MALAYSIAN author Daryl Yeap has brought pride to Malaysia when her second book was translated and published in Shanghai, China, recently by Fudan University, one of China's most elite educational institutions.
She is only one of a handful of Malaysians to be so honoured. It tells the true story and journey of the two daughters and wife of Oei Tiong Ham, the man considered the Rockefeller of the East.
Titled in Mandarin "On Equal Footing: The Legendary Women of the Indonesian Sugar King Family", based on her highly acclaimed book published in English, "As Equals".
The book focuses on how these Chinese women were not only bound by their gender but also faced severe racial discrimination, and how they overcame both.
One daughter, Ida, was married to the son Yeap Chor Ee, the self-made Penang tycoon who founded Malaysia's first local bank, Ban Hin Lee (now merged into CIMB). Daryl Yeap is his great-granddaughter.
The publication of this work is itself a story that transcends national borders and connects multiple parties - Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, China and the US.
The women share one thing in common: they are all highly modern women, independent, strong, well-educated, and with their own opinions.
Ida, for example, was one of the first women of that era to learn to fly a plane.
The central figure among the three ladies was Oei Huilan, the second daughter of Oei Tiong Ham.
Huilan was the wife of Wellington Koo, the first diplomat of the Republic of China and she was also the first Chinese woman to pilot an airplane and appear in The New
York Times.
The book was translated by Chen Yan, professor of history at Fudan University, Shanghai.
"Taken together, the three stories tell a powerful narrative about inequality.
"They constantly break free from the constraints of social norms and sever ties with the past, all for the sake of receiving equal treatment," said Yeap.
The publication not only fills a gap in the field of overseas Chinese studies, but also allows more readers to see that, in the long river of history, the figures of women who were once obscured are gradually moving from behind the scenes to the forefront, from being appendages to being "on equal footing".
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The launch by Fudan University Press was at the Yangpu Library, one of Shanghai's largest and most modern libraries.
Attended by students, academics and guests, including Yeap’s father, Datuk Stephen Yeap, the Chairman of the Yeap Chor Ee Trust, Datin Seri Irene Yeap and her sister Datin Dr Winy Sekhar and Datuk Dr Vinod Sekhar. – March 30, 2026
