Visit to China

17 - 24 November 2007

It was meant to be an heritage trail for me. We were going to visit China, in search for the Hakka (our dialect group) villages, where our ancestors came from. Pretty excited over the trip, firstly because it was my first time going to Mainland China (never been there before); secondly it was another holiday trip for me; lastly I was going with my parents, hoping I could still survive the entire trip.

It was a guided tour over a period of 8 days. The tour group consisted of about 23 people, a good number for a start. We were moving around the GuangDong Province, in the southern part of China. This is the itinerary...

Day 1: Malaysia > Macau >> ZhuHai 珠海
Day 2: ZhuHai > ShanWei 汕尾 >> HaiFeng 海丰
Day 3: HaiFeng > LuFeng 路丰 >> JieXi 揭西 >>> JieYang 揭阳 >>> FengShun 丰顺 >>> MeiZhou 梅州
Day 4: MeiZhuo > YongDing 永定 >> DaPu 大埔
Day 5: DaPu > HeYuan 河源
Day 6: HeYuan > HuiZhou 惠州 >> ShenZhen 深圳
Day 7: ShenZhen > ZhongShan 中山 >> ZhuHai
Day 8: ZhuHai > Macau >> Malaysia

Macau is our first destination. On this same day upon our arrival, Macau was hosting the F1 Grand Prix. We had the honour to hear the sound of those racing cars and bikes, but not the luck to actually see them whizzing through the highway, as they were simply too fast to be caught by naked eyes.


This is the second time I visited Macau. It was a sense of familiarity for me, as I revisited the famous St. Paul, that stood tall overlooking the old street, which sold antiques and all kinds of local snacks such as Portugese eggtarts, bbq pork, almond cookies, and you can eat all you want. The Ruins of St. Paul's is the remains of the St. Paul's Catholic Church, built on 1637 but destroyed by fires and typhoons, leaving only the front facade and the grand stone stairs...

After half a day in Macau, we left for the next destination ZhuHai. We had to cross the borders just like the Singapore-Malaysia causeway. Neon lights, huge billboards, traffic jams, crowds of people, all signs and sights of a busy vibrant developing city.

The sculpture of ZhuHai's Fisher Girl, located along the Lover's Road, together formed a symbol of ZhuHai, and made an attractive place for tourists and couples, especially during the evening sunset.

We spent a night in ZhuHai. Next morning's breakfast was the Chinese kind of breakfast, not the western type of intercontinental breakfast. Instead we had some dishes of vegetables, porridge, noodles, buns (包子). In fact, the dishes were rather oily...

Our next destination is ShanWei. Driving across from ZhuHai to ShanWei, we saw many buildings with flat roofs and balconies, which were used for drying crops and grains. It was misty and sky was overcasted with pollutants. Along the highway, there are many plantations of banana and lychee along the highways. Those trees are planted very close together, purpose is because these lands may be acquired by the government at any time, and they pay compensation according to the number of crops on the land. Thus, trees are planted as close as possible so as to maximize the land for compensation purpose, yet compromising the nourishment of the crops. Smart ass! ;D


In ShanWei, we visited the famous temple 凤山祖庙, of the GuangDong province, which contained the highest stone sculpture of 天后圣母, it is also known as Ma Zu (妈祖). 登上凤仪台，汕尾市区全貌尽收眼底，古镇新市一览无遗。


One of the first revolutionary grounds in China was established in HaiFeng, known as the Red Square (红宫红场). The Red Square is located in the city centre of HaiFeng, which is the former palace of the Ming Dynasty. In 1927, Peng Pai led a group of people and held the uprisings to seize power. 彭湃领导海陆丰人民举行了三次武装起义，夺取了政权。The General Assembly was held in the Red Square, formed the birth of China's first county-level Soviet regime, much to the contributions of Peng Pai (中国共产党早期农民运动的主要领导人之一).


In JieXi, we visited the famous temple 三山国王庙, 三山指的是巾山、明山、獨山這三座山. It is said to be very 灵...


All along the way, we passed by the mountains and valleys, with little spots of houses peeping among the greens of the mountains. From here we could all feel the tough life of the the Hakka ancestors who had travelled so far to these mountains under those harsh environments to set up their homes and to seek a living.

In fact, the Hakka tour is one of the most tedious tours, because of a lot of travelling among the mountaineous areas. In the past, the Hakkas were being discriminated and forced to move to the less populated, less fertile areas, where only the mountains welcomed them...


DaPu, another Hakka village...

We passed by the city MeiZhou, with the reputation of being the Hakka City (客都) of all Hakkas. Saw lots of shops selling dog meat! Yet another special delicacy among the Chinese!


Visited the 故乡 of Ye Jian Ying (also a Hakka), the Chinese communist politician, who played a key role in organizing the 1976 Hua Guofeng coup against the ultra-leftist ‘Gang of Four’, led by Jiang Qing, and in facilitating the rehabilitation of the reformist Deng Xiaoping.


More scenary...

In MeiZhou, we went to listen to the Hakka Shan Ge (客家山歌), which were traditional songs of the Hakka people, who used to live among the mountains. We had live 'concert' from those old ladies and uncles who sang spontaneously while clipping away on the bamboo sticks.

How the culture of Hakka Shan Ge was formed? In Hakka villages, due to shortage of manpower, the females had to work in the fields just like the males, unlike the traditional belief of 男子事于外，女子事于内. Long working hours in the fields among the mountains had led to the communication of their feelings via songs spontaneously.


Finally we arrived at the most significant part of the tour, the most representative icon of the Hakka culture, the earth buildings (土楼). Located in the XiaYang (下洋)town of YongDing (永定) county in the FuJian (福建)Province, it consists of 5 round 土楼 and 31 square 土楼. Most of these buildings are still occupied by the locals, only one, the JiQing Building (集庆楼) is being converted into a museum for visitors.

Each 土楼 has its own name, all ending with the 'Qing' (庆). Each 土楼 is like a little community of the same family. The buildings have very unique features. In the JiQing Building, we saw there are 72 staircases, it means "72 行, 行行出状元". The rational layout and design adopt the traditional Chinese practice of Feng Shui (geomancy). Every building has to be face north, back south. Only square wooden pillars are used in the building, because the round pillars make it easy for snakes to curl and slide around, while the square ones prevent so. Amazingly, without a single iron nail, the building can withstand all kinds of bad weather for about 600 years, together with the earthen wall which is 2m thick. Therefore, it is reputated with a high historical, scientific and artistic value from the World Culture Heritage List.

I was very impressed...


Traditional way of removing the unwanted particles from the rice grain. Still in use...


Lovely sunset...

During the last few days, we ran into oil shortage! Long queues everywhere for oil. In fact, there was no supply at all, and we were turned away from every petrol station. When there was, there was long queue and oil was rationed. Quite a scare...


Xin Feng Jiang Hydropower Station, the biggest hydropower station in GuangDong, built across the Xin Feng Jiang. The water here is sold to Hong Kong for consumption. This is also the place where the dino remains was first discovered.


Our next destination was HuiZhou. There are 36 West Lakes (西湖) in China, and HuiZhou has one of the 西湖. HuiZhou is also famous for selling meicai (梅菜).


Our last stop was in ShenZhen. We went to the famous 大芬油画村, Da Fen Oil Painting Village. This is the place where art students, artists are hired for their creation and production of oil paintings, which are then exported to other parts of China and to overseas. There are about 700 galleries and over 5000 artists, producing original and reproduction paintings, including traditional Chinese paintings, calligraphy works, sculptures etc.


In ShenZhen, there are lots of high scrapers, loads of people, cheap shopping, well-designed road plans, clean and green environment, and all these are accomplished in just 10 years period. You can literally feel the pace of change and the presence of opportunities everywhere in ShenZhen.

Some days I will be back in China again!