Chinese book author epitomises the true multi-tasking woman of the 21st century
Archive photo shows Chen Lu receiving the ‘Sarawak Literary Award – Chinese Ethnic Writing Category’ in 2000, from then-Yang Di-Pertua Negeri Sarawak Tun Abang Muhammad Salahuddin Abang Barieng.
BOOK author Chen Lu grew up in a small, rural Foochow village that not many people knew about.
It is nestled in an area called ‘Sungai Rongan’, located upriver from Sibu.
“As a child, I learned to swim in the Rajang (River), ate wild fruits from the jungle and ran barefooted everywhere,” she reminisced her young, innocent days.
She also recalled that her village never had a cliff.
In Chinese, ‘rongan’ roughly translates to ‘dragon’s cliff’.
However, in the case of Chen Lu’s village, the name is Iban in origin, referring to the river there.
It started with children’s magazines
Chen Lu posing in this photo taken during the ‘Eighth South-East Asian Chinese Poetry Writers Conference’ back in 2015.
Chen Lu, whose real name is Ting Mee Sieng, was born into a farming family.
Her parents both worked hard to put food on the table, but Chen Lu had always been thankful that they strove to send her to school.
Her interest in writing blossomed at a very young age, and reading was what pushed her towards seeking good education.
Living in the poor countryside, she was blessed that the headmaster of Chung Ung Primary School, where she had attended, subscribed to a magazine meant for junior readers called ‘Er Tung Roh Yuen’ for his own children.
Noticing Chen Lu’s love for reading, he lent her the magazines and she would take them home to read.
Chung Ung Primary School still stands today, by the Rajang River, where it continues to nurture young minds.
Upon attending a secondary school in Sibu, Chen Lu claimed the library there as ‘her paradise’, where she would immerse herself either in a book or a magazine.
She would feel very reluctant to leave the library when it was time to close. One of her favourite subjects in school was English Literature.
“I was very impressed by my American Peace Corps English Literature teacher, Mr Edward Putka. He used new methods to teach us and even today, I can still remember each lesson vividly. Mr Putka opened our eyes to literature, to the authors and to their styles.
“We really enjoyed William Shakespeare’s works, especially in expressing ourselves during our acting session. We spent a lot of time thinking about literature. Those were precious moments to me.
“I wrote about him (Mr Putka) and the Chinese New Year experience, drinking sweet Chinese longan tea, in one of my publications. A few readers commented that I captured the ordinary moment so well with my words and they were touched.”
One of Chen Lu’s earliest publications, entitled ‘Fishing’, describes life in the Rajang Valley.
Chen Lu began writing for newspapers’ columns at a very young age.
She enjoyed contributing her articles to the Chinese printed supplements, even though the monetary returns were very minimal.
Remaining close to education
After having finished secondary education, Chen Lu worked as a temporary teacher at a school in an Iban village. She did, at the time, apply for a placement in the Teachers College as she was very keen on becoming a permanent teacher.
And she would have become one, had it not been for her husband’s job in a timber company in Sabah.
So the couple left Sibu and went to Sabah, where they set up base in the 1970s. However in the 1980s, the small family moved back to Sibu.
This was before Chen Lu’s life-changing move to Miri in the 1990s.
She continued to teach English at a tuition centre.
“At the time, I still enjoyed teaching and I also wanted to remain close to education and the usage of languages.
“I’m just glad that I had a very solid secondary school education,” Chen Lu told thesundaypost.
Her husband, on the other hand, became a fruit retailer in Miri.
“Because he was interested in planting fruits, especially watermelons, he had applied for a piece of land from a government project in Kebuloh,” she said.
The couple eventually owned and ran a stall selling fruits in Miri.
Chen Lu said life had been good to her, and her children had grown up well.
“They are in the legal, medical, business and education professions,” she said, adding that they also gave her seven grandchildren.
However, Chen Lu’s husband was no longer around.
A writer’s life
In Miri, Chen Lu joined the Writers Association, which provided a bigger platform for her to write more and also to attend more workshops.
Now, she is a member of the Malaysian Chinese Writers Group, Asian Fiction Group, and the World Chinese Writers Association.
Last year, she won the Chinese Literature (Ethnic Group) Award, which was presented to her at a ceremony in Kuala Lumpur.
She attributed her achievements to her late husband.
“He joined me in writing and sharing my ideas.
“To me, travelling with my husband in attending seminars and workshops out of East Malaysia was ‘dreamlike and inspirational’.
“One of our most memorable trips was to Xinjiang, China.”
Chen Lu said interacting with other writers had helped her become more mature in her writing. Moreover, she also enjoyed presenting her work and ideas to an audience.
Even amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, Chen Lu continued to work very hard – as she had been throughout her life.
She revealed that some of her works had been self-funded.
“Friends are very important to me, especially those who share the same writing dream.
“I write whenever I am free; writing just comes very naturally to me.”
Chen Lu (left) with fellow writers attending the ‘World Seminar on Chinese Short Stories’ in Indonesia, in 2018.
Very often, Chen Lu would experience special moments when meeting friends.
One evening in Miri after a meal, she and a friend were talking under a street-lamp when academician Dr Antony Hii, the chairman of IBS College, walked past.
“It was good meeting him as he shared with us stories from his village of Empawah.
“After listening to him, I got so emotionally touched that words just came flying out of my pen, and I wrote a piece that strove to capture Dr Hii’s stories,” said Chen Lu.
This touching story of the ‘Communist Insurgency Days’ is featured in her latest collection, ‘Two Trees Growing Side by Side’.
Chen Lu confessed that at times, when she found that preparing a proper meal got in the way of her writing, she would just skip the preparation and serve her family instant noodles instead. Of course, this was very seldom – Chen Lu prided herself as being a dutiful wife and mother, and a devoted grandmother.
She would read lots of recipe books to enhance her cooking skills and would even refer to the YouTube channel, via her computer tablet, whenever she had to prepare food for some festive occasions or when receiving visits from her children.
Still, she felt that as though she ‘had one hand that had been holding a ladle most of her life at home, a pen remained in the other hand’.
“While I’m cooking, my mind would become creative as well.
“One evening as I was cooking, I saw a golden leaf ‘dancing’ in front of me.
“I captured that moment and I reflected that when a leaf dropped to the ground, it was indeed not the end of its life.
“The golden glitter continued to warm the atmosphere up. When it dropped to the ground, it brightened the earth. It was not death in vain,” said Chen Lu, adding that she ended the story with a twist: “The cicadas sang out loud at that moment to give the dancing golden leaf a symphony of life.”
In that moment in her kitchen, the writer used both sides of her brain!
Chen Lu also said solitude and quietness were key essentials in her writing life. She enjoyed these two aspects, which would always encourage her to write more.
Additionally, she said her Christian background had provided her with a solid foundation for her writing aspirations.
“I believe that people must love each other and love nature that God has created,” she said, adding that her late husband had the same views about God and life as hers.
Publications
Chen Lu’s latest, self-funded publication narrates her life with her late husband, her family, her environment and other themes.
Chen Lu’s new publication, ‘Two Trees Growing Side By Side’, is a remembrance of her late husband – the trees symbolise their lives together.
“Though a man’s life is short to many, the trees continue to grow.”
She has also written an essay about how they had planned to grow trees ‘side by side’, and although this dream was not fulfilled completely, life must go on.
The publication has four sections for the readers to enjoy: daily life stories, friendship, children and marriage – all based on real-life experiences.
Chen Lu (second left) among those witnessing the presentation of token of appreciation to Khoo (fifth left) from John Ting, representing the Sarawak Chinese Cultural Association in Sibu.
Khoo Kin Ping, the president of the Chinese Writers Association of Miri, wrote this in his preface for ‘Two Trees Growing Side By Side’: “Chen Lu is able to write about ordinary moments with extraordinary literary skills. She is able to bring out intricate details to touch the whole being of the reader. Thus reading her work brings extra enrichment in one’s life. She is an amazing writer from the tropical land of Sarawak.”
Chen Lu has published her own books, which include ‘Beauty in the Wild’, ‘Rajang River’, ‘Dream Like Grace’, ‘Fish Talk’, ‘My Flowering Tree’, and of course, ‘Two Trees Growing Side By Side’.
Photo shows some of Chen Lu’s published works.
Her other publications include prose, short stories and poems.
Chen Lu represents Sarawak’s Chinese women who can pick up a pen to write books, poems and prose. Her courage to write and publish her ideas and ideals should be an inspiration to all women, whether they are confined to an office, a kitchen or a farm.
She epitomises the true multi-tasking woman of the 21st century, all packed in her petite less-than-five-feet-tall stature.
Nowadays, the author enjoys taking evening walks with her grandson and looking at the beautiful Luak Bay sunset which, in turn, always helps draw more inspirations for her to write more.
“I want to say that while holding a ladle in one hand, I won’t have my other hand let go of the pen.
“Life is about maintaining balance, being able to live life to the fullest, and giving the best to our family, while realising one’s dreams,” remarked Chen Lu.