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Post by helen on Mar 20, 2008 3:55:25 GMT -5
4/5-4/26 2008 American Drean in China - Oil Painting of Kaiping Watch Tower(Diaolou) & Village by Jinyu Chen ÃÀ‡ø‰ôÔÚÖЇø-êå\Ô£¡¶é_ƽµï˜ÇÅc´åÂä¡·ÓÍ®‹Õ¹ Reception time/é_Ä»•rég£º4/5/2008, 11:00AM
Exhibit Date/Õ¹Ó[ÈÕÆÚ: 4/5-4/26, 2008 Location/µØüc: Chinese Culture Center Gallery
On April 5, Chinese Culture Center will present a unique exhibition of oil paintings by Artist Jinyu Chen, whose artworks portray the Chinese American experience as reflected in architectures in China.
Kaiping Watch Tower and Villages feature the Watch Tower, multi-storeyed defensive village houses in Kaiping, which display a complex and flamboyant fusion of Chinese and Western structural and decorative forms. They reflect the significant role of ¨¦migr¨¦ Kaiping people in the development of several countries in South Asia, Australasia and North America, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. (Description from UNESCO)
4ÔÂ5ÈÕ£¬ÖÐÈAÎÄ»¯ÖÐÐÄŒ¢ÅeÞkÒ»ˆöÓɡÐg¼Òêå\Ô£ÏÈÉú„“×÷µÄªšÌØÓÍ®‹Õ¹--é_ƽµï˜ÇÅc´åÂ䣬½èÖЇøµÄ½¨ºBչʾÃÀ‡øÈA†ÌÔÚÈAÉú»î¡£´Ë´ÎÕ¹Ó[µÄÁÁüc -- é_ƽµï˜ÇÊÇé_ƽ®”µØÒ»·N¶àŒÓ·À¶R½¨ºB£¬¼¯ºÏÁËÖЇøÒÔ¼°Î÷·½µÄ½¨ºBºÍÑbï—ïL¸ñ£¬·´Ó³ÁËÊ®¾ÅÊÀ¼oÄ©¶þÊ®ÊÀ¼o³õÉ¢¾ÓÔÚÊÀ½ç¸÷µØµÄé_ƽÈAƒSËù°çÑݵÄÌØÊâ½ÇÉ«¡£ Chinese Culture Center | 750 Kearny Street | 3rd Floor | San Francisco | CA | 94108
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Post by chansomvia on Nov 5, 2008 4:00:26 GMT -5
To Vwong and Helen,
I was in China early October 2008 and there was a series on the Kaiping Daiolou shown on CCTV9 - the English section of CCTV. I happened to see two parts when I was flicking through the 40 odd channels in my Zhuhai hotel.
The TV series traced the history of the daiolou, in English, and how the new female Mayor from Beijing when posted to Kaiping was fascinated by them. It showed the progress made of her effort to convince the Ministry in Beijing to rehabilitate these structures as many were not maintained. She had to fly to Beijing many times to get the Ministry interested.
The series goes on to show how the overseas owners were contacted, it showed many aged persons signing the contract to allow the Ministry to rehabilitate the daiolou, and to have them maintained. It was interesting as many of the living relatives had no interest but were reluctant to sign the contracts fearing a takeover.
The series went on to show how all the structures were put on a database, owners found, and delegations from the Chinese Government and tourist agencies flying to America to meet the relatives to get the contracts signed.
The series shows the progress of the application for the World Heritage, how the conditions were being met, the employment of many Chinese and overseas experts in the application, and the final success.
The best and most moving part was to see the old relatives coming back to see the rehabilitated structures, to see the opening ceremony, and in one case to see the unveiling of a statue of the deceased son of the owner, by the owner. The old man said that he did not want his statue but would agree to the statue of his son who died before he had a chance to come to Kaiping. More touching was the sight of the old grandmother returning to Kaiping in a wheelchair to see the daiolou, all dressed up in an elegant cheongsam, so regal looking as only a matriarch can be, and to hear that she passed away a year after that.
I think you could possibly get the video if you contact CCTV china, they probably will repeat the series on SKY channel 310 in New Zealand. Good luck on your venture.
Joe Christchurch New Zealand
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Post by Ah Gin on Nov 15, 2008 2:02:58 GMT -5
Joe,
My Ancestral Home is at 石海 just outside Kaiping, next to the "No People Village" 无人村 a village populated mostly by our Clansmen (Gin/Chin/Yan etc) At the village is a modest looking Watchtower. Our village are rather protective of the watchtower, as we consider that to be part of our village heritage.
The city of Kaiping and the Siyi Region is rather proud of this heritage, which as we know is now listed by UNESCO.
More on the subjects later.
Regards, Ah Gin
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Post by chansomvia on Nov 15, 2008 16:20:35 GMT -5
Ah Gin, You mentioned: " Our village are rather protective of the watchtower, as we consider that to be part of our village heritage."
This is good news as from the TV documentary most of the watchtowers are not well maintained, hence the Chinese Cultural and Tourist Board arranged with the owners to allow for the maintenance and upkeep.
There are hundreds of watchtowers in Kaiping and am not sure how many of these are actually maintained by the Chinese Authorities, I look forward to hearing more from you as it is a fascinating subject, having seen the documentary. Access to these watchtowers should be easy with such a good network of roads and public transport. I have not seen them myself due to the insufficient time I allocated myself when I planned the trip - it is just as well as I need to leave some surprises for my next visit.
Should you, or the others on this forum, happen to be in Christchurch NZ you are welcome to contact me.
Joe
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Post by Ah Gin on Nov 15, 2008 22:15:07 GMT -5
Joe,
The watch tower at the "No People Village" neighbiuring own own village is a very plain and modest looking one, unlike many on the tourist track at Kaiping and surrounding. As we took a side trip to Toishan, along the Kaiping-Toishan road, we saw a number of others as well. I have not done in depth research, but I suspect not all are maintained by the Authorities, but only the more ornate or famous ones. The rest, they are left to the local village. Our modest watchtower has a gate across it, preventing vandals from their deeds. There is also a sign eracted at the goat track leading to the village and watchtower. The signs are clear warnings to the unthinking visitors, but I fear that is not going to prevent encroachments.
By the way, the China Travel Service at the Garden Hotel at Kaiping have a number of tours to Watchtowers around Kaiping. Should you need contact, drop me a note.
Thanks for your kind invite to the Land of the Long White Clouds. We still have not made it to the South Island, and one day, we sure must. The South Island is full of Chinese historical places as well. So that should be interesting.
Regards, Ah Gin
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Post by helen on Nov 29, 2008 3:03:57 GMT -5
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