Sim Kinghwa

So where DID the name One Leaf come from?

One Leaf was the pen name of my father's uncle.
He was an anarchist writer and activist, and from my father's words, his writing was eloquent, yet straightforward.
Unfortunately, none of his writings survive to this day.
My father has provided a brief biography, which follows below.
This label is a tribute to him, even if it's not the most fitting.
Thanks for reading.

One Leaf was first used by Sim Kinghwa as a pen name in his writings, which later on, slowly evolved to become his common name. The works and devotions of One Leaf were never well known outside of his students, colleagues and family circle, but he was an inspiration to their ideals and social struggles.

The youngest of the four children, Sim Kinghwa was born in the second decade of the 20th century in rural farming town of Fujian, China. Kinghwa was a scholar, an excellent writer, and a great educator. With the help of a few friends, he found and built the only school in his rural hometown. Displeased with the social injustice and mistrust of the then government, he grew up being an idealist, an anarchist and an activist. He was constantly mobilizing his friends, colleagues and students toward the movement for social reforms. He was a strong believer of a totally free society with a common universal language of Esperanto. He escaped the war to the Philippines during the second world-war, stayed on and became the principal of a Chinese school in the southern city of Ozamis. To his students and colleagues, One Leaf became a symbol of one last effort, and at time, of one last hope in a difficult time. In 1949, he contracted TB and died at a very young age, leaving behind a legacy that hopefully will survive the passage of time.

Home |  One Leaf |  Releases |  Bands