"I also learned how to embroider slippers, something a girl of marriageable age at that time had to know besides cooking. It was customary that a bride include in her trousseau slippers for men and women, embroidered with her own hands, as presents for her in laws and relatives. Thus, every day I struggled with gold and silver sequins and multi coloured beads; disentangling knotted silk threads, pricking my fingers in a feverish endeavour to get perfect results, which course I never did." - Queeny Chang, daughter of the wealthy Medan merchant, Tjong A Fie. (Memories of a Nonya).