2015 Dec 28 - 2016 Jan 1: "China: Finding Our Roots (1) 寻根之旅 (1)" - 广东省梅县市大埔县湖寮镇双坑村

My father was standing at the top row, 2nd from the left. Granny was at middle row, 3rd from the left. The below photograph is my grandfather.

It took me almost two years to gather the historical facts and leads from Internet, Google Map and word-of-mouth narrations from my relatives.

This trip involved my parents and myself. And this was our first exploratory trip to find our roots, the relatives of my grandfather, to visit the actual places in China where he came from, and hopefully to be able to add in the Ho Family Tree in Malaysia and Singapore into the main Ho ancestral book 何家族谱.

Nothing was certain at this point.

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Day 1

香港 -> 梅县市

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We took a flight from Singapore to Hong Kong, spent two nights there, and took another direct flight to MeiXian 梅县 (in Guangdong 广东省 province)

It was a small plane.

The flight was only 1 hour.

We landed at Meixian Airport 梅县机场 in the afternoon.

After immigration and customs clearance, we chartered a private car to bring us to 大埔县、湖寮镇

The drive was close to slightly over 1 hour and thanks to the newly-opened highway, which was quite devoid of other cars at that time. Otherwise we might have to travel through the mountain roads that would take more than 2 hours.

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Day 1

梅县市 -> 大埔县湖寮镇

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By the time we arrived at 湖寮镇, it was already sunset.

We checked into the the hotel 金帆大酒店.

We also asked the staff at the front desk to recommend to us a trusted driver whom we could hire on daily basis to bring us to the places of interest. They found one for us and he would come to pick us up the next morning. Some local 客家 dishes which we ate during dinner.

清炒油麦菜

梅菜扣肉

猪大肠猪红炒苦瓜

酿豆腐

After dinner, we took a stroll to the retail shops outside the hotel.

And came back to the hotel to rest for the night.

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Day 2

湖寮镇

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Rise and shine! We had simple breakfast at the hotel restaurant, consisting plain porridge, fried eggs, fried vegetables with meat. Thereafter the driver came to pick us up and our first stop was grandpa's ancestral home.

The car set off travelling out of 湖寮镇 towards SW direction and after a 20 min ride, we arrived at the village.

This was the outer gate to the village. 崧里亭was the old name of the village and it had since been renamed to 双坑村

We knew no one from this place and we needed to ask someone for directions. Hence, we randomly picked a house and asked the owner for direction.

The owner was very helpful and offered to bring us to meet the other elders at a nearby location.

We came to this school in the middle of the village and wanted to visit the elder who was in charge of the ancestral book upkeep. However he was not in.

The earlier house owner then led us to another elder's house.

Inside the house, they served us hot tea and offered us a copy of their ancestral book for reference. We were scouring through the book to find clue for my granddad's existence but to no avail. 何娘来 was my granddad's name.

The villagers were very helpful, that was because there were usually not too many foreign visitors and they announced our arrival to everyone. A lady came in and she said that an old woman under her care might have some clue. Hence we followed her to another house.

She was a 97 year old woman and she remembered a young boy by that name when she was in her teens. And they played together and she called him 娘来哥. Thus this was big clue and it turned out that she could be the wife to one of my granddad's siblings.

She could not hear very well so my dad needed to increase the volume of his voice when speaking with her.

We bade farewell to the old woman and the caretaker brought us to an old house that belonged to my granddad's family; the ancestral home.

No one was living in this house.

The ancestral altar seemed segregated and no ones knew what happened to the ancestral tablets. Nobody maintained this place.

We went out of the house and asked the people who lived next door of more clues

Dilapidated and abandoned houses next to the ancestral home.

We bade farewell and thanked everyone for their help. At least we secured a major clue and the closest kin in this village was the old woman. We strolled leisurely in the village.

This was how they dry their vegetables to make 梅菜

We got back to the car and the driver drove us out to the main road. There was this Dabu Museum so we decided to stop for a visit.

Inside the museum, there were many exhibits pertaining to the history of this place and and culture of the local people.

We are 客家人 and the display above showed the various migration patterns during the warring years many centuries ago.

Miniature display of a typical house of the Hakka people 客家围屋/土楼

Hakka cuisine 客家美食

Chinese tea is also a major export from this region.

Dried preserved vegetables 梅菜 is another major export as well.

Potteries and porcelain ware are famous exports as well.

Miniature models of the different designs of 客家土楼

Driven by poverty, these statues of laborers depicted the hardship of our granddad and others who were forced to go to South East Asia to work as laborers. They worked hard to earn the money in foreign lands and send the money back home to their families.

Next we went to visit a well-preserved 土楼 in 湖寮镇, meant for tourists. It is called 泰安楼

Located in Longgang Village, Huxiao Town, Dabu County , Guangdong Province , Tai'an Building was built in the Twenty-eight Years of Emperor Qianlong (AD 1764) of Qing Dynasty and has a history of 247 years. It is a rare stone building in China and a provincial Cultural relics protection units. Covers a total area of ​​6684 square meters. Including the main building covers an area of ​​2577 square meters, covers an area of ​​2764 square meters on both sides, door Ping and flower covers an area of ​​1325 square meters, a total of 200 rooms. For the provincial cultural relics protection units. At the end of 2000, Guo Xun, director of the Cultural Relics Protection Department of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage and the secretary general of China International Council for the Study of Monuments and Sites, came to this building for inspection and considered the building as a "historical and cultural museum" for studying ancient Chinese dwelling houses and Hakka history, culture and folk customs. Tai'an Building, as a cultural relic protection unit in Guangdong Province, declared the World Cultural Heritage with the Calyst House, another famous Hakka Wai building in 2000 in the county.

Next we drove the car westwards along Meitan River 梅潭 to a 3-river intersection (梅潭河，汉江，汀江）. This was one of the major historical battle site during the Chinese Civil War. We stopped at the Sanhe Dam Battle Memorial Park (八一起义军三河坝纪念馆）.

"August 1" Rebellion Sanheba Campaign Memorial Park is located at the top of Zhizhitou, Huidong Village, Sanhe Town, covering an area of ​​180,000 square meters. It is a national memorial hall for the protection of key martyrs, a cultural relics protection unit in Guangdong Province, Meizhou City, and Tai Po County patriotism education base, there are "August" rebel army battle monument of the Battle of Sanheba, "August 1" rebel army Memorial Battle of Sanheba, Zhu De sculpture, relief walls, gatehouses, promenades, flower racks, pavilions and so on.

Statue of Zhu De 朱德 General, one of the pioneer Generals who led one of the Communist Army Divisions, fleeing the hot pursuit by the Nationalist Army during the Nanchang Uprising.

View of the river banks. The war was fought along the banks and also this very site.

Next, we drove to the western side of the river bank to a place called Sanhe Town 三河城

Sanhe Town belongs to Dabu County, Meizhou City, Guangdong Province, and is located in the western part of Dabu County. It is named after the intersections of Meijiang River, Ting River and Meitan River . The town covers an area of ​​150.2 square kilometers, under the jurisdiction of 12 village committees, a community neighborhood committees, with a total population of 20532 people.

View of the Meitan River 梅潭河

The final destination of the day was to visit 父子进士”牌坊 at Chayang Town 茶阳市

父子进士”牌坊

The "Father-Son Scholars" Archway , also known as the "Archon World" Archway , is located at the gate of Tai Po Middle School， Chayang Town.

"Father and son Jin Shi" arch was built in the Ming Dynasty Wanli thirty-eight years (1610), to commemorate the Rao Xiang (Jiangxi by the Chancellor) and his son Rao (book servant) with the construction of the Jinshi.Archway built using granite, 12.5 meters high, 4.65 meters wide, four columns and eight columns tied for four rows, was "four columns and three" type, with three eaves. Beware of horizontal plaque, positive and negative were carved "father and son Jinshi" and "Spandex World" words. Other parts of the arch decorated with "Double Dragon", "Ssangyong play beads", "Dragons title title", "Double Lion Ball" and other designs.

"Father and son Jin Shih" Square on the west side of the "Tianzubaojiao filial piety" and a nameless archway one

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Day 3

湖寮镇， 福建省永定

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We settled breakfast at the hotel and set off to cross into Fujian province to Yongding.

Our main destination there was to visit the UNESCO Yongding Tulou 永定土楼

Yongding Tulou is located in Yongding District , Longyan City, Fujian Province, on the southeast coast of China. The oldest is Fuxin Building, which is located in Xiazhai Village, Hu Lei Town. It is the earliest earthen building in Fujian. Built in the year 769 AD, it has a history of more than 1,200 years and is one of the oldest in Fujian Tulou Group.

Yongding Earth Tower in different poses and with different expressions, a wide range of sub-floor round two floor system.Yongding is known as a Chinese Hakka Tulou Museum with no doors. Among the many earthen buildings, the most representative ones are the Five Fong Building, the large square building and the round building.

July 2008, successfully included in the World Heritage List.

We came across a house holding a wedding celebration with firecrackers being set off.

We left Yongding and drove back to Dabu.

We visited the Lee Kuan Yew Memorial Museum and also his ancestral home.

Building a celebrity cultural tourism zone in Dapu County, Meizhou City, Guangdong Province, the ancestral home of Lee Kuan Yew, the founding Prime Minister of Singapore, should be built into a 4A-level tourist attraction, spending 40 million yuan (RMB, similarly hereinafter, 8.39 million Singapore dollars).

Li Guangyao ancestral home scenic area covers an area of ​​about 1,200 acres (800,000 square meters). According to this newspaper, Meizhou City and Dapu County Government will be listed as a key project by the Gaocheng town government is responsible for the implementation.

The project was originally built according to China's national AAAA tourism scenic spot standard and has been upgraded to 4A level (5A highest level) to play a celebrity role to promote tourism.

Source：Singapore Lianhe Zaobao

李光耀祖居，中翰第

李光耀祖居，中翰第

Next we visited the Tian Jia Bing ancestral home 田家炳老故乡

Dr. Tin Ka Ping 田家炳 is a philanthropist and founder of Tin Ka Ping Foundation which is mainly for educational purposes. He is now the Foundation's Honorary chairman. He is an advocate of education who believes that the future of China lies in education. The projects of Tin Ka Ping Foundation aim at improving the quality of education and promoting development of the nation, which build up the vision of Dr. Tin and his family. Hong Kong, Mainland China and Taiwan have been his primary beneficiaries. Over 20 primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong, as well as 80 universities and teacher training institutions, more than 160 secondary and vocational schools, 50 primary schools and kindergartens, over 1, 300 rural libraries, 30 hospitals, and countless other educational facilities in China have been benefited by his philanthropy. Out of these 39 colleges of education in different universities and 165 secondary schools named after him.