Stories from Deli

Xie Liantang 谢联棠 (1888-1974), also known as Liantang, was from Nanpu Village, Dongshan County, Fujian.

Xie Liantang’s father is a farmer and also operated an oil pressing factory. After the collapse of the oil mill, the family economy declined sharply. Xie Liantang was born 7 months after his father’s death. At the age of 16, his mother died. At the age of 18, he traveled overseas to join his second brother in Binjai, Sumatra, Indonesia, where he first became an apprentice. Two years later, he assisted his brother in opening a small shop. At the age of 23, when his second brother passed away, he ran the shop by himself. In the following years, business activities developed to Singapore, Malaysia and other places.

Xie Liantang is enthusiastic about the public welfare undertakings of overseas Chinese. He often said to overseas Chinese: “Any social cause that benefits the population , you don’t have to weigh your personal gains and losses, you have to go forward and do it thoroughly.” He did what he said and gained the trust of many overseas Chinese.

When the public funds of Shiminli Overseas Chinese School were swallowed up, because Xie Liantang was bold and fair, he was elected chairman of the Overseas Chinese School, hoping that he could revitalize education. After Xie Liantang took office, he appealed to court for the embezzlement of public funds; at the same time, he mobilized overseas Chinese to donate funds to build the school. After two years of hard work, the public funds were recovered, the new school building was completed, and the school affairs were on the right track.

In 1915, the Japanese invading army invaded Shandong Province. The news came that Xie Liantang joined the overseas Chinese to set up the Qiaoxing National Products Company in Binjai, and served as the manager, selling Chinese products and boycotting Japanese products.

In 1922, he went to Medan to develop business under the name of Qiaoxing Domestic Products Company. At that time, Medan had 6 overseas Chinese schools, and each school board did its own thing. He persuaded the main members of the board of directors to set up an Overseas Chinese Education Association funded by overseas Chinese businessmen to coordinate school funding so that all six overseas Chinese schools can develop well.

On behalf of various import and export overseas Chinese, he negotiated with local ocean shipping companies, implemented freight rebates, and handed the rebate income to the management of the Suzhou Chinese Merchants Sugar and Rice Grocery Association, which was dedicated to education and charity. In 1934, Sudao Huashang Tangmi Grocery Company founded Sudong Middle School in Medan.

He also cared his motherland. In 1917, he renovated the ancestral temple in his hometown into a school building and founded Nanxun Primary School as a sole proprietor. In 1931, he donated money to build a school building for Nanxun Elementary School. After that, he also purchased teaching aids, books, and cultural and sports equipment year by year.

He also joined the Dongshan people to participate in the activities of offering the opportunity to build a cemetery for the dead in the Anti-Japanese War.

After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Nanxun Primary School was taken over by the People’s Government. As always, he invested in school building (a total of 748 square meters before and after), purchase of teaching equipment, subsidies for private teachers’ salaries and student advancement bonuses. He also raised funds to participate in the construction of Dongshan Overseas Chinese Power Plant and Dongshan Flour Factory by the villagers, and continued to remit money to the elderly over 60 in Nanpu Village for 24 Spring Festival. He died in Penang on June 10, 1974.

His gradson Xie Dunyiu 谢敦毅 is an artist  in Classical Chinese artist/painter, who wrote about his grandfather:

Text from: https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E8%B0%A2%E8%81%94%E6%A3%A0

 

Photos from http://www.hwart.cn/art/detail.html?u_id=xdy&id=5487