Remembered Hometown Nostalgia: The Story Behind Changbai Overseas Chinese Memorial Hall - Zhejiang Overseas Chinese Association

In 1889, the second Industrial Revolution was in the ascendant, the 324-meter-high Eiffel Tower was built in Paris, France, and the electrification of London Underground came to an end.

In China, 18-year-old Emperor Guang Xu began nominally pro-government, and the westernization movement in the Qing Dynasty, which lasted for more than 20 years, still stumbled, the country was weak, the countryside was in decline, and the peasants were in hardship.

In that year, with the simple wish of having enough to eat, Wang Jian and Wang Chongqing, a poor man from Dawan Village, Changbai Island, Dinghai, boarded a free boat to Shanghai.

In the area with the most developed commodity economy in China at that time, the two men were introduced to become international seafarers of the British Jardine Shipping Company. From then on, they went out of the country to make their homes everywhere, and they also became the ancestors of overseas Chinese in Changbai.

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After 130 years of opening branches and scattered leaves, today, there are more than 1500 Changbai overseas Chinese living overseas and in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.

In the hearts of those who are far away from their native land, this thick homesickness is the ancestral halls of their ancestors, the graves of their parents, the red land and peaceful posts of their hometown, the crisp and delicious mud snails, the narrow cobblestone road, and now, there is this Changbai overseas Chinese thought Hall.

走进侨思馆

▲长白侨思馆外貌

Changbai, located in the northernmost part of Dinghai District, is composed of Changbai Island, Zhizhong Island and nine other uninhabited islands, covering an area of 12.95 square kilometers. The history of development can be traced back to nearly 800 years ago.

There are two theories about the origin of the name of Changbai Island. one is that folklore was taken by Xinguo Gongtang in the Ming Dynasty.

At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Fang Guozhen's peasant uprising army surrendered to Zhu Yuanzhang after its defeat in Dinghai Pangshi Island. Fang's subordinates Ye Xidai and Wang Zixian supported Xiushan Island and refused to take orders.

At that time, Tang and Zheng Min returned to the division passing through Zhoushan, and the two sides clashed.

When the ship passed Changbai Island on the way, I saw the long and narrow topography of the island and the exposed white stone. He casually said: the island is long and white.

The second is the explanation in the Chronicles of Dinghai County, saying that there are many salt flats on the island, which is white all the year round, so it is named Changbai.

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Either way, the implication is the same. Changbai is a desolate and barren place in history.

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At the end of February 2019, the reporter came to the Changbai Qianwan Community in Changbai Island.

As the common spiritual home of overseas Chinese in Changbai, with its back against Xiaolongshan and facing the rice fields, it is a good place to see the mountains, see the water, and remember to live in homesickness.

Enter the gate is a small courtyard, in front of a green brick powder wall Daiwa hard hilltop residence.

Due to the limited area of the house, at present, only more than 60 square meters are used for exhibition in the museum, but this is the best result for the Changbai office in Xiaosha street.

The house is the private property provided by Fu Yueyun, a local overseas Chinese, free of charge, and the funds are jointly raised by Xiaosha Street, Changbai Office, and overseas Chinese. The departments of the federation of overseas Chinese at the municipal and district levels and enthusiastic people in Changbai who are concerned about overseas Chinese affairs rush to tell each other, providing a lot of valuable information.

It is because of the unity of one mind that today we gather sand as a tower.

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On that day, the exhibition board and wall in the Qiaosi Hall was in the final stage. According to Fu Yueding, the former deputy head of Changbai Township, who has been in charge of overseas Chinese affairs for a long time, and one of the main organizers of the overseas Chinese Museum, the original house was relatively old. It was renovated after being rebuilt into the overseas Chinese Museum, and the eaves of the outer wall were newly built.

The contents on display in the museum are mainly divided into five parts: the situation of overseas Chinese in Changbai, the pursuit of dreams overseas, the elegant demeanor of the overseas Chinese community, the affection of Sangzi and the light of the hometown of overseas Chinese, systematically summing up the history of the suffering and migration of overseas Chinese in Changbai, the history of love and daring to win, the history of mutual assistance and the history of contribution to return Sangzi.

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Before and after this interview, the reporter collected historical materials about overseas Chinese in Changbai, whether publicly reported by local media, records in the Annals of Dinghai County, as well as online information, and found that the materials were extremely scarce. the only one-volume material is the History of overseas Chinese in Changbai compiled by the Changbai township government in 2001. The Chinese part is only more than 50 pages. The reason is that the overseas Chinese in Changbai are from the grass roots, lack of congenital education and lack of acquired experience.

There is no emergence of famous businessmen, let alone political stars, expert academicians, without the halo of the spotlight and the attention of the media.

But if you break through the fog of history, you will find that generations of overseas Chinese grow tenaciously and wither silently, just like our neighbors and fellow villagers.

Inspirational stories cannot be copied

Changbai is congenitally deficient in farming society. The land here is red soil and more saline-alkali land. It can only grow some miscellaneous grains such as sweet potatoes, and the yield per mu of favorable weather is no more than 200 kilograms.

The traffic on the isolated island is blocked, and it is not the center of the fishing ground, which lacks the basis for commercial prosperity.

For generations, they either basked in salt on the beach to pick up snail shells, or went fishing in the sea.

Ordinary people live in thatched huts and wear rags, leading a miserable life.

▲由王崇清故居改建而成的王崇清纪念堂

A few years later, the story of Wang Jian and Wang Chongqing came back to Changbai, causing ripples to the stagnant island, and young people who could not see hope began to look forward to the outside world.

In 1914, Wang Jianfen, Wang Jianmei, Wang Jinwan and others from the same village went south to Hong Kong to become seafarers. In 1920, under the leadership of Wang Chongqing, who had already made a name for himself, Wang Linzuo, Wang Chongyuan, Wang Jianliang and others from the same village went to work on an English ship in Shanghai.

From then on until 1942, Changbai people helped their relatives, neighbors, and the number of seafarers exceeded 200, which was the first peak period for the formation of overseas Chinese in Changbai, who formed the main body of the first generation of overseas Chinese in Changbai.

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In the transportation system at that time, shipping was dominant, and the rapid development of international trade needed a large number of seafarers, which was the environment for the birth of Changbai seafarers.

According to Changbai History of overseas Chinese, among these people, China China Shipping Company (Sanbei, Fuxing, Yangtze River, Shanghai Merchants, etc.) accounts for 20%, and British Shipping Company (Swire, Jardine) accounts for 80%.

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The second peak of the formation of overseas Chinese in Changbai was from the 1950s to the 1990s, which can be divided into two stages: the 1950s to the late 1970s and the 1980s to the late 1990s.

In the first stage, more than 80 people settled in the United States and Hong Kong, while in the second stage, there were more than 130 people in the United States and Australia.

Unlike the first time as a collective seafarer, this time it is basically an immigrant.

After the first and second generations experienced the flames of World War II, on the one hand, they grew older, and most of them abandoned their ships and landed to find another way to make a living. after working hard for many years, they became stable and took their blood relatives from their hometown to settle in a foreign country.

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Wang Chongqing was only 14 years old when he first arrived in Shanghai. he worked as a seaman in Jardine for 28 years. He started as a sailor and chef, and later rose to the head of Hesheng.

He is diligent and self-disciplined and has mastered fluent spoken and written English by self-study. In 1916, the 42-year-old Wang Chongqing ushered in a great opportunity in life.

On that day, when there was no sailing mission, he sat idle in Shanghai and accidentally found a black briefcase.

Knowing that the owner was anxious, the kind-hearted Wang Chongqing sat in place and waited.

He waited until the evening, and his stomach was growling with hunger, and the owner came in a hurry. He was a blonde English gentleman.

As soon as he took the briefcase and looked at it, everything in it remained untouched. He immediately paid homage to this virtuous Chinese heart and asked him his name, place of origin and occupation.

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There is no way to test the information of this British gentleman today, and it is estimated that he is a senior or important partner of Jardine Foreign Company, because before long, Wang Chongqing was hired by the Yan League Association of the Foreign Company as the manager, responsible for the employment, welfare and personnel dispatch of seafarers in the whole bank.

Until he retired in 1939.

After his promotion, Wang Chongqing was eager to thread a needle for his hometown, and a large number of white people, including Zhoushan people from the outer islands, defected to Yile to become seafarers.

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Wang Chongqing died in 1943. Now, in memory of him, his grandson Wang Rulong turned his two ancestral houses into memorial halls in 2005.

On that day, the reporter saw that the outdoor eaves were hung with black gold plaques, and the indoor furnishings were very simple. On a long table was a portrait of Wang Chongqing in a long robe and mandarin coat and an incense burner.

His great-great-grandson Wang Hongwei received us warmly, saying that descendants often come here to worship their ancestors. He took out a notebook with the signatures of the offspring sacrificed in recent years. Last year, he came from Shanghai and Taiyuan as far away as New York.

The bitter past is too numerous to mention

There are inspirational stories, but more of the bitter past.

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At that time, ships were powered by steam, with small tonnage and backward facilities. Changbai seafarers did not know a foreign language and had weak learning ability, so they could only engage in the hardest and most tiring jobs, such as burning boilers, and were bullied by foreign senior sailors.

Yu Xiaofu in Yujia Village and a crew member surnamed Liu in Dawan Village, who could not stand the burning of a long-term fire, had a nervous breakdown and jumped into the sea while passing through the Red Sea.

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World War II was a nightmare for seafarers in Changbai.

The two groups of anti-fascist allies and fascist axis powers fought fiercely, and the sea was one of the main battlefields.

The merchant ships of Changbai seafarers belonged to the Allied Group, the peaceful merchant ships were frequently attacked by the Axis powers, suffered heavy losses, and the world shipping industry basically came to a standstill.

At that time, more than 130 seafarers in Changbai lived overseas and it was difficult to return home, and a considerable number of them were unemployed and wandered in Calcutta, India, and later joined the Chinese printing task force.

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Rather a peaceful dog than a troubled man, Yu Pengnian in Yujia Village, Yuan Renxian in Dawan Village, Deng Songlin in Baima Village, Teng Baoyou in Chimen Village and others risked their lives to get off the ship, but the ship was sunk by torpedo. more than 20 surviving seafarers swam to an unknown island and lived a primitive life of 72 days before they were lucky to be rescued to India by British reconnaissance planes.

Some seafarers fled to England with the ship because of the sinking of Singapore and Rangoon, where they were torpedoed on the way, six people were buried in the belly of the fish, and the rest narrowly escaped death to London.

According to Wang Zaixing, a seaman from Dawan Village, when his British Yuri Laux ship encountered machine gun fire from a German warship that year, 35 people were killed and the surviving seafarers jumped into the sea to escape. Fan Deyi and Fan Shanqing of Fan Jia Village, who were on the same ship, were rescued by British ships. Wang Zaixing released a lifeboat to escape and was captured by the Germans and was locked up in a German concentration camp for four years.

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After the disaster of World War II, the vast majority of Changbai seafarers regarded going under the sea as a fear of the way, on the other hand, they are getting older, so that the history of Changbai seafarers has basically come to an end.

Instead, they choose to settle on shore, marry and have children and find other jobs, mainly in New York and Hong Kong.

Some seafarers choose to return to Changbai to settle down.

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The overall level of education of overseas Chinese in Changbai in the early days was relatively low.

According to Changbai History of overseas Chinese, of the 180 people who went out from 1910 to 1978, 55% were illiterate, 38% had primary school education, and only 7% had higher education, which made it difficult for them to make a living later.

Most of the overseas Chinese in Britain, Singapore and Australia are engaged in business, mostly in clothing and trading, while in the United States, most of them are engaged in catering and clothing.

Among the new immigrants after the founding of New China, most of the men are engaged in the catering industry, the majority of women are car and clothing workers, and the economic level belongs to the lower-middle level in the locality.

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But the Chinese tradition of attaching importance to education has given them hope in future generations.

After their personal life was stable, they devoted a lot of painstaking efforts to their children's education, lived frugally and provided for their studies, which was rewarded.

The second and third generation of academic qualifications are generally above bachelor's degree, and there are doctoral and master's degree students, and family life is gradually moving towards a well-off society.

They attach great importance to their children's Chinese education, reminding them not to forget that they are Chinese and white.

“to develop and build, we must first have the guarantee of electric power.”

Thinking of My Brothers on Mountain-Climbing Day Alone, a lonely stranger in a foreigner land, I doubly pine for my kinsfolk on holiday.

Overseas Chinese in Changbai miss their motherland and hometown, although most of the economic conditions are average, but the desire to return to their hometown is still very urgent.

At the beginning of the founding of New China, it was besieged by the Western camp led by the United States. except for exchanges with the third World countries dominated by socialist countries, exchanges with developed countries were basically interrupted, and overseas Chinese in Changbai became lonely overseas travelers.

When US President Nixon visited China in February 1972, Sino-US relations showed signs of thawing and people-to-people exchanges began to relax.

The following year, Fu Xingfa, a homesick overseas Chinese in the United States, was the first to go home to visit his relatives.

After the reform and opening up, the country's door was open, and the overseas Chinese who returned home to visit their relatives entered the most exciting part.

Changbai was still very backward at that time.

There is no power grid on the island, kerosene lamps are still used for lighting, and the road is a gravel road as wide as one person, not to mention cars, it is difficult for two people to walk side by side.

Until 1987, Changbai was one of the five island townships with no access to roads in Dinghai District.

Although overseas Chinese come from developed countries and regions, their sons do not dislike their mother's ugliness, and the backwardness of their hometown has aroused their enthusiasm for donation.

Among them, Friendship Power Plant is the first and largest project.

Teng Baoyou made a living in the catering industry after he settled in Singapore in 1945. After years of painstaking efforts, he opened a large-scale Chinese restaurant, Beijing Restaurant.

According to Fu Yiyun, vice president of the Municipal Federation of overseas Chinese, Teng's wife is a best friend with the wife of then Singaporean President Lee Kuan Yew, and Lee's daughter Li Weiling married, and the wedding banquet was chosen at a Beijing restaurant.

In December 1978, just after the conclusion of the third Plenary session of the Eleventh Central Committee, the homesick Teng Baoyou and his wife Huang Meifang returned to their haunted hometown.

He was warmly received by Fei Minglong, then secretary of the party committee of Changbai Commune.

Seeing the backward infrastructure in his hometown, Teng Baoyou said, "if you want to develop and build, you must first have electricity protection." he offered to donate a diesel-powered thermal power plant to his hometown.

At that time, the door of reform and opening up had just opened, and the people's government accepted donations from capitalists. Fei Minglong, who had been secretary of Changbai Commune for 17 years in a row, had never encountered a "thorny" problem, and there was no precedent in Zhoushan.

Fei Minglong is originally from Hangzhou, and his long-term working experience in Changbai made him regard it as his second hometown. After actively seeking instructions from his superiors, he finally got his consent.

Shortly after returning to Singapore, Teng Baoyou remitted the HK $730000 needed to build the power plant, equivalent to the official exchange rate of 163400 yuan at that time, which was the first overseas Chinese donation project received in Zhoushan since the reform and opening up.

According to the national GDP data, its value is more than 5 million yuan today, which is really a huge sum.

In April 1979, amid the roar of two sets of 100kW Weifang diesel generators, Changbai Friendship Power Plant was officially connected to the grid from 06:30 to 10:00 every night.

The light cut through the long white night.

In the following year, all the communes on the island were connected with electricity.

This thought is endless.

When Teng Baoyou and his wife returned to Singapore, they passed through Hong Kong to meet their old friend Fu Huaxing.

Fu Huaxing is a native of Changbai Dawan Village. After moving to Hong Kong, he opened a small hardware factory.

Teng Baoyou said to Fu Huaxing, "this time we went back to our hometown to do a good thing, and you also did one. The road to your house is narrow and uneven. Build a road."

Fu Huaxing readily agreed.

Because of his old age, he commissioned Liu Youcun, a fellow villager in Hong Kong, to make a special trip back to Changbai to discuss the construction of the road.

Determine the route direction, construction standards and required funds.

In June 1979, Fu Huaxing remitted 390000 Hong Kong dollars.

In accordance with the prior agreement, the township used this money to build a 3.6 km standard sand and gravel road from Changbai Wharf to Dawan Village, named Aixiang Road.

"Friendship Power Plant Monument" and "Aixiang Highway Monument" near Friendship Power Plant

▲When the reporter came to the former site of the Friendship Power Plant on the roadside of Aixiang on February 21, it has been replaced by the new building of the national power grid substation, and the road under its feet has also been replaced by cement pavement, only the name of the road remains the same.

After the Changbai power grid was connected to the power grid of the island, the Friendship Power Plant completed its historical mission. Two tall monuments stood nearby, and the monument adopted the highest standard of the monument. Although the two sages have passed away one after another, but grateful white people will never forget their good deeds.

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Changbai overseas Chinese love Sangzi, similar good deeds are numerous, there are brothers hand in hand, but also three generations of relay, the touching story is like the spring breeze and rain, bit by bit in return for the land that gave birth to them.

According to the statistics of the overseas Chinese Museum, by April 2000, Changbai had received donations from overseas Chinese equivalent to more than 3.8 million yuan, with more than 500 donations.

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"these are the hard-earned money they have saved and saved, and even their last wills and funerals, which they have saved to donate to the welfare homes of their hometown. Their deep feelings for their hometown are really hard to put into words.

"looking back on the past, Tao Jinchang, a Changbai native and former vice chairman of the Federation of overseas Chinese in Dinghai District, has wet eyes. He says that the overseas Chinese who donated money are basically ordinary migrant workers, and many elderly people rely on their meagre pensions to live in plain clothes. Feeding on tofu and egg soup makes these donations even more precious.

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The overseas Chinese in Changbai have a strong feeling of home and country, they love their country and their hometown, and they are United and righteous.

Fu Yueyun recalled: on the evening of July 13, 2001, when Beijing succeeded in its bid to host the Olympic Games, while organizing a grand parade to celebrate, overseas Chinese called to share their joy and were sincerely proud of the strength of the motherland.

In 1929, Xiangxian of Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Jiangxi provinces founded Sanjiang Charity Office in New York, USA. It is a social organization with long history and great social influence in the United States. It is precisely because Sanjiang Public Office has strong cohesion and is a famous voting storehouse. The US presidential election needs to be canvassed in person.

Since the beginning of its founding, overseas Chinese in Changbai have been important members, and since the 1950s, they have successively served as chairman, vice chairman, chairman, and other important posts, accounting for more than 1/10 directors.

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"Earth-shaking changes have taken place in Changbai over the years. Society is harmonious, the people are happy, the lonely and widowed elderly have a sense of security, and the village takes on a new look," says Fu Yueding. Now he always politely refuses to donate money to overseas Chinese. On the one hand, he feels that their money is hard to come by, on the other hand, life in his hometown is easier. I really can't think of where the money can be used.

So today, when the history of overseas Chinese in Changbai has reached 130 years, we have prepared to build this overseas Chinese thought hall to remember history, think of what is good, and look forward to generations of overseas Chinese often coming home to see that Changbai is your root!

(reporter: Xu Hongjie).

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Source: Zhoushan Daily