The YongdingLou Overseas Chinese Pavilion in Zhanglin Ancient Port, Guangdong Province, is about to open. Recently, the reporter learned from the organizers that under the guidance of the Dongli Town Party Committee and the town government in Chenghai District, Shantou City, after a year of intense preparations, the curatorial team collected more than 1,000 archives from various places, and according to the needs of curation, carefully selected the more representative batch of batch, reply, celebrity batch, batch plaque, batch foot batch bag, overseas Chinese entry and exit permit, as well as ruyi seals, protective seals and other overseas Chinese batch archives used for approval letters, and divided into 6 exhibition halls to display them one by one according to the theme.
The Yongding Building, a Qing Dynasty building, has now quietly become an exhibition hall for overseas Chinese. (Chen Nan/Photo)
The batch is the "silver or silver letter and voucher" sent back to their hometown by overseas Chinese through non-governmental channels and financial and postal agencies. Once upon a time, Fan Ke took a red-headed boat to the South China Sea, made a living through a lot of hardships, and ran around for his life, in order to support his relatives on the other side of the ocean.
A corner of the exhibition hall. (Chen Nan/Photo)
Behind the letters in this exhibition, there are touching stories that are little known to the world, and witness the deep affection of overseas Chinese in the veins of flesh and blood.
The longest surviving overseas Chinese in the late Qing Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty in China have told the truth of being a human being
The song "A Letter of Criticism" is sung like this: "Send a letter of criticism light and light, look forward to the deep thoughts of the sea day and night, leave the hometown sweat and blood, hope for a peace, worth thousands of gold..." In the short love of a sealed paper, relatives are separated from each other on the other side of the ocean, but they can't express each other's thoughts and concerns.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the People's Republic, Overseas Chinese Bingsi took a steamer to the destination in Thailand to collect the bills, and encountered difficulties and obstacles along the way, such as when crossing the dangerous beach, "the whole ship shook, and everyone in the boat felt terrified." Therefore, in his letter, he detailed his history of tears and blood in Nanyang.
The longest overseas Chinese batch (partial) in China at the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. (Chen Nan/Photo)
"The unfolding of the internal letter is as long as 1.5 meters, which is the longest overseas Chinese batch in the late Qing Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty in China." Zhang Meisheng, one of the leaders of the curatorial team and an expert in the identification of folk archives documents at the Guangdong Provincial Archives, said.
In the letter, Bingsi sighed that "poor and clear, better than rich and turbid." Zhang Meisheng believes that it is not easy for overseas Chinese to make a living abroad, and when they encounter ups and downs, they still do not forget to teach their descendants - "No matter how noble or lowly, the most important thing in being a person is to be innocent!" "It is the clean and honest education of the ancestors to the future generations that is of far-reaching significance and still has a warning effect on the contemporary era."
The "Ping An Batch", also known as the "Return Batch", is the first overseas Chinese batch sent back to their hometown by overseas Chinese. Fan Ke left his hometown, his family was inevitably worried, and he reported peace to his family, and he had already "arrived at ten thousand gold".
Zhang Meisheng told reporters that the overseas Chinese on this exhibition described their travel experience and sighed, "The scenery on the foreign side is very good, but human speech is different, and everywhere they feel very ignorant." What is rare is that the will of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, whose posters are printed with the bottom line of the paper, "The revolution has not yet succeeded, comrades still need to work hard", is of great inspirational significance for the wanderers who work hard abroad.
As the saying goes, "Good news is not good news" Zhang Meisheng studied overseas Chinese criticism for many years, but found that the facts were contrary to common sense. "Because it is not easy to make a living, the letters sent to the family will always confide in the relatives at home, and people will cry after reading." The Overseas Chinese Pavilion exhibited the Centennial New Year Batch, and the envelope and letter are red, full of joy, which is the meaning of congratulating the New Year. Zhang Meisheng said.
If it coincides with the Spring Festival, overseas Chinese will choose traditional Chinese auspicious patterns printed in red, such as the common "Magpie Climbing Branch Diagram".
"People believe that magpies can announce good news. Therefore, the custom of painting Magpie Zhaoxi has been passed down from more than 2,000 years ago to the present. Zhang Meisheng said, for example, two magpies face each other is called "happy to meet"; the pattern of a magpie looking up at the sun is called "day and day to see joy".
According to Zhang Meisheng, printing magpies on the cover of overseas Chinese means "there are magpies, guests arrive; the lights bloom, and happy events come." Before the letter unfolded, it could be guessed that it was a good family letter.
"This exhibition is a letter from 1916, Singapore Cai Lianyou sent to Chao'an hometown to announce the good news. The insidious tells the story of the joy of a loved one marrying a relative. The whole seal is big red, which means auspicious and auspicious. Zhang Meisheng said.
The plaque of the Chaoshan Overseas Chinese Approval Bureau, the treasure of the town hall, fills the gap in history
The treasure of the town hall of the Overseas Chinese Approval Hall is the only existing plaque of the Chaoshan Overseas Chinese Approval Bureau in China.
The reporter saw at the scene that the plaque was written in black and gold characters - "Yifa Xiang Batch Bureau", which was very conspicuous. The paint on the surface of the wooden board is slightly peeled off, which cannot hide the vicissitudes of the years. At the same time, the exhibition hall exhibited the re-approval stamped with "Yifa Xiang Batch Bureau", which echoed with the plaque and enriched the real situation of the overseas Chinese approval industry at that time.
"Even the batch may not survive, let alone the plaque of the batch." Zhang Meisheng introduced that the "Yifa Xiang Approval Bureau" was originally located in Rongcheng, Jieyang. The date of existence of the specific batch bureau is unknown, but the information received and sent back from it shows that in the 1940s, the batch bureau was still operating, which was of irreplaceable significance for the study of overseas Chinese batch archives.
Yifa Xiang Approval Bureau Plaque (Chen Nan/Photo)
"In 1940, Singapore Zheng Mumian sent Chao An's parents a batch of overseas Chinese, the approval was 50 yuan, in the inner letter detailed distribution to 14 relatives, this is unforgettable hometown, grateful for the specific testimony of relatives." Zhang Meisheng introduced.
Because most of the overseas Chinese approvals are family letters and remittance vouchers from the "little people" of the city class, they have not received the attention they deserve for a long time.
However, the narrative recorded in paper form by overseas Chinese has become a witness to the various human phenomena in various historical periods, such as its circulation method, regional involvement, and intervention level, which are closely related to many fields in various countries around the world.
From the initial lack of attention to the inclusion in the Memory of the World Register, the overseas Chinese have gone a long way, and they are inseparable from the walking and calling of people from all walks of life.
In November 2000, Professor Rao Zongyi established the status of "Overseas Chinese History Dunhuang" in a lecture by Chaoshan Overseas Chinese. He said: "Huizhou is special with economic documents such as deeds and contracts, and there are many preservations, and Chaozhou (Chaoshan region) can be compared with it is the overseas Chinese batch, and the overseas Chinese batch is equal to the huizhou contract, and the value is equal. ”
Mr. Zhuang Shiping and Mr. Chen Weinan, well-known overseas Chinese leaders in Hong Kong, have also rushed to appeal, and even wrote to the State Archives Bureau to reflect the strong desire of overseas Chinese organizations at home and abroad to apply for the archives of overseas Chinese.
"This exhibition is a 1920 Malaysian Xu Mingzheng sent a letter of overseas Chinese approval from the mother of Puning Beishan Juncheng, and the back of the seal is stamped with the approval seal of 'Penang Chao Shun Hing Xin Bureau'. The letter bureau belonged to the Zhuang Shiping family. Zhang Meisheng said.
According to Huang Guihua, a member of the curatorial group and an expert on the history and culture of Chaoshan Province, Zhuang Shiping's grandfather Zhuang Shuliang, who pioneered the Zhuang overseas Chinese batch business, has 5 sons, all of whom are operating batch business, the third son runs the Shengyu Xing Batch Bureau in Thailand, the fifth son runs the "Chao Shun Hing Xin Bureau" in Penang, Malaysia, the sixth and seventh sons run Zengyu Yinzhuang in Shantou, and Zhuang Shiping's father Zhuang Xizhu ranks fourth and runs the "Xieyu Batch Pavilion" in Puning. The overseas Chinese batch on display this time is a strong proof of the rare history of the "overseas Chinese batch family" at that time.
"Ingenious" enhances the sense of interaction between the masses and the exhibition
In order to enhance the sense of interaction between the public and the exhibition, the members of the curatorial team racked their brains. In the exhibition hall of the "Yaoyuanhui Road" of the Yongding Building Overseas Chinese Approval Hall, the reporter saw that the curatorial team designed a large wooden plate on the Overseas Chinese Hui Road sent to Chaoshan on the eve of the outbreak of the Pacific War, showing the general appearance of the entire Hui Road. The audience only needs to move their fingers slightly, the display board will be illuminated, and the dynamics of the entire hui road will be presented in front of them.
After the founding of New China, Southeast Asian countries strictly restricted remittances from overseas Chinese, and in order to receive and send aplombs and receive money from their relatives, overseas Chinese appeared in the form of "secret approval" and "secret language approval".
According to Zhang Meisheng, the secret batch is a method of using stamps to cover the cover of the appropriation and circumvent the inspection of overseas Chinese approval management agencies.
Corner of the exhibition hall (Chen Nan/Photo)
The reporter saw at the scene that the curator was ingenious and made full use of the principle of light reflection to produce a large-scale "huge overseas Chinese batch".
"From different sides, the audience can see the side of the overseas Chinese batch being covered by the stamp, and the other side of the amount of the appropriation after the stamp is unveiled, which is interesting and interesting." Zheng Ai, another member of the curatorial panel, said.
Unlike the dark batch, the "secret language batch" is a synonym instead of the title of the Hong Kong dollar. For example, "House number 200" is "HK$200".
"At that time, the approval bureaus at home and abroad cooperated with each other, printed small notes pronouns for 'secret language', and instructed overseas Chinese and overseas Chinese relatives to write batches and send back batches, such as using rice, wheat, sugar, oil, sweet potatoes, etc., to replace coins, which fully reflected that it was not easy for overseas Chinese to send money home from Southeast Asia at that time." Zhang Meisheng believes that although the methods are different, the goals are the same. The eight immortals of overseas Chinese across the sea each showed their miraculous abilities and tried their best to send relief money to their relatives in their hometown.
The curator's "unique ingenuity" is also displayed on another side of the "dynamic overseas Chinese approval wall".
"The location of the exhibition is Zhanglin, and the local Zhangdong overseas Chinese batch part is refreshing. Mr. Lin Xianchao's family collection of overseas Chinese batch is the largest number of single family overseas Chinese batch archives found in China so far. More than 1,300 overseas Chinese have told the story of the cross-border love affair between China and Thailand for more than half a century. Zheng Ai told reporters, "How to show this huge number of overseas Chinese batches, we finally came up with a unique idea, the overseas Chinese batch is made of cardboard bricks, one side is the cover of the overseas Chinese batch, the other side is the era of the overseas Chinese batch, and then there will be more than 50 overseas Chinese batches, strung together with wire, and the masses can stop to look at the overseas Chinese batch, which enhances the sense of interaction." ”
Mr. Lin Duannan, who originally lived in Yongding Building, is more than 70 years old. His wife, who "fell to the ground" where the exhibition hall was located, lived here for half a century. "The objects of overseas Chinese on display at the Overseas Chinese Approval Museum were all collected from all over the world. Among the overseas Chinese batches on display in this museum, there is a letter donated by Mr. Lin Duannan, which is a testimony to his deep love for overseas Chinese batches. Zhang Meisheng said.
The Yongding Building, a Qing Dynasty building, has now quietly become an overseas Chinese exhibition hall located in the most conspicuous position at the xinxing street entrance in Zhanglin, and it will also give the mission entrusted by the times to carry forward the culture of overseas Chinese and tell the world the story of overseas Chinese and the motherland...
[Nanfang Daily reporter] Shen Congsheng
【Author】 Shen Congsheng
Southern Probe