Dr. Chuah Guat Eng on finding her cultural identity and that 'woke' moment when she realised that being Chinese was not just about Pearl S. Buck after reading Lin YuTang.

In this second episode, Chuah Guat Eng shares about competitiveness, her mother Wee Siew Lan and how one can tell from surnames of the Nanyang Chinese, if they are from Singapore or the northern states of Perlis, Kedah or Penang in Malaysia, the naming of Guat Eng and her sisters, finding her cultural identity inspired by an old school teacher, Mr. V. K. Arumugam, who passed her a copy of Lin YuTang's "The Importance of Living". An awakening had Guat realising what it meant to be Chinese, and that it wasn't just about Pearl S. Buck. Guat also speaks about her time studying in Germany.

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Dr. Chuah Guat Eng is a Malaysian novelist and professional writer who read English Literature at University of Malaya Kuala Lumpur, German Literature at Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich, Germany, and she has a PhD from the National University of Malaysia (Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia). Guat Eng has two novels - Echoes of Silence published in 1994 in English, and translated recently into Italian and German. Her other novel, Days of Change came out in 2010. She also has three collections of short stories. They are Tales from the Baram River (2001), The Old House and Other Stories (2008), and Dream Stuff (2014). Some of her short stories have been translated into other languages, including Malay, Chinese, Slovene, and Spanish. She’s currently working on her third novel, and occasionally teaches subjects related to literature and creative writing at a local university.

*** About the Listen by Heart Podcast 

You have been listening to Jasmine Low’s Audio Journey experience, presenting Season Two of Listen by Heart: Voices of the Women of the South China Sea with Dr. Chuah Guat Eng. Subscribe to the podcast on your preferred platform and if you’d like to encourage us on, find out how you can support the production. Thank you. 

Our purpose: Listen by Heart Podcast is an audio project that sets out to record and archive stories from women of the South China Sea, an area of much interest lately. As we document and record all of these stories, we will also be digitising and creating an online presence for women of Southeast Asian heritage and honouring the women who came before them. 

Our Mission: Listen By Heart Podcast aims to serve as the Sentinels of the South China Sea, keeping our region at peace. Production Credits An open-source project created, narrated and produced by Jasmine H. Low (jasminelow.com). 

An AsiaFitnessToday.com Podcast Production.

Supported by GoInternationalGroup.com.

Website by WebPROjx.com.

Official website: https://listenbyheart.webprojx.com.

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Would you have a tale to share or know somebody who does? Do you identify as a woman with heritage from the nations encircling the contentious South China Seas? We’d love to hear from you… SEND VOICE MESSAGE — Send in a voice message requires you to set up an account with Anchor.FM, a company affiliated with Spotify.