Impression of Kuching Mug | 古晋印象马克杯

Kuching, described as one of the most attractive cities in Southeast Asia, is the capital of Sarawak Malaysia. It is a city rich in history, and modern day Kuching is a delightful blend of modern structures and old-world charm. Kuching is divided by the Sarawak River; the south is a commercial residential area, dominated by Chinese, while the north shore is predominantly Malay in character, with old kampong houses lining the river. The two parts of the city are very different in character and even have separate mayors and separate town halls.

Kuching is a place with congenial folks and they also welcome the travellers with open arms. Their cooperative citizens help the tourists if they face any language barrier or directional trouble. Being a multi-cultural city in Malaysia, Kuching has all kinds of citizens. One can see a mixture of various religions and languages in this place. Just like chinese people speak in their own Mandarin, Hokkien or Hakka dialect, similarly the Malays speak the national language. The infusion of British people has also introduced English as one of the prominent languages now. Indians comprising Tamils, Punjabis and Sikhs can also be found in Kuching. Apart from that, races like Bidayuhs, Melanaus and Javenese are also to be found in Kuching.

The origin of “Kuching”
Kuching means ‘cat’ in Malay. Some folks depict that the name of the city has been derived from a fruit called "Mata Kuching" which is widely available in Malaysia and Indonesia. There is a hill called Bukit Mata Kuching which is thought to be named after this fruit. Kuching is actually named after the Kuching River, a tidal stream that runs from Tua Pek kong Temple to Chinese History Museum and located at foot of the hill. At present the river does not exist due to the silt deposits. Another folk depict that the town may have originally have been known as Cochin (port) – a word commonly used across India and Indochina. Some Chinese Teochew peoples said, the town named after “Old Well“ in Hokkien or Teochew language.

古晋是马来西亚砂拉越的首府，被誉为东南亚最具吸引力的城市之一。这座城市有精彩的历史背景，今日的城市风貌巧妙的揉合了现代与古老。古晋被砂拉越河划分为两个部分，南岸是华人聚居的商业重镇，北岸则散布着传统的马来村屋。南北岸各有风味，也各由不同的市长和市政局所管理。

古晋是一座亲善和谐的城市，人情味浓厚。这里有多元民族、多元信仰、多元文化和语言，许多游客觉得便于沟通和交流。古晋华人通用的语言是华语、福建话和客语；马来人则以马来西亚语交谈；过去在英国人的长期领导下，英语也成为这里的主要语言之一；还有淡米尔人、旁遮普人和信奉锡克教的印度人；而毕达友族、马兰诺族和爪哇人也在此聚居。

“古晋”名称由来
在马来语中，古晋是“猫”（Kucing）的谐音。按照民间说法，这个名称的由来跟盛产于马来西亚和印尼的水果龙眼有关，马来语称龙眼为“猫眼”（Mata Kuching），古晋就有一座山丘早年因长有龙眼树而被命名为猫眼岭。猫眼岭下有一条小河被命名为古晋河，经大伯公庙流入砂拉越河，古晋一名据说就源于这条小河，这条河如今已不复存在。另有一个说法，指古晋的名称来自印度语“Cochin”，即港口的意思。据说老一辈有些潮州人认为古晋一名源自“古井”的福建或潮州方言口音。