Old picture, Semarang 1928

Discussions on the Hokkien (Minnan) language.
Locked
yuminnan
Posts: 14
Joined: Thu Nov 13, 2008 12:18 am

Old picture, Semarang 1928

Post by yuminnan »

I need help with the translation of some text on an old picture made in Semarang (Indonesia) in 1928. Probably it is a memorial scarf /cloth to remember Mr Kwik Siang Kaw.

With the help of some family members we could read some of the text but our knowledge is not sufficient.
Maybe someone could translate the text and could help us with the few missing characters.
The scarf is probably given by Shu Pei or Mrs. Chen for Mister Chun Yang. Chun Yang is short for Guo Chun Yang and is better know as Kwik Djoen Eng, a well know Hokkien business man who lived in Indonesia for many years. The picture is probably taken in his office or house after his son Kwik Siang Kaw (Guo Shuang Jiao ) died in 1928. The character Shuang (雙) is big on the right, the part Jiao is probably behind a picture on the table.
Anyone who is welcome to tell me more about this scene is also welcome. Is this a family altar? What is the meaning of such textile etc?
Image


The first picture is the whole scene. Then there are two pictures with the Chinese text enlarged and combined with the recognized characters.
Image
text on the right
Image
text on the left

The last picture is of the last part of the text on the left side. Here are still two characters missing. It would be very to know them. Maybe the last part is an name like Tjan … …
The character 曾 (Tjan) is could also be a family name so the missing two characters are very interesting.

Image

Any help is welcome!

ps:
Full tekst in charakters:

春秧親家大人暨淑配姻嫂陳夫人





姻愚弟陳望曾偕弟望霖率男曾 . .
Last edited by yuminnan on Fri Feb 05, 2010 8:25 am, edited 1 time in total.
aokh1979
Posts: 180
Joined: Thu Jul 23, 2009 1:32 pm
Location: George Town, Malaysia
Contact:

Re: Old picture, Semarang 1928

Post by aokh1979 »

The picture's blur.

From 1 glance, I am not sure if 曾 is a surname in this case because the first 曾 seems like "ever" if you read the sentence carefully. I am thinking, the missing 2 characters might be 溪 and 頌. I will let you know if I can think of anything else.

By the way, what makes you believe that there are only 2 missing characters ? Are you sure that's the end of the scarf ?

:mrgreen:
yuminnan
Posts: 14
Joined: Thu Nov 13, 2008 12:18 am

Re: Old picture, Semarang 1928

Post by yuminnan »

Hi Aokh1979,

Yes you are right...I'm not sure if it is the full text!
Could you please give me your translation of the text?
niuc
Posts: 734
Joined: Sun Oct 16, 2005 3:23 pm
Location: Singapore

Re: Old picture, Semarang 1928

Post by niuc »

The text is in formal (classical?) Chinese, so I am not sure of the exact meaning. However here are what I suppose from my ignorance. I agree that the second 曾 there most probably is not a surname ('Can1'), but part of a name. The first 曾 seems to be part of a name i.e. 陳望曾偕弟望霖 'Tan5-bong(bang)7-cing1(5) kai1-ti7 Bong7-lim5' (Tan Bong Cing and younger brother Bong Lim).

About the missing 2 "Tng7-lang5-ji7", they do not look like 溪 and 頌 to me. The righ parts of the 2 TLJ look like 具 and 頁, but I am not sure.

春秧親家大人暨淑配姻嫂陳夫人
'Chun1-iong1 chin1-ke1 tai7-jin5 ki3-siok4-phue3-in1-so2 Tan5-hu1-jin5'
Sir Chun-iong, (a relative) in law, and well-matched "sister in law?" Madam Tan

姻愚弟陳望曾偕弟望霖率男曾[][]
'in1-gu5-ti7 Tan5-bong7-cing1 kai1-ti7 Bong7-lim5 sut4-lam5 Cing1[][]'
humble "brothers-in-law?" Tan Bong Cing and younger brother Bong Lim "eldest son?" Cing[][]

I am sure there are many mistakes in my translation above. Hope our friends here will correct me. :mrgreen:
yuminnan
Posts: 14
Joined: Thu Nov 13, 2008 12:18 am

Re: Old picture, Semarang 1928

Post by yuminnan »

Thanks Niuc,

This means that we know the names now on the scarf. But it is not really clear what the meaning is of the text....

It would be really great to get more visions on the text from members of this forum! Please feel free to post yours!!! It is really appreciated!!!!
SimL
Posts: 1407
Joined: Mon Jun 26, 2006 8:33 am
Location: Amsterdam

Re: Old picture, Semarang 1928

Post by SimL »

Hi yuminnan,

Great to see your postings, and I'm really happy to see other people investigating their family history too. Unfortunately, my Chinese is way not good enough for me to comment, but I enjoyed reading about your investigations anyway.
tc12719
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Aug 06, 2013 4:12 am

Re: Old picture, Semarang 1928

Post by tc12719 »

the missing word is 琪, 陳望曾的兒子是陳曾琪,陳望霖是陳望曾的弟弟。而最後一個字應是頌,祝賀的意思
tc12719
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Aug 06, 2013 4:12 am

Re: Old picture, Semarang 1928

Post by tc12719 »

As for the name 春映,his surname is Kwok, once a very rich man living in Hong Kong. I think he had good connection with Malaysia. His son married one of 陳望曾daughters. There are two streets in Hong Kong North Point named after 郭春映 糖廠街to commemorate his plan to build a sugar refinery there and also 春映街name after him.
Locked