22. Happy Events During The Hardships Of War

The Chan family did not let the harsh conditions of the Japanese Occupation marred their spirit to survive and to procreate. In the midst of all the hardships, they were blessed with several happy events that occurred during this period.

The most important events were the marriage of our father Chung Chow and our mother Lee Mooi in 1942, and the births of their first child in 1943, and their second in 1945.

In August 1942, the Japanese soldiers had occupied Malaya for almost eight months. Our grandparents were very anxious that their eldest son Chung Chow, who was 27, get married and continue the family line. Back then, it was very common for the parents to arrange or match-make partners for their children. After several unsuccessful meetings with some of the local eligible ladies, our grandmother's persistence finally paid off when our father Chung Chow was introduced to our mother Lee Mooi.

Though it was not a romantic story of love-at-first-sight, they liked each other very much, and committed themselves to a lifelong union as husband and wife.

Mother Lee Mooi's parents, grandfather Lee and grandmother Chang Kiew, were Hakka and it was quite common to have cross-dialects marriages between the Cantonese and the Hakka as they came from the same southern provinces of China.

Maternal grandmother Chang Kiew.

They lived in a farm house situated along Creagh Road in Assam Kumbang. Father Chung Chow recalled that it was located somewhere between the Buddhist temple and the aerodrome in Tekka.

Location of Assam Kumbang

A young Lee Mooi.

Mother Lee Mooi was born on November 2, 1924. It was a Sunday corresponding to the Chinese 10th lunar month 6th day, Year of the Mouse. She was also known as Loke Mooi as she was the number six daughter of a very large farming family.

Palong Tin Mining

When the Japanese soldiers invaded Malaya, mother Lee Mooi had returned to Taiping from Kampar where she had worked together with her sisters as dulang-washers panning for tin ore. She recalled that she had to dress up as a boy and dirtied her face and hands so as not to attract attention from the Japanese soldiers. Whenever they hear that the soldiers were coming, they would run deep into the rubber estates to seek refuge. She was barely 18 when she married our father Chung Chow who was almost 10 years her senior.

Dulang Washers panning for tin ore

Dulang Washers panning for tin ore

Next: 23. Happy Union