Foochow: the Rajang river pioneers of Sibu

A river boat pushes up the Rajang, brown water on both sides and thick forest above. On deck are families from Fuzhou, with seed, tools and a few hymn books. Few of them have seen a river this wide.

The story

The Foochow (福州, Fuzhou, a city in Fujian) are the largest Chinese dialect group in Sarawak. Most came from the ten counties around Fuzhou.

The story starts with a teacher and scholar, Wong Nai Siong (黃乃裳, 1849 to 1924). After the Boxer Rebellion of 1900 he proposed that poor Christian families leave and find farmland overseas. He met the Rajah of Sarawak, who granted land on the Rajang River and money to bring the families. An agreement was signed for about 1,000 farmers. Wong chose mostly Methodists, and the first group arrived in 1901.

The first years were very hard. The first harvest was mostly eaten by rats and birds. The second was destroyed by floods. The third failed too. After three years fewer than 500 settlers were left. Wong spent all he had and borrowed more. The Rajah gave a further sum.

Then help arrived. A Methodist missionary, Rev James Hoover, came in 1903 and led the settlement. In 1904 he brought rubber seed and taught the families how to plant it. Rubber and pepper paid far better than rice, and the settlement grew rich. By 1926 there were over 10,000 people in the colony, about 30,000 acres of rubber, 23 churches that paid their own way, and more than 1,000 children in school.

Later generations went on to timber, shipping, building and shops. Sibu today is a bustling town where Foochow is still a first language for many.

A word on history: this was a colonial arrangement between a ruler, a missionary church and settlers who took a great risk. People of Sibu look at it as a story of courage and hard work. The Iban and other people who already lived along the Rajang have their own stories, told elsewhere on this site.

Where you can still see it today

Sibu, on the Rajang, with its riverfront and Foochow shops.
Methodist churches, some over a hundred years old.
Foochow food: kampua noodles (干盤麵, dry-tossed noodles) and Foochow red wine chicken are famous; ask a Sibu family where to go. (Red wine chicken is cooked with rice wine; Muslim visitors can check first.)
Foochow words: "Nguai" is I; "Sing-sang" is teacher.

What DNA can tell, and what it cannot

A mother line or father line may connect to East Asia, and a region estimate might point to coastal southern China. It cannot tell your dialect, or the name of the village. DNA also cannot say whether a family was Methodist or anything about religion.

DNA does not decide race, religion or bumiputera status.