Surprise! We Found Our Ancestral House In Xiamen China

Surprise find, the Chew's ancestral house. No 231. (l-r) Chew Hoe Kean, Chew Po Lian, Angeline Chew and daughter Cornelia Tan 

“Totally surprised” was the reaction of the descendants of Chew Boon Juan and Chew Boon Hong when they were shown their ancestral house in 2007.

The descendants were Chew Poh Lean and her brother Hoe Kean the grand children of Chew Boon Hong while Angeline Chew was the grand daughter of Chew Boon Juan. Angeline was accompanied by her husband and daughter. 

The Chew cousins had no plans that year end in 2007. A close friend of Poh Lian named David Chew invited her to join him and his cousin Chew Beng Hian to Xiamen China. David and Poh Lian were close friends and related but Poh Lian didn’t know by which connection. Xiamen China was where their ancestors came from and  a visit was interesting but seeing an ancestral house was furthest from their mind.

David Chew however was a regular visitor to Xiamen and had relatives there. He alerted his relatives about the four Chew brothers Boon Seong, Boon Juan, Boon San and Boon Hong and to find if any of their ancestors were still around. The relatives found contacts who were familiar about Chew Boon Hong and the brothers.

At Xiamen, Hoe Kean recalled he was taken back when they were met on arrival by five local China men. .

One of the men asked if we were the relatives of Chew Boon Hong. We acknowledged we were. Then they asked if we wanted to visit our ancestral house to which we replied we didn’t know we had one.

The Chews with the five local clansmen

That was the surprising part. It was a reception that we didn’t anticipate and after that we were eager with anticipation. The next day they took us to Heng Lim village and showed us our ancestral home.

David Chew was scheduled to meet his relatives the next morning so we had to split up. The split was unfortunate as none of us spoke Mandarin and the ‘Penang’ Hokkien we knew could not be understood by the China hosts. Nevertheless, we were just happy to have discovered our ancestral house.

Chew Ancestral Home

Hoe Kean said the ancestral house had a number No 231. It was a corner house which could be accessed through a side lane leading in. The house size was estimated to be around 1500sq ft.  It was not occupied and the door was not locked.

As you enter there is a grill door with bird decoration which then opens to a courtyard. Around the courtyard there are rooms.

To the right was the kitchen, the left is a small store room and so on. There was a room with a bed and outside it a pantry with cutlery inside and in another room a safe. My sister and I took photos.

An overview of No 231 and where 'everything' was located. Sketch and photos by Chew Hoe Kian.

This was in 2007.There were household items all over the place and everything was covered in thick dust. I would have loved to take some item back. When we went back in 2008 all these items were gone.

Ancestral House No 231

the courtyard

in one of the rooms a bed ...

nice carving ..

the pantry ?

Kitchen

While checking out the house Poh Lian enquired aloud if this single storey house was the only one that belonged to our grandparents. One of the men replied pointing to a tall house and said that belonged to Chew Boon San.

Did this house belong to
Chew Boon San

Chew Boon San who was an uncle that lived in Gopeng whom we visited during Chinese New Year. I shouted to the others to tell them but they were busy talking to the locals.

Boon San’s house was directly behind No 231.It was not a long house. I was advised not to go in because it was occupied so I took a photograph of the house. I then wanted to go round to get a frontal view but was told it was late and it was time to leave.  

Poh Lian was glad to have seen the ancestral home where her great grandmother lived with her grandfather and his brothers. It was a most fruitful visit.

When we returned we told our cousins. They were excited and arranged a trip for February two months later.

Return Trip Sees House 231 Occupied

The next visit was in February 2008. The group consisted of Chew Hoe Soon, Chew Hoe Guan, Chew Po Sim, Chew Beng Kah and Chew Hoe Kean all descendants of Chew Boon Hong.

February 2008. (l-r) Chew Hoe Soon, Chew Hoe Guan, Chew Po Sim and Chew Beng Kah

No 231 was occupied by a new owner and they could not enter. Whilst looking around someone had called the owners, a couple, who turned up. The wife said she was a Chew and related to one of the brothers. Again our Mandarin was bad so I didn’t fully understand said Hoe Kean. The owners subsequently rented out the property.

We then met a house owner, not a relation, who rebuilt his unit into a 5 storey building. This owner took us to an adjacent building diagonally opposite the 231 House.

He introduced us to an old lady, possibly a caretaker who she said was a relation. She said the house belonged to one of the brothers but she didn’t know which one. This house was bigger than No 231.

At the adjacent house (l-r) The gentleman house owner, Chew Hoe Guan, the Caretaker / relative, Chew Hoe Soon, Chew Beng Kah, Chew Hoe Kean and Chew Po Sim . 

This 'adjacent ' house was bigger than No 231

The entrance and the'family altar' with a lot of photos 

The poster at the side wall told of donations contributed for the damaged roof due to a typhoon. Translation by Chew I Wen.

As we entered the house we saw the ‘family altar or an ancestors box’. It had a lot of photos, not arranged nor taken care of. On the side wall was a wall poster that stated the donations contributed to the repair of the roof that was damaged due to a typhoon.

The location of the houses in Heng Lim Village. Sketch by Chew Hoe Kean

The old lady then told us of another address that belonged to the brothers. She didn’t have proof of documents and could not make a claim but she encouraged us to return and find the documents and file a claim.

Coincidentally the new owners of No 231 met with us at our hotel that day. The wife had brought along the house documents she used for the claim and a photo of my grandfather and his house to prove that she was a relative. I took photos of the documents with which they made the claim. Herbert Chew the son of Chew Choon Siew must have given the documents for his name was on the documents.

The Chews with the new house owner of  No 231 (1st and 2nd from right). The lady said she was a relative.

....she brought along a photo of my grandfather and his bungalow  to prove that she was a relative

Among the documents was the address that the old lady mentioned earlier. We traced the address to a vacant plot of land, under 4000 sq ft and located on Gulangsoo island.

We went to the local land office but they would not entertain us. They instructed us to approach our village headman to identify us as bona fide relatives and return with relevant reports and related documents.  

Our last site visit 

Our last stop was visiting the ancestral grave site which was within the Heng Lim village.

Below are the documents the owner of No 231 passed to  Chew Hoe Kean. A note of thanks for Chew I Wen who translated all the documents.

4A Report /Application saying …’ my ancestors are from Fujien to Gulangsoo..the descentdants are overseas Chinese and living in Malaysia and America engaged in business..My grandfather Chew Boon Juan before liberation stayed here. Now our ancestral house is in Gulangsoo, No 22 something ??.. used to be a 3story building and a garden .. subsequently the whole family shifted oversea  and the house was passed to a relative to administer the said house.

Based on the open policy the government welcomes the overseas Chinese to return to China. Xiamen is Special Economic Zone and would like to return and claim the house to invest in this place.Yours Truthfully

Signed by Herbert Chew

5A. A letter from the Perak Hock Kean Association verifying that Chew Choon Siew is the son of Chew Boon Juan and a legitimate claimant.....Signed and Chopped by the Perak Hock Kean Kong Hoey..dated 15.5.1993

6A. Copy of Herbert Chew US passport and 7A Birth Certificate 

10A. Letter giving Power of Attorney to 2 individuals in Gulangsoo, Fukian to handle the claim to the property, 1) Chan Jee Wen, an American chinese and 2) Chan Wooi Kwan a Professor in a medical university in Fujian China. Signed by Herbert Chew, County Clerk, Notary Public...and (Inset 8A): Acknowledgement by Chinese Embassy in USA. 

End