Ipoh World

The three photographs above show, from left to right:

• The Reveremd Ling Ching Mi, one of the three  "Pioneers, famous for bringing in Foochows from China under contract drom the British Government.
• His wife, Ding Ngok Ching, and
• A very rare photograph of the Methodist school band in China which one of the sons of Ling Ching Mi was educated. It is believed that the photograph was taken c1892. This is said to be one of the earliest school bands in China and Ling Siew Wah stands in the centre of the back row. The photograph is the pride and joy of our door as the boy is hid father.

The family of the Rev Ling and his wife eventually numbered five children, the first-born being a girl and she was followed by four sons, Ling Siew Kui, Ling Siew Wah, Ling Siew Pi and finally Ling Siew Lock? However, it is believed that some of the sons may have been adopted into the family. Another girl, Moi Za was adopted much later.

Below is an extract, from the book The Foochows of Sitiawan by kind permission of the author, Shih Toong Siong, which summarises the life of Ling Ching Mi.

"Rev. Ling Ching Mi (1851 - 1915)

At the obscure corner some 30 meters from the road side (Kampong china Road) and atmost inaccessible because of the ta[[ lalang and thorn scrubs was a tomb of the chinese pioneer who Led the Foochow settlers to Sitiawan in 1903.0n the tombstone was inscribed the name of Ling Lik Jen. Not many of the Foochow people would know that this was another name of Rev. Ling ching Mi, who died on 5 January 1915at the age of 58 and was laid to rest in the Pioneer Church cemetery, Kampong Koh. Most of his descendants are in Sitiawan, the better known of his children to the Sitiawan Foochow people are Ling Siew Pi and Siew Hua. Rev. Ling Ching Mi first came to Singapore in 1897 as the first pastor of the Foochow church.

It was Dr. H.LE. Luering, who in November 1896, was directed to go to Fujian, China, to request for a Foochow speaking pastor for Singapore. The man whom Dr. Luering recruited was Rev. Ling Ching Mi, who arrived in Singapore in 1897.

He was not only the first pastor in the Singapore Foochow Church, but also the first Foochow pastor in Sibu and Sitiawan, a record with few equals. He was already five years as pastor of the Foochow church in Singapore when Bishop Warne, on returning from Sibu in 1901, dispatched him to Sibu to help the Foochow immigrant Christians in the new settlement. He was in Sibu from May to JuLy 1901, a very short period, to leave anything substantial, but enough to set the Foochow settlers to be self reliant in their religious life. Some two years later when J.M. Hoover arrived in Sibu in 1903 there was already a Methodist church at Sing Chu An, a two storey building of bilian wood with attap roof and side. This was J.M. Hoover's first home. Although not much was done in such a short time, the beginning of the religious life was set and it was in no small measure due to the foundation work of Rev. Ling Ching.

 Then in May 1903, Rev. Ling Ching Mi was directed by the Methodist Episcopal Mission in Singapore to join Dr. H.L.E. Luering Perak to prepare themselves for the trip to Fujian, China, to recruit Foochow Christian settlers to set up an agricultural colony in Sitiawan. He was the best man available, having worked in the Foochow church in Singapore for not less than five years and having first hand experience in the pioneering works in Sibu and probably the most important of all, he was a Foochow himself from Minhow, Fujian, to recruit his fellowmen of the prospects of the new life in Perak. He had to leave his wife and children in Singapore and with Dr. H.L.E. Luering they set sail for Fujian, China and spent the next three months going through the various districts in Fujian recruiting Foochow settlers who were of Christian faith or strongly inclined to Christianity. After surmounting various difficulties, including "poison pen", they were finaLLy left with about 500 people, including those lost through death due to cholera while on board the SS Hong Bee from Mamoi, Foochow to Singapore, where the settlers were retained on Quarantine island before aLLowing them to proceed to Sitiawan. A Christian settlement was established and a church was erected although it was simply a thatch roof shed. Rev. Ling Ching Mi was the pastor. He was the first pastor for the THIRD time, this time in Sitiawan. His family joined him soon after that. After staying for 5 months in Sitiawan, Rev. Ling Ching Mi requested for a transfer back to China in December 1903 owing to the failing health of his wife, who had now remained in the tropics for over seven years without a change. The Methodist Mission sent no replacement. The Foochow church in Sitiawan came under the charge of his nephew, Ling Ti Kong, whose father Ling Kwong Mi was among the first settlers.

 He returned to Foochow and was a pastor in Linsen, and later taught in the Anglo Chinese Theological College before he retired and made his way back once again to Sitiawan in 1913. His name is inscribed alongside those of Dr. H.L.E. Luering and Rev. Dr. Huong Pau Seng on the marble tablet, unveiled by his wife at the Pioneer Church dedication service on 29 January 1928."

To read about the book, The Foochows of Sitiawan, click here.

To read a brief history of the Foochows of Sitiawan, click here.

To go to Part 2 - Ding Ngok Ching, Wife of Ling Ching Mi And Their Daughter, click here.