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[新加坡] 柯木林
我认识黄清海是在2004年11月。当年我去汕头参加首届 “侨批文化研讨会”,
期间一位与会者递来一张名片，他就是时任中国银行泉州分行的黄清海。此后数年，在许多侨批研讨会上，都会看到他。
2012年9月，黄清海受邀到新加坡参加《家书抵万金--新加坡侨批文化展》，并在新加坡国家图书馆发表演讲。
黄清海原来是一位集邮者，他的邮集《闽南侨批》曾获2005年国际集邮展览大镀金奖。他曾对我说，1989年他撰写《泉州市金融志》时查阅资料，参考了我的荣誉学位毕业论文《新加坡侨汇与民信业研究》（1971年发表），所以才在汕头研讨会上主动结识我。
黄清海对侨批收藏感兴趣，源自集邮。
而他本人在银行的工作性质，与侨汇侨批也有一定的关系。他时常利用工余时间，“下乡”收集侨批资料，简直到了“走火入魔”的地步。也就是这种热情，使得黄清海在精品侨批的收藏方面有傲人的成绩。这本《菲华黄开物侨批：世界记忆财富》所展示的就是他个人收藏的一部分。
一般而言, 侨批收藏者对精品都有独占心理，不大可能公开。黄清海能够把自己的收藏公诸于世，是十分难得的。
本书的主题人物黄开物（Uy Cay Bot，1878-？），何许人也?
资料显示,
黄开物字在毓，福建省同安县锦宅村人（今属漳州龙海市角美镇锦宅村），1878年出生，有兄弟八人，他排行第八。至迟在1903年，黄开物已到马尼拉。1907年1月，黄开物又一次南下寻梦，与其兄及侄儿在马尼拉的华人商业区经营布业生意，成为当地一位“好行义务，为社会中所同钦”的乡绅。其后加入菲律宾的同盟会，支援辛亥革命，任同盟会菲律宾机关报《公理报》撰稿人。1921年4月黄开物一度回乡，主持锦宅华侨公立小学事务。这所学校是现今村里唯一的小学，已有100多年历史。20世纪40年代黄开物在马尼拉辞世，具体年代不详。
在中国近代史上,
像黄开物这类的人物比比皆是。黄开物只不过是芸芸众生中,
一个从福建到海外“寻梦”的普通商人。然而，他之与众不同之处,
就是他留下许多文字记录。这些文字记录，是“清末民初华侨社会的一个缩影”。更难能可贵的是，这些以侨批形式出现的文字记录，估计约400多封，黄清海收藏其中比较核心的部分。此次清海将其公诸于世，
这就很有参考价值了！
《菲华黄开物侨批：世界记忆财富》
全书共收录123封侨批，写作时间介于1907年至1922年，其间几个年份缺失是因为黄开物全家都在马尼拉。这批文献是2009年在黄开物家乡被发现的。侨批书信是黄开物寄给家人，和他在菲律宾、香港、厦门等地的亲人、友人、革命志士等寄给他的，分为五大部分：
第一部分
家庭亲属侨批（1907-1916；1921）
第二部分
辛亥时政侨批（1911-1913）
第三部分
商业往来侨批（1911-1913；1921-1922）
第四部分
捐资公益侨批（1912；1921-1922）
第五部分
亲友问候侨批（1911-1915；1921-1922）
在这五大部分的侨批中,收录最多的是“家庭亲属侨批”，共35封，占全书的28%，这是黄开物侨批的感人部分。游子在外，惦念家乡的亲人是很自然的。记得2008年12月，我在泉州华侨历史博物馆举办的“首届闽南侨批研讨会”上曾说过：侨批是“海外华侨与祖国乡土的两地书”，就是这个意思。此外，本书有一个附录，提供了黄开物侨批中相关的人物与事件简介，方便读者解读批信原文。
黄开物书信字体潦草，又没有标点符号，解读起来很不容易。黄清海以他对侨批的热忱，把这些内容繁杂的黄开物侨批，自己出资请人把它们打印出来，并加上标点符号。此举对研究者而言，确实一大贡献。这有异于泰国侨批收藏家许茂春编著的《东南亚华人与侨批》（2008年出版）。《东南亚华人与侨批》只是部分解读批封，极少解读批信内容。
黄开物书信中有不少俚语及闽南方言；还有侨批资料中涉及的货币、汇水、放账、欠账、储蓄票、存款、投保、西文簿记案等等名称术语，如果有一简表附于书后，对研究者将会有更大的帮助。
总之，要把内容繁杂零碎的侨批拼揍成一幅完整图景，并不容易。研究者必须参照其他史料，并配合大历史背景才有可为。这本《菲华黄开物侨批：世界记忆财富》所引发的研究课题，如寄信的时间规律、通信者生平事迹，及书信中所反映的大时代背景等等，则有待于学者们今后的继续研究与发掘。
稿于2014 年6月18日。新加坡
原载黄清海编著，《菲华黄开物侨批：世界记忆财富》（福州：福建人民出版社，2016年2月）
Preface
Memory Of The World Heritage
The Philippines Chinese Huang Kaiwu and his Emigrant Mail
（1907-1922）
by
Kua Bak Lim
When I attended the 'First Seminar
on Emigrant Mail Culture' in Shantou in November 2004，a participant
approached me and introduced himself as Huang Qinghai. That was
first time I met Huang Qinghai, who at that time was working at the
Bank of China (Quanzhou Branch). Since then, I used to see him at
seminars pertaining to the Emigrant Mail Culture on many occasions.
In September 2012, Huang Qinghai was invited to deliver a public
talk at the National Library of Singapore (NLB). This talk is to
coincide with the Exhibition entitled 'Money By Mail To China –
Dreams And Struggles Of Early Migrants'.
Huang Qinghai used to be a stamp
collector, and his collection, 'Emigrant Mail in Southern Fujian'
won him an award in the International Philatelic Exhibition, 2005.
He told me that in 1989, when he carried out research on 'Quanzhou
City Financial Records', he made reference to my B.A (Honors)
thesis, 'The Studies of Overseas Chinese Remittances in Singapore
,1945-1949' (published in 1971, Nanyang University, Singapore).
This was the reason that made him took the initiative to approach
me during the Shantou Seminar.
Huang Qinghai's interest in
Emigrant Mail originated from philately, i.e. stamp collecting. Due
to the nature of his work, he also needs to keep in touch with the
issue of Overseas Chinese Remittance. He used his pastime to
collect Emigrant Mail from remote county areas of China. Such
enthusiasm makes Huang Qinghai an outstanding collector of Emigrant
Mail. This book entitled 'Memory Of The World Heritage: The
Philippines Chinese Huang Kaiwu and his Emigrant Mail' is the
result of his efforts. Very often, collectors tend to be possessive
and are not willing to share or exhibit their collections. In this
context, we respect Huang Qinghai for his willingness to share and
even publish his collections for the benefit of researchers and
scholars in this field.
At this juncture, I need to talk a
little more about the person of Huang Kaiwu . Huang Kaiwu (or Uy
Cay Bot
1878-？) , alias 'Zaiyu', was born in Jin Zhai
Village, Tong An County, Fujian Province of the Southern China. He
had seven brothers and he himself was the eighth in the family .
According to historical records, Huang Kaiwu was already in
Manila before 1903. By January 1907, He was engaged in textile
business with his brother and nephew in the Chinese Business
District of Manila. He subsequently became a trusted 'gentry' in
the local community. He then joined the 'Tong Meng Hui' in
Philippines , supported the 1911 Revolution and served as writer of
the 'Kong Li PO', a mouthpiece newspaper of the 'Tong Meng Hui' .
In April 1921, Huang Kaiwu returned home and founded the Jin-Zhai
Overseas Chinese Public School, the only primary school still
exists today. He passed away in the 1940s in Manila.
Modern Chinese history abounds with
examples of people like Huang Kaiwu , a Fujianese commoner and
ordinary businessman going overseas to pursue his dreams . However,
as Huang Kaiwu had left behind many Emigrant Mail that shed light
on a microcosm of Chinese society in the late Qing Dynasty, such
documentation made him unique from others. Currently, all these
Emigrant Mail (more than 400 pieces) are made public by Huang
Qinghai and served as valuable historical materials.
This book contains a total of 123
pieces of Emigrant Mail dated from 1907 to 1922. A few years’ of
Emigrant Mail were absent. This is because during this period,
Huang Kaiwu' s family was in Manila and therefore not necessary to
send mails home . All the 123 Emigrant Mail, discovered in Huang
Kaiwu's hometown in 2009, were the Mail sent to his family members,
his friends in Hong Kong and Xiamen, or letters from
revolutionaries to him. They could be divided into five
parts:
Part I
Emigrant
Mail to Family members (1907-1916, 1921 )
Part II
Emigrant Mail on
Political Situation during the 1911 Revolution (1911-1913)
Part III
Emigrant Mail on
Business Information （1911- 1913, 1921- 1922）
Part IV
Emigrant Mail on
Charities （1912, 1921- 1922）
Part V
Emigrant Mail on
Family Issues （1911- 1915,1921- 1922）
Part I contains 35 pieces of
Emigrant Mail, which accounted for 28% of this book. This is the
largest portion of the five parts. This part is touching, as it
portrayed the natural feelings of those working abroad who missed
their loved ones back home. This is what I meant when I delivered a
speech in the 'First Quanzhou Emigrant Mail Seminar' held by
Quanzhou Museum of Overseas Chinese History in December 2008, in
which I made reference to the Emigrant Mail as the means to connect
Overseas Chinese to their hometown in China . This book also has an
appendix that provides an introduction to Huang Kaiwu , in order to
help the reader interpret the content of his letters.
Huang Kaiwu's letters are in
scribble form. There is no punctuation, and are difficult to read
and understand. However, Huang Qinghai has made them readable by
using his own fund to verify, punctuate and print out. This is
therefore a significant contribution to researchers. This book is
also different from another publication, entitled 'The Money
Remittance Mail and Overseas Chinese In
S.E. Asia'
(published in 2008) written by Xu Mao Chun （Choon Koshpasharin or
Koh Moh Choon）, which only partially interpreted the contents of
Emigrant Mail Xu had collected.
There is a lot of slang, or
'Minnan' (Southern Fujian) dialect and terminologies in Huang
Kaiwu's letters, e.g. currencies, exchange rate, debit, credit,
checks, deposits, insurance, book keeping and so on. It would be
helpful if there is an Index to it.
In conclusion, it is difficult to
construct a complex picture for Emigrant Mail in the context of
macro history. It requires researchers to make reference to other
historical materials to obtain more details. Following the
publication of 'Memory Of The World Heritage: The Philippines
Chinese Huang Kaiwu and his Emigrant Mail', there are many related
topics, such as the trend pertaining to the delivery time of
Emigrant Mail , under what circumstance was the Mail sent, and its
history background etc, need to be studied and explored
further.
18th Jun 2014 Singapore
中国新闻网 - 菲华黄开物侨批出书 浓缩清末华侨社会
http://www.chinanews.com/hr/2016/02-29/7777513.shtml
中新社泉州2月29日电 题：菲华黄开物侨批出书 浓缩清末华侨社会
作者 廖静
“黄开物”，一个在中国历史上不甚出名的名字，近期出现在公众视野。
黄开物是谁？资料显示，他出生于福建省泉州府同安县锦宅村(现属漳州台商开发区角美镇锦宅村)，20多岁到马尼拉，是一位布业商人，后加入菲律宾的同盟会，支持辛亥革命，任中国同盟会小吕宋分会机关报《公理报》的撰稿人。
如今，关于黄开物的400多封侨批公诸于世，其中123封重要侨批形成《菲华黄开物侨批：世界记忆财富》一书。29日，黄开物侨批一书的编写者黄清海接受中新社记者采访时表示，这批侨信反映当时普通华侨爱乡、爱祖(籍)国的情怀和民族、文化等认同感。
《菲华黄开物侨批：世界记忆财富》一书中包括亲属家庭侨批、辛亥时政侨批、商业往来侨批、捐资公益侨批、亲友问候侨批等五部分。其写作时间介于1907年至1922年。
“这是这些年我陆续从各处买进的黄开物的侨批，是我的个人收藏。”黄清海告诉记者，这批文献是2009年在黄开物家乡被发现的。
