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From the 11th to the 16th of April 2022, the Chinese Language Society held a Chinese Education
Week to introduce students to Chinese education and the hardships it faced in Malaysia. One of the
many events organised was Short Story Sharing through the school broadcast every morning of the
week.
The event kicked off with an exclusive interview with Kuen Cheng High School’s beloved
Principal, Dr Chua Lee Lee, who is a strong and loyal supporter of Chinese education in Malaysia. The
rest of the week was then devoted to prestigious figures of Chinese education in our country. Below are
two of the stories.
When he worked as a guard in a factory, Xiong Yusheng was often called a loud man due to
his naturally booming voice, direct speech and determination. A native of Damansara New Village
（新村）and the chairman of a Buddhist temple in the village, he has many feelings for the place he
grew up in and was a man of justice and righteousness. He didn’t have the chance to complete even
elementary-level education, but his sons and grandchildren all went to a school named Damansara
Chinese Primary School, and thus loved the school dearly.
Xiong Yusheng’s courage and sense of responsibility were always his best assets, as seen when
he took on the leadership role amongst the villagers. Once, he took the villagers to pay the Minister
of Education a visit during the Chinese Lunar New Year, but the Minister refused to meet him. Later
on, the villagers huddled together to block the minister’s car under the orders of Xiong Yusheng, and
when the minister nervously rolled down the car window, they merely gave him a few mandarins and
cheerfully said, “Don’t be afraid, we just wanted to greet you.”
On 8th March 2008, the national election took place, and the replacement of five state governments
led to the reopening of the Damansara Primary in 2009. Two days later, Xiong Yusheng passed away
due to illness. Every year, the Damansara Chinese Primary School Working Committee gathers their
students and staff to pay memorial tribute to their saviour, the down-to-earth, courageous, respectable
Xiong Yusheng.
Mr Chen Jiajie was a unique teacher, who only taught one student in one Chinese school. How
did he become one of the most celebrated figures in the Chinese society of our country?
Mr Chen Jiajie once taught at Fraser’s Hill Chinese Primary School after graduating from
university. He was disappointed to learn that the school only had one student, two teachers and one
principal, even more so when he was supposed to teach the lonesome pupil for the next five years. Still,
he gathered his emotions and persevered until the very end, watching over his student till graduation.
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His student, Chen Qixian, was the only student in the school ever since third grade in 2015,
and until he graduated in 2018. Due to having no classmates or friends for a long time, Chen Qixian
was extremely shy and closed off. In addition, the school’s performance falls on Chen Qixian alone.
Therefore, the principal, teachers and his parents had high hopes for him, hoping that he would achieve
great results in the UPSR examination for the primary six appraisals, but this had invisibly produced a
tremendous burden on him.
In order to cultivate his confidence, Mr Chen encouraged him to participate in curricular
activities, such as school sports, English storytelling competitions, Chinese speech competitions and
more. He also urged his pupil to make friends with students from other schools. As a result, Chen
Qixian garnered self-esteem and courage after a while. He even won runner-up in the county-level
English storytelling competition and the county-level Chinese speech excellence award, which made
him feel better about himself.
In 2018, Chen Qixian passed the UPSR and graduated successfully. It was the 80th anniversary of
the founding of the school. Under the witness of Fraser’s Hill villagers, previous alumni and teachers,
the last student finally graduated. After Chen Qixian graduated, Fraser’s Hill Chinese Primary School
was temporarily closed, waiting to be relocated. Later in 2019, Mr Chen Jiajie was transferred to teach
at Batang Kali Chinese Primary School.
The perseverance of Mr Chen Jiajie is a noteworthy lesson to be learnt. Even if there was only
one student in the school, he insisted on teaching until the student graduated. The great, self-sacrificing
action is not only due to the responsibility Mr. Chen felt for his career, but also for his pupil. It is because
of his efforts that not only made us aware of the important role teachers play in the life of students but
also reflected the predicament faced by Chinese education in Malaysia. Therefore, we must continue to
defend Chinese education and consolidate Chinese culture as a whole.
With Mr Chen Jiajie’s awe-inspiring story, the broadcast event came to an end, though there were
other fascinating programs that were yet to come.
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