SQ 04 - The English Concubine Page 26
Towkay: Wealthy merchant.
Triad: The Heaven and Earth Society (Tiandihui) emerged in the 1760s as a brotherhood of disaffected young men aimed at the overthrowing of the Manchu Qing dynasty and the restoration of the Ming, gathered round the worship of Guan Yu, a legendary third century BC general, the epitome of loyalty and righteousness. The Tiandihui finaced itself with robbery and violence. As it spread throughout China it branched into different groups with different names, many of which adopted the number three – Three Dots Society; Three Harmonies Society. The term ‘triad’ in English was applied first in a study of the secret socities in 1821 by Dr. William Milne, principal of the Anglo Chinese College at Malacca, in recognition of the prevalence of the number three in societies’ names. The Chinese call it the Tiandihui or more commonly the Hongmen, the Vast Gate.
Excise farm: The practice of colonial governments to ‘farm’ out to the highest bidder, the licence to manufacture and sell profitable commodities like opium or spirits. In a free port like Singapore, this was often the only source of income the colonial authorities could rely on.
Sangkek Um/Pak Chindek: The wedding mistress and master of ceremony, they were the specialists required to advise on and conduct the lengthy, complex and elaborate Peranakan wedding ceremony.
Map of Singapore Town in 1862.
Based on a map of Singapore and environs by J.M. Moniot, Surveyor General Straits Settlements, 1862.
About the Author
Dawn Farnham was born in Portsmouth, England in 1949. Her parents emigrated to Perth, Western Australia, when she was two. She grew up a sandgroper, barefoot and free, roaming the bushy suburbs and beaches with her friends. In the 1960s she, like so many other young Aussies, left on a ship for London, aged seventeen. In the Swinging Sixties she met and married her journalist husband, moved to Paris, learned French and travelled round Europe in a Volkswagen Beetle.
As a foreign correspondent, her husband was posted to exotic locations and they lived in China, Hong Kong, Korea and Japan in the 1980s and 1990s. During this time she raised two daughters and taught English. Back in London she returned to school, doing a BA in Japanese at The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and a Master’s Degree at Kings College.
She and her husband now live in Singapore where she is a volunteer guide at the Peranakan Museum and the Asian Civilisations Museum. It is in this thriving port city-state that she found her muse and began to write, finding particular pleasure in Singapore’s colourful and often wild past. This is the fourth and final novel in The Straits Quartet and continues the story of Charlotte Macleod from The Red Thread, The Shallow Seas and The Hills of Singapore.
For more information about Dawn Farnham and her books, visit www.dawnfarnham.com.
Copyright
First published in digital form in 2013 by Monsoon Books
ISBN (ebook): 978-981-4423-23-6
Copyright©Dawn Farnham, 2013
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
All rights reserved. You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce, or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
Cover design by Cover Kitchen.
Cover painting ‘The Esplanade from Scandal Point’ by
J. T. Thomson (Collection of National Museum of Singapore, National Heritage Board).
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Contents
Dedication
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
Glossary
Map of Singapore Town in 1862.
About the Author
Copyright