Fan Jiang family: Grew up in Taiwan, with roots in China

Taipei, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Fan Jiang family: Grew up in Taiwan and has roots in China

Xinhua News Agency reporters Zhao Bo and Qi Fei

"Fan Jiang is not a compound surname, but a double surname. Our family grew up in Taiwan, and we can't find our surname in the 'Hundred Family Names', but we take 'Gaoping Tianshui' as our hall name, and we are authentic descendants of Yan and Huang. Standing in front of the ancestral hall, Fan Jiangqun, chairman of the Fan Jiang Clan Association in Taoyuan City, Taiwan, spoke eloquently.

According to reports, this Hakka family is from Guangdong, the surname Fan was 10 generations ago, and because of gratitude to the Jiang family, the surname Fan Jiang was changed to double surname Fan Jiang from the 11th generation. Subsequently, all five brothers of Fan Jiang crossed the sea to Taiwan. Because of this, Fan Jiang has become a surname that only exists in Taiwan.

The stars have changed, and the Fan Jiang family has spread out in Taiwan, and it has been passed down to the 22nd generation so far. With the ups and downs of the years, they have never forgotten the family motto, guarded the ancient Three Realms furnace, and used the fire under the hall to illuminate the roots of future generations.

Hakka House

The Fan Jiang family has lived in a new housing area on the west side of Taoyuan City, bordering the Taiwan Strait. To the pride of the clan, the name of the new house is derived from their ancestral hall.

In the last years of the Kangxi Dynasty of the Qing Dynasty, Fan Jijing of Baiyun Village, Huizhou, Guangdong Province, married his wife Lei and gave birth to two sons. After Fan Jijing died of illness, the Lei family was poor and could not afford to raise their children, so they remarried Jiang Tongying. The second son, Fan Wenzhen, was grateful for his stepfather's nurturing grace, and changed his five sons' surnames to Fan Jiang, leaving a will of "all generations miss and never be ungrateful".

During the Qianlong period, five brothers crossed the sea to Taiwan and settled in the area of today's new housing area. They received a reclamation license issued by the imperial court, cultivated the fields to grow grain, and worked hard to run the reclamation business. With the reproduction of population and the accumulation of wealth, the Fan Jiang family has become more and more prosperous, sitting on more than 3,800 jia of land (note: 1 jia is about 0.9699 hectares).

In 1854, the clansmen brought high-quality fir wood and bricks from Xiamen, Fujian Province, to build an ancestral hall. Because of the grandeur and beautiful shape, it attracts the villagers to go to "see the new house" together, and it has become the origin of the name of the new house by word of mouth.

With a construction area of about 1,650 square meters, Fan Jiang Zutang is a two-hall courtyard house with strong Hakka style. Walking into the ancestral hall, the four block letters of "loyalty and filial piety" and "incorruptible festival" are arranged on the walls on both sides, which are very eye-catching. "This is our ancestral motto." Fan Jiangqun will say.

On the beams of the house, stories such as "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "Guan Gong Takes Changsha", "Huang Zhong Makes Arrows" and "Twenty-four Filial Piety" and "Lying on Ice and Seeking Carp" are vividly painted.

In the main hall of the ancestral hall, under the flower cover of the shrine with the shape of the tiger, the sages of the Fan family and the tablets of "Fan Jiang Pai, Haifeng County, Huizhou Prefecture, Guangdong" are placed uprightly. The furnace of the Three Realms hangs high, and the cigarette curls up. In a partial house, there is a migration map of the Hakka Fan surname from the Central Plains to the south.

Not far from the ancestral hall, there are several old houses of the Fan Jiang family. Guanyin Temple, with its green bucket stone carved roof ridge and fairy statues, is the old house No. 2, 3 and 6 with pebble walls and red bricks...... It shows the former glory of the Fan Jiang family.

Fan Jiangqun made a special introduction to the stone steps at the entrance of the old house. "This is the ballast stone that crossed the sea with the boat when the ancestral hall was repaired." He said that Fan Jiang's five rooms all have such stones and placed them in front of their houses to "remind us not to forget where we came from."

Three ancient gifts

The Fan Jiang family has a rule of "no incense", that is, the clansmen are not allowed to cut the incense and divide the incense. They believe that the cohesion of the family stems from adhering to the Hakka tradition of worshipping ancestors.

In 1906, the Fan Jiang family invited the ancestral tablet from Guangdong to Taiwan for worship. Every year on the Qingming Festival and the first day of the eighth lunar month, the ancestral hall of Taoyuan Xinwu will hold three offerings to worship the ancestors to show that all streams have returned to their ancestors.

"The original three offerings, ancient methods, ancient rites, and rituals are indispensable." Fan Jiangqun will say that the traditional Hakka eight tones are played when the family worships their ancestors, and the chief priest wears a long robe. Lisheng chanted prayers in Hakka, and everyone followed the process of initial offering, sub-offering, and final dedication, and performed rituals like rituals. Three animals, five animals, flowers and fruits...... The large sacrificial table was filled with offerings of all kinds.

A set of ceremonies lasts about thirty or forty minutes. "I don't know if the earliest ceremonies were so pompous. But that's what I saw when I was a kid, and it's been passed down without changing in the slightest. Fan Jiangqun will say that on weekdays, there are major events in the clan to "pay homage to the ancestors", and they will also carry out worship ceremonies.

In Fan Jiangqunhui's view, the purpose of adhering to the ancient rites and worshipping ancestors is to remember the hardships of the ancestors and unite the centripetal force of the family. "We invite the elders of the clan to come to the ancestral hall to teach the ancient rites to the young people, hoping that they will inherit the family tradition of chasing the future with caution."

This tradition-minded family has also been able to innovate with the times. In 2023, the ancestral hall will set up the "Aunt God Seat".

According to Hakka tradition, unmarried or divorced daughters are sent to nunnery after death and cannot enter the ancestral hall. With the changes of the times, women's rights and interests are becoming more and more important. After the death of a single woman, whether she can "continue to be with her family" has attracted the attention and discussion of the clan. The board of supervisors of the clan association discussed for a long time, and on the Qingming Festival last year, the clan association formally put forward a proposal, which was approved by the majority of the clan relatives and finally put into practice.

Over the years, the clan association has also revitalized the ancestral hall and the old houses nearby, giving it the functions of displaying folk customs, teaching the eight sounds, and passing on tea art to promote traditional culture.

Fan Jiangqun believes that the innovation of family affairs and the adherence to traditional etiquette go hand in hand, both for the sake of the family "more vitality".

The sound of the pottery fisherman

The hall name of the Fan Jiang family is "Gaoping Tianshui", "Gaoping" refers to the surname Fan, and "Tianshui" refers to the surname Jiang. In the main hall of the ancestral hall, the ancestral tablet is hung directly above the plaque of "Tao Fisherman's Voice" with black characters on a gold background, and the pen is vigorous. In the residences of the Fan Jiang surname, most of them also hang the plaques of "Tao Wei Liufang" and "Tao Wei Gaofeng".

"Tao" refers to the ancestor of the Fan surname, Tao Zhu Gong Fan Li, and "fishing" and "Wei" both refer to the ancestor Jiang Taigong surnamed Jiang who fished in Weishui. "The Fan Jiang family hopes to have both good characters and hope that their children and grandchildren will inherit the past and become people who contribute to the society." Fan Jiangqun will say.

There are about 6,700 people in the Pham Jiang family, many of whom are doctors. Teacher, engineer, actor...... All walks of life are also active in the figure of the Fan Jiang people.

Fan Jiangfeng, the "scholar" in the family, is a well-known "landing" Taiwanese youth. In 2009, he came to Fujian for development, and in 2016, he and his companions founded the Xiamen Qida Strait Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurship Base, and in 2018, he became one of the first Taiwanese "Youth May Fourth Medal" winners in Fujian Province. He and his team assisted Taiwanese youths to participate in cross-strait exchanges and helped Taiwanese youths to implement entrepreneurial projects.

Fan Jiangfeng clearly remembered that there was "Fan Wenzheng's Family Motto" on the wall of the ancestral hall. He also remembered the first time he climbed Yueyang Tower, looking at the vast Dongting Lake, and had a deeper understanding of the way of sorrow and happiness proposed by his ancestors, and the motivation to run the entrepreneurial base well arose.

"Since the opening up of cross-strait exchanges, many children of the clan have gone to the mainland for development." Fan Jiangqun will say, "Everyone works hard to let the mainland folks see that our Hakka family is hard-working and upright, which is good!" ”

More than a century ago, the Fan Jiang family donated land to build the Wugu Shennong Temple, and now it is the Changxiang Palace with the highest statue of Shennong in Taiwan. As the chairman of the Fan Jiang Clan Association, Fan Jiang Qunhui also serves as the manager of Changxiang Palace.

In the cognition of the Fan Jiang people, the Shennong clan waded into the mountains, tasted the herbs, planted the grains, and created the plows, and the reclamation deeds of Fan Jiang's ancestors were the embodiment of this tenacious will. They actively participated in various activities to worship Emperor Yan of Shennong, and some clansmen went to Gaoping, Shanxi Province to participate in the ancestor worship ceremony.

Fan Jiangqun will believe that by not forgetting the ancestors and sticking to the ancestral teachings, the Fan Jiang family will flourish and go through the longer years calmly, uphold the enthusiasm of the Hakka people, and keep the incense of the new house.