Cheah Chit Toh 谢植桃 and my Mother

My mother, Cheah Soo　谢苏, was born around 1932 /33 in Guangzhou, China. Barely had she started her primary schooling, the Japanese attacked China and plunged the country into the Second World War.

She spent many of her childhood years running from the Japanese soldiers. Her parents were separated during the war, and later her mother died of some disease of the stomach, probably brought on my malnutrition. My mother often tells us about how there was no rice to eat during the war, and most people survived on boiled sweet potatoes. Hence for a long time in her later years, she could not eat sweet potatoes, as they brought back memories of her days during the war.

After the war, she become a helper in the household of Cheah Wai Poh 谢惠宝　and Loo Siew Wah　卢少华. Cheah Wai Poh 谢惠宝　was the second son of Cheah Chit Toh　谢植桃, and was married to Loo Siew Wah who came from a wealthy family living in the richer quarters of Guangzhou 广州　known as Sai Kwan.

She helped the family with their young children and grew up together with them, and so became best friends with their eldest daughter, Cheah Yit Yoong　谢月蓉. Cheah Wai Poh had 5 other children besides Yit Yoong 月蓉- 3 boys and 2 other girls.

Cheah Chit Toh　谢植桃, of course was somewhat of a tycoon himself, having built a family home in the village of Kai Peng　开平, amidst vast acres of paddy fields. It was late 1940's and rich land owners were slowly becoming the target of attacks by those who were pro-Communists. Mao Zedong and his followers were on their way towards taking over the Beijing government from the corrupt Kuomintang warlords. All his followers were staunch believers of Marxism and were ever ready to persecute anyone believed to belong to the bourgeoisie.

Fearing for the safety of his family, Cheah Chit Toh 谢植桃　slowly moved them to Malaya. Soon after that, in October 1949, the communists under Mao took over the country, and that was the start of the People's Republic of China.

In order for my mother to leave China and come to Malaya, Cheah Chit Toh 谢植桃　"adopted" her and got her official papers stating that she was a member of the Cheah family. She travelled with Cheah Wai Poh's family to Hong Kong before coming to Malaya.

In later years, my brother and I would call Cheah Chit Toh 谢植桃　"Ah Kong", that is our maternal grandfather, and all his sons our "Ah Fu", which is short for "kow fu".

Sometime in the mid 1950's my mother was introduced to the brother of Cheah Wai Teng's 谢惠廷　wife (Chan Sow Peng　陈秀萍) - Chan Sek Kee　陈锡玑. They married in 1957.

And that is how the families of Cheah Chit Toh 谢植桃　and Chan Chi Pang 陈梓朋　became intertwined and resulted in our many generations of blood relatives.

In 1973, at the age of almost 80, Cheah Chit Toh 谢植桃　moved in to our house, and my mother was his care-taker. By then he was suffering from dementia and could not even recognise his own sons.

In 1975, when I was away at the boarding school in Kuantan, Pahang, Cheah Chit Toh 谢植桃　passed away at a ripe old age of 80++.


posted by CHAN WAI KIN　陈伟坚


Family photo of Cheah Wai Poh　谢惠宝 & Loo Siew Wah　卢少华, with their 6 children and my mother 谢苏
dated 28 November 1955