Children of The Monkey God

Author: F.S.Choo
Publish: Third Millennium Publishing
Type: Biography
Date: 2009
Number of pages: 263
ISBN：193480522X 9781934805220

【Summary】

F.S.Choo grew up in a traditional Chinese Hakka family in Sarawak, Malaysia at a time when it was administered by British colonial rule. Written in the gentle style of his native culture, he charts and reveals a fascinating world beginning with his great grandfather’s migration from China to West Kalimantan, Borneo in the early 1850’s; his life as a gold miner and his connection to the mysterious Kongsi, a unique self-governing democratic organization that flourish until the mid 1800’s when it came into conflict with Dutch colonial rule and White Rajahs of Sarawak, Borneo.

Covering a period of 115 years, 1850-1965, Children of The Monkey God deals with the experience of four generations of a Chinese family in Sarawak. Candid and at times humorous, satirical and controversial, it vividly captures life at the crossroads of change in the 1950’s and ‘60’s when the sun was setting on the colonial era. It conveys to the reader the multilayered cultural influences of British colonialism, the burgeoning American pop-scene, and that of the different Chinese dialect groups. It offers a fascinating insight into some of the social, cultural and religious beliefs and practices of a world that is fast disappearing and seldom seen by westerners.

本书作者F.S.Choo出生在马来西亚砂拉越的一个传统客家家庭，成长于英国殖民地时期。他以深入浅出的方式，勾勒出一个有趣的世界，故事从他的曾祖父在1850年代初从中国南来西加里曼丹说起，描述了一个金矿工人的生活，以及他和神秘的华人公司的关系。这种独特而繁荣一时的公司形式，是一种高度自治的民主组织，在19世纪中叶因为与荷兰殖民地政府及砂拉越白人拉者产生冲突而宣告终结。

本书的书写横跨115年（1850-1965），是华人家族四代生活在砂拉越的真实记录。作者行文流畅从容，时而幽默，时而带有嘲讽和批判，生动捕捉了1950至60年代英殖民地时期的生活变迁。它给读者传达了英国的殖民主义、新兴的美国流行场景以及不同的中国方言群体之间多元文化的互动和影响。它也揭示一个迅速消失，而西方世界也经常忽略，砂拉越的社会、文化习俗和宗教信仰中各种迷人的元素。

【Author】

F.S.Choo is a retired UK-trained Barrister-at-law, born in Sarawak, Malaysia. He was a legal practitioner in Brunei from 1974 to 1987. He migrated to Perth, Western Australia in the middle of 1987 together with his wife and three daughters where they have remained since then. He never took up legal practice again, having lost the passion for it in Brunei. He then involved himself in a few small business ventures in Perth and Malaysia for a while as well as helping his wife in her homeopathic and kinesiology practice. He considers Children of The Monkey God to be a labor of love and is fiercely passionate in his desire to share this family story with the rest of the world.

【Contents】

Map 1: China and Southeast Asia
Map 2: Northwest Sarawak and West Kalimantan

The Great Grandfather
Children of The Monkey God
The Grandparents
Country Visits
Town Life
Street Friends & Classmates
Relatives
Ghosts, Demons & Monsters
Witchcraft and Witch Doctors
Epilougue

Author Biography
Bibliography