Rachel’s Unforgettable Experience

One of the best things about living abroad are the once in a lifetime experiences; experiences we would have never dreamed that we would be having.  It’s these opportunities that carry us through the harder times, the times when we miss home.

Rachel had one of these “unforgettable experiences” when she and her 5th grade classmates went on an overnight field trip to Kaiping.  Since Rachel had to write a post in her school blog about the experience,  I thought I would reapply her entry for this post.

So please, read on to hear about an unforgettable experience, with my first ever GUEST Blogger, Rachel Starghill!

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On November 2 and 3, the whole fifth grade went on an over night field trip to Kaiping.  Kaiping is about a two hour bus ride from Guangzhou.

Day One

On the very first day when we arrived, the very first thing that we saw was Li Gardens.  Late Mr. Xie is part of the Xie clan, but his first name was Li. The garden was owned by him.  Inside Li Gardens, we learned about what a Diaolu (a watchtower) was and why it was important to have them.  We also walked down a long bridge that had stories of late Mr. Xie encounters, and how America influenced him.  Next, we went back to the hostel and got settled in.

After getting used to the space that we were staying in, and learned that the hostel used to be a watch factory, my whole class went behind the factory and saw traditional Kaiping traps and where the farmers dropped off the grain.  These places where the grain was held were very important because when the farmers didn’t have enough money, that’s what they paid with.

The final and last thing we did that day was go to a local village.  There we learned that every village has to have a watchtower (Diaolu) on either the very right or the very left.  In the village, there must be a fish pond anywhere in the village and mountains in the very back.  In the ancestral hall, we saved tangerine skins for the beauty and looked at artifacts.  We also went inside a women’s temple.

Rachel’s full class, making designs with tangerine skins

Day Two

On the second day, we went to another village called the Rong Gui Fang village.  During the walk there, we saw abandoned buildings that we soon found out were old factories and we saw a memorial for late Mr. Fang’s parents.  Once we reached the village, we saw the fish pond, and walked to a 4 story post office an talked about why we thought the post office was that size.  That conversation led us to the question: How did the men in America send back money?  We all soon found the answer;  a bank in America, would call one in Hong Kong, who in the end called and told the bank in the local area to deposit a certain amount of money.  After that, we made our way back to the hostel and made traditional Kaiping dumplings.

How I think it went overall:

Going to a place in China that wasn’t home and learning about the culture, influences, and history is phenomenal.   It was also amazing to see what these people did with the hard-earned money.  I liked going around and learning. Personally, I have learned a lot.

What I learned:

I’ve shared what I a little bit in the other sections, but this is the one place that most things I learned about will go.  The main thing that kept showing up in every place we went, was a Diaolu.  I learned that a Diaolu is a watch tower that was used to fight off intruders.  There are three types of watchtowers:

1. A regular straight tower
2. A watchtower that was built by the community and can house many families inside when there is danger.(communal watchtower)
3. And a watchtower that was only for one family. (residential watchtower)

In that experience, I also learned that once these men went to America, they came back and were some of the richest families in Kaiping.  For example, that 4 story post office I was talking about.  The best part about that was knowing that the people who became rich, helped others in their clan and community.

In the villages, I learned that there must be a Diaolu on the far left or right,  that there needs be an ancestral hall for the shrines, and that there must be a fish pond.  There were many different parts that are needed for a village in Kaiping.

My next step:

With this newly gained knowledge, my next steps would be to research more about the topic.  Looking back at it now, some questions that I feel like I should’ve asked are:

• What percentage of the money that was earned do you think is reasonable to send back to the family while still giving yourself good conditions to live in?
• How long the men usually stay in America to get all of that money?
• How did the Chinese who wanted to get the opportunities find out that America had them?
• What were the living conditions before these people traveled overseas.?
• How difficult was it to get to these places with more job opportunities?
• Did the men work at more than one job to get more money?

Because the gold rush in California and building the railroads made such a big impact on Kaiping, I want to learn more about those times.

These are the things that I learned, enjoy, love, and adore about Kaiping.  I recommend  traveling there and learning about the western influence.