|
Post by tyuti1668 on Jan 21, 2013 10:24:12 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by douglaslam on Jan 22, 2013 6:17:03 GMT -5
Fay Chee, I gave the girls a choice, and they settled for KFC. The village is getting sophisticated, there is even a wine shop specialising in red wine. Red wine is the latest craze in Hong kong and China. Gone ( almost ) are the days when people used to drink congac brandy by the glassful. Wine makers in Australia are eying the Chinese market. I just hope your little hamlet Chao Yang will never go the way of mine. It is very precious. Douglas
Tyuti1668, I saw the segment on Stanley Yee on DVD a couple of years ago. He also donated generously to our Chungshan Society. I know him but not well. The whole affair of relocating the primary school reeks of a scandal, money and deals. The donors are not happy. Can you blame them?
|
|
|
Post by mugenpower168 on Jan 22, 2013 6:57:19 GMT -5
My village is called On Tong in Cantonese, in official Mandarin Antang. It is in that part of Chungshan county that has its own dialect, Longdu. Douglas, are all the Lam's in On Tong descended from a common ancestor?
|
|
|
Post by lachinatown on Jan 22, 2013 14:31:25 GMT -5
Thank you Douglas. We can also see the village on the map. It spells Annan on google map
|
|
|
Post by tyuti1668 on Jan 22, 2013 19:56:00 GMT -5
On Tong had 4 sections. Annan (Landmark: Goddess of Sea Temple in P.16 ) is just one of them.
|
|
|
Post by lachinatown on Jan 22, 2013 22:36:22 GMT -5
tyuti1668, are you saying Antang (安堂) is not Annan (安南), but just a section of Antang (安堂)? Why google map does not translate the Chinese characters correctly? That's bad. Are the 4 sections Anxi (安西), Anbei (安北), Annan (安南), Andong (安東)? where is nanwencun (南文村)? The map shows 南文村 as Andong in the English translation. That's confusing.
Thank you for the clarification. Otherwise I was confused.
|
|
|
Post by tyuti1668 on Jan 23, 2013 1:26:54 GMT -5
Some sections (å››å ¡ / 安æ±) adjacent to each other lq1600kk.blog.163 .com/blog/static/259448282009102811501130/ ( NO space btw 3 & .) Almost can't separate from Google map's sat view by outsider. ;D Heard a 上方佬 opera fan (景行 as that blog) finding a safe parking place BUT ened up in Andong . Neighborhood saw the suspicious scooter blocks their usual outdoor mahjong game & reports to village office. When village patrols arrives, that man shows up on time & knew it's another village FiNALLY. 清和街/景行街/å››å ¡ is located as the SAME side as Antang | 岚头 is opposite the hospital/安北 | æ¶Œå£ is opposite 景行 (landkmark: the well "好水井" / é…’å» ) | å¤§æ¶Œæ‘ also (landmark: the "old" market) used as in å—文鄉.
|
|
|
Post by douglaslam on Jan 23, 2013 6:35:01 GMT -5
Kin, I think my family name can be traced to one common ancestor. An emperor granted us the name millennial ago. From what I know, we did not come south from Henan province via Nanxiong. We came instead via Fujian province. Thus, we do feel a certain kinship with Fujian, especially those with the Lam / Lum / Lim / Lin family name. There is a saying, ' Three days still in the forest", 三日不出林 forest being our name in the context of a heavily-wooded forest. That's how big we are in Fujian. A few years ago, some villagers took a bus trip to Fujian, a trip heavily subsidised by a fellow villager. They tried to find if our dialect was understood by the Fujian locals. The answer was no. It evolved over the centuries. Tyuti1668 is quite right; our village is sub-divided into east, north, south, and west. My own section is 安北 Anbei ( north.) When I wrote to my late mother, it was simply Zhongshan Anbei, 中山 安北 and she would get the letter. ------------------------------------------------------- On Tong is big. The population is one, the number of village halls is second. It is astounding we have probably close to twenty halls in honour of many of our ancestors. I know of no other villages which boasted so many. The third measure of size is the number of temples, Buddhism, Taoism or the combination of both. This is one of two temples built next to each other. Like so many old buildings, they too, are heritage listed. Mao must be turning in his grave, oops, display case rather. A few tens of metre away, there are two more, which includes one dedicated to wet nurses or nursing mothers. I haven't seen a similar one any where. At the time I was taking the photos, They were closed, care takers out to lunch. Nothing to show. This is another landmark, the "good water well." 好水井 Before tap water was available, many villagers, with a shoulder pole and big buckets would come here to fetch water for it was the cleanest. It is now less important, and the water is not as good as it used to be. In mornings, you would see migrant women hand wash their laundry here. It was also here a few trips back, when my mother was still with us. I was asked if I would make a donation to repair the well to ensure safety for all users. I hesitated, the amount was not beyond my affordability. For reasons I cannot remember, I turned down the suggestion. Perhaps money was tight near the end of my trip or something else. I missed a chance to make a little difference to my village, to leave a plaque to honour my mother. To this day, I am still mulching over it, for I could never afford to give a large sum to build school extension and the like. I missed my one chance. Yet, one more landmark. This unusual and solitary boulder is called the Big Stone Drum. 大石鼓 It is close to my home. The cracks are getting bigger. I used to play here with other kids, the boulder was our slippery dip. The Earth deity is honoured here. Much of the village is paved with slabs of stone or granite like what you are seeing here. To the left, it was an open drain which had been covered for a few years. The drain had no safety guards, but I had never heard of kids falling into it. The alley leads to my house. This is my house, the newer one next to it belongs to Ming. Ming built a bigger house for his growing family. In doing so he blocked one side of my house of sunlight. Now, only his young brother lives in it since the passing of his mother. He moved his family to a spacious high rise unit granted him by his former employer. The drain was not a health hazard in the days before harsh chemical cleaners, plastic bags, takeaway food containers, and other litters. It became a rat-infested open sewer when the economy opened up, and night soil was no longer wanted as fertiliser. There were small fish thriving in the drain. After each heavy downpour, colourful little fish would appear. I often pleaded with the adult to let me get down to the drain to catch them. In the dry months, the fish would jump up from the stagnant water to breathe. The alley was our playground. Two doors away, at the end of the alley is a well from which many families used to get their water supply. I used to shower here. It now stinks and blocked for safety reasons. The well is fouled by migrant workers who dug a toilet into the water table. Everyone will be invited to my house shortly.
|
|
|
Post by FayChee on Jan 23, 2013 21:45:46 GMT -5
Douglas, is your house the one that the lady is standing in front of? Is Mings house the light brown one on the right?
You know, I believe that the result of the 'missed opportunity' opened the door to other opportunities, where you have given generously of yourself to help lost souls like me. It may not be as solid as a memorial plaque, but the good that you do will last forever in our hearts.
Fay Chee
|
|
|
Post by tyuti1668 on Jan 24, 2013 5:45:24 GMT -5
...tried to find if our dialect was understood by the Fujian locals. The answer was no. It evolved over the centuries... Longdu is a "mixed" dialect wenku.baidu.com/view/d8c073791711cc7931b716d3.htmlLearning the "pure" (stdandard Hokkien) isn't that hard for LD speaker if knows the rule. For example: s to ts as in "å‰"...
|
|
|
Post by douglaslam on Jan 24, 2013 7:41:08 GMT -5
Fay Chee, yes, Ming's house is the one with an air conditioner. For decades the house built by my grandfather was the talk of the neighbourhood. It was a gold mountain house, built with the best materials. Before I invite you all in, let's meet the current lady of the house. Let's call her Jade. Here she is, at the lane way to the right of the fouled up well. Jade is a lovely, lovely person, her husband is lucky to have a wife like her to steady the ship. I gave permission for her family to move in because left unoccupied, the house would deteriorate more rapidly. The husband is related to us perhaps three or four generations back. They were staying at a small house to the right, the door is hidden from view. Whereas grandfather had made good in Canada and built a new home, the smaller house, the original ancestral home was left to his young brother. The young brother's son eventually went to Canada as my grandfather's paper son. Back to Jade. She is not a Longdu woman. She is a boat people, a Tanka. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanka_(ethnic_group) Tanka, is a rapidly disappearing , if still exists at all sub-culture. My take is that they fish, ferry people and goods on the coast and rivers. They don't live on land. When I first met Jade years ago, she was tanned much darker than she is now. She is speaking our dialect well. At present the couple is doing the rounds of distributing LPG (or CNG ) cylinders to homes. They work everyday of the year, no days off even on our New Year's Day. They are paid a retainer plus a commission on each refill. She used to paddle a heavy three wheeler, and lug the weighty cylinders upstairs if needed. Now, she gets around on an electric bicycle. The husband is often out drinking, and returning home late or not at all. She would have no hesitation to lock him out. We all like her and think very highly of her. The family of four is always on my invitation list to my informal dinner. This is a typical village house though considered big at the time. It is on a very narrow frontage. This is the small courtyard. Like most homes, a section ( to the right) was set aside to raise a pig or two for extra income. To the left, there used to be a tub to which we emptied all the urine for fertiliser. It was a common practice, nothing was wasted. Later, my mother used the small space to grow medicinal herbs and flowers on a raised platform. The laundry is also to put out to dry here. siyigenealogy.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=shared&action=display&thread=1181&page=4siyigenealogy.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=shared&action=display&thread=1181&page=5This is the living room at the front of the house. On my earlier posts, on pages 4 and 5, there are more detailed descriptions. Behind the ornate partition is the master bedroom, now in use by Jade and her husband. It has no windows. Our ancestral altar is moved from the first floor to where it is now. Jade would light the incense every day. To the left is the staircase. As you can see the staircase is steep, narrow and dark in the days before electric lighting. It is rickety and badly needs repair now. Going back perhaps sixty years ago or more, one early morning I was eager to get down stairs and not waiting for an adult to carry me. I lost my footing and rolled down the stairs, and head first hitting the very hard solid wood ledge. It split my forehead open. I sustained very serious injuries, and bled profusely. To this day, I think my brain power was curtailed by that accident.
|
|
|
Post by FayChee on Jan 25, 2013 1:53:26 GMT -5
Beautiful carvings in your house Douglas. Those steep stairs definitely look scary! I had an Uncle who retired from the Military that used to fertilize his garden with jars of his 'aged' urine....the smell was aweful and we thought he was a bit 'crazy' doing this. He must have learned about it from his time in Korea during the war.
Fay Chee
|
|
|
Post by tyuti1668 on Jan 25, 2013 4:37:12 GMT -5
...she is speaking our dialect well. At present the couple is doing the rounds of distributing LPG (or CNG ) cylinders to homes. It's LPG. Does she yells "chung khui" on route OR on phone order?
|
|
|
Post by douglaslam on Jan 25, 2013 7:28:08 GMT -5
Tyuti1668, I think Jade gets her orders by phone. You'll remember I had a photo ( I can't remember the page) of a villager on a tricycle 三輪車, he called out chung khui å……æ°£ in our dialect. Which is which, CNG or LPG? Fay Chee, urine does need aging to get the best (nitrogen) out of it. People used to pay for the night soil, and pig poo on the streets was eagerly scoop up. Alas, no longer. The next lot of photos may not be interesting, but to those who have never visited a typical home in rural South China, might see something in them. Behind the master bedroom is this area normally set aside for storage of grain, farming implement, tools, firewood, extra tables and chairs and the like. It is dark save for the grating above which allows some sunlight to filter through. The loft is holding some of the original furniture. This is the grating for light. More on that later. Notice the hook hanging from the upper floor or ceiling, which you'd find in most old houses. It was used for suspending a food cabinet. In the days before refrigeration, that was the way food kept safe from ants, vermin and flies.My mother used it right up to her passing. The same hook has probably been around since the house was built. In her frugal way, she did not want a fridge from me. She did not even want running water when it was available. She didn't think she would live long enough to justify the expenses. Live long she did, she died in her sleep at 95 years of age. Past this mid-section of the house is the kitchen and shower / toilet which was shown on pages 5 and 6. Gone are the traditional fuel stove with a big wok. Traditional house designs do not have windows at the back wall. Natural light comes from an opening operated by a rope, to allow fume to escape and sunlight to enter from the roof balcony. I loved stoking the fuel stove, putting in straw, dried leaves and wood. It was alive like a steam engine. There is no fun with a gas or electric cooker. Back to the front living room. This is the original tiled ( not ceramic ) floor, it is subsiding after decades of wear and tear. The tiles are of very high quality. Whenever I was returning home, mother, when she was able, and later her helper, would go down on all fours to wash the tiles with red dye colouring. She wanted the gold mountain house to looks its best for her son's returning. The side of the wall next to the stairs. See the red paper on the wall, it is New Year Lucky Sayings, the left says" Things go smoothly in the gold mountain". the other " Young and old in total safety" The gold mountain one was a legacy from my grandmother, which my mother carried on. I insist they must be renew each year, and my cousin's wife ensured it is carried out. The hand writing is not that of a master calligrapher.I have already called China to remind them of my request. Just beneath the red paper, there used to be a tic toc clock which grandfather brought back from Vancouver. He also brought back a phonograph, but it was already broken when I noticed it as a child. The plant on the wall is è¬å¹´é’ scientific name rohdea. The plant and holder is probably older than me. Grandmother used to observe the leaves with interest. Whenever water droplets were seen on the leaves, she knew grandfather was sending money home. The courier would call within days with the remittance and letter. It worked every time. Such was the left-behind wives in China looked forward to news and sustenance from abroad.
|
|
|
Post by tyuti1668 on Jan 25, 2013 8:35:02 GMT -5
|
|