Amazing Video (Lianjiangli Village-Married Daughters Return)

[ian54]

Talk about the luck of the Irish Ian!

My long lost Chen 3rd cousins from the village sent me the link below to a magnificent reunion celebration that they had at our ancestral village for the reunion of the "Returning Married Daughters to our Lianjiangli Ancestral village" and Chinese New Year celebration on February 14, 2019. After marriage, daughters move to their husband's village, so this the first time ever that the village has organized this event. 

From not knowing where my ancestral village was, or any Chen relatives living in China 18 months ago, to suddenly seeing hundreds of Chens, all of whom will be related to me, is quite staggering and overwhelming! Apparently 200 daughters returned from surrounding areas and cities, including overseas for this special event. I am looking forward to meeting some of these relatives this November. This was the first historic such reunion and the village is 619 years old, so it was a truly a special event.

From photos they sent me, I noticed there are five (5) diaolou (watchtowers) at this village.This apparently was one of the first Chen villages settled in Enping. I will post the photos separately later. 


I hope you enjoy the video (1 hour and 12 minutes long) which must have been done by professionals with drones...quite impressive. Please note that there are about 3 advertisements before the event starts.


m.youku.com/video/id_XNDA3MzQ4NDk1Mg==.html?firsttime=0&source=&sharetype=secondtime&from=groupmessage&isappinstalled=0

Ian

[ian54]

Here are the drone photos of Lianjiangli village sent by my cousins. I have marked the five diaolou.

Can anyone advise if it is common to have this many diaolou in one village? The ancestral village is in Enping, close to the Kaiping County border. It is probably about 3 miles from Chikan town.

Ian

[lachinatown]

Looks like lot of houses. So still lot of people living there then.

[ian54]

Hi LaChinaTown,

It looks like there are probably about 150 homes in the village but I am not sure how many people still live there. I will find out when I get there in early November. 

I hope someone can shed some light on whether there are other villages in the SiYi region that have so many watch towers like Lianjiangli. When I first made contact with my cousins, I assumed that Lianjiangli was just a a typical unassuming village out in the countryside but the photos and drone video really opened my eyes that this is a prominent village.

Ian