own entertainment. A favourite game the older kid used to make magic tricks. 
Once an uncle demonstrated by putting a peanut, it would appear in the armpit. Impressionable me, I was just four  years old, copied. It did not appear in my armpit. Instead it was lodged in my nose. 
All efforts to get it out failed, and Grandfather Chan said to leave it alone because digging it would only get deeper. 
I did not go to hospital. It remained inside my nose for months until one day I jumped from the jetty to the boat to the Kong’s house. As I jumped, the peanut came out. 
I was so happy to show everyone. The peanut had turned white. I am allergic to peanuts, the only one of 9 to have it. Was the peanut in my nose the culprit?
I told Father recently, he said he was never told. Of course they should have taken me to hospital, if not, the peanut might travel up to my lungs and I would asphyxiate and die. 

Peanut allergy can be serious, people can die. I am only mildly allergic to it. When I have eaten peanuts, I feel a reflux, I feel like vomit coming out of my mouth. I feel the peanut have got rancid. If there is peanut oil in the food, I feel terrible.

I wrote part of this in my book,"From China to Borneo to Beyond." in 2013

http://rubytuesdaytoo.blogspot.co.nz/