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Post by douglaslam on Jan 3, 2013 0:07:23 GMT -5
My party went to Sai Ah next after successfully finding Carlos' family in Tong Gum village. Born and bred in Sydney, member mugenpower168 or Kin is a young professional. We have met a few times in the last two years. Recently he moved house, and now lives just a couple of stations away from my place. We are virtual neighbours. There is certain affinity between us because we are of Chungshan origin, just as the Sze Yup people would. I may be a little presumptive in arriving at this inference. Kin's father came from Sai Ah, but is no longer with us, Kin's parents were not married in the village, thus his mother knows very little about the village, and has no direct contact with any one who lives there, just a vague notion of a certain relative who keeps an eye on the ancestral home. Even when Kin and his mother were both in Hong Kong, they felt perhaps a bit intimidating to visit the village and inspect the family home. They were not sure how to get there, had no idea who to call on, and uncertain of the kind of welcome they would get. These are very valid concerns. That's a job for my party, We did that in 2011 but one essential piece of the jigsaw was missing. We did not have Kin's father's name. Sai Ah is the home to three clans, and there are just so many of their fellow villagers overseas, and in Sydney in particular. No one could be certain whom we were talking about. We did no more than just a walking tour of the village, looking at the crops in the fields, and a few houses of interest in general. It was the reception that we had convinced me that it merited a return visit. This time, I made sure I had Kin's father name in writing, taking the guess work out. Kin, this is your family home, your piece of China for perpetuity. I find it harder to weave a coherent story because I did not take notes, and I could not make sketches as I go. I found myself the only one exploring every nook and cranny, going over both two storey homes. It was a case of information overload, I can not recall it all. Just like Carlos' uncle's, there are two houses but with a common wall between them. The two houses open to each other internally. It was bricked up on the advice of a feng shui master, I was told. The house (as one) was built in the early years when the country opening up to the outside world, perhaps in the early1980s by Kin's two uncles. They, too, had smuggled into Macau, (not sure if they had gone on to Hong Kong as your father did.) It was impractical for Kin's father, who, being in Australia, to be personally involved in its construction. Kin, I was told it is also your house, your right to it and its future is respected. I remember the unit to the right is the bigger of the two. This is the front living room and staircase leading to the upper floor. I think this cabinet is on the upper floor. Look at the family snaps, you maybe familiar with some of them. This is of special significance, the sketches and portraits of your great grandparents and grandparents. There is a photo of your grandmother at a younger age, and a sketch when she was older. Your grandfather was a real character in the village as recalled by the old man who used to play with your father as boys. Looking out of the upstairs balcony, we can see the roof of the outhouse. This may have been the original family home. I did not ask enough questions, nor did I go inside have a look. Another lesson learned. This is the outhouse in the courtyard. It may comprise of extra bathroom facilities or storage area. I wish my own village home had all the room to move as you do. Now go back to the first photo, to the extreme right and out of view is this recessed section. It is the kitchen and bathroom. It has running water, a flush toilet, bath tub, all in pink, in vitreous china. There is also a washing machine. It is a home for modern living. Two of the bedrooms, one with bedding neatly folded, mosquito netting drawn. The other is stripped bare. I wonder who were the occupants,and where they are now. Notice they are both traditional hard beds. I miss the hard timber beds. I seldom hear people with back pains in China. Sleeping in hard beds may explain why. Two important traditions are observed : the good luck red cloth on the cross beam and the place of honour for the ancestors and family.. Well done. This is the home of your next door neighbour and the old man who showed me around. His is a newer dwelling, the family is not doing too badly. That's not all. This is the laneway with the outhouse to the right, and your neighbour's big house next one up. To the left is another property built on your family land. The house is also unoccupied, a relative was allowed to build on it. This is the house as it is now. It is in neglect. In the courtyard, there is a big longan fruit tree. Beyond that is the big pond or closed off section of the river to stop it from being completely contaminated. You can see it from my 2011 photo report. Kin, that is your family home in Sai Ah in a nutshell. It is in a very sound state, and takes very little effort and cost to bring it up to scratch. Make that your holiday home, take your mother on a pilgrimage home. You and your mother will be warmly welcomed, your father is well-remembered. You and your mother are not transient migrant workers, you are a son of the village. I, Ming, or the both of us would be pleased to accompany you. You are doing quite well, you speak Cantonese like a native speaker, and you also have a good grasp of the written language, I can't see anything that would make your visit not a totally enjoyable one, and one to cherish for years to come.
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Post by tyuti1668 on Jan 3, 2013 2:20:41 GMT -5
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Post by FayChee on Jan 4, 2013 22:58:30 GMT -5
Douglas, These newer homes look like palaces and so large and colorful. I was going to ask about mosquitos but the netting answers my questions. I must hang a red scarf like that at my dad's home. It looks so perfect with the light blue beams and white ceilings. I still like looking at the old architecture.....gee that laneway is so clean, not one leaf there..........
I love seeing the inside decor of homes, and especially the pictures. I think I will hang pictures of my granddad, dad, and all 3 of his wives. Then my half-brother and brother. Then my nephew and his son, and my brothers two sons.
Please keep surprising us with more photos..........
Fay Chee
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Post by tyuti1668 on Jan 5, 2013 0:15:28 GMT -5
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Post by FayChee on Jan 5, 2013 5:20:10 GMT -5
Tyuti, thanks for the link to Google Translate. It was the first time I ever tried using it. The translation of that web article was pretty rough, but I got the idea about the red scarf.
I then tried translating my Szeto Family Lineage Chart and it was pretty good as well, but many of the names were definitions rather than the actual names. Two days ago I had spent an entire day translating each Chinese Character one by one using the MDBG word dictionary, and translated to both Mandarin and Cantonese. It would have been faster to do a first run with Google Translate, then go to MDBG and translate the ones that were definitions into names.
Fay Chee
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Post by douglaslam on Jan 5, 2013 6:40:00 GMT -5
It amazes me tyuti1668 can tell the maker of the washing machine by just looking at it. You'll notice washing machines and fridges are mostly in green. Do they call them green goods in China as we call ours white goods?
Fay Chee, I visited a big house in my village a few years ago. It has solar panels, and en suite with every room. It is too much like a motel. Now , the occupants moved out, into gated estates, and the big house left vacant. The people used to live in the same laneway as us, they were quick off the mark into traditional red wood furniture-making and made their millions. Because our region is so close to Hong Kong, it led the country in economic reform in the post-Mao era.
My difficulty is in sorting out the photos, some times I can't even remember what the photos were about. It takes me quite a while to prepare each posting because my level of PC skill.
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Post by douglaslam on Jan 9, 2013 0:04:04 GMT -5
It was on a wet Saturday morning when we left Chungshan for Canton, before going on to Toishan. We all wanted to try the new high speed light rail which was cheaper than by bus. The downside is the inconvenient location of the station. There is a direct bus route from our village to the station. Here is the new station from the outside. It stands alone with no other buildings close by. The usual eating places are not to be seen. It is a half hourly service to Canton.The earliest ticket we could get was two and one half hours later. We should have booked the tickets in advance online. ID is needed for seat reservation. I don't know why this is necessary because it is just like a normal inter-urban shuttle service. After securing our tickets at 25 RMB each, we got back on a bus to look for a restaurant to while away the hours. This is the platform. It is well organised, passengers are scattered to avoid crowding. The station is built to cater for future expansion and growth. The light rail train is quiet and modern. In sectors it travels at speed over 190 km / h. We got to Guangzhou South Station in about 30 minutes. In the 1970s, I travelled on a flat bottom barge towed by a tug, it was an overnight journey. Very memorable. I do miss the slow boat and the people with their farm produce and animals. A bus journal in the past used to take hours before the tollways. We had to cross many rivers. Then, no one was in any great hurry. Guangzhou Sth. Station is relocated to this new site. It is big but under utilised. This is the concourse to one of the entrances. I only saw the high speed trains and light rail carriages. There is a metro station which links up with the above ground lines. Transport infrastructure in China's major cities are the envy of other city planners. Ming took us to a district which is very close to the Pearl River, where he used to billet in second or third tier hotels. Eventually, we booked into a hotel I think it was called the New Beijing or something. Hotel tariffs are negotiable in the cheaper establishments in the off season. You can knock 20 to 30 RMB off the advertised price. This is a family room, which comprises three beds in two separate rooms, and a small lounge. At RMB 280, it was very affordable because the price of real estate in Canton has gone through the roof. In the neighbourhood is this grand old lady, the Oi Kwan Hotel. The Oi Kwan was the last word in luxury and opulence in the pre-communist era. It was up there with The Peninsula of Hong Kong. The Oi Kwan opened its doors in 1937. It was the tallest building of modern construction, it had elevators, it was the grandest hotel in South China save Shanghai in the east. Oi Kwan was synonymous with the high society in an impoverished, agrarian society. I had heard of the name a long time ago. It is now heritage listed, but downgraded to a three star status. Whereas I cannot afford the luxury of checking into The Pen, www.peninsula.com/Hong_Kong/en/default.aspx I'll make it my business to spend at least a night or two there on my next visit to Canton. I don't expect to see much of the old world charm though. www.book030.com/en/Abouus.asp?Hid=168 This is the hotel in its pinyin vernacular.
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Post by douglaslam on Jan 13, 2013 1:10:15 GMT -5
Canton has many famous attractions old and new. The next day, Sunday, our only full day in Canton, we managed to visit four well-known sites. All four are in close proximity to each other and accessible by public transport. They are the Sun Yat-sen Memorial, Yuexiu Park, Huanghuagang, Tomb of the 72 Martyrs and Canton Zoo. In every major city, there are memorials or streets named after the great revolutionary Sun Yat-sen. Many countries overseas also host gardens and memorials in his honour. In Nanjing , in 2010, together with my daughter, we visited the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum. I have a few images to show, as a supplement to what is available on a Google search. These are the main entrance shots. The whole ground is very well kept with trees, and floral displays, a befitting tribute to the man who led China out of decadent feudal rule. Central to the main building is a big auditorium which is pillarless and can sit thousands. This is the dome of the auditorium, which was built with a great deal of imported material from abroad, Germany in particular. I admired the magnificence of the dome. Outside, around the auditorium, are display cases of historic photos, original and replica documents relating to the struggle to rid the Qing Dynasty. Ma Gor was my first companion got bored. He preferred to sit outside in the open and smoke while I spent my time, getting a handle on the revolution. Ming also joined him later. Ming told me Ma Gor said you see one display case you have seen them all. That's the way he is, honest and unpretentious, things historical are not his cup of tea. At the entrance to the main building are these famous last words of Dr. Sun. Reading right to left : The revolution has not yet succeeded. Comrades must carry on. Our next stop was Yuexiu Park. The Park is very much part of what Canton is. Ming told me it was formerly known as Guan Yin (Goddess of Mercy) Hill, then Yuexiu Hill, and now Park. Although I have been to Canton more than once, this was my first visit to the Park. www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/guangdong/guangzhou/yuexiu.htmThis link tells us why Canton is also called City of Five Rams and City of Sheaves (of rice.) Ram City is still used by Chinese speakers, eg. a popular newspaper is called Ram City Daily. We did not spend long enough time to see all the features. This is the one attraction that every new visitor must stop to see. It is the emblem of Canton, Ram City. The sculpture is a relatively new creation, completed only in 1959. Mao's Red Guards thought otherwise, they tried to bring it down. The horns on the top of the artwork were broken off. What we see now is a repaired job. I saw a few iron gates and entrances like this burrowed into the hill. Again, Ming confirmed for me they were air raid shelters built on the order of the Great Helmsman Mao himself. You see, Mao had a falling out with his Soviet mates, he thought the Russian Bears were going to turn on China. Ever the caring and thoughtful leader that he was, he ordered bomb shelters dug, and hoarding of grains. The ramshackle shelters are dotted in heavily populated centres of the country, poor construction caused large number of casualties. Ancient Beijing city walls and towers were knocked down for tunnel building material. Poor storage of various grains brought on wastage at a large scale. This is just one small legacy of the great leader. Thanks for the memories Mao. Our next stop was Huanghuagang, the Tomb of the Seventy-two Martyrs. I always try to visit this most moving of monuments each time I am in Canton. Visible signs of vandalism by Red Guards were evident on my first visit back in the 1970s. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Guangzhou_Uprising Read this short Wiki link, the "Aftermath" section in particular. The Huanghuagang Uprising was the last unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the Qing Dynasty. Its failure galvanised the nation's conscience, for in the same year in 1911, the final push in Wuchang achieved its goal. For more on this major turning point in China's modern history, go to this link. www.google.com.au/search?q=xinhai&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client=firefox-aThis part of the monument comprises of seventy-two blocks of stone, each one represents one of the martyrs whose body was recovered and identified. Note there is a Statue of Liberty replica, it symbolises the high ideals of the revolution that of freedom and liberty. Each block of stone is significant. It is contributed by and bears the name of the overseas KMT Nationalist Party affiliate or individuals. Overseas Chinese rallied to Sun Yat-sen's call to arms to overthrow the Manchu rulers. China and its people faced extraordinary hardship and humiliation at home and abroad. They wanted a stable, peaceful and free country to return to because of the harsh discriminatory laws they faced in so many countries. They wanted China to have a strong enough voice to speak out for them. It was their desperate hopes and aspiration. I wanted so much to climb up and have a photo taken standing next to the block from Sydney or Melbourne. But this part of the monument was closed for preservation. Last time I was there in 2010, the attendant was out to lunch and I missed out. I was deeply disappointed. My camera was not good enough to zoom in, but I could make out Havana, Winnipeg and Toronto amongst the names etched on each stone. It never fails to move me for the solidarity shown. The evening before my visit, I saw on TV news of a high-power Taiwan KMT delegation's official visit to the site. These are the wreaths they laid for the martyrs. People of Taiwan venerate Dr. Sun, the martyrs and the revolution they fought for. Paying homage to the martyrs is always part of the official duty, and Taiwanese tourists would most likely do the same from the heart. The President of Taiwan's wreath is on the right, signed in his capacity as chairman of the KMT, not president. He could never visit the mainland in his official capacity. China sees Taiwan as a renegade province, not a separate, independent political entity. It was getting late, and we still have to stop by the zoo. We had barely two hours before closing. This was for the benefit of Ma Gor because in all his 61 years, he has never been to Canton, and never visited a zoo, or seen a tiger, lion or elephant in the flesh. Other sites we had no time for included the Canton TV Tower. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canton_TowerAffectionately called 小蠻腰 for its resemblance to the slender curvy waist of the female form. I saw it at a distant in 2010 in an evening drive-by tour. I don't think I'd prepare to pay for the costly admission to the observation deck or restaurant. The next day, a Monday, we set off for Toishan. Inside the usual bustling bus terminal, we saw this unsnarl freight to be carried in the luggage compartment of one of the buses. There were bags and bags of gold fish. This is hard to beat even for China. You certainly would not expect that at a Greyhound passenger terminal.
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Post by helen on Jan 13, 2013 1:49:01 GMT -5
Great photos Douglas. I made it up the Tower but didn't get to Huanghua gang. Maybe next time.
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Post by FayChee on Jan 14, 2013 1:19:54 GMT -5
I love the photos Douglas...........but the 'Cliffhanger' is, did you make it to the zoo on time? I like seeing and hearing of Ming and Ma Gor in your pictures..........Fay Chee
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Post by douglaslam on Jan 14, 2013 6:50:22 GMT -5
Hi Helen and Fay Chee, I don't think I'd want to pay the admission fee for the Tower. It is a little too rich. Tourist attractions are notoriously expensive in China. Admission to any of China's national parks is four to five times more than Yosemite or Yellowstone in the U.S.A.
I am not done with my village brothers yet, you'll see a few more shots soon. We did get to the zoo, paid the basic entry 20 RMB, not the extras for other exhibits or specials. It was too late for anythibg else.
Douglas
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Post by tyuti1668 on Jan 14, 2013 8:37:26 GMT -5
The tower:
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Post by douglaslam on Jan 15, 2013 7:22:15 GMT -5
Three Musketeers we are not. But we do go walkabout together every time I am back in our village. Seen here we are dining together. The occasion; my village brother Ma Gor's 61st. birthday celebration. He would not normally put on a do on his birthday, but at sixty-one and a grandfather to boot, tradition calls for a formal celebration. According to the generation poem, he is one generation below Ming and me. When he learned of my trip home, he left words well in advance of my arrival, with my cousin in the village on the date of his dinner party, and issued a verbal invitation. I considered that a great honour, a red packet from me was in order. These are some of the dishes served for the big day. The first one is noodle in sweet soup. It is completely new to me. A village tradition, perhaps, which I am not familiar with since I had left it fifty-six years ago. There are baby abalones, eel and chicken. Ma Gor was your quintessential peasant farmer, as were his father and grandfather before him. Peasant farmers were the backbone of China. They owned no land, which stood them in good stead in Mao's proletariat society. The family worked the land, paid the tax in grain and got bugger all in government care such as medicine and education. More dishes on the table which include lotus root, potato and duck, and roast pigeons He had minimal formal schooling. He smokes, drinks, talks loud in public and lacks sophistication, whatever that implies. But he knows every facet of seedling, transplanting, and harvesting rice and growing of all kinds of common vegetable. In his farming days, he was well tanned, and tough and strong as an ox. He needed all those attributes to survive Mao's disastrous policies, one after another. He is my brother, my village brother. This is Ma Gor the proud grandfather with his grandson. He and his mother and siblings used to live a few doors from my place. His father, according to Ming, was one of three men who lived in the same alley, all died on the same day in 1958, of starvation in a famine engineered by Mao under his Big Leap Forward fiasco. I was safely out of China then. His mother fought on stoically to bring the family up. We could only imagine what hardship the poor woman had to endure without the support of her man. I am certain she was illiterate, the village and her family was her whole world. Ma Gor's mother was someone very special to my mother. Because we owned land and fish pond, from proceeds from my grandfather in Vancouver, we were the oppressors, the evil landlords who exploited the peasants , the class enemy. We must be denounced, and a line drawn on the sand to keep us away. My mother who was left behind in China coped all the abuse, humiliation, denigration, loss of personal freedom that Mao meted out to his class enemy. Our home was raided by the Red Guards repeatedly. Mother was an outcast, no one wanted to be seen in her company. My cousin's family and Ma Gor's mother were among the few exceptions. Ma Gor's mother though illiterate, possessed infinite wisdom. She would not abandon my mother. She could see through Mao's lunacy, her husband was also a victim. Because of her peasant background, and no overseas connections, Mao's bullies could not lay a finger on her. On two or three occasions of my earlier visits, my mother used to instruct me to call on Ma Gor's mother and give her a red packet. I always obeyed. Her home was small and spartan , she would welcome me in warmly. She was a diminutive figure standing with a stoop, the legacy of long years carrying heavy load on her shoulders. She was happy to receive and my pleasure was much greater in giving. No, it was not an act of charity, far from it. It was my way of saying thank you for not abandoning my mother, my way of sharing my good fortune of an education, having a job, saved enough to enable me to return home once in a while. She passed away several years before my mother. For all of Ma Gor's imperfections, I have never seen him drink to excess. He is ever ready to help, and never a rumour monger. I like the simplicity of the man. We enjoy each other's company together with Ming. In our travels, We eat and drink our way from village to village, town to town, and listen to anecdotes of our people overseas and the families left behind. How could I get tired of going back. He is now doing bone-picking 執骨, exhumation, and grave repair jobs. It is a new calling by accident, and work is seasonal. Go to page 23, and you can read more. Last year and 2011 in particular, he did well, making about US $10,000 for the year. He gets his business by word of mouth. He exploits people's ( refer to page 23) belief in burial jade to his advantage. He would occasionally buy a piece of jade and wear it conspicuously for all to see. Some people would assume it was a burial piece and make him an offer. He would bump the price up many folds and make a tidy profit. His conscience is clear for he would not claim it was from a grave, The buyers willingly part with their spare cash. See what I meant that he is not perfect.
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Post by FayChee on Jan 15, 2013 10:19:58 GMT -5
Douglas, I should have eaten breakfast before looking at your delicious pictures of food........I am salivating at the thought of having one little bite of that golden roast pigeon (not that I've ever eaten pigeon, it just looks good).
The history lessons that you provide within your descriptions are invaluable as I have no insight into real life during the Mao years. My only insight into the hardships of our people is the one letter that my granddad wrote to my dad in 1940, that described the wartime tragedies of our village residents.
Ma Gor is such a likeable character and quite an entrepreneur! I love reading about him as he reminds me of some of my beloved family members who have long passed from my reaches.
Fay Chee
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Post by Ah Gin on Jan 15, 2013 14:29:17 GMT -5
Douglas,
I enjoy your postings very much, as it is from the heart. Whilst I have a fair collection of the modern history of China, travel journals, food, source of traditions, heritage, old photos of China etc., reading through your personal travel tales I must say your writing equals those of other researchers. If you have not done so already, I suggest you do collect all your postings and photos and publish them in a single book, title "My Excellent Adventure in China". We are all getting older by the day and I worry that soon our generation would no longer be here to recall our personal experience, however sweet or sour. We belong to the "Middle Age" in between the great struggles and between dynasties (as I consider the present Masters are but part of the current dynasty taking China to another height). Meanwhile, more please.
Regards, Ah Gin
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