Gin Traditions

In this page we capture some of the traditions, sayings, nursery rhymes and just plain fun things that our forebears would have enjoyed.   For the younger generation who came across this page, we suggest you talk to your Elders, grandparents and other older relatives about living in China or making a living in a new land, but still retaining some traditions unique to the Gin Clan.

A nursery rhyme

For instance, 石海 Village was also known as 船頭石 and there was a nursery rhyme that went as follows: 船頭石,水浸腳,三個女人同穿屐. This, like most nursery rhymes, may not mean a whole lot of things, beyond that it sounds funny.  Note though, the word "屐" is a Chinese wooden clog that was still in use in the 1960s in China and overseas such as Malaya, but now not generally seen or available in your average modern department stores.   Such is the passing tradition and fashion.

A humorous rhyme about Yee (余)women

不取老余人女真系笨，

又會裁剪又會縫，

又好行藏聲又軟。

Roughly interpreted: "It's a silly man if you don't marry Yee woman.  After all, a Yee woman is able to cut and sew.  She walks gently and her voice is soft."

Implied and suggested in this silly but humorous rhyme is that Yee women are gentle and quite capable.  It is said that great many Gin men in fact marry Yee women -- believe it or not!

About Match making:

In the old days, back in the villages where our forefathers came from, marriages were usually arranged.  Match making was a profession, and match makers have this to say about their importance in society:

"天上無云不下雨，地上無媒不成親。"

Interpreted: "If the sky is cloudless, it will not rain.  If there are no match makers on earth, then there will be no marriages."