China News Service, Chaozhou, August 14th: Descendants of overseas Chinese living in Thailand are in Chaozhou: an old house, a song of homesickness, a kind of waiting
China News Service reporter Fang Weibin
Chaozhou, Guangdong, is full of tourists during the summer vacation.
The reporter wandered in the ancient city, and many dwellings still maintained their original appearance.
Most of Chaoshan people live in large groups, and lanterns with their surnames are often seen hanging in front of the door. In front of an old house in the ancient city, a lantern with the word "Zaiyang" is hung in front of the door.
Liao Yiming introduced the "older" old objects in the ancestral house to reporters.
Photo by Chen Chuhong
"More than ten years ago, I repaired the ancestral house, using the method of repairing the old as the old, and also asked professional masters to repair the decorations in the house, such as inlaid porcelain and Chaozhou woodcarving, following the style of Chaozhou dwellings. Yang' Inn, set up a homestay." Liao Yiming, the owner of the old house, told a reporter from China News Agency.
An old house, behind which is the real record of Chaoshan people who went to Nanyang to feed Sangzi.
Liao Yiming recalled: "In 1956, my grandfather sent money back from Thailand to buy this house. I was born and grew up here and started a family." According to reports, his grandfather, Liao Zhenxiang, the then president of the Longhua Buddhist Association in Thailand, invested for Liao The family purchased this house called "Doctor's House".
According to the information on the deed, this is a house that began in the middle of the Qing Dynasty.
Liao Yiming told reporters the story of this doorstop.
Photo by Chen Chuhong
In the house, many objects are "aged".
On the shelf in the entrance hall, a stone held up by a beautifully carved wooden base is very eye-catching. Liao Yiming said that this stone has been seen every day since he can remember, and it is the door blocking stone of the old house.
Liao Yiming recalled that the old house had 8 rooms at that time, and at most there were 20 or 30 people living there.
Every day, this door stone quietly watched people entering and leaving the house, witnessing a period of time, so it has been preserved to this day.
With the development of the times, relatives have started their own families and left their hometowns.
Liao Yiming said that when the Chaozhou government repaired Paifang Street and Guangji Bridge to develop tourism, he came up with the idea of opening a homestay and an inn, which could not only allow tourists to live in the antique Chaoshan dwellings, but also protect and revitalize the old houses. .
In 1956, the Liao family moved back to this house, and in 2016, Liao Yiming held a family gathering.
He invited back relatives and friends from Australia, Thailand, Singapore and Hong Kong.
"I still remember my aunt who came back from Hong Kong saying that she must live in the room where she lived when she was a child." The old house has become a common and important part of the Liao family's memory.
In the more than ten years of operating the inn, Liao Yiming found that many overseas Chinese guests who came back from overseas to visit relatives evoked childhood memories because of the decoration and layout of the house. For the Chaoshan people who traveled abroad, the old house has become a wonderful Memories, emotional sustenance.
During the conversation with tourists, Liao Yiming and his wife found that many people are also very interested in Gongfu tea and Chao Le.
On the basis of running a homestay, in 2016, the couple transformed a long-abandoned arcade in Chaozhou into a "Zaiyang" teahouse.
"In the teahouse, there are Teochew opera performances every day, seven times a day, even if there are no guests, there will be performances on our stage."
In Liao Yiming's ancestral home, traces of the character "Liao" he wrote on the wall paintings when he was a child are still preserved.
Photo by Chen Chuhong
A piece of nostalgia, Teochew opera and Teochew music are an important link for the connection of Teochew people at home and abroad.
In 2018, Liao Yiming's wife Long Suling established Zaiyang Art Troupe.
She told reporters that in 2019, in the Zaiyang Teahouse, the overseas Chinese from the Hanjiang Singing Troupe of the Chao'an Association in Thailand returned to their hometown with the well-choreographed Chao music to perform together with the Zaiyang Art Troupe, "Mo Chou Girl" The programs "Hometown is Chaoshan" and "There is a Guangji Bridge in Chaozhou" deepened the friendship between the Chaozhou people from the two places.
Liao Yiming said that the epidemic has affected overseas Chinese returning home, and face-to-face communication has decreased, but he and his wife have not been idle. The husband and wife cooperate with universities in Guangdong to make videos of Chaozhou lifestyle, such as how to make tea and make Chaozhou food. and other lesson plans to spread to overseas Teochew associations.
In recent years, Chaozhou has vigorously promoted the conservation and activation of the ancient city. In the ancient city, more and more old houses have been revitalized, and the lanterns hanging at the door illuminate the way under the night.
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