Tea by the Window: A Hakka Woman’s Singapore Story

Tea by the Window: A Hakka Woman’s Singapore Story is the unforgettable voice of Madam Chong Ah Moi, who lived through nearly a century of change — from the stony hills of Guangdong to the jungles of wartime Malaya, from wooden kampong houses to the rising towers of modern Singapore.

Born into poverty, Ah Moi lost her father young, crossed the South China Sea as a child, and laboured as a rubber tapper before the Japanese Occupation forced her family into hiding. As a young wife and mother, she sold kueh door to door with tins slung across her shoulders, raised nine children through hardship, and made the impossible decision to give two away so they could survive.

Told in her own plainspoken, powerful voice, this memoir captures not only the grit of survival but also the humour, tenderness, and small joys of kampong life — children catching spiders, neighbours gathering for opera, doors always open. Later, as Singapore transformed, Ah Moi moved into an HDB flat at Sims Drive, trading the noise of the kampong for the quiet of concrete walls.

Her story is one of endurance, sacrifice, and love — a portrait of a woman who carried her family through hunger and change, and who found contentment at last, sitting by her window with a cup of tea.

For readers who treasure family histories, women’s voices, and the spirit of a generation that built Singapore from the ground up, Tea by the Window is a memoir to be remembered.