Mary Liew Yew Cheow Memorial Web Page
You may send message(s) to: Seum-Lim at gan@media.mit.edu
Since this is quite an undertaking to understand my mother's life, based on my memory, useful information from among pictures, notes, scribbles, drawings, some of her literary collections, relatives, friends, peers, colleagues, students, and etc., it will take time to accomplish. Even then, it will never be complete. Literary works are never a complete picture and they are intended to feed your imaginations. One can only be oneself, not another self.
This web site was done in mere 3 hours to serve as a starting point, i.e. Mary Liew' biography and some picturesque moments of her life. It is expected to evolve into the future.
She was never alone. She is the unsung heroine in events that have transpired and shaped what we see today.
Seum-Lim Gan
Below is a web link to one of her last Chinese Poems written in Aug 2012 when she was in the USA
She attempted to summarize her love story in this poem
Mary Liew Yew Cheow, endeavored education as a life long practice. Since she started learning from her late father Mr. Liew Fa-Chang as a young girl, she also received Chinese Martial Arts from the Lee Family linear discipline by her Maternal Uncle, Lee Peng, Chinese physician, acupuncturist, kungfu master and scholar. Continued to improve herself from 1932 to 1996:
She had selflessly contributed her time and life to the following since 1951:
Mary also held the following memberships during her lifetime:
Her love for knowledge also
had her immersed in the following hobbies and life enrichment courses:
Swimming, motoring,
travelling, jungle trekking, medicinal herbs-picking, Chinese
martial arts, ballet dancing (at YWCA thru Mrs Armita (Dutch) in 1954; transferred to Singapore Ballet
School in 1955 when she retired); Modeling (thru Ms
Ruth Warner, Singapore Model Academy 1960); Music, Reading, caricature-drawings
and never-ending learning.
Later in life, she
embarked on writing novels, all of which are, however, for many reasons, are still
not published:
** Factual novels (based on
real life and personal experiences) awaiting publication:
1. The Singapore Goblin
Market - completed in 1990 and updated to 1991. (Inspired by
Goblin Market [1862], poem by Christina Rossetti, when in primary school).
It has gone through three publishers in Singapore, since 1991, but none would
undertake to publish it. (Manualscript in English and will need update)
2. From The Yellow River
The Fists and Fury of The Hakka Daughters
(Partially written;
dedicated to the daughters of the Cosmopolitan Communities.) about
two sets of martial arts disciplines - the fists and the stick (bearing pole)
techniques the Hakka daughters learnt for self defence
and protection of their young. (Note: the manuscript may be missing)
** Ideas only but not materialized/written:
3. The Rise and Fall of A
Rubber King (based on one of the top ten in Singapore and Malaysia)
4. To Burma, The Journey of No Return (based
on the life of an uncle who in 1939 volunteered as a mechanic and military
truck driver from Malaya and Singapore to fight the invading Japanese in China
and Burma during The Second World War.
5. The Magnificent Twilight
Encounter on The Sungei Ujong-Klang
Valley
6. The Hakka Nonya and Baba (a biography involving the decendants of Yap Ah Loy's family in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaya/Malaysia)
Copyright: All contents of this web page is the property of Seum-Lim Gan - All rights reserved
