Maiori is a much lower-key resort compared with Amalfi town or Positano. It attracts far fewer visitors and attention. Fortunately, this low-key resort can be easily reached by bus or ferry from all points along the Amalfi coast. If you visit the Amalfi coast, consider making this charming place your base. We based ourselves in Amalfi town, which was overcrowded and expensive. But then, we fell for all the hype (and paid for it).
We love the slow pace in Maiori; the restaurants are cheaper and as good as anywhere else along the Amalfi coast. The esplanade and the beach were pleasantly sparse. And now, back to the roses along the esplanade. They reminded me of Chinese Jazz, Rose Chan, and antiheroes.
When we were growing up, we heard so much of Rose Chan’s bare-it-all striptease shows. Whenever we (schoolboys) heard her name, we smiled or laughed. Even today, we look back fondly on those days, smiling or laughing.
Rose Chan died on 26 May 1987 in Lam Wah Ee Hospital (Penang) in poverty, in physical and emotional pain, away from the limelight she had previously enjoyed. I heard about her ordeal as a locum radiologist, trying out the job to start a career in private practice in the same hospital. None of the four men she married visited her while battling breast cancer in the hospital.
Much later, I learned more about her background, which reminded me of Chinese Jazz. She was born Chan Wai Chang (陈慧珍) in 1925 in Suzhou during the early days of Chinese Jazz and came to Singapore when she was only six years old. She never had a formal education. Her parents were acrobats on the move, travelling from village to village to make a living.
During the Chinese Jazz period, the people in Suzhou (and the surrounding areas) lived in abject poverty in a war-torn country occupied by Japanese and Western imperialists. Rose Chan came to Singapore, which imperialists also occupied but was in better shape than her homeland.
She started her working life in Singapore as a cabaret dancer. The immigrants (from Shanghai and surrounding areas) of that period were familiar with this profession as Chinese Jazz in the cabarets of their motherland. She later, by accident, became a stripteaser, which earned her infamy.
Research into her life revealed a touching aspect of her character—she was generous. She donated to hospital care and supported the Nanyang University Fund. She was as infamous as a stripteaser, but was famous for her charity work, which earned her the appellation of “Queen of Charity.” She is an unsung hero and fits nicely into my idea of an antihero.
And so, the roses of Maiori triggered my memories and stirred my interest and reflections. Travelling stimulates learning.
Vince
Dr Vincent Chong is a retired Professor of Radiology at Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore.
