汾水村 MY KAMPUNG

15/4/12 Saturday - we are met at Ramada by 钟惠 （阿B妹） who is the wife of my cousin brother 继亮and 青妹， daughter of 三姨， 叔姆‘s younger sister. We proceed to our "kampung" in 梅州城东， 下嶺背，七星嶺之山下。

Fenshuicun 汾水村 is approximately 15 km east of the city of Meizhou.

It's an emotional trip for me today to meet the family and to see the village. I have been looking forward to doing this for a long time. I do not expect a lot from 汾水村 because it's after all, a village. But it's family. My grandfather was born in one of the houses there and came to Malaya via Singapore at a tender age of 16 yo. If he had never left 汾水村 and came to Malaya I would likely end up living in this village (??) ..... 

And this is the family home of my 堂叔曾敏新。 He is a cousin brother to my father. His late dad and my late grandfather were brothers.

From him came 3 sons who are my cousins:

老大 - 继亮 （40 yo）， married 钟惠 and has a nine year old daughter 曾佳妮。

老二 - 福亮 （39 yo）, married 邓梓媚 and has a five year old son 曾邓彬。

老三 - 鸿亮 （37 yo）, still single.

They welcome us into their home and family. We paid respect to their family altar which is basically a picture of my 叔公曾庆宗. The original family altar had already been destroyed during the communist revolution. We spend some time talking and getting to know each other. Amongst other things I enquire about our family lineage and got some insights into life in the old days and at the village. We also visit  our 老屋 which my grandfather's family had his room and is still belonged to us today. It is obvious to me that life was very hard back in the old days.

Whilst we are talking the fire crackers go off outside the house to signify to the village that they have VIP's at their home. Wow!

老二 and 老三 take turns to cook their dishes for a lunch which consists of, amongst others, 苦嘛， 野菜，鸡肉， 鸭肉， 兔肉， 汤， 猪肉圆, 糯米酒。 All of them organic, including the rice. 还有自己种的沙田柚。

We spend some time seeing the old house, the paddy fields, the organic vegetable patch, their bee hives, and the general surroundings; which are all quite interesting to us city folks.      

My niece Jia Ni and nephew Deng Bin with my 叔姆

老屋

The first house in the village closest to the entrance

Where the car is that's the entrance to the village.

1967

2012

View of the foothill opposite the 老屋

七星嶺

Sharing a moment looking at the fields and vegetable patches.

The water that irrigates the paddy field comes from the mountain. Jia Ni is trying to catch a small fish from the paddy field.

Jia Ni has got her fish from the paddy field afterall

Organic honey from their own hives

Rabbits that they rear for food

Jia Ni is a very perceptive child

Deng Bin is always looking for attention

Front （Left to Right）: My 叔姆, 堂叔 and 佳妮

Back(Left to Right):  福亮, 邓梓媚 and son 邓彬; 鸿亮; 继亮, 钟惠 and 青妹's son

Their organic vegetables

The path that leads to the 老屋

In the afternoon we visit the Hakka Park to see some new developments there

We next visit the 千佛塔 which is a famous MZ sight。 I do like the architecture. Some amazing carvings.

In the evening we have our dinner at the MZ 长乐餐馆; 饭後还去梅江堤散步。

At the hotel I reflect on our experience with SM and we are quite satisfied that we made the long journey from Australia via Taiwan and Xiamen to MZ and got to meet the other family members in China. And experience the village that I knew exist but never got to see and know. 

Maybe I won't be back to MZ again in my life time but at least I now know a bit about MZ and my village at the foothill of a mountain that I never knew before I embarked on this personal journey......