Celebrating Lunar New Year 2023 At China House - The Lim's Family Home

(l-r) Lim Lam Peng, Dato Lim Si Boon. Lim Kooi Peng, Lim Keng Poon, Datuk Lim Kheng Loy and Lim Keng Hoo

I had the opportunity to celebrate this Lunar New Year at the ‘China House’ otherwise known as the Lim Family Home.

The dinner invitation was for the second day of the Lunar New Year. When I  arrived just before at 7pm and there were many people present though I was told they were mostly family. 

The evening got on the way with the Lion dance first paying respect at the ancestral altar before proceeding to the front entrance of the house.

When i arrived at the family lounge i was met by this lovely family trio dressed in festive colors

At the ancestral hall ....

en 

..standing at the courtyard looking at the altar ...

..next the Lion's proceed to the front entrance 

The lion dancing was a joyous affair for the adults ‘receiving good tidings’ and the young ‘being fed' by the lion.

Then it was dinner. You could sit down at a table of your choice, in a dining room, a courtyard setting or at the garden terrace. There was so many choices. 

A choice of seating  ..the large dining room

..at the courtyard 

..the expansive garden veranda 

....... sitting by the moongates

The menu was as varied. You could have a choice of satay or roast pork/siew yoke, prawn noodle or just the loke-loke dip with a variety of foods. For desert there was a pick of ice creams or ice cream-potong in local flavors of chempedak and durian.

A varied but delicious menu ...Roast pork or Satay 

Prawn noodles or fried noodes

or loke loke

....happy diners ....

alot of happy guests 

After dinner it was an evening of relaxation as most guests adjourned to the garden veranda where a band played with family members taking to the mic and singing and dancing as they chatted the night away.

Relaxing after dinner ...

the young ones  ....

grandchildren with grandparent 

some guests took to the mic...or an instrument  

others danced the night away ...

I had a great time at the Lim’s family home. It was relaxing evening and I casually enquired from Datuk Lim Kheng Loy how many of the family came. He replied that sixty seven came and all were staying the family China house.

The Lim Family Home / Bringing family together

The Lim Family house, I learnt from Kheng Loy, was created in 2008 and had a room for each of the Lim siblings. 

L/R: Lim Keng Hoo (6), Lim Keng Poon (3), Datok Lim Kheng Guan (4) and Dato Lim Kheng Loy (5). Standing.Agnes Chew and Ignatius Chew

There are eight siblings in the Lim family, six brothers Datok Lim Keng Kay, Tun Dr Lim Keng Yaik, Lim Keng Poon, Datuk Lim Keng Guan, Dato Lim Kheng Loy, Lim Keng Hoo and two sisters Lim Lam Peng and Lim Kooi Peng. The two eldest boys Keng Kay and Keng Yaik have since passed away.

Kheng Loy explained that “the eldest brother KK Lim had his house near the Perak Turf club. When my second brother Tun Dr Lim Keng Yaik acquired a plot of land next to him he asked me to design a bungalow. I am an archietect.  As Keng Yaik had his home in Kuala Lumpur I proposed him to sell it to the family so we could build a Lim family home.

At that time most of us had moved out of Ipoh. Building a family home would enable us to have a place to stay and be together during the Lunar New Year and other family gatherings instead of staying at a hotel.

It so happened that a few years before we built this house our siblings went to China to visit my mother’s house. It was a 100 year old heritage house in Xiamen, Fujian Province and all of us loved it.

It was a Chinese courtyard house, very decorative and it was suitable for our family. It had the front entrance, a big lounge and large dining room and an ancestral hall, basically Chinese in design. I followed the design but built it with larger dimensions taking into account our local environment and included our eight rooms.

We had our first Lunar New Year celebration in our Lim Family Home in 2008 and every year since. This year I counted that sixty seven in our family turned up. The ‘spillovers’ roughed it out at the house next door which belongs to Datuk Lim Si Boon’s, the son of my late brother Datok Lim Keng Kay, .

This Family Home is a good concept and has brought the family together added Kheng Loy

JAG