Week 1: 5.15-5.21 in Sze Yap Area
— the cradle of Chinese Migration
In the first week of the program, between May 15 to May 21, we spent time in Guangdong province of China, to explore and discover more about the histories and stories of overseas Chinese who are originally from the area of Sze Yap 四邑. I did not know or hear anything about this area Sze Yap 四邑 before until I came here. But now I knew Sze Yap 四邑 is an essential district for overseas Chinese, it is the hometown for overseas Chinese, which include four major counties Hoiping 開平, Toishan 台山, Yanping 恩平, and Sunwui 新會. I was only heard about Toishan 台山 from my geography teacher before, because he is from Toishan 台山 and he said it is common that the entire village people would migrate abroad such as North American in Toishan 台山.
I was astonished that there is a large proportion of overseas Chinese are originally from Sze Yap 四邑. And they also made great contributions in many aspects, particularly in developing China. I was so glad to meet new friends from Wuyi University 五邑大學 in the first day in Jiangmen 江門. Because I got a great opportunity to take courses outside UBC and experience the Asian university life for two days. It was quite different from studying in UBC, because we won’t have class from each department so they don’t have exactly classmates like students in Wuyi University 五邑大學.
Photo: East Gate of Wuyi University 五邑大學
Selia, a professor from Wuyi University 五邑大學, had told me a research by the Chinese University of Hong Kong examines that the Cantonese Language will disappear in around hundred years. I was so shocked because I never think about Cantonese will become extinct but it is the fact. It seems like both Cantonese and Mandarin exist for a long long time. However, now in Mainland China, even in Guangdong province, more and more people especially young people prefer to speak Mandarin rather than Cantonese. It is because, under the policy of the Chinese government, Mandarin is the only official language. I heard from one of my friends from Guangzhou 廣州 said that everyone in school must speak Mandarin; if not, they will get punishment when they speak Cantonese. It is cruel but it is true. It makes me feel upset because it seems like the heritage we inherited from the ancestor such as Cantonese language, it may fail to be handed down from past generations to our next generation. As such, the local government should pay more attention to protect the local cultural products such as regional languages and unique handcraft.
Photo: Cangdong Village 倉東村 in Hoiping 開平
In the field trip, we had also visit museums, temples, rural villages, and local well-known schools in Toishan台山 and Hoiping 開平. I knew about the history of overseas Chinese in the museum of Jiangmen. It shows why the overseas Chinese in Sze Yap 四邑/Ng Yap 五邑(which include five counties Hoiping 開平, Toishan 台山, Yanping 恩平, Sunwui 新會, and Hokshan 鶴山 in nowadays) left their hometown and migrate abroad in nineteen century and how they left. It made me surprised that most of the overseas Chinese used to work as indentured ticket labours in North America, they had participated in the fields of gold mining, farming, fishery, orchards, and even the construction of railroads as well. However, due to the increasing competition of employment between White and Chinese, more and more countries such as United States, Canada, Australia have implemented the law to restrict the entry of Chinese labours in the late nineteen century. Hence, to fight for the Chinese Exclusion Act, the overseas Chinese strove in their adopted countries and built Chinatowns to live together, they had formed numerous community organizations and founded their own newspapers and schools in their adopted countries.
Additionally, I appreciate the overseas Chinese of whom back to their original villages and try their best to rebuild their hometown. I enjoy exploring the particular architecture Diaolou 碉樓 in Hoiping. Diaolou 碉樓 looks like used for the defensive purpose in the rural villages. I believe Diaolou 碉樓 are scattered in Hoiping 開平 everywhere because I found these tower architecture in many places in Hoiping 開平. Most of the Diaolou 碉樓 were built with stones and implied the local vernacular architectural styles. I was so glad to visit amazing Diaolou 碉樓 in Zili village 自力村 of Hoiping. As such, I believe the furnishing style of the Diaolou 碉樓 symbolizes the overseas Chinese’s wishes that their hometown or even the whole country can achieve rapid development like in the Western countries.
Photo: Diaolou 碉樓 in Zili village 自力村
Photo: Diaolou 碉樓 in Zili village 自力村
Photo: Group photo in the Mingshilou Tower 銘石樓 in Zili village 自力村
However, from my point of view, I believe it is not every overseas Chinese will back to their hometown. Some of them might not back to China again due to the financial matter, but some of them may think their hometown are dirty, poor, and unsafe, so they are not willing to come back.
Furthermore, I found it was interesting that most of the clans were from one particular family name, they lived together and set up villages in Ng Yap 五邑 such as the first village Liangxi 良溪 we visited, it is an old rural village in which composed of a family name of Law 羅. It quite a special custom from traditional Chinese culture that the clan always controls the generation of the region, and the first son supposed to inherit his own family business. Nevertheless, the culture of China is quite different from Western, because parents in Western families seldom ask their sons to take over their property.
Photo: Liangxi 良溪 Village
Photo: Law Ancestral Hall in Liangxi 良溪 Village