A little thing can bring back to life many "dust-laden" memories. To keep the memory fresh is what a collector does.

Peng Jin Hua's hobby is collecting different kinds of things such as angpaos (red packets); various types of articles related to the Mid-Autumn Festival such as mooncake boxes and product catalogues of bakery shops. Soft drink cans, Hello Kitty series and other things are also in her collection.

Born in Gemas, Johor, and living in Singapore after her marriage, Peng has collected many of her favourite items which she treasures a lot.

Among these collectibles, she finds the "hundred surnames" angpaos to be the most unique. She even made an angpao-collecting trip to Hong Kong earlier this year with the purpose of collecting the limited editions of angpaos and printing several sets of her limited editions of "hundred surnames" angpaos in Hong Kong. These angpaos were later given away as gifts to her collector friends all over Malaysia and Singapore.

Peng has many friends sharing the same hobby with her throughout Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and the other places.

Mr. Li Zhong Qiu and his wife Zhou Xiu Ling from Johor Bahru are two of her collector buddies. They often hold gatherings at her house to exchange their views and experiences.

"Hundred Surnames" with 504 Chinese family names

The Sutera Mall in Skudai recently organised a Mid-Autumn Festival celebration cum Chinese cultural exhibition from September 3 to October 17. The limited edition of "hundred surnames" angpaos given by Peng to Mr. and Mrs. Li were on display at the exhibition.

"Hundred Surnames," a book registering some 504 surnames of China, was completed during the early North Song dynasty.

Peng told Sin Chew Daily during a recent interview that a life enriched with memories is one that is truly priceless!

Peng was born in an impoverished family with no toys to play with. When she was in the primary school, she bought some bookmarks with her own savings. As she knew it was very hard for her to save up the money, she treasured each of her bookmarks very much.

Since then she has been keeping each of her bookmarks very well, bearing in mind that this was how she nurtured her collecting hobby.

She later started working and began to have a relatively stable income and spending power. She started collecting things to materialise her childhood dream.

She has set up a forum on the Internet to allow collectors around the world to share their experiences: http://www.decollector.net.

She stressed that the forum rejects any business organisation or salesperson, and would immediately delete their entries if she found them joining the forum with the sole intention of making money.

She said, her collector friends have been helping one another in their collections. For instance, some are responsible for collecting items from Hong Kong or Singapore only while others concentrate on the Malaysian collections.

They would later share and exchange their collections. Peng insisted that all exchanges and transactions had been done without any involvement of monetary interests.

Cultural artefacts preferred

Besides meeting many new friends through this forum, Li said he had also improved his skills of using the computer and Internet.

He said he had a personal preference for collecting cultural articles such as angpaos with traditional Chinese designs, and was particularly fond of the "hundred surnames" angpaos.

During the Hari Raya festive season, Li's wife went around banks in JB to collect the exquisitely designed green packets.

She said whenever she had come across a uniquely designed green packet, she would hurry home to scan the green packet and put it on the Internet for sharing with other collectors.

She said to upload all her green packets, she had to work late into the night. Although she was exhausted, she said she enjoyed doing it. (Translated by LIM LIY EE/Sin Chew Daily)