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Post by lachinatown on Dec 20, 2012 15:52:18 GMT -5
Wonderful thing you are doing Douglas.
Is it possible for you to post a map of your routes? So is Fay Chee's village in Kaiping or Enping? Thanks.
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Post by douglaslam on Dec 21, 2012 5:23:10 GMT -5
Lachinatown, posting the route I was taking is beyond my capabitity. I do know where to catch the bus to Taicheng, for example, from Canton or my own hometown. For the follow up visit two days later, we left a little early without breakfast, and went straight to Sanxiang to try its famous lai fun 瀨粉 noodles. I called Ma Leung and informed him of our arrival at the village. This time he turned up in a small four door sedan, with his daughter driving. It was just a short drive to their home. And here it is: There are actually two houses built next to each other, one for each of Ma Leung's two sons. Ma Leung lives in the one nearest to us with one son. There is a very big front courtyard. The car in the foreground, a Nissan, is the one used to take us around. And this is the backyard, also quite big. To the left, obscured from view is a covered table-tennis table. I have not seen a house covered so much area in China except historical homes. I think it was built on former agricultural land. In front of the house is farmland. The family represents China's rising middle class. We were made very welcome and talked for quite considerable time. I passed on to Ma Leung's daughter via email those images that Carlos had sent me. They were thrilled by the old photos which they did not know existed. I learned of Ma Leung's two sons were quick off the mark when the economic juggernaut rolled into the district of Sanxiang. The bought a truck each and contracted to carry excavated soil from the hot spring resort construction site. They worked day and night, and made enough to build the new house and more. Here are some members of Ma Leung's family present. At the centre is Ma's wife, then daughter-in-law. and daughter. I think the baby is his daughter's child. She is awaiting approval to settle in Macau with her husband. Next to the house is this abandoned Wong ancestral hall. Tong Gum has two clans, the Wong and the Ma. Wong is clearly the bigger of the two. The Ma people are offshoots from the Ma clan based in Sa Chung village which is much closer to my own village. The Mas from Sa Chung are well represented in Sydney. Then we went on a short walking tour. During the tour, one thing really hit me hard about the young men who ventured abroad in the 19th. and early 20th. centuries from Tong Gum. Carlos grandfather was not the only one who had never returned from Peru even once. This derelict house once lived an old women who waited and waited for her husband to come home from Peru until she died. It is just one of many, with the men who went off to Peru to chase that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, but never came back. What miserable lives those married women must have lived. Everyone in the tour fell silent momentarily to reflect on the sad past.
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Post by FayChee on Dec 21, 2012 12:17:44 GMT -5
Douglas, my mouth hit the floor when I saw the elegant house of Ma Leung. Did they build it where the old Ancestral home used to be? Is the Ancestral home elsewhere?
It makes me sad that my dad's two wive's never saw him again after his last trip home in 1923. His second wife only saw him the one time when he married her in 1923, then returned to America. What a lonely life for her. The first wife was jealous of her and made her life miserable, so she moved to Hong Kong and lived out her life and is buried there.
I wonder if dad helped her financially in Hong Kong.....I wonder how the men felt about having multiple wives left in China that they would never see again? I suspect it was more a matter of having someone to take care of their aging parents or help in raising their children, if any.
Fay Chee
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Post by FayChee on Dec 21, 2012 12:25:42 GMT -5
Lachinatown, the address of my Ancestral home is:
China, Quangdong, Kaiping, Chishui Zhen, Chao Yang Li
If we can find it on the map, maybe we can find out if it is actually located in Kaiping or Enping. I thought the two were the same place until you asked the question.
Dad's headstone says 'Enping' Chao Yang, so maybe in 1894 he was born in Enping, then the family moved to Chao Yang Li where granddad built the Ancestral home?
Fay Chee
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Post by lachinatown on Dec 21, 2012 13:30:38 GMT -5
Those are beautiful homes. What a difference between the old village houses. Fay Chee, that was the reason I asked the question, about the headstone. I was wondering if they changed the boundaries, like annexation. No question that Chishuizhen and Chao Yang is currently located in Kaiping. Located Southeast of Kaiping, closer to Taishan on the east than Enping on west of Kaiping. See map at english.kaiping.gov.cn/images/kpmap.jpg (in Chinese) Maybe Henry Tom could ask his nephew for an explanation.
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Post by FayChee on Dec 21, 2012 14:02:17 GMT -5
Lachinatown,
Henry's nephew sent photos of the local Seto Zupu (Guangdong to Village), Family Lineage Chart and Generational Poem, which I have to get translated. I wonder if any of these documents can shed some light as to why dad's headstone says Enping and the location of the Ancestal home is in Chao Yang Li ?
Shi Cheng is still trying to help us decipher the Generational Poem and I was not even able to open it as it is in some format called 'bkcl' with 2 dots over the 'l'. I have no program to open it.
Fay Chee
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Post by kaluosima on Dec 21, 2012 14:26:39 GMT -5
Wow , wonderfull pictures Douglas , i am very excited. First time i see my family in china . Thanks so much Douglas for help me , and help to everyone in the forum .
Thanks you
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Post by douglaslam on Dec 22, 2012 6:23:14 GMT -5
Fay Chee, you shall see later the house which Carlos' grandfather called home, I would presume the family's ancestral home. The new house is built on reclaimed land. It is a very nice dwelling. I'd be quite happy to live in retirement in a place like that. It is quiet, not far from public transport, close to the main township and recreational facilities. The original home is a different story. Carlos is keen to see and learn all he can about the house his grandfather was born and raised in. I include four images to satisfy his urge to know. It is very obvious the house had undergone a major makeover. It does not have that period feel to the building. The house is now a rental home. The tenant (or tenants) is a migrant worker. The interior is quite cluttered. There is a Mao portrait on the wall. Some people do literally worship Mao because he was indestructible, ruthless in crushing the oppositions, he could kill by stealth, and perform all things evil. In other words, with Mao looking over you, you don't have a thing to worry about. He'll do all the dirty work for you. Here is more for you Carlos: My small party was alerted to this pavilion and the Earth God at the bottom right corner. They haven't changed since your grandfather's days. The pavilion was the village's market where the hawkers would put their meat, fish and vegetables on for sale. It is perhaps centuries old. It is now replaced by a much bigger market as shown on the last posting. This is the Earth God, a "junior" Deity. He is there guarding the homes and neighbourhood, stopping evil spirits from entering.
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Post by FayChee on Dec 22, 2012 12:32:57 GMT -5
Douglas, As beautiful and rich looking as the new buildings are, my eyes still yearn for the old and simple ones. The remains of love, tears, and happiness still linger in each and every piece of wood, every brick, every nail.........the walls will talk to those who want to hear.
Fay Chee
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Post by kaluosima on Dec 22, 2012 17:30:16 GMT -5
Wow , nice pictures about the home .
thanks so much Douglas, so what about the different story about home .
Kaluosima
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Post by douglaslam on Dec 23, 2012 6:39:59 GMT -5
I called Ma Leung's daughter on the phone last night. We talked for about twenty-five minutes. The new family home was not built on reclaimed land. It was built on family housing land. A village tour must include a visit to the clan hall. Clan halls used to be the village hubs in the pre-Mao days. I remember when I was a very little boy, at Ching Ming time people would gather at the hall and then set off to visit the graves on the hills. There were firecrackers, roast pig, paper offerings to burn, and much more. At the end of the day, the meat, buns, fruit were divided up. The sharing of the roast pig(s) was a high point, how much one was entitled to was dependent on seniority, age, marital status, number of male heirs etc. It is a folklore, and very keenly anticipated . I think I had only seen it once before Mao put an end to it forever. It is impossible to revive the custom now. Every village in South China would be poorer in cultural life because the whims of one monster of a man. Carlos, this is the Ma ancestral hall which is next to the much larger Wong's to the left. This is the grander Wong Clan Hall, This is a full frontal view. The cross sign says it is the Ma Nam Bo Hall. Ma Nam Bo may have been the one who branched out from the Ma clan based in Sa Chung, and settled in Tong Gum. And the clan flourished after him. It has been rebuilt quite recently. This is a photo of the old hall before the rebuild. Your uncle opened the door for us. The interior is very spartan, nothing of antiquity on display. This is the honour roll of those who donated generously for the rebuilding. They are all from the Ma clan. The biggest donor is a woman who chose to enter her husband's name on the roll. There is another female donor who entered her sons' names. I can also see your uncle's name. Chinese are very parochial people, they care about their origin and homeland. Most would be happy to support worthy projects such as building school, erecting hospital, and disaster relief. BTW Carlos, Ma means horse. Did you know that?
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Post by FayChee on Dec 23, 2012 9:40:26 GMT -5
Douglas, The before and after pictures of the Ma clan hall are so nice. Did they put a white glaze on top of the old bricks or do they add new white glazed bricks on top of the old bricks? Maybe they first clean and paint the old outside white, then paint on a glaze to make it look so new and nice?
The red and gold Alter display is beautiful. I hope I can have the one inside of my dad's house refinished like that. I love how the wood ceiling beams look in the old buildings. How many eyes have look up at those beams. How many prayers are still soaked into the old wood.
Fay Chee
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Post by douglaslam on Dec 24, 2012 6:57:27 GMT -5
Fay Chee, you are very observant. I just glossed over the building, not paying particular attention to the building materials. I did look at the ceiling, and noticed how low it was for a hall. The civic fathers would certainly like to retain as much as the original material as possible. As you shall see later on when I show the huge project of restoring our own Clan Hall, back to the former glory days as far as possible, before Mao's rampaging way. We then went off to lunch in Sanxiang town. Because it was a small car, Ma Leung's wife and daughter-in-law did not go. I didn't have the presence of mind to call a taxi at the time so that everyone could join in. A small lesson learned. Here, we are toasting the occasion. Before we set off Ma Leung offered us a choice of liquor and wine for the occasion from his selection at home. Ma Gor my companion always prefers local brew and distill, no chardonnay, red wine, cognac brandy or champagne for him. I heartily went along with that. We are seen here toasting in a colourless liquor served in small doses. It has a very strong fragrance, very smooth on the palate, even Ming tries a little. It is top shelf stuff. This is truly a very happy occasion for all of us. We hit off well, and our hosts are genuine, warm and welcoming individuals. Ma Leung's daughter ( let's call her Maggie), would not let me pay the bill.. A little about the liquor laws in China. Liquor laws are very lax in the country . As far as I know, any shop can sell liquor without a special license, and any restaurant can serve liquor. Minors are allowed to buy liquor because they may simply be doing the job for an adult. The peer pressure for alcohol consumption as in western countries does not prevail here. I can't see any teenage binge drinking as they do in Australia. There is no mystique, sophistication, or as a sign of maturity in alcohol consumption here. Alcohol is also very cheap. I can buy a can of beer for about A$.55, or no less than A$1 for brands like Budweiser, or Heineken. Bottled so-called rice wine is also very cheap. If you BYO to a restaurant, there is no corkage or per person service charge. After a leisurely lunch, Maggie took us to visit her uncle, Ma Leung's younger brother. Carlos, this is your second uncle and his wife. He is recovering from some health problems, and may look a little older than Ma Leung. Your uncle and aunt live in a smaller, older house. He is a hobbyist, but ill health forced him to curtail his favourite past-time. The tall plant is known as 富貴竹 or "good fortune bamboo". It is often cultivated as a feng shui aid. Next to it is an example of bonsai, which is 盆栽 or 盆景 in Chinese. Bonsai, like tofu, origami, and the board game go were introduced to Japan from China. Westerners learnt it from the Japanese and adopted the transliteration of the names. He also kept birds, and had to let go of them because he couldn't care for them properly. Some birds come back to see him and get fed. There are some goldfish left in the big green tub, just a shade of the consuming passions he had energy for. He is a man of refined taste. and infinite patience in order to attend to his hobbies. Carlos, that just about wraps up my photo report to Sanxiang and Tong Gum and your China-side of the family . Hope you can make it to China next year. Everyone is looking forward to it. Maggie is a very warm and friendly cousin of yours, stay in touch with her.
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Post by lachinatown on Dec 24, 2012 10:59:53 GMT -5
Love the bonsai and birds Douglaslam. What a wonderful trip.
Too bad he no longer can care for them.
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Post by FayChee on Dec 24, 2012 12:28:53 GMT -5
Douglas, I like the rock garden sculptures and the intricate wood carving of the living room couch that they are sitting on.
Fay Chee
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