Escaping War and Poverty in China (2E4 Si Ying's maternal grandfather's story)

Interviewer’s name: Wang Si Ying

Date of interview: 09/07/2006

My Grandfather’s Biography

  My name is Lee Meng Chew, aged seventy-four years old. I am a Buddhist. I am currently living in Blk 329, Clementi Ave 2. I was born in China, in the city of Guangzhou on the 1^st December, 1931.

  Today, I relax in my comfortable chair drinking coffee and eating snacks. The familiar smells make me think of the past when I was in China and how I later moved to Singapore. Suddenly, I am back in the past.

  I lived in Guangzhou with my family. I had a younger brother and an older sister. My brother’s name is Lee Meng Khew, he was born in 1933. My sister is named Lee Meng Chee and she was born in September 1927. 

  I have little impression of my mother as she died when I was very young. She died after giving birth to my younger brother. My father, Lee Kett Meng, was the only one to work to support us. He worked as a hawker selling fishball noodles. My father liked to drink and gamble a lot with his friends so in the end, our monthly household allowance was very little. We were very poor and hardly had enough to eat and because of this, my sister had to apply for a job as a washerwoman to support us. Although the pay was not much, it was sufficient for us to at least to have meals every day.

 My younger brother and I were very close. We frequently played marbles that were borrowed from other children in our village. Although we enjoyed ourselves very much my sister would always nag us to go home for dinner. Everyday was happy for us and the world was peaceful until...

 In the year 1937, Japan invaded China. Troops of soldiers from China tried to stop the Japanese from conquering China. Everyday was fearful for us. Bombs and planes were heard once in a while. We moved from our own house to our relative’s house as we heard the sound of the bombs getting nearer to our house. We feared and were afraid. Negative thoughts came to our mind. We questioned ourselves everyday and every moment ‘when will the bombs fall on us?’ and ‘how can we survive this war?’ but our determination helped us to survive. During the war, we encountered lots of problems, for example, food shortages. We had insufficient to eat. We ate sweet potatoes and some leftover food. We suffered a lot and lost a lot of weight during the period of time but luckily the war ended in 1945.

  When I was fifteen years old, my father died due to an illness. As we were poor at that time, we did not have enough money to receive treatment. Even if we had enough money, at that point of time receiving treatment might not even have cured my father’s illness.

 At sixteen years old, my aunt in Singapore visited my siblings and I. My aunt felt very sad for us as our parents had died when we were very young. She advised me to go to Singapore to work or might even have a chance to go to school. I refused as if I went to Singapore, I would have had to leave my siblings in China. My aunt managed to persuade me by telling me that in Singapore, I could take a job and then send my monthly salary to my siblings in China. When I heard this, I agreed. I thought that maybe in Singapore I could earn much more money than what my sister earned in China. If this really happened, my sister would not have to suffer so much.

 I came to Singapore with my aunt and lived with my aunt in a small house. She provided money for me to go to school but I did not treasure it. I was mischievous then and did not study hard enough and I failed my test. Then I dropped out of school much to my regret.

 Soon after, I worked as a garbage man. Although the pay was low, I managed to send back some money to my siblings. I worked and change my job several times.

 I met Chan Chin Ho at the age of twenty-six. At that time, I felt that it was the happiest of the whole life. We went on a few dates and when I was twenty-seven we got married as we felt that we were suitable for each other.

 One year later, in the year of 1959, we had our first child. Our first child was a boy. We named him Lee Cheow Loon. Our second child was born in the year of 1960. Our second child was a girl and we called her Lee Mei Ching. Our third child was a girl born in 1963 when Singapore joined Malaysia. We called her Lee Lai Ching. Unexpectedly, when we were expecting our fourth child, my wife had a miscarriage because of an accident. 

  One day, when I came back from work, I heard some noise coming from the toilet. I became suspicious and I went to see what it was. I saw my wife on the floor covered with blood. She told me that she had slipped and fallen on the floor when wanting to go to the toilet. I immediately sent her to the hospital and the doctor told me that she had a miscarriage. We were so sad to lose a baby. Although we lost our fourth baby, we had another baby at the year of 1967. The baby was a girl and we called her Lee Keet Ching.

  Although we have had a hard time working to support our family; my wife worked as a tailor and I worked as a canteen vendor, we have lived a happy life.

  Now our daughters and sons have children of the own. My wife and I are retired and our grandchildren visited us frequently. We will gather once in a while.