Striped Material for Foochow Men's Pajamas

source: http://www.fundkandjunk.com

 

Foochow men are very fond of wearing cotton pajamas. They will get into them as soon as they can when they arrive home according to a friend of mine. And it is also a "must pack" item when they go travelling. One guy I know cannot sleep if he does not wear them.

The most popular material for their pajamas is this striped material which is still available in most textile shops in Sibu! This kind of material has been around for more than 50 years!! Most of these cotton pajamas are home made so they have special meaning to the men wearing them.

Some how in the evenings I just can sense that I will see a Foochow man wearing his pajama bottoms in his garden. And sure enough I will pass by a house and catch a glimpse of a man wearing a striped pajamas bottom. My kids used to shout..."here we go...another one....and another one there...." it is just such a happy nostalgic scenario.

The Night Soil Man

A Sprague photo from China showing a lady carrying two pails of night soil with a bian dan to her vegetable garden. Of course this is no longer a "done" thing in Sarawak. But in the 50's and 60's, public sanitation was not yet standardised and very little was known about Preventive Medicine.





















Drawing of Night Soil Men, taken from State of Large Towns in South Staffordshire, page 18

I am wondering how many people of Sibu who are now in their 50's and above can remember the most undignified and lowly, humble occupation of " night soil man " - a man who took away human waste in the most unholy hours of three or four in the morning.

Any man who went home late would have met a man carrying pails of night soil on his bian dan (bamboo pole). Any murderer would have him as a witness. I am sure many a night soil man had kept mum on what he saw in the early hours of the day. If they had kept a diary, they would have lots of stories to tell us.

There were very few night soil men who helped keep Sibu clean of human waste. They definitely did not have gloves to wear or any vehicle to help them. They were paid, I remember by each house or shop owner. they brought their own corrugated steel pails (tiak turn) and poured the human waste from the basin into their pails and had "it" carried away. It was definitely as "smelly" job. We also paid him for new basins when our old ones got worn out. Thus we did not even have to handle the new night soil basins.

And definitely they,were never accorded any thanks properly. they were men of the night and kept away from any lime light.

It would be good at least to remember that Sibu had once some people who were willing to do the dirty job of removing human waste. Sibu for that matter did not suffer greatly from cholera epidemics and other sicknesses. It was indeed a wonder.

We used to recognise one man whom we called "Dan Sei Apek",or the "Apek who carried Shit" and each month he would come around to collect only a few miserable dollars for all his solitary and night labour.

And of course if we woke up very early to study, we could "smell" the apek coming and going. We should not have complained so much at that time about him, who kept Sibu clean.

Our special outhouse in Kung Ping Road, was demolished in the early 60's when Sibu District Council called for all houses and shops to use flush toilets.

Do you remember all these?

Strong Foochow Men

These gunny sacks or jute sacks were once common sights in Sibu. Strong wharf labourers could just lift them easily on their backs and walk on the planks up to the ship for loading or from the ship to the waiting trolley for unloading. Because wharf labourers at that time did not have a strong union, their wages were often questionable and topics of hot arguments.



This picture is an example of gunny sacks for keeping corn in the shop. Corn was an important commodity for rearing of domestic animals. Today, corn fed chickens are still highly valued. Wharf labourers carried sacks of corn and rice from ships to the waiting trolleys or lorries and then hopped on to them. When they reached the grocery shops, they carried the sacks full of corn and rice to the shops. They never seemed to be tired. I really admired their forebearance and stoical attitude towards life.









This is a very old photo from a pictorial book by the Chinese Cultural Association of Sibu. It reminds me of the many Foochow men in Sibu who were extremely strong . The Sibu wharf labourers for example did not have machines to help them. They used their brute strength to lift gunny sacks of rice, to carry bales of smoked rubber from the shops to the lorries, or 100 pikuls of charcoal from the trolley to the motor launch. when moving houses, a group of men would be called and they literally carried all the cupboards and tables and beds. Many men were employed just to carry the bakau for piling in the construction company.

A livelihood for a man for example in the picture depended on his strength and no resume was needed from him to get his job. By word of mouth, he would have been employed easily because he was strong and trustworthy.

I can never erase the sad moment when my third uncle, Pang Sing, had to carry my grandmother from the motor launch to the waiting car parked near the Sibu jetty,which was quite a distance, for her last journey to the Lau King Howe Hospital. My uncle was in tears as he lifted her to his back and carried her up the steps of the jetty. In his hurry and distress, he even forgot to wear his shoes!

As far as I am concerned in those days,there has never been greater love between mother and son than this pair - my grandmother and her third son, Pang Sing. The whole Rejang Basin was in the know, as we used to say. Though uneducated because of the Japanese war interruption, poor in terms of a good income, my uncle managed to bring up a good family and look after my grandmother in her old days extremely well. It was an extremely happy old age for her. That we all remember. He made sure that she was short of nothing, especially when she became more and more weak in her eyesight. Finally in the last four years of her life, she was totally blind.

Gone are the days now for men who could earn a living through their strength.