This is the real story of [Zhu Xiaolu] Issue 139th issue
Oral description: Chloe
Editor: Zhu Xiaolu & Xu Yangyang
My name is Chloe
My Chinese name is Guo Weien, born in 1995.
My ancestral home is Hui'an, Fujian, China. During the Qing Dynasty, Malaysia belonged to a British colony.
In that colonial era, they needed a lot of labor to build railways, so they deceived the people of the coastal areas of the Qing Dynasty to Malay Peninsula as coolies.
This is also the most tragic generation. They rode sampan or wooden boat, risked their lives and left the countryside to Southeast Asia.
At that time, the sea conditions were very bad. Not only were they short of food and clothing, but the worst was that they were infected with diseases and could not be treated. Many people disappeared into the vast sea during their voyage.
After the remaining lucky people came to Malaysia, they were designated to work as laborers to move stones. They worked diligently, and many people who could not return to China could only take root.
Great-grandmother once told me that my ancestors were holding the statue of Mazu , riding on a boat, experiencing many hardships, and finally crossing the ocean to Malacca.
(my red fox doll)
Like most of the Chinese ancestors who traveled across the ocean, my family is also a South Asian laborer. They started fishing and then gradually became a business for generations.
And my ancestors built a family temple for future generations in a foreign land with their own efforts, which is the ancestral home of our family.
This ancestral temple is still here. Every year, we go back to worship our ancestors and gods.
Until my grandfather's generation, he was also a businessman and started his business in electronic scales. In the past, my family conditions were moderate.
From my parents’ generation, basically every family runs their own small business. Although they are not rich, they also live a rich life.
As the fourth generation of Chinese, I live in a peaceful era. But I have never forgotten the Chinese tradition.
I grew up with my grandparents. My favorite thing when I was a child was to celebrate the Lunar New Year.
Because this is the most important festival of the year for Chinese people, the whole family and the young can get together to have dinner and chat.
Every day on the first day of the Lunar New Year, my grandmother would remind the younger generation that it is forbidden to do taboo things such as cleaning and sprinkling, otherwise everything will go wrong throughout the year.
Although I sometimes question my grandmother's superstition, in order not to be blamed, I would rather believe it. After all, this is also a tradition left by my ancestors.
The most lively moment of the Lunar New Year is the ninth day of the lunar new year.
Because there are many Fujian Chinese in Malaysia, they regard this day as the birthday of Jade Emperor .
Every night on the eighth day of the lunar month, my family will clean up, and the elders will make turtle cakes, and will send as tribute.
Every turtle cake is turtle red, and the elders have made them into tortoise shell seals, symbolizing longevity.
Before the festival, the whole family and the young will stay up to the New Year until midnight.
Every morning on the ninth day of the lunar month, each family will set off firecrackers and set off fireworks at night, and the whole street is very lively.
As a descendant of Nyonya, what impressed me particularly when I was a child was Nyonya pastry.
(My family and I)
My great-grandmother especially likes to make Nyonya pastries for the younger generation and cook Nyonya food. I especially love Nyonya rice dumplings.
It tastes completely different from bacon zong . It has a sweet taste but also has a salty aroma. Especially it is fusion with white pepper flavor, with a unique Nanyang flavor.
I was very naughty when I was a child. Whenever my great-grandmother was cooking, I learned her methods in a good manner. It seemed to be helping her, but in fact it was to make trouble and steal food.
Great-grandmother's dishes carry the taste of my whole childhood. The best Nyonya Zongzi I have ever eaten is from my great-grandmother.
Unfortunately, we have not inherited many of the great-grandmother's secret recipes.
With the passing of my great-grandmother, I never tasted the taste in my memory again, which is probably the reason why many Nyonya cultures are lost.
Or maybe what we love is not a certain taste, but just a complex. This is also a common characteristic of many Chinese people.
My hometown is in Malacca, which is the earliest place where Baba Nyonya was formed.
But in Malaysia, Baba Nyonya's identity is nothing special.
Because "Baba Nyonya" not only refers to the offspring of Chinese immigrants and Malays .
has another part, which is a descendant of Indonesian people, especially from Indonesian Jawa women.
There are many people like me who belong to Nyonya descendants.
But for Chinese people, no matter how far they go, they will never forget their roots.
Because my family is engaged in the horizontal instrument business, it is a horizontal instrument dealer, and most of the horizontal instruments are imported from China.
Grandpa will visit China's international horizontal display every year, sometimes to see goods, sometimes to contact the factory, and I will accompany you almost every time.
(Family photo taken when I graduated from college)
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, my grandfather would visit relatives in Hui'an, Fujian.
I remember one time, my grandfather and his family went to Hui'an . The scene at that time was like a large-scale divorce recognition scene.
Relatives went out to greet them early, and the elderly sat together and talked about their seniority, who was the elder brother and who was the younger brother.
Although there are not many contacts on weekdays, the connection between bloodlines makes the family members feel particularly warm.
When my grandfather returned to Malaysia, relatives in Fujian gave me a lot of local specialties, just like young Chinese people returning from their hometown during the Chinese New Year, their parents would stuff a lot of things from their hometown in large bags.
Relatives also specifically instructed my grandfather to bring these gifts home and to us children, which brought me a lot of inexplicable touch.
Although many relatives are far away in China and some have never seen them before, I have a relationship that is connected by flesh and blood.
Because only by knowing where life originates can we know where we are going.
Chinese has been with me since I was born. It can be said that this kind of favorability has been influenced by me since I was a child.
When I was a child, my grandmother would talk to me about Cantonese , and my grandfather would talk to me about Fujian dialect.
Although I am in Malaysia, I have been communicating in Chinese.
I went to Chinese school since I was seven years old. I received 12 years of orthodox Chinese education in Chinese school.
The Chinese primary school I work in is taught in Chinese as a medium.
Since I was a child, I have been learning mathematics, history and science in Chinese.
What’s more special is that when I arrived at the middle school, I did not choose the National High School in Malaysia, but entered Guanghua Independent High School.
The so-called predecessors planted trees, and future generations enjoyed the shade.
Malaysia's national middle schools are mainly Malay language.
In the process of independent social development, in order to allow Chinese descendants to retain their mother tongue, Chinese ancestors worked hard throughout their lives to win the right to legally establish Chinese middle schools.
(photos from me when I was in high school)
They allow more Chinese descendants to receive complete Chinese language education, so that the entire Chinese culture can be carried forward.
We abbreviated as "independent middle school".
And I am in such a middle school, not only learning specialized subject knowledge, but also learning Chinese history .
I also trained for six years of impromptu speeches and debates. This place cultivates my interest in performance and speech, and it also stimulates my desire for the stage.
At the same time, the school also has many club activities about Chinese culture, such as chess, lion dance dragon dance , traditional dance, spring , etc.
We have lion dance and dragon dance, and we are still actively training our descendants to inherit this art.
I feel very lucky to grow up in such an environment full of Chinese traditions and artistic atmosphere.
Since I was in middle school, I have dreamed of being a radio or TV host in the future.
However, after I went to college, I chose Business Administration .
First of all, it is because the family runs a business, so you can also help the family company in the future.
Secondly, the self-media was underdeveloped at that time, and the family members had very traditional ideas. They thought it was unreliable to read media.
Finally, I followed my family’s advice and chose business administration.
However, I am very grateful for my choice at the beginning, because the knowledge I learned in college was later applied to my work and subtly influenced me.
After graduating from college, I first entered the field of advertising. After about two years of work, I was tired of sitting in the office and repeating work day after day.
(I am on the streets of Malaysia)
Compared with China, the working environment in Malaysia is not that competitive, and the working pace will be slower. Over time, you can basically see through the future at a glance.
But I want to do something challenging, like the Chinese predecessors, create my own glory and don’t want to compromise with reality.
Just like the famous Chinese actress Liu Yuling once said:
"You can choose to sit there and complain that this place is not suitable for me at all, or you can take risks, realize your dreams, and see what else there is in the outside world. The broader your horizons, the clearer you will be in your position."
By chance, my classmate took me to open the door to a new world.
My friend Li Mingyu is also a self-media and is running a famous Chinese channel in Malaysia called Asian Red Dot Media.
After he introduced me to this job, I found that I liked it very much.
When I was a student, I liked reading history very much.
Whether it is Malaysian history , world history, or Chinese history, I will browse it.
So I chose to do historical and cultural themes in self-media and run a small channel about the history of Chinese people in the world.
This is a relatively unpopular topic and has little audience.
If you only look at the profit, many people will definitely choose more profitable projects.
(the gift I received)
But the reason why I finally chose "World Chinese Historical Culture" as the main axis of self-media content is that I hope our national culture can be passed on.
Chinese culture now represents a nation, and it has gone to the world.
is like scattered beads, rolling around everywhere. Chinese culture is the soft and tough filaments that connect the beads.
Whether or not Chinese or overseas Chinese from other countries have been naturalized, they have grown up in the connection of this culture.
Plus I love history and culture myself. I don’t want to only understand my own culture, but also understand other people’s culture.
People are the existence of history. To create history, you must first learn to inherit history.
So, when I chose the content direction of my self-media, I had a voice in my heart telling myself that I must share the historical and cultural stories of my nation.
I think it is very challenging to reinterpret the inconspicuous historical stories to the audience in my own way.
When I was sharing the story, I also encountered many difficulties because the audience was very small and I was unable to make ends meet for several months. Sometimes I also question my choices.
In addition, my appearance is not eye-catching, and there are no exaggerated and interesting performances. I only have a story-telling mouth.
(night in Malaysia)
When I tell stories, there will always be voices attacking my appearance and figure, attacking me as a girl with no brains and misleading the audience.
Some people even think that I use the title of Chinese to get traffic. I am also very angry and depressed, and even wanted to give up for a while.
Until one day, my elders at home told me that the Chinese culture topic I was doing was forwarded by their Chinese friends and praised me for their videos. They insisted on watching every new video.
This makes me feel very worthwhile, and it is the motivation for people who like me to persevere.
I also got a lot of different inspiration when I was even talking to friends who like me.
Although my self-media platform often fails to make ends meet, the income from occasional business cooperation will also be better.
So by chance, I decided to run an internet celebrity intermediary company to support the creation of self-media.
I will recommend suitable Southeast Asian bloggers to Chinese customers, cooperate with promotion work, assist customers in conception of promotion plans, etc., and promote cooperation with China.
I face different challenges every day, face different people and things, and come into contact with different historical stories, which makes me very interesting.
During the business cooperation process, I can also feel the enthusiasm of the Chinese people up close, and I also thank all the partners for their trust.
I remember the first time I came to China was in 2013. My first impression of China was that people were very enthusiastic and buildings had historical characteristics.
Before the epidemic, I went to China almost two or three times a year. Sometimes I accompanied my grandfather to see the exhibition, and sometimes I came to travel.
The biggest feeling I feel about Chinese friends is that they are very hospitable.
I remember once I came to the International High-end Exhibition, and there were products from all over the world. The organizers not only introduced us enthusiastically, but also took us everywhere.
When we went to a special restaurant for dinner, the organizer ordered more than a dozen dishes for each meal, and I was very full every day.
In addition, I have made friends with many uncles who are not as old as my grandfather, and I feel they are very kind.
I remember another time when I was invited to Kunming by some tourism and cultural institutions. That time I truly felt the care of the Chinese.
There were also Malay compatriots who were with me at that time. Because Muslims do not eat pork, the organizer paid special attention to this detail.
, especially in terms of food, they only invited us to eat after confirming each delicacy, which also touched my fellow travelers.
(I am on the streets of Malaysia)
Because I have many special experiences in China, I want to come to live for a few months after the epidemic is over. I want to rent a small RV , and use videos to record my life while walking.
I want to see the Forbidden City, one of the three major palaces in the world, and I also want to see the picturesque Guilin landscape , and the paradise on earth Hangzhou.
I even plan to be a travel blogger and visit all of Beijing Nanjing Suzhou .
Just like my idol blogger Fang Qi , he wanders in every corner of the world, contacts groups from different countries, hears different voices, experiences different scenery, and tells more stories to my audience.
In the future, I hope to become a famous historical and cultural blogger in Southeast Asia. To be precise, I hope to become a disseminator of the history and culture of Chinese people in the world.
This is the 139th real character story recorded by [Zhu Xiaolu].
I think that truth has its own power and has the power to move and warm people's hearts.
Tell your pain and you will reduce one pain;
Share your happiness and you will get two happiness.
If you also want to tell your own story and let more people see it, please send me a private message
