China News Service, Kuala Lumpur, May 9th. Title: Chinese Malaysians Telling Mother's Story on Mother's Day: Creating Life and Inheriting Family Tradition
China News Agency reporter Chen Yue
On the eve of Mother's Day, a book "Ordinary Women Engraving Life", which records the stories of 20 ordinary Chinese women in Malaysia, was promoted successively in Madode.
He Yuling, the former president of the Malaysian Women’s Action Association, commented on this book jointly launched by Malaysia and China, saying that these "ordinary women" who work hard for the family, society and the country, and work silently, explain that "life is not search, but creation!"
The Chinese women recorded in this book were all born in the 1930s, and most of them were the second generation of Chinese immigrants.
The editor of the book, Zhang Weixin, former head of the Chinese Culture Center of the University of Pahang in Malaysia, told reporters that these women not only support the operation of their families with their own hard work, but also teach by example and teach the next generation to become talents.
"But for a long time, the attention and record of these'mothers' in Malaysian society has been insufficient."
Zhang Weixin's mother, Su Zai, is also one of the protagonists in the book.
Su Zai, born in 1931, has 10 children.
Among her children, except for Zhang Weixin who teaches at the university; Zhang Ying is currently the Penang State Executive Member and has long been committed to safeguarding the rights of women in Malaysia; Zhang Guiying was selected for the Malaysian National Basketball Team; the rest of the children are also successful in their careers.
In Zhang Weixin's memory, his mother has always paid attention to teaching her children by precepts and deeds.
He said that mothers never complain about others and are lenient. In large families, they often teach their children that they would rather suffer a loss than take advantage of others. When conflicts arise with relatives or neighbors, the mother always apologizes and educates herself.
These simple family styles also left a profound impact on Zhang Weixin.
Zhang Ying also wrote an article in the book and recalled that her mother got up to cook and cook at 4:30 in the morning every day. After the meal was made, she rode a bicycle to work in the rubber plantation and worked diligently to keep the house day after day.
"Although we were poor when we were young, we never had the experience of not having food. Thanks to my mother, her hands can open up wasteland." Even in her mother's later years, whenever Zhang Ying went back to visit, she would still let Zhang Ying accompany herself to the house. To the oil palm plantation in China, “With a fertilizer bag in one hand and a knife in the other, you can pick up 30 to 50 kilograms of (oil palm) loose particles each time.”
Zhang Ying still remembered that in the small vegetable garden behind her mother's house, there were often croissants, long beans, passion fruit, pomegranates, etc., as well as some herbs that she didn't know their names.
In order not to waste leftovers, my mother kept a few chickens by the vegetable garden.
She said that in daily life, the Zhang brothers and sisters are practical in all kinds of objects, and don't care about beautiful decorations.
"This is the inheritance of the mother's pragmatic virtue."
Zhang Weixin said that, in fact, there are still many Malaysian Chinese women like mothers, which can be fully reflected in this book.
He recalled that editing this book was originally initiated by Zhang Ying.
He laughed and said that many authors are writing articles for the first time. Although the length is only about a thousand words, it is not easy to write articles.
For this reason, Zhang Weixin constantly communicates with the authors and helps them enrich the content of the article.
Some authors gave up halfway, but more authors persisted and recorded the image of their mother in their minds.
Zhang Weixin is also very grateful to Hebei University of China, which co-founded the Confucius Institute with Pahang University, for its strong support for this book.
He told reporters that Dr. Ma Ting of Hebei University participated in the editing of this book, and Hebei University also assisted in the publication of the book.
He also hopes that more such Malaysian-Chinese cultural cooperation projects will be carried out in the future, so that the history of Chinese living and construction in Malaysia will be "more difficult to forget".
Professor Bai Gui, director of the Center for Intercultural Communication Research of Hebei University, said that most of the Chinese women in Malaysia recorded in this book are second-generation Chinese immigrants. They follow their parents to "go down to Southeast Asia" and link up and down. Not only do they shoulder the responsibility of the family, they also subtly influence the Chinese cultural traditions. Educate children and make a great contribution.
"The publication of this book has greatly filled the academic gaps that were previously lacking in research."
(Finish)