seto village. kaiping. china. october 26-30. 2008

the village.
a little bit of history:

as i think back to growing up as a kid in ottawa; aside from playing hockey and skating on the canal of course, i can distinctly remember my grandmother telling us stories of 'the village' back in china, where she and my father lived. the little place she always called home. a place i think she longed to see again and where many of her close friends always were. now, decades later, the house in the village is still ours, but the stories have faded in my memory. i remember snippets about a river where clothes were washed, a chicken house, huge gardens, a collapsed roof, my young father, my young aunt, friends across the way who i did not know, war time, weather, rough terrain, hard times, long long walks to a near by city and other little dabbles along the way, that to this day, still paint a vivid picture in my mind of a little house, in the village in china, where my grandmother and father once lived.

over time, we, the 5 young seto siblings, began to piece together little bits of information from our parents and grandmother about this 'village' we heard so much about, but really knew so little about. first we found out it was in 'toisan' (now properly known as 'taishan'), because that was the dialect of chinese we spoke at home, toisanese (a dialect of cantonese). then we discovered the village was in 'canton' province, near 'canton' city (now properly known as 'guangdong' province and 'guangzhou' city respectively). ah ha! its in southern china, not too far from hong kong! slowly, we are able to pinpoint an approximate position on a map of this elusive village (about a centimetre away from canton, which depending on the scale of the map could be 5 miles or 500 miles!). satisfied with those coordinates for many years to follow, the little seto kids went on to becoming crazy teenagers and growing up as canadian as possible. not ever forgetting our culture, but always looking ahead at where we can go from here.

as more time moved on, the seto kids grew up and became adults (figuratively speaking, as some people might disagree:) a few of us got married, a few had kids, and some of us retained or renewed our interest into this elusive village. to me, at that stage in my life, i had realized the importance of knowing where you come from in order to help you move forward. more work to be done. the centimetre dwindled to about 7/8th of a cm, then 3/4s until we eventually got it down to about 1/2 a cm. we were getting closer. we were somewhere between 2.5 to 250 miles!!

by this point, i think we all believed that judy; the youngest of the seto kids, had known exactly where the village was for longest time (since she was maybe about 6), but was secretly keeping it from us! we think she may have been asking granny in private all these great, intellectual questions about the village, then she'd bring out her secret notebook and scribble something down and hide it from us until she knew for sure she was ready to reveal her findings to us in some grand fashion, but we have no real proof of any of that unless she fesses up to it. ...well??? so, being the youngest and obviously the most courageous of the seto clan, she decided she would set off on her own to find our 'village' (well, not completely on her own, she went with a 'friend' who happened to be a 'boy'... ) anyways, she left on her long exhausting journey to the motherland in search of 'toisan', somewhere in 'guangdong' province, near 'guangzhou' city. to be honest, i was a little worried for our sis. not that she couldn't make it to china and back safely, but a 2.5 to 250 mile radius is a whole lot of space to go searching through by herself. i hope she brought a few pair of extra shoes. as the days grew on, we hadn't heard from her. we believed she had been walking somewhere in guangzhou area pointing to her little secret book, showing detailed drawings of village alley ways, door handles, chickens and riverbeds, asking for directions based on her neatly hand written chinese notes. then, we got the phone call we'd been waiting for, "dad! i'm at the village with your friends. we're hanging out, chilling, drinking tea and eating rice!!" we were all so excited to hear from her. was she really there? was it the right village? did my dad actually talk to someone he knew 40 some years ago and still recognize their voice? hmmmm? so many unanswered questions. we needed more proof. we waited and waited until judy and her 'boy' 'friend' finally decided to come home and rejoin us in canada and share with us her proof that she had indeed been to 'the village'. looking through hundreds of really nice photos, come on hurry up already! we finally came across one of the village, and yes, my dad recognizes it and confirms to us that it is indeed our home in the village, somewhere near guangzhou, in guangdong province! we are so elated and happy that judy was successful in her quest to find 'our house in the village'. hurray!!

note: the actual 'events' that occurred in of the above post are true. the story does incorporate ideas that were always in my head growing up, with maybe a few new embellishments to make it a little more fun. i had never actually pricked a pin on a map, but had always looked and figured it was somewhere around 'there'. as for judy's little secret note book? when she shows it to us, i'll be the first to tell you that we were right!!



fast forward... october 26-30. 2008

today. our journey to the village.
the story continues...

my posts have become rather long. unfortunately, this is the only way i can currently express myself in order to give a sense of how i feel along this incredibly fascinating and inspiring journey. its my diary, the smallest, detailed observations are what help me create visual memories in my head. something to look back to. i know to some, there is not enough time in the day to spend reading these long posts. the pictures will have to do, but i hope that some of you will find these posts somewhat interesting to read.

i think somewhere deep inside; since i was quite young, i was hoping to have the opportunity to visit the village with my grandmother before she passed away. sadly, that opportunity passed in early 2004 and she left us all with a deep legacy that i feel honoured to carry with me always. since her passing, i have thought often of making the journey to our village. my parents finally went back for a visit; accompanied by judy and a dear family friend, in 2006. their first return visit since my dad and grandmother left 50 years earlier. now, it is finally my time to make the journey to our village.

almost 40 years. now china. now the village

before we left, i had gathered some more thorough information from my dad. i now know that the village is called 'leng kun chong' and it is located within 'kaiping' city/county, and not 'taishan' like i had originally thought. i still didn't really know how to get there and where exactly it was? so, as our journey began to unfold in japan, mid august, i was somehow miraculously going to find the rest of the information along the way. eventually by the time we made it to china in october, i would know how to find the village. well, as you can guess, we didn't find judys' secret notebook hidden anywhere in a zen garden in japan and we didn't hear any traditional japanese folk songs or taiko songs about chinese villages where the seto's lived (although there may actually be some). BUT! we did find something even better... judy herself!!! yes, fresh off her 7 weeks traveling through india, she was on her way back to chengdu (her home for the past year), passing right through hong kong at the exact time we were going to be there. we are so exited to see her! then shortly, after a few bribes... like a place to stay in HK, a home cooked veggie meal and a few beers, she was ours! all the way to the village. yes! we are extremely happy to be going to the village with judy. an opportunity to spend some quality time together and also because we didn't really know the way ;) btw, i found out afterwards that there is actually a kaiping entry in the lonely planet guide. doh! the watch towers (diaolou) are unique to the area and have become quite the tourist attraction, although all the locals don't quite understand why people want to come and see all these broken, run down and now useless structures.

a train from HK gets us to guangzhou city, the capital of guangdong province (see separate guangzhou post for our time there), then a bus ride to kaiping city, where 'yi gu' (auntie) lives. she is a close family friend; who, along with her brother use to live in our village house with my grandmother, father and aunt. we are excitedly greeted by a small entourage and led to her apartment, where the 3 of us will be staying for the next 4-5 days. its luckily right next to the train station! we meet chu and dong (yi gu's nephews) and their wives and children, then we meet jiang bak; a spirited, gentle man, another close family friend from the village, who now also lives in kaiping city. laurel, the object of many long stares and glances of curiosity, admiration, wonder or lust... who really knows for sure? brought to my attention that she definitely looked unique to kaiping, although i don't think she ever felt out of place there. she takes its all in stride and is warmly welcomed by our hosts. i am happy for her to be here too. she has been an important part of this journey for the past 22 years. there is still so much to take in, its a little overwhelming. i'm just glad judy is with us, to make sense of it all.

preparations are already in place. we're heading to the village tomorrow after an 8:00am dim sum breakfast. yikes!! i'm getting excited and a little nervous. the next day comes and we are woken up way too early (yes, in the morning. can you believe that?). we manage to drag ourselves to dim sum a short walk away. there we meet jiang baks' daughter and her husband, who will also be our driver for the day to the village. dim sum is definitely not very vegan friendly. we manage to get a few plain steam buns for laurel to eat. depart for the village shortly after breakfast. what was once a long and rough trek, barely accessible from the city by bike (so says my father), is now a short 20 minute drive from kaiping city along a paved road passing right by the village.

we arrive. it appears quiet. the village looks old. aged and weathered with time. a little battered, but definitely not broken. its lively inside. i can sense it as we are guided towards our house. curiosity amongst the residents stir. faces peek out though open doorways, from behind narrow alleys and secret gardens. a whisper spills out into the air. village dogs greet us with over protective barks of loyalty to their owners. who are these strangers amongst the familiar faces? the village is not too much different than i had imagined, although the river along the front of the village is dirty, polluted with garbage and waste. i don't imagine it would be a wise place to wash your clothes anymore, but i can' t say for sure. painted doorways colour the narrow grey alleys as we walk between rows of closely built stone and brick homes. i feel something special being here.





we reach our house and are greeted by chu and dong, and their parents, who, up until 5 years ago had been living in our family home, taking care of it. watching over it. we are immediately invited inside. i can sense the history here. its so nice to finally be here, in our family home in the village. the old stories become a little more vivid. remembering. the house is quite run down now. the brick walls will need a little bit of encouragement to stay vertical for much longer. it was suggested by yi gu that we should rebuild the family house. hmmm, maybe a project i could consider in the near future?





inside, we are given a tour of our house. the cooking area, the eating and sleeping areas and the chicken house. its a little dark, except for where the sunlight pours in through the various 'openings' in the roof. stories begin to surface. jiang bak directs my attention. look up there (a dusty, cluttered storage platform overhead). thats where your father and grandmother hid from the japanese during WWII. he then points to the entranceway. over there, they wedged a chair against the door. it prevented the japanese from entering the house, it most likely saved their lives. i stand thinking how that instant would have changed everything. yi gu, shows us the room where she and my aunt use to sleep and play. i hear bits and pieces of other stories being shared amongst the others. judy's laughter often filling the room. over here, this is the space on the wall where we use to have pictures of your family that your dad sent to us. your dad took them with him when they visited, leaving the wall bare. i learn that chu and dong grew up in this house, before moving into the city over a decade a go. the chicken house is still there, and yes, the collapsed roof is still not repaired some 50 plus years later, but it is still home to many happy egg laying hens! i have so many questions, but for the time being, just soak up the atmosphere of being there.








we are invited over to chu and dong's parents house. they have since built a massive 3 storey house across the alley way. there is a feast being prepared for lunch. time to explore the village and surroundings. more narrow alleys. curious residents asking questions about the strangers. some remember my family. some maybe not. more dogs to be aware of. drying rice. drying clothes. the old village school, long closed down. loud majong games in the village centre. a man who claims his grandfather or father and my grandfather were good friends. an incredible banyan tree. the village diaolou. fields of rice and vegetable gardens. open fields. other distant villages. there are about 60 houses in the village, some of them, long ago abandoned. overwhelmed by nature, time and gravity and long forgotten. ours may soon risk the same fate. i hope not.







the rest of our day was spent listening to stories, eating food, drinking beer and visiting the 'seto' clan diaolou farther along the river. the diaolou, an all too sad reminder of the horrific repercussions of war and hate. i will spare you the story.




the next few days in kaiping included another trip to the village, an unscheduled gathering of old friends in the house to reminisce. many food outings. late night internet runs. vegan steam buns. adorable children. a mountain hike. a park. another park. a goodbye to judy, who left a day before us to go back to chengdu and get a few things sorted out before we arrive there, see you again really soon. a visit to my fathers old school in the city. a tour of the city and subsequent ride through a crowded night market on the back of motorbikes. drinking beer. keeping yi gu up well past her bed time. morning walk along the river. river boats. a visit to chikan (the tv/movie studio town). and finally, a sad goodbye to our new friends. thank you for your generous hospitality. we will be back again.










the respect that we were all given just being there, speaks volumes about the lasting impact that my grandmother, father and family had made on that community in 'leng kun chong' many years ago, one that continues to this day.

one final note. 'kaiping' is about 140 km from 'guangzhou'. exactly where we thought is was when we were kids!! ;)