Searching Root 寻根之旅

Searching Root 寻根之旅 19 – 21 Feb 2007

When I first came to Hong Kong, I was often asked “What dialect group are you? Which part of China do you originate from?” My answer was “I am a Teochew, I know my grandparents migrated from China but I’m not sure where it is.” My Hong Kong Chinese friends will then tell me about their family ties / background in Mainland China.

I am born and bred in Singapore. Like most 2nd generation Singaporeans, I identify myself as a Singapore Chinese - perhaps a proud Singapore Chinese who feels little need to connect any family ties back to Mainland China. However, coming to work and live in Hong Kong, I begin to feel a bit rootless especially when I’m posed with the question. In one of my home visits, I asked my dad about family ties in China and armed with an address, I started my journey to search my root during this Lunar New Year - 广东省汕头普宁大垻半径鄉西门.

Swatow City 汕头市
A 4.5 hour coach ride (RMB170) from Shenzhen (深圳) Luowu City (罗湖市) brought us to Swatow (汕头), the biggest Teochew-speaking city within the Guangdong province (广东省). Swatow (汕头) situated next to South China Sea (南中国海), bustled with many people, motor cars (big & posh/small & dirty looking), motorbikes (2 wheels/3 wheels 三轮车), bicycles, rickshaw, noisy (constant horning) / wide roads, street vendors, hawkers, tall office buildings, beautiful residential apartments, run-down/old houses and a big port. I was thrilled, the city spoke Teochew – little children, young people, the elderly, the street vendors, the newscasters – I instantly felt at home.

A walk through the local wet market (街市) in the morning was an eye-opening experience – besides the usual fruit/vegetable seller, fishmonger and butcher, we saw vendor peddling sugar can, peeling water chestnuts, selling live ducks (even Mandarin Duck! Didn’t know it can be eaten!)/chickens/rabbits (oh, do they eat it or keep as pet?) and peanut/sesame candies (hey! they looked familiar – I ate them in Singapore!).

Teochew City 潮洲市
A 1 hour bus ride (RMB15) brought us to Teochew City (潮洲市) for a half day trip. This town was smaller in size but looked pretty much the same as Swatow. Maybe I should say – Swatow’s street is slightly cleaner. We had afternoon tea (yummy barbequed chicken drumsticks, toufu, corn and roast sweet potato) by the roadside and strolled along West Lake (西湖) before taking a 2.5 hour bus ride (RM25) to Pu-ning (普宁) – the main purpose of this trip – search my root!

Pu-ning City 普宁市
Pu-ning City looked and felt pretty much the same as Swatow – probably even busier. Brightly lit Liusha Road (流沙大道) and river (流沙新河) greeted us as we arrived in town centre close to 8pm looking for accommodation & dinner. Unfortunately, either we were on the wrong streets or restaurants were closed for new year, we had to settle for KFC look-alike (CBC – Chinese Best Chicken) which was fully packed with smartly dressed parents & children feasting on burgers, ice-creams etc. Apparently, there must be some hot spring wells / stream nearby as many hotels /guesthouses offered hot spring bath. Being Spring Festival (春节), there were many street vendors selling clothes, toys, foods etc. We stopped by to listen to a Teochew opera sung by retired communist party (老干部) members accompanied by live music band.

Puning – DaBa - BanJingXiang Ximen 普宁大垻半径鄉西门
I felt more and more excited as I neared home – well, my grandparents’ hometown! It was nearer than I imagined – only a 15min car ride (RMB30 by illegal taxi driver) away from the hustle and bustle town centre.

We stopped at the village entrance which had a big stoned archway that read 半径大道 – the main road which was about 1km long. To the left of main road, there were neat rows and rows of single storey houses built in traditional design with a long alley (胡同) in between. To the right of main road, there were independent unit of run-down houses. There were also many modern 2-3-storey houses dotted along the main road.

We came across a big banner which depicted a family tree – listing names from the 1st generation to the 10th generation. An elderly man was standing nearby and I asked him what it was. I learnt that Zuofeng (祚凤) was the founder of this Ng 黄family village. His sons, grandsons, great-grandsons etc continued his family line in this village. Everyone in this village was related, everyone shared the same family name of Ng. There were 2 main ‘wings’ – the east 东门and the west西门. The elderly man was the 11th generation from the west wing 西门. I found it – it was where my grandparents came from – the west wing!! I reckon my siblings and I are the 12th or 13th generation in this big Ng family.

Near the entrance of the main road, there was a memorial plaque engraved with names of donor from Singapore who helped rebuild the fresh water supply in the village. I could see my 2 uncles’ name on it – 黄应长, 黄如兴. This was pretty much a self contained village – there were school, clinic, hair salon, provision shops etc. As we strolled around, we saw many carefree (often bare-footed!) children playing (toy guns / badminton), singing nursery rhyme, women washing clothes by the stream next to the main road. We fed the pig in pigsty in-front of the run-down houses. We also spotted pigs kept in the backyard of the single storey traditional house. At the end of the long alley, we found a big big vegetable field full of Kai-lan, Caixin, celery, Chinese parsley, spring onion etc. Against the backdrop of mountains, wide green fields, low traditional houses, we breathed in fresh cool winter afternoon air – what a wonderful place!

Pu-ning City 普宁市 à Shenzhen 深圳
A 6-hour RMB130 coach ride (normal 3.5hrs without the traffic jam) ended our journey and brought me close to my 2nd home in Hong Kong.


尋根之旅 2007 年 2 月 19-21 日
(黃麗蘭著,吳文華翻譯)

當我剛來香港的時候, 我常被香港的朋友問到一個問題: “你的祖籍在哪裡? 講什麼方言?” 我回答說: “我是潮州人, 我知道我的祖父母從中國移民出來, 可是我不確定出自何處.” 我的朋友聽了, 就樂意的告訴我她們家人跟中國內地的親戚關係和家庭背景.

我是一個土生土長的新加坡人, 和多數第二代的新加坡人一樣, 我自認是一個新加坡華人------或許是一個帶點傲氣的新加坡華人, 以為沒有多大的必要去追尋源自中國內地的祖家. 可是, 來到香港工作和生活, 每當我被問起以上的問題, 我開始感覺到自己的出身好像沒有根源似的. 有一次, 我回新加坡父母親家, 特地詢問了老父關於中國的親戚聯繫, 還拿到了他們的住址------廣東省汕頭普寧市大垻鎮半徑鄉西門. 於是, 在這個農曆新年假期, 我便啟動了我的尋根之旅.

第一站是汕頭市. 從深圳羅湖城乘坐大巴, 約四個半小時的車程, 便把我們送到了汕頭市. 這是廣東省境內最大的操潮語的城市. 位於南中國海的一隅, 人山人海, 車水馬龍, 洋溢著繁華和熱鬧的氣氛. 這裡的汽車有大有小, 有亮麗的也有帶點骯髒的; 摩托車有分兩輪和三輪的, 此外還有自行車, 人力車, 馬路雖然寬敞, 仍然不時聽見汽車的喇叭聲. 這裡有一個大海港, 港灣岸邊高樓林立, 當中包括辦公室和民房, 它們有些裝修美侖美奐, 也有一些經過了歲月的洗禮而變得陳舊殘破的, 但總含有一 種韻味. 在這裡, 我突然泛起一種家的感覺, 因為這裡的人, 不分男女老少都講潮州話.

翌日早上, 我們到金砂公園旁邊的菜市場走一圈, 是一種別開生面的經歷------這裡除了常見的水果蔬菜檔攤, 水產魚類檔攤和鮮肉檔攤外, 我們還看見載著甘蔗條的單車小販走過, 也有賣荸薺的在給荸薺剥皮, 賣活鴨的連斑羽青冠鴨也在售賣之列(沒想到這鴨是可以食用的!), 還有賣活雞, 白兔的(噢, 不知他們買來吃或是養來做寵物?). 賣花生糖, 芝麻糖的就給我熟悉的感覺, 因為我在新加坡也經常可以吃得到.

坐了一個小時的巴士, 我們來到第二站潮州市作半天遊. 這個市鎮規模較汕頭小一點, 但各方面看來挺相似. 也許我應該說, 汕頭的街道比較乾淨一點. 在西湖路邊的小檔, 我們享受了一頓下午茶------美味的燒烤雞腿, 豆腐, 玉米和烤地瓜. 然後, 我們在西湖岸邊散步走了一會, 便趕往車站坐車前往普寧, 這是這次旅程的主要目的------尋根!

來到普寧, 市中心的面貌和氛圍與汕頭市很是相似, 只是比汕頭更繁忙一些. 披著亮麗燈飾的流沙大道和流沙新河歡迎兩位素未謀面的客人在傍晚八時初到貴境. 經過兩個半小時的車程, 人餓了, 也累了, 急著找吃和住的地方. 不濟的是, 我們不是走錯路就是餐廳因為要過節而關門, 我們只能在一家中國版的肯得基快餐廳(CBC-Chinese Best Chicken)充飢. 餐廳裡坐滿穿著新年服飾的年輕爸媽跟他們的孩子在享用漢堡包, 冰淇淋等等. 在找旅館的時候, 我們發現市裡明顯擁有很多的熱溫泉, 因為我們找到的幾家旅館都有提供溫泉水來沐浴. 正值春節, 街上小販很多, 賣衣服, 玩具, 食品, 還有遊戲攤位. 在流沙公園旁的老干部俱樂部外面, 我們曾經駐足欣賞老干部唱潮戲, 當中有現場樂隊伴唱.

翌日中午, 我們坐上計程車, 快到普寧大垻鎮半徑鄉西門了, 我的心情越來越緊張, 我祖父母的祖家就在前面! 它比我想像中來得近, 從熱鬧的市中心坐十五分鐘計程車便可抵達.

我們停在村口的一個牌坊, 上面寫著 “半徑大道” 四個字. 這條主道長約一公里, 路的左邊, 整齊的矗立著一排一排的單層古老房舍, 中間有胡同相間; 路的右邊, 先是一些學校設施, 再過一點座立了幾幢比較新式的兩三層高民房, 再遠些是幾座獨立但殘破的房舍, 但都相距不遠. 這些建築物的前面是一條小溪, 往它們後面走則是小山坡.

我們沿大路走, 左邊房子的牆壁上張貼了一張偌大的族譜------序列黃氏宗親第一代至第十代男丁的名字. 一位老人家貯立一旁, 我趨前問他那是什麼, 從他口述可以得知這條黃氏村落的始祖叫黃祚鳳, 他的兒子, 孫子, 曾孫子延續了村子的生命到現在. 村裡的每戶人家都有親戚關係, 並同屬一個黃氏. 這裡主要分為東門和西門兩翼, 是祚鳳先生的兩個兒子的兩脈伸延. 那位老人家就是來自西門的第十一代, 同時我覺察到我的祖父母也來自西門, 並推算出我和我的兄弟姊妹就是黃氏宗親的第十二代或第十三代後人.

離學校不遠, 豎立著一塊石碑, 上面刻有來自新加坡捐款人的名字, 他們捐助興建村裡的供水設施. 我看見了我兩個伯伯的名字------ 黃應長, 黃如興也在上面. 這裡可算是自供自足的村落, 學校, 診所, 理髮店, 糧油雜貨店齊備. 當我們四處閒逛時, 我們可以看見赤腳的小孩子自由自在的玩耍, 玩具槍, 羽毛球, 唱兒歌, 小女孩或村婦在路邊小溪洗衣服. 我們還在簡陋的猪棚餵猪, 在那些古老房舍裡也有人養猪. 走到胡同的盡頭, 我們可以瞭望一大片一望無際的菜田, 上面種了芥藍菜, 菜心, 莞茜, 芹菜, 蒜蔥等. 在遠處的山腳底下, 一大片綠色的農田和單層式的傳統房舍相連, 柔和相襯. 這個下午, 我們在這裡呼吸著清新的空氣和看到無盡的空間------多美妙的一個地方!

從普寧回深圳, 原本只需三個小時的車程, 我們卻坐了六個小時, 全因高速公路上的堵塞. 回到香港, 我的第二個家原來這麼可愛.