In Shenzhen, it is fairly rare to meet a real local since it is a migration city. Chengnei Village (城內村) is situated in Kengzi Subdistrict, the east corner of Shenzhen city. Last month, Kengzi Metro Station was open and the 14th metro line finally reached the city's east end. Huiyang District of Huizhou City is adjacent to the Kengzi Subdistrict to the east. The subdistrict was historically a Hakka area of Huizhou, but it was annexed to Bao'an Country in 1958 and administrated under Shenzhen City from 1979 onward.
The village used to be a walled village called Xiushan Family Residence. It was constructed in 1794 by four brothers Huang Weiqiu(维球), Huang Weizhen(维珍), Huang Weilian(维琏) and Huang Weijin(维瑾). It was a huge residence covering 15000 square meters and a fortress, but only two gates, and some dilapidated walls made by rammed earth survive. Most of the ancient houses have been supplanted by modern buildings. Obviously, the ancestral hall of the Huang clan used to lie on the axis of the village since it still faced the crescent-shaped pond.
When exploring the village, a well-carved wooden beam on the top of a gate drew my attention among the decaying houses. Moreover, right in front of the gate was a wall, on which some elaborate patterns with birds and flowers remained.
Unexpectedly, an old gentleman with an irate look came out of the house and yelled at me. He spoke Mandarin with a strong Hakka accent. After I explained my interest in ancient architecture and history, he showed me a smiling face and welcomed me to visit his house. He told me that he was a local Hakka, the owner of this house. Then he narrated his family histroy to me.
In 1942, he joined the anti-Japanese guerrilla force East River Column, which was organized by the China Communist Party. In 1964, he joined the People’s Liberation Army when the East River Column was eventually annexed into the Communist army due to the agreement signed between the CCP and the Kuomingtang after World War II. In 1954, he came back to the village and lived off farming after retiring from the army.
Mao and Huang Guang's photo (Yongbin)
The family that used to reside in front of Huang Xinqiong’s house was a landlord. Fortunately, they made the decision to flee to Hong Kong on the eve of the Communist takeover in 1949. Otherwise, they would hardly survive the political movements coming afterward.
Delicate plaster carvings of the landlord's house (Yongbin)
Huang Xinquan studied at Guangzu School during the cultural revolution. The school was established in 1906 by Ou Jujia (歐榘甲), its first head teacher. At that time, he was a disciple and follower of Kang Youwei, the prominent political thinker and reformer in the late Qing dynasty. Meanwhile, he raised funds from overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia and introduce modern education to China at Guangzu School. In order to save the nation from a miserable fate, he also promoted the concept of the "Glory of Family and Nation" in his education.
Although they had relatives in Indonesia, they could not contact them because having foreign contacts would be tantamount to counter-revolutionary and lead to a disastrous ending. Still and all, they managed to receive some amount of funds from overseas relatives in secret.
Nonetheless, the school did not operate as it used to after the Communist takeover. Huang Xinquan remembered that he merely learned any knowledge there. Instead, he was educated to work in agriculture for most of his time.
