Catholic church in village?

[treasuredl]

I had the chance to visit my father's Hoi Ping village a few years ago, and it was deeply rewarding to be able to see and learn about the place where my ancestors lived. I just reviewed some old photos and now have a question: what was the significance of having a Catholic church on village premises? My relatives pointed out the abandoned church building to us as if there was value or meaning to it, but I can't figure it out. Was it merely a place to educate the younger children? Were there Catholic faithful in the village? Was it commonplace to have churches in the villages? Thank you for your input.

[gckimm]

Hi:

I found on the internet photos of a couple of Catholic churches in Hoiping, including one in Chik Hom (see below). This one appears to be still in use, so it is probably not the one to which you are referring. However, I do know something about the Catholic church in China. If there is a Catholic church in your father's village, there were surely Catholics in the village who worshiped there. I wonder if some of your relatives were/are Catholics. Catholic churches started to reopen in China in the 1980s after decades of being closed following the establishment of the People's Republic in 1949. Before the reopening of churches, they were used for other purposes, just as some temples and ancestral halls were. There are some Catholic churches in the Sze Yup (Siyi) area, including at least one in Toishan (Taishan) that I passed by back in the 1990s. It may be that there are not enough Catholics left in your father's village to renovate the church and support a congregation at this time.

Greg

[LJ]

Hi treasuredl and gckimm

Happy Chinese New Year! Happy Year of the Tiger! One of my 4th cousins on my Fong side told me of a Catholic church in 龍背 (Lung Bui) that his grandmother on his Kwan side went to. When he was a toddler, she took him to that church. As a boy, his family could hear the church bells ring every Sunday. When Mao's Red Guards came to the village in the 60's, they dismantled the bell. Being made of brass, it was so heavy that they just left it at the foot of the tower.

His grandmother was from a village further from the road (what looks like Highway G325 on the map that he mailed to me). He got different names for her village, from different people, but it may be 大吾村 (Tai Ng Village). He thought he could find it in a listing of villages near 五龍 (Ng Lung).

Incidentally, I couldn't find 龍背 (Lung Bui), 大吾村 (Tai Ng Village), or 五龍 (Ng Lung) in the Village Database, but I did find villages whose names look or sound similar to 龍背 (Lung Bui) and 大吾村 (Tai Ng Village), namely 壟背村 (Lung Bui Village) and 大梧村 (Tai Ng Village), and both villages are in Chik Hom. However, I did find the three villages shown as Longbei / 龙背 or Longbei Village / 龙背村, Dawu / 大梧 (although not 大吾), and Wulong Village / 五龙村 in Google Maps.

Gung Hay Fat Choy!
LJeung

[gckimm]

Hi LJeung:

Thank you for the New Year greeting. Happy Year of the Tiger to you!

A quick Google search revealed that Lung Bui Village is in Ng Lung Administrative District and both are, as you said, in Chik Hom Town: 赤坎鎮五龍管區龍背村.

I did not find anything about Tai Ng written as 大吾. It is probably 大梧. Both characters are pronounced the same and would be easy to confuse.

Greg

[LJ]

Thanks, Greg!

Can you provide the links about Lung Bui being in the Ng Lung Administrative District?

My cousin left China when he was child, so he may have misremembered the characters for Tai Ng. I'll double check with him.

He also mailed me photographs for the church in Lung Bui. I'll ask him for permission to post them.

LJeung

[gckimm]

Hi LJeung:

Here is a site with the full address. It is one of those sites that gives the postal code for places in China.

youbian.d777.com/otad6n5n4

Greg

[LJ]

Thank you, Greg.

LJeung

[genekl]

I tagged along a friend's clan trip to eastern Guangdong for an important reunion year. We visited two villages that were traditionally heavily Catholic. A large church was overflowing on Sunday; even the second floor was full. I don't think other parts of Guangdong such as Siyi had such Catholic bases but maybe there were a lot of Baptist missions scattered around.