Stories from Deli

De Bruin, 1918

In addition to the Chinese, destined for work on the Deli tobacco enterprises, over the years thousands of others have come from China to seek a living in the rapidly expanding Deli as traders, craftsmen, etc.

In the various places, each of which forms a center of the surrounding enterprises, trade and industry is almost exclusively, or to a large extent, in the hands of the Chinese.

Chinese are found as owners of toko’s and shops, of restaurants and lodgings, as gold and silversmiths, shoemakers, furniture makers, blacksmiths, carpenters, butchers, dyers, tailors as employees in the offices of Europeans or at banking institutions, as contractors, as manufacturers of cans at the Koninklijke Petroleum-Maatschappij, as rickshaw coolies, as coolies for loading and unloading ships in harbor places, as cooks and domestic servants, etc.

The Chinese are also outside the main towns engaged in the cultivation of fruits and vegetables and the breeding of pigs, while four thousand Chinese workmen are also found at the sawmills, beam works, firewood and coal-burning works, located on the Bengkalis island and on the fortified wall of Siak and Pelalawan.

Finally, an important part of the Chinese population on the east coast of Sumatra are the fishermen in the subdivision Bagan Api Api.

According to a well-documented article by the controller Haga in the Economist (Year 1917), the Chinese congregation in this district counts between 12 and 13,000 person (men, women and children).

About 6000 men can be found here plus minus 2000 women and over 4000 children. This is in contrast to the conditions in the enterprises, where there are hardly any Chinese women to be found.

This is clearly reflected in the population figures. The number of Chinese on the East coast of Sumatra is 99236, 92646 of whom are men.

There are several main tribes of Chinese in Deli

1. The Cantonese or Macao-Chinese are most commonly found as gold and silversmiths, furniture makers, tailors and merchants in silk fabrics and similar articles. All prostitutes of the women are of Cantonese origin.

2. The Hakkas or as they are called by the Hokkian Chinese Kheh’s, or guests, foreigners, who also came from the North, but during the Middle Ages, and whose language is related to Cantonese and also Mandarin Chinese.

These call themselves “hak-ngin”, while the Hoklos say, kheh-nang “. The meaning is: guest, stranger, from elsewhere.

The main settlements of the Hakkas are found in Kwangtung province, where they have always fought against the Poentis or Cantonese, but the Hakka language is also spoken in many places in Kwangsi province, and they can be traced back to the Yang-tzü valley.

In the foreword to his Hakka Dictionary, Mac Iver says: “They differ from their fellow-Chinese mainly in the fact that among them the women do not bind the feet. This, however, is strictly true only of the Kwangtung Hakka’s.”

The Hakka language is spoken by approximately five million people, but in some areas shows very strong deviations.

In Deli, the Hakkas are found as shoemakers, rattan furniture makers, tin makers and in some shops. In recent years, their number of companies has decreased.

Well-known Hakka companies such as Polonia, Mariëndal, Bekalla are increasingly replacing the Hakkas with other tribes.

The administrators’ verdict is: “The Hakkas work well, but are weak and shed a lot of opium.”

If this statement applies to the bad elements, which one has been getting from this tribe in Deli in recent years, it does not apply in the least to the Hakkas in general.

A sober way of life, coupled with tough strength and a rare persistence, are precisely the hallmarks of this most sympathetic people.

3. The Hok-lo, as their name implies, have invaded from Hokkian Kwangtung province, and of which the most famous tribes in Deli are: the Teotjus – Tioe tsiu nang as they call themselves – and the Hai Lok Hong, so named after the two districts of Hai hong and Lok hong.

Their language is spoken by about three million people.

The Teotjoes and the Hai-Lok-hongs are by far the majority of the companies in Deli.

Their area, which is closest to the coast, or linked by a broad, well-navigable river to the harbor town of Swatow, is the most recruited. They are most attracted to Deli.

Lokhong and Haihong are two districts belonging to Huy-chiu department. The inhabitants of these districts, the so-called Hailokhong Chinese, belong either to the Hoklo who invaded the province of Kwangtung from the east, or, as they come from the upper countries, to the Hakkas, who moved from the north.

They speak either a variation of Amoy Chinese, or a variation of the language of the Hakkas.

Hoeilai is a district, which, like Teonjo, Pohleng, Kitnjo, Hainjeo, Tenghai, Yaupheng and Hongsun, belongs to the department of Teo-chiu or Chau-chow.

The inhabitants of these areas are the real Teotjoe Chinese, except for those of Hongsun, who largely belong to the Hakkas, and are classified under the “pan san hok” i.e. half mountain people, half Hoklo.

They are found everywhere where the area of the Hoklo and the Hakka intertwine, and where people systematically try to force each other.

Exaggerated prudery is not exactly a characteristic of these Chinese. In the summer time, they are seen working by hundreds on the land, almost naked.

The Hakkas say of them: “They are animals, not people.”

With the Hakkas, however, the women also show themselves out on the land, as they are not hindered in their walking by small feet, and that must be the reason for their greater choice.

4. The Hailam, from the island of Hainan or Hailam, whose language is related to Swatow and Amoy Chinese, but gives the impression of being an entirely different language by a very peculiar staggering of initial letters.

Most Hailam are domestic servants, cooks and hotel servants in both Deli and Straits.

5. The Hokkians, whose language, spoken by over nine million persons, is referred to as Taotjoe or Swatow Chinese as Spanish to Portuguese.

As for the Swatow Chinese, the district capital Chao Chou fu is the center, so for the Amoy Chinese the center is the district capital Chang Chou fu, on the north bank of the Dragon River, a distance of next to thirty-five English miles from Amoy.

The department of that name comprises a multitude of towns and market places, all of which supply, to a greater or lesser extent, its contingent to the migration. They are mainly found in Deli as well as in Java.

The Hoktjoes are new emigration. They come from the eastern part of the province of Hokkian, capital Hok-chioe.  In China, their language is used by more than five million people.

6. The Lutjoe, Chinese from the Loei-chiu peninsula and of the nearby Kao-chiu, which are considered to belong to the Hailam.

The Lutjoes come from the department of that name and are counted among the Hailams.

Due to the interweaving of migratory currents, the boundary of the different tribes cannot be precisely defined, but in no case should one confuse departments and districts with tribes.

A Chinese from the Huy-chiu department, if he is a Hakka, will himself say: “Ngai hee Fee-choe hak” or I am a Hakka from Huy-choe.

Kweishen,  is a district belonging to Huy-chiu department. Here too Hakka’s live next to Hoklo’s.

The Loetjoes and Kotjoes must be counted under Hailam.

From:

The Chinese on the East coast of Sumatra. De Chineezen ter oostkust van Sumatra / door A.G. de Bruin. 1918