Matteo Ricci was the first person in history to study Both China and the West, and although he failed to convert Chinese to God, he built a bridge between Chinese and Western civilizations in China, and surprisingly he was not the first missionary to come to China. (Portrait of Matteo Ricci)
On December 3, 1552, St. Francis Xavier, who was seriously ill on Shangchuan Island in Taishan, Guangdong Province, struggled to raise his head, and with the unwillingness of ambition in his eyes, he looked at Chinese mainland and died in the cold wind.
Xavier was one of the first Jesuits to come to the East, and with a glorious mission, he crossed the ocean to China as a missionary.
(Portrait of St. Francis Xavier in the Kobe City Museum, Japan)
However, due to the ming Dynasty's sea ban, he could only temporarily settle on the remote and deserted island of Shangchuan, but unfortunately contracted malaria when he was preparing to wait for the opportunity to go to Guangzhou with a merchant ship to preach from Taishan, and finally died.
(Kamikawa Island, standing in the middle of the South China Sea, Tuby Lop Nur)
First, the Chinese went to Nanyang
Speaking of Taishan, we have to first mention the "lower Nanyang", which refers to the wave of Chinese immigration to Southeast Asian countries in history, as early as the Han and Tang Dynasties, China has opened up a route to and from the Indian Ocean.
During the Song and Yuan dynasties, a small number of merchants began to migrate to Nanyang, and after Zheng He went to the West in the early Ming Dynasty, the main settlers in the Nanyang region were Fujian and Cantonese immigrants.
(Zheng He's general route map to the West, figure by "China's Self-driving Geography")
By the middle of the 18th century, with the end of the Qing Dynasty's sea ban, the southeast coastal areas were full of people and land, and the local residents were facing the dilemma of survival, so they had to go overseas to earn a living as freedmen and indentured laborers, which gave birth to a vigorous and arduous "passing".
(The Chinese "under the Nanyang" route, Guangdong to go overseas is sold "piglets", become "piglet Chinese workers", living conditions and treatment are very miserable, figure by "China's self-driving geography")
The "South Sea" is vast and remote, including Australia, New Zealand and the nearby South Pacific Islands in the Southern Hemisphere.
From the traces of Chinese overseas trespasses, it can be seen that the activities of the Chinese in the "Lower Nanyang" in this area are very extensive, and in 1887, Zhang Zhidong, the governor of Liangguang, sent a special envoy to inspect the Chinese society and trade situation in the "Lower Nanyang", and the footprints reached as far as Australia.
In 1909, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Qing government set up a consulate in Samoa, which improved the living conditions and treatment of local Chinese workers. (The picture shows the scope of "Nanyang" in a broad sense, by "China's Self-driving Geography")
Most of the Chinese who first arrived in Australia were Fujian contract Chinese workers who were abducted and trafficked by Western colonialists, but in the middle of the 19th century, after the discovery of rich gold mines in Australia, a large number of Guangdong people poured into the country to pan for gold, and the main body of local Chinese suddenly changed to Guangdong nationality.
In fact, in the earlier period, the news of the discovery of gold in California reached Guangdong and attracted a gold rush of Cantonese people to the Americas, especially the Siyi people. (Taishan, Kaiping, Enping, Xinhui area, Guangdong)
In the 19th century, a riverbed in California was a gold rush
Second, overseas Chinese approved silver letters to send homesickness
Taishan, formerly known as Xinning, is "the first overseas Chinese township in the country" and is known as "two Taishan mountains inside and outside". Don't look at the fact that these overseas Chinese are developing very well abroad, but if they have no choice, who wants to go to a foreign country?
In 1865, the first Taishan people were sold "piglets" to north America to build railways, and after that, one ship after another carried a batch of Chinese workers from Taishan and other places on a long journey.
At that time, the Taishan people went to other places, just to seek survival and made a helpless move. Taishan is often affected by natural disasters, with frequent tsunamis in the south and droughts in the north threatening.
Figure by Li Jurong
In this disaster environment, it is easy to lead to a large reduction in food production or even a lack of harvest, causing widespread famine, and starvation has become a common thing, so people have to take risks to seek a way out overseas.
More and more people are "going to Nanyang", but "being alone in a foreign land is a stranger, and every festive season is doubly homesick." The labor of young adults who traveled to the other side of the ocean was rewarded, but homesickness was increasing.
Pictured is a bronze statue of Chen Yixi, bywilliam Nettles
At that time, Taishan Haikou Port, as a necessary place to go to sea, attracted merchants from all over the world, so the dock culture arose here, and in this case, "silver letters" were produced.
Overseas Chinese living overseas fused "silver and family letters" together to form overseas Chinese silver letters, they remitted remittances and family letters to China through non-governmental organizations at home and abroad, and their families could go to the silver number to exchange after getting the silver letter.
Silver letter not only records the distribution and use of remittances, but also records the international situation, family trivia and other content, in that era of transportation and communication was not developed, every overseas Chinese silver letter sent to the home is a concern. Figure by happy fish
Third, the Cantonese people from here to the world
Haikou Port has witnessed the history of the arduous struggle of overseas Chinese in Taishan to go to the ocean, so in the eyes of Taishan people, this is the first port to go to sea.
It is worth mentioning that in the third year of Qing Xianfeng (1853), it was only a wei, and the market (that is, the regular market in rural areas of southern China) jointly established by the Mei, Li, Wu and other surname families near Duanfen Town, they named it "Shihu Wei (xū)".
Since this is the place where the Datong River and the Duanfen River converge to go to sea, the local people used to call the river "Hai", and over time there was a "Haikou Port". Figure by happy fish
At that time, many Cantonese people, including Taishan people, boarded a ship at Haikou Port, and then left Guangdong Bay to Go to Hong Kong and Macau, and then to Nanyang and North America. In the middle of the last century, the population of "Lower Nanyang" continued to increase, and Haikou Port ushered in its heyday.
(At that time, the overseas Chinese in the Taishan area were all in Guangwan Bay to change to a big boat and cross the ocean to a foreign country, picture by "China's Self-driving Geography")
As a passageway for Cantonese people to the world, this seemingly inconspicuous dock was in line with the world in the era when China was once isolated from the world due to its closed-door policy, and promoted China's connection with the rest of the world.
When the dock culture of Haikou Port flourished, this wharf gradually developed into a wholesale and retail market, when merchants in western Guangdong took waterways to transport goods such as Lianjiang cattle and fir wood to here for trade, and ferries from Macao, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and other places also docked here.
Figure by happy fish
Haikou Port gradually gained fame, merchants and foreign capital exchanges became more and more intensive, and there were hundreds of shops in various walks of life in the most brilliant period.
When closed China relied on this young trading port to connect with the world step by step, the vision and insight of the Chinese people were gradually changing under the impact of new ideas, and advanced Western ideas began to sprout.
However, time is not waiting for anyone, on October 31, 1939, the bustling city scene of Haikou Port was destined to be only a flash in the pan, and the Japanese Kou dispatched three aircraft to bomb Haikou Port for the first time, and the smoke of war occupied this land.
(Haikou Port Pier Outlet Memorial Site, Picture by Happy Fish)
Fourth, the Western-style building hidden in the deep boudoir
Throughout the ages, taishan Haikoubu Ancient Yidao has served as a bridge between China and the world, and this ancient road runs between Doosan Town and Duanfen Town, and many historical and cultural relics have been born along the way.
Doosan Town's Pumice Village is China's famous "Zhao Song Imperial Village", this ancient village is divided into ten squares, the squares are connected, everywhere you can see the ancient buildings, ancient houses and carvings also have historical traces, the History and culture of the Southern Song Dynasty for more than a hundred years has been inherited here.
(Pumice Village has an ancient building that meets in ten steps, Picture bybykoushangmin)
At the beginning of the last century, overseas Chinese living abroad were concerned about their homeland, and in their view, it was the real fall of leaves to fund the construction of their hometown, open schools, and own their own houses in their hometowns.
Taishan's Meijia Compound is where the taishan overseas Chinese have re-rooted, and this compound is composed of more than 100 imposing buildings, full of exotic atmosphere and reflecting the temperament of overseas Chinese.
As an important node of this maritime Silk Road, although Taishan is short-lived, the commerce of the past has been prosperous, and it has also made countless people go to Nanyang to make a living, so that they will be forever remembered by history.
Figure by David's Summer