The Alberton, a rich man's house in Auckland. In my book, I described Kong's house which was torched by the Japanese. I imagine that Kong's house looked like this.
Ah Kong wanted to keep his
wife away from the unsavory elements in the town. He went up to Upper Lanang
Road and built his mansion. It was built on stilts, an ingenious way to defeat
the annual flooding. There were three stories on top of the void area. It had balustrades lining the entire upstairs big balcony
for outdoor seating. It had a grand front entrance. The lounge had marble
flooring. He had fifteen rooms and an entire floor for the servants in the East Wing. He had
three cars, and chauffeurs to drive him to work and his wife, concubines and
daughters to shop. The most talked of all,
was his water pump which had a motor in the wash house. The machine pumped water
directly from Rejang River to the house. The rest of the people
in the village had to bath in the river and carry water home from the river. It was the grandest house in the whole of Sibu.
He hosted dinner parties for
the white civil servants and other rich men from the Foochow community. He had
food shipped in from Singapore, and he was living the life of the rich and
famous.
His wife, concubines and
daughters retained their porcelain-white smooth skin as they were born in
China. They had never worked outside in the burning tropical fields where other
migrant women had to. They wore different kinds of cheongsams[1]
and western dresses. They wore western make-up; rouge and lipstick and their
hair was always permed.
It was like two different
worlds. When they went to the hairdressing salon, they were regarded as very
important customers. Likewise, when they went to the tailor, they received
first class treatment. Ah Kong had imported the best silk fabric from Singapore
and Hong Kong. The rest of the women in the village wore dull- coloured samfoos[2].
