Pig, Money, Free lunch/ visiting ancestral village

[bqc123]

My husband and I  (both never been to China)  am going on a general China tour for our 33rd wedding anniversary. We planned our trip for over a year..............then I wanted to  add a stop on our trip.....go visit Mom's ancestral village in Kaiping.  My friends also had done China tours in past years but they AVOID going to their ancestral village because they heard rumors that if one does, they get hit for a Roast Pig, Offerings at the cemetery, FREE lunch for all the villagers, give out money to the villagers who will take you around, plus  pass out money to the kids AND give money for buying candy, etc. 

The stop at Kaiping is a complicated one after I read up on the area with the diaolou being now a TOURIST attraction.  Finding that the ancestral villages are scattered all over the areas,  it would be hard to locate the EXACT one that my Mom lived in.   My Mom's family still have their diaolou. It is one of the 1,800 diaolou still standing from the once 3,000 that existed in the area.

After I told my Mom that I will be making a pit stop in Kaiping to go find her diaolou, she called her brother Uncle Poon who have now contacted the village people to notify that we will be coming.  Some of the VILLAGE people will be coming to our Wilson Hotel to get come get us.

YES,  we are going to be hit with buying the Roast Pig: 400 RMB - 600 RMB  ($67.00/$100. USD)...that doesn't sound bad..
                                                                       
                                                                      BUT THEN .....................

YES,  Of course if you have to get people to carry that pig up to the cemetery, then you have to pay $10.USD (each) for all
         those people who have to carry that  heavy pig and for the people who accompanied you up to that cemetery place.

YES,   We'll will be hit with giving out $20.00 USD BILLS in Red Envelopes to EACH of  People in Charge (in our case 5 People)
          who went out of their time, way and gas money to have to go and haggle and negotiate for the cost of that pig.
YES,    We'll be hit with the costs ($10/$20 USD) for the incense, offering papers, etc that is going to be use to do the "ritual".
           (Whi Sen)

YES,   Then it's 10RMB  ($1.50 USD)  in Red envelopes to pass out to the KIDS. It's only fitting that as a Chinese person, we have
          to honor China's precious commodity, the children.

YES,   Then it's some money ($20 USD or 120RMB) for candy for the rest of the people in the village.

YES,   THEN, of course,  there's that FREE LUNCH meal @ 300 RMB ($50 USD/per table) for treating the villagers..(my
          information from my Uncle) doesn't say how many people/per table) for the villagers who had gracious spending the day
           with you, sitting down chatting with you and letting you walk round their village, taking pictures .......after all, in them   
          doing all that for you,  in return, "what's much to ask but a meal in return", right?"   From what my Uncle tells me, it's
          going to be about 30 villagers so it can add up even at $50.00USD/table...depending on how many people are sat per table
          and if they bring their kids along or not...but if you break down the $50. USD/table divided by presuming that there is 10
           to a table...it comes out to $5.00/per person.

I think THIS ONE STOP in Kaiping for 2 days to find my Mom's ancestral village is going to run us an average of $600 - $700.00. It will be the MOST MONEY SPEND IN ONE SINGLE  DAY of all our 27 days in China Tour Trip.

On the other hand,  then you have to considered that if the Village relatives are coming to pick you up in their car, then you save money from not hiring a cab (who is not your own surname person) and driving around in circles on your own in trying to find your ancestral village.   If the village people (your own surname relative)  drive you around to looked at places and tell you about the places, not only the history of the area BUT ALSO share with you how these events affected your own mom and her family because they or their parents were around at that time. You not only save on a Day Driver and a generalize tour guide but you got a personal "family" tour guide guy.  When you do the offerings, having that pig, you are getting a PERSONAL hands on,  a one on one experience to be part of your own culture, the ancestral rituals, listening to your own native ancestral language being spoken, taking pictures and the faces the people and the children, you are connecting some what "blood ties" with yourself and to the past of your parents lives.   You also carry this tie with you into the future when you get back home.  

No advertised tour company can do this for you.


Oh..I got question.... Any answers out there?  I asked this before and I got MIXES answer.............so I'll asked it again.

Uncle Poon said FOR THE KIDS: to give 10 RMB in Red Envelopes to the KIDS.  (10RMB = $1.50 USD)
  
a. Is it 10 RMB.....like a RMB 10 Bill ?..to be put inside a Red envelope which means I'll have to  exchange money in China for 10 RMB........................OR

b. US. $1.00 BILL AND 2 QUARTERS = 1.50 which I'll have to carry rolls of quarters..which mean another trip to the bank and rolls of quarters are heavier than rolls of gold $1.00. because ONE GOLD $1.00 weigh LESS than 2 QUARTERS added for each red envelope,get it? ................................................OR

c. ONE $1.00 GOLD COIN....(for Me) ...this is the best token gift for a kid. They can keeps it until he reach 25 or 30 yrs old., that USD $1.00 Gold coin is going to be worth more than $1.00.  Government started making these $1.00 USD Gold Coins as part of a celebration of the 1849's when God was discovered in California. It relates to GOLD HILL (GAM SAN) - San Francisco.  It got very popular especially with the Chinese here in USA. Each year GOLD COIN minted, it's imprint is different.  Each year is different, it's a collector's item.   It'll be out of circulation.  

Then I found from reading the commentaries that Chinese people don't like receiving  COINS. But in giving the 10 RMB to the kids ($1.50) means it will take a dollar bill and 2 quarters (COINS)  anyway.  The more I think about it, the $1.00 USD GOLD COINS represents GAM SAN.. one of the many reasons why the Kaiping villagers went OVERSEAS was to go to GAM SAN (San Francisco area) was to seek fortune for GOLD and for JOBS on the Railroads and to became wealthy in doing so. .     









  

[laohuaqiao]

It's really a hassle for someone in the village to go to a bank to exchange US currency to RMB. I wouldn't give US dollars for any amount less than $20, even for $20 consider giving 100 RMB instead.

[bqc123]

I just came back from Kaiping and was able to find my mom's village. 

Mom said that VILLIAGERS LOVES THE SMELL AND FEEL OF U.S. DOLLARS.  I was going to give them U.S. Collector's $1.00 Gold Coin (which is worth more than $1.00 if they keep it for a couple of years).  Mom said that villagers don't regard coins and don't like coins being that Chinese coins are "worthless" (less than 1 RMB).  She's right.  THEY LOVED U.S. DOLLARS. I put $20 BILLS into Red Envelopes and $1.00 BILLS into the Red Envelopes. 

The Villagers aren't as backwards as you think.    Some of them have cell phones, their sons & daughters (my age) all have cell phones, ipads, etc...they all drive mopeds and they get around.  They can cash their dollars at the local bank in town.  In fact, they trust MY AMERICAN MONEY more than they trust the Chinese RMB since some of them are "Counterfeit" or they call it "FAKE" money.

Oh, by the way,  I did end up buying a BIG MUNDO SIZE Roast Pig (1500RMB /$$250.00), visiting the ancestral tombs, offering, carrying that pig up a hill and ding all that offering and ritual stuff.  They said that the offering at my grandmother's house requires 1 goose, 1 chicken, 1 piece of waxed meat, rice, bottle of wine, sweets (200RMB/ $33 USD) and the incense, offering papers, firecrackers = 100RMB /$$16.00 USD)  They brought that huge roast pig on the back of a moped, then they had to haul it up a steep hill and clearing a real congested overgrown 18- 20" wide dirt path with machettes,  then afterwards, have to come back down with it. It takes a lot of time to do this and it took a lot of work and sweat.  That pig was divided up for a whole village.

Afterwards, I also ended up taking the 30 of the villagers to a banquet dinner (1300RMB /(3 tables) $210.50 USD) It was in a hole in a wall restaurant but they like that place. It came down to $7.00/person including the 2 bottles of liquor per table. (3 tables) ......but I guess it was worth it since they all have to go get a chicken, a goose, a pound of waxed meat, rice, wine and all the packages of  incense, offering papers, firecrackers, bless 3 houses incl. my grandparents house, then they have to go get that pig and haul it up a hill and do some more offering, burning paper money, incense, firecracker ritual stuff. It's amazing how they only talked with me about it at 6 PM the day before and they managed to get it the whole event organized this whole event the next day by 9AM in the morning!!!

The sad thing is that LESS and LESS 1st or 2nd generation Village descent(s) are coming back to their ancestral roots or am sending money back to the villagers to support them because they have taken on new tradition and ties of their new adopted or native born country.  In another generation, all these ancient traditions, rituals and village life will be gone as of the ways of the abandoned Diaolou.    It's a once in a life time experience for me. I may not come this way again.  My mother is 86 yrs old.  She left China in 1948 but she went did visit her village in 2000 before her stroke.   She wanted to see the pictures of her village, her cousins and relatives again. She said it's "customary" for an Overseas descent, when going back to visit the village of her roots, to pay homage to the village tribe and honoring of the ancestors by present them with a Roast Pig and to walk the path to the ancestral tombs, to bless the homes with offering of food, offering, incense and to sit and share a meal as one village again.

I'm glad I did it. 

 

  

[lachinatown]

Thank you for the report.
Did you get a chance to visit the 4 diaolou villages? If you can, please post some pictures.

Yes, it is sad that newer generations are not keeping in touch with the ancestral villages. Most do not even know the names of the counties or the villages, let alone the region. Then it became too late or difficult to trace the origin.

This is the kind of feedback we needed when people come on this site for information.
Some times we do not know they were good or bad.

[helen]

The reverse is the case for us NZers. We had a Wong family reunion on Sunday. The families here are really into going back to the Gwa Leng village in Zengcheng . We have all been back many times now - and taken the village jiapu back to them - as they lost theirs in the revolution. There's even talk of setting up a small museum in one of the abandoned buildings. There are more of us in NZ than in the village.