As ages are reckoned here, today is the 100th birthday of Ah Ma, Frances' grandmother, meaning that she is now entering her 100th year. She still walks with support, enjoys cooking, reads the newspaper, watches football, speaks crisply in three languages including English, and her memory is crystal-clear. Recently we had the opportunity to attend a family gathering that included Ah Ma and her slightly younger sister Ee Poh, who was less vocal, having been a bit less successful than Ah Ma in holding out against the inevitable effects of time.

Ah Ma's parents had a boy followed by three girls. Her father hated girls, she says. It seems that Ee Poh was always the quiet one, while Ah Mah used to be a tomboy. Ah Ma says her sister was the parents' favourite and teachers' pet, always helping out. At this Ee Poh has heard enough of her sister's reminiscences, and she speaks up for the first time: Ah Ma was always lazy, she says.

Ah Ma says their house faced the back of the museum in Taiping. Tigers were not so rare then, and they were brought in as museum specimens. The museum wanted the skin and skeleton, but the meat was given away. Their servant used to be given some of the meat, which she would dry and send back to China. Ah Ma used to eat some of the tiger meat. She was born in the year of the tiger.

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At the birthday dinner there was fake shark's fin soup, fried chicken, broccoli and bean curd, fried prawn, a noodle dish, steamed fish, roast duck, and dessert. Ah Ma's birthday cake had ten hard-earned candles, one for each decade. With one puff Ah Ma blew them all out.