Posts

Palong untong

Image
In this article, I would like to draw your attention to the following entry 1 in R. J. Wilkinson's Malay-English dictionary: ڤالڠ  palong. A trough such is used for feeding or watering animals. Wilkinson's work was published in 1901 and it suggests that palong (as sluice box) entered the popular Malay lexicon only relatively lately. However, the word can be readily found in a vocabulary list compiled by Abraham Hale (b. 1854, d. 1919) in 1885. Two Chinese are seen washing gold at Columbia River, utilizing a short palong (sluice box) and a dulang (pan) to achieve gravimetric separation of gold from dirt. The scene was painted by a Wenatchee artist named Walter Graham, and it may be seen at the Rocky Reach Discovery Center , Wenatchee, Washington. The Chinese term for palong is 金山溝. To me, the word 金山 is clearly a toponym (either a reference to San Francisco 舊金山 or Victoria 新金山, most likely the former)...

Khoja Hassan

Image
火者亞三 先生是中古馬六甲時代很出名的一條水。 Khoja Hassan (b. 1473, d. 1521) was a rather colorful mantri in Melaka. He was the maritime mantri (水官 Laxamana 1 ) in Melaka, he took over the role from his father-in-law, a certain mister Tuah in Sejarah Melayu. The role was then passed to his brother-in-law 2 when Melaka was about to be sacked by the Portuguese. It is clear from this example that nepotism is deeply integrated in Asiatic court politics. He was of Southern Chinese descent (probably Fujian or Guangdong), but his name reveals that he was a Muslim Chinese. Khoja is linked the Persian word khvâjəh (خواجه) and it is originally used to describe a class of Muslim converts in India. Amur leopard by Kwon Jung-soon Given his familarity with Chinese matters, he was recruited by the Portuguese after the fall of Melaka, as the envoy of the new Portuguese Melaka. When he was in China, he became the play companion of the 10th Ming Emperor (Zhū ...

The children of Yap Ah Loy sued their mum in court (1898 - 1904)

Image
1957/0118652W In the Court of the Senior Magistrate at Kuala Lumpur Civil Suit No. 138 of 1898. In the matter of the Estate of Yap Ah Loy, deceased, between Yap Hon Chin (28) Yap Loong Shin (23) Yap Leong Soon (18) Yap Kim Neo Yap Leong Sem by his next friend Ong Chi Siew Yap Leong Fong Plaintiffs and Kok Kang Keow (48), otherwise called Kok Ngeo Nga who is sued as Administratrix of the Estate and Effects of Yap Ah Loy, deceased. On the tombstone of Yap Ah Loy, we were given the following list: 1 隆興 (b. 29 December 1869, d. 5 January 1933), 2 隆盛 (Loong Shin, b. 4 April 1875, d. <1925?), 3 隆顺 (Leong Soon, b. 6 March 1880, d. 8 December 1907, died when he was only 27.8), 4 隆發 (b. 10 August 1882, d. 21 September 1900, died when he was only 18...

The Chinese students of Morrison and Milne

Image
In 1807, the London Missionary Society (LMS) dispatched Robert Morrison 馬禮遜 (b. 1782, d. 1834) to China to evangelize the Chinese. Morrison was working alone for many years before he was joined by other LMS colleagues. He was joined by William Milne (b. 1785, d. 1822) in 1813 and Walter H. Medhurst in 1817. Both Morrison and Milne were both students of David Bogue (b. 1750, d. 1825) at the Independent Chapel of Gosport, and they inherited Bogue's model, emphasizing that Christianity should be memetically diffused through education within the target community, rather than through mechanical conversion. Li Shigong 李十公, Chen Laoyi 陳老宜 and Robert Morrison 馬禮遜 Later, Morrison and Milne decided to use Melaka as their base because their activity in Guangzhou was severely constrained by Qing rules. In April 1815, William and Rachel Milne (b. 1783, d. 1819) brought woodblock printers named Tsae A-ko ...