MS Features: The Singaporean woman who lived to 110 years old
Not everyone goes through personal difficulties, lives through historical events, and comes out of them with enough kindness to touch the lives of generations of their family and community.
However, Chiang Ah Swang, a Singaporean woman who lived to the age of 110, is an outlier.
Despite being given away to an adoptive family, having her marriage arranged as a child, and experiencing the Japanese occupation, she lived a full life surrounded by family members and neighbours who loved her.
Mdm Chiang’s life story came to light after her great-granddaughter Cheryl Ong reached out to MS News on 31 July following her passing that morning.
“I had always hoped to share her story while she was still alive. I kept thinking there would always be another birthday to do so,” said Ms Ong, speaking about her beloved Ah Chor.
“After she passed away, I realised this was my last opportunity to honour her life and preserve her story.”
Adopted and brought to Singapore
Mdm Chiang was born in Tong’an, Fujian, China in 1916.
As if foreshadowing the challenging life she would face, her mother died when she was born.
Unable to raise both her and her sister due to poverty, Mdm Chiang’s father gave her to a wealthy woman named Tan Bian, who then passed the baby to her daughter-in-law, Hong Ye, to raise.
At around 1918, her adoptive family brought young Mdm Chiang to Singapore as a toddler.
However, they returned to China when she was about nine years old.
When she was 19 years old, Mdm Chiang made her way back to Singapore where she lived permanently since.
Image courtesy of Ms Ong.
Ms Ong said her Ah Chor often told stories about her childhood, especially about Long Shan Zhan, a hotel her adoptive family owned in China before they settled in Singapore.
Endearingly, Mdm Chiang would talk about the place so much that all her grandchildren and great-grandchildren can imitate the way she says “Long Shang Zhan” in a distinctive rhythm and tone.
Marriage was arranged as a child
Mdm Chiang had been arranged to marry her husband when she was just a child.
After Tan Bian took her in, another child was adopted into the family, and they decided the two would eventually marry.
“Because of this, Hong Ye, who had raised Ah Chor like a daughter, also became her mother-in-law,” Ms Ong shared.
Although they grew up together, Mdm Chiang and her husband never got along from the start.
Her family believes this was probably due to the arrangement they were forced into.
Ms Ong also shared that her great-grandfather had been abusive to her Ah Chor.
Nevertheless, Mdm Chiang had six children — three sons and three daughters — six grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.
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