Mat Leem, Baksha, Toisan

Where did King Mar come from?  

First: the language and spelling:
The majority of Chinese who came to North America (U.S. and Canada) came primarily from the Toisan region, southwest of Guangdong (Canton).  The nearest city was Baksha and the actual village according to my Dad was Mat Leem.  There are many ways to spell these location names as immigrants did their best to translate into English.  So, if you come across other writings, if the name seems close in spelling, it's probably what you're looking for. 

Kim has visited the home village and so had my friend Eddie Wong.  And from others, they all had the same impression.  They agreed it's a tough place to visit as there's pressure that you owe the people in the village to support (financial) them.



King Mar's home:

1: King went back to Baksha in 1936 after working several years managing the Pan American Cafe. 
This is what he came home to - fairly new in 1936.

  

I always wondered what the back of the house was like and this angled side view shows a nice looking park-garden area behind.  Maybe a cemetery?  On the left is the scaffolding around Junior Mar's house (to Ken and Kim: our Ngee Bok).  This photo was a small print (2x3) in a folder and I've never seen it in any album.

Dad (Chin Wee) drew this map for me of the area around King's house from memory in 1995.

King was an avid amateur photographer and he was already at in 1936.  Compare this shot with Dad's map.

 And another shot probably from the same day, or certainly in 1936:

 Kim visited Baksha in 1985 and took this picture.

As I comment on these old photos, I welcome any comments or corrections.