A Take on the Foochows（ZZ）

If you are in Sitiawan, Perak you may come across some local Chinese speaking a language that sounds almost like Korean or Japanese.

This foreign-sounding language is in fact a dialect spoken by the Chinese clan called the Foochows.

When the Foochows migrated here, they first settled in Sitiawan.

Sounding rather different from the typical Mandarin, Hokkien or Cantonese, the Foochow dialect comes across as somewhat slurred and gentler than the other tongues.

The Foochow community is also found in Yong Peng and Batu Pahat in Johor and in Kuching, Sarawak.

Aiming to help Malaysians become more familiar with his community, Shih Toong Siong, an educationist, set out on a mission to collect bits and pieces of data on the community.

Shih, 65, who is vice-principal of the Jalan Sentui Wesley Methodist School, started gathering the information 20 years ago.

His efforts culminated in six months of writing which resulted in a book entitled The Foochows of Sitiawan: A Historical Perspective.

Shih recounts that he endured two heart attacks, several heart surgeries and a lot of “agony” to complete this pet project.

Described as a “labour of love” by Professor Emeritus Datuk Dr Khoo Kay Kim of the Universiti Malaya History Department, the 340-page book penetrates deep into the lives and times of the Foochow community who were called “Soldiers of Axes” and “Soldiers of Cangkuls” as they pitched into working the land on the “invitation” of the British.

Embarking on his journey with hardly any written records for reference, Shih drew inspiration and encouragement from Khoo who told him to take the first step and to look at his work as research.

“I am thankful for managing to get some information from here and there. I sometimes had to slash my way through graveyards with a parang and a camera in search of my ancestral history.

“My mother called me mad but I merely told her I was looking for my roots.” Shih said. He feels grateful that in the 1980s, he had the opportunity to interview some octogenarians and nanogenarians over a cup of kopi-o, because they passed on not long after he met them.

It was Shih’s father who had prompted him to write the book, lamenting the lack of records on the Foochows’ roots in this country.

He threw me a challenge to research the roots of our clan and I responded.

“I hope the book serves as an anchor and adds flavour to the cultural melting pot of Malaysia,” he said. Shih pays tribute to his wife of 40 years Ching Hia Kong, a retired teacher, for bearing with him through his labour.

She stood by me through all my weaknesses and shortcomings.

“I would not have any other to lean on.”

Although he faced tricky financial moments while writing the book, he pushed on, traveling around Malaysia and abroad in search of information about the Foochow clan.

In Malaysia, famous Foochows include former Transport Minister and MCA head Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik, deputy Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Kong Cho Ha and also
Communist Party of Malaya secretary-general Ong Boon Hua, better known as Chin Peng.

转载自马来西亚孝恩文化基金会
http://www.xiao-en.org/cultural/ ... p;loc=en&id=687

Ling Liong Sik、Kong Cho Ha、Wong Nai Siong……这些名字一看就知道是福州人，而不是闽南人，广东人。相比生活在福建本省的人用字母写下自己的名字的时候，却非要采用普通话的拼音——登记在户口本上的名字，那就算了，我的不少朋友，他们给自己起英文名的时候，也要用普通话的拼音来拼自己的姓。似乎人们没有勇气在外人面前用母语称呼自己的名字。

官方语言的淫威就在于此，也许很多人担心用福州话写英文名和国语的差异会造成很多不便，毕竟在所有的证件和官方文件上，大家名字的拉丁拼写都是国语化的。海外的华人就没有这种顾虑了，新马和印尼的福州社区大部分都是由福州基督徒开辟的，教会自然会采纳和推广用福州罗马字来拼写名字

如果我会用福州罗马字来拼写自己的和自己孩子的名字，我想那也只能是在国外。。

是的，我也承认去改户口本上的名字是不可能的事情，不过当我们给自己起英文名的时候，一定要用我们的母语写我们的姓。将来你去了美国，你也一定要告诉美国人，你的Surname是Lù不是Lú。

我在福州有个蛮要好的新西兰朋友，我第一次向他自我介绍的时候，我就告诉他我的名字是George Ngù。他会一点中文，问我牛不是读Niú吗？我说用福州话读就不是的。当然还好他会说一些毛利语，所以他发ng这个音一点困难都没有。

我们自己坚持了，别人也就接受了。很多时候放弃原则的是我们自己。

美国人大概分不清Lù和Lú，呵呵。
我是很想将来找个机会把自己的英文名彻底福州化，无论surname还是given name，更重要的是我希望以后自己的孩子从出生的时候就用福州化的英文名

Given name倒未必要本土化，如果你注定要皈依天主的话，你可以去圣经里找一个你喜欢的人物。我的given name乔治不是来自圣经，当时我还在上初中，一个英国外教给我起的。我很喜欢那个女老师，所以就一直用它。

2000年10月1日百來位中國真福被宣為聖人, 從此漢人可以選擇漢字名字當聖名了. 而且台灣教會啟用的聖人新譯名都很本土, 比如道明 domingo, 安博 ambross, 文生 vincent, 德范 stefene, 達勉 damian

看不出GnuDoyng对于母语对于自己民族的文化有任何热爱，还反过来指责福州人