In his recently published memoir, Ou Ji Ye, pen-name Shan Shan, recalls the whiff of his cousin’s unique scent as she climbed over him to get into bed. He wouldn’t know what the feeling conjured by the odour meant until his teenage years — and wouldn’t write about it for another half-a-century.
Jak Burapa Su Usakanay
He was but a child when he fell in love with his cousin. It was a time when romantic love between close relatives with different family names was socially acceptable. It was the 1910s and the Qing dynasty was coming to an end.
“I couldn’t possibly describe what the whole book is about,” said Panadda Lertlum-ampai, Ou’s daughter, who has undertaken the arduous task of overseeing Rungchai Raksriaksorn’s translation — from Chinese to Thai — of her father’s two-volume memoir, 50 Years Abroad. The Thai title, Jak Burapa Su Usakanay translates roughly into “From The East (China) To Southeast Asia”. The memoir spans several decades of Ou’s life and the translation took about a year.
The two volumes, consisting of over 500,000 Chinese characters, were written between 1967 and 1974, when Ou was in his 60s. The stories were first published in 1971 as a series in a Chinese language paper in Thailand.
In the memoir, Ou recounts the 1911 Xinhai Revolution — the overthrow of the Qing dynasty of which the Wuchang Uprising on Oct 10 that year was the catalyst. He writes of the time when men and boys began cutting off their pigtails, how the young men were eager, while the older generation more resistant. He remembers the people in his small town in the Meixian district of Guangdong Province following the example of a revered teacher who readily got rid of the pigtail, a symbol of the subjugation of the Han under the Manchu. He remembers laughing at the ridiculous short hair growing from the middle of a classmate’s head.
“The books presents a personal story that reflects a social history, a progression of history made tangible by the proximity of first-hand account and feelings,” said playwright and translator Rasamee Paoluengtong at a recent seminar on the book at the Bangkok International Book Fair. Ou doesn’t simply expose his life in his memoir, but examines it in the context of history. In 1917, at the age of 12 (13 by the Chinese calendar), he set sail from China with his mother, heading to Java, which was under Dutch rule. Ou recognises the voyage through Chaozhou and Hong Kong to Batavia (modern day Jakarta) as the end of his childhood. The text of his migration from China to Java, from Java to Thailand, then to Singapore and back to Thailand, are accompanied by photographs and maps.
“The author was critical of history. In Java, he observed how society was divided into classes under Dutch rule. He recognised the social ills, the unfair treatment of local workers. He discerned the impact of colonisation,” said Rasamee. “He was very impressed with Hua Lamphong station and noted its construction. The memoir isn’t just a travelogue; Ou went beyond mere observation — he researched and analysed.”
“When Ou came to Thailand in 1931, the Memorial Bridge wasn’t even open yet. There weren’t buildings, just wooden houses that easily caught fire,” said historian and writer Charoen Tanmahapran at the seminar.
Charoen explained how the hua chiew (Chinese immigrants), built their own community on Yaowarat Road, or Chinatown, and except for a few major events were left mostly to their own devices by the Thai government.
Ou’s account reveals the mentality of Chinese immigrants who valued their community, building schools and establishing newspapers, and other institutions and foundations.
His life was remarkably eventful.
“In 1939, Field Marshal Plaek Piboonsongkram closed down Chinese newspapers and schools because of the Japanese [presence in Thailand during WWII]. Ou travelled to Singapore to find work and was just in time for the Japanese occupation there. The situation was even worse,” said Phimpraphai Phisanbut, who specialises in Chinese history and Chinese-Thai relations. “He wrote of his return to China after the war. And here I was so struck by his powerful words. He was treated poorly upon arrival and when he attended a newspaper conference, he said something like, ‘Coming home is like putting my warm, eager cheeks against someone else’s cold ass’.”
Rasamee also found the episodes about Ou’s visit to his homeland thought-provoking, from meeting Chiang Kai-shek to his commentary on China in 1949 after the change of governance.
“I’m fascinated by his complex feelings towards his motherland and his new homeland, his reflections on what ties a person to his motherland when he has moved away,” she added. “I could see the memoir as a film, no, an epic series. He survives through each episode, and is consistently determined to keep soldiering on,” said Rasamee.
The accounts of his adventures and travels are infused with his longing and unrequited love for his cousin, manifesting itself in the form of a forlorn love poem.
“It’s not a tale of a hero, but a regular person going through the struggles of past generations,” Rasamee said.
