从北方的故乡，他们带着梦想与年少的热诚来到了这生疏的荒地。却问是否有想到那一天离港是对亲属见面的最后一次时刻。。。。。几十年来的乡情如今埋在八尺土里，也是可以感觉得到的。 烈日当空下别有一番滋味在心头。。。。。。
My grandparents came via the ship from 汕头Shangtou port all the way to the west coast of Malaysia due to the combination of famine and poverty in China and job opportunities in land reclaimation as offered by the British Colony Governments. Since then, they were never able to go back to China due to the closed door policy of the Chinese policy (which is only relaxed few years ago after their death).
Such exclusion is unimaginable nowadays but was quite a commonplace for the overseas Chinese who settle outside China. These overseas Chinese often withold their traditional values so well that are almost forgotten by the mainland Chinese due to its cultural revolution in 1960-70's which almost eradicated all traces of 'old traditions' to embrace the new 'movement', thanks to Chiarman Mao.
They are now dead, buried in Penang with its typical gravestones which also marked the cornerstone of our family living standard at the time when the body was buried. Note some of them were buried earlier in the 'common' graveyard as we cannot afford the elaborate gravestone then.
No comments:
Post a Comment