Chinese in Malaysia: the story starts in 1786, at a burial ground
Malaysia's Chinese story does not start where the famous one starts. It starts on Penang island in 1786, when Francis Light raised a free port on a thinly settled coast — thirty-three years before Singapore's. What survives from that first generation is not…
rnrnThe dragon boat cuts across False Creek like a blade through memory.rnrnDrum — a single stroke, then the answering crash of twenty paddles striking water in unison. The dragon head surges forward, painted eyes glaring, carved scales glistening in Vancouver's June light. On the shore, a spectator watches. She has lived in this city her…