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Aquino's Ancestral Home |
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Hongjian
Village is home to former Philippine president Corazon
Aquino's ancestors. Her portrait still graces many homes
in the village.
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Picturesque Hongjian Village, with its clean
streets and graceful-looking houses is located just one kilometre
from Ciji Palace. This is the ancestral home of Corazon Aquino,
the former president of the Philippines, More than 120 years
ago, her great-grandfather Xu Yuhuan and others bid farewell
to their fellow villagers and sailed across the sea to start
a new life in the Philippines. Aquino's ancestral hall still
stands today - an ancient-looking structure that has been
converted into a primary school, where students attend classes
under portraits of their forefathers.
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The
bay around Gongqian Village on Dongshan Island is a
busy fishing harbour.
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During her visit to China in 1988, President
Aquino came to Hongjian Village and met her kin, dropped in
on her uncle and donated money to rebuild the Xus' ancestral
hall. It is said that former Singaporean Prime Minister Lee
Kuan Yew, and Taiwan's President Lee Teng-hui, also have family
roots in Zhangzhou.
The Zhao Family Palace is tucked away in the shadow of ancient
trees at the northeastern foot of Shugao Mountain near Lingjiao
Village, 30 kilometers east of Zhangpu. This imitation of the
Song-dynasty imperial palace in Kaifeng was built during the
Ming Dynasty by Zhao Fan, a descendant of the Song imperial
family, who were forced to flee the invading Jin troops from
the north. |
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This
huge boulder is precariously balanced atop Dongshan's
ancient fort.
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The palace is divided into two parts. The
Outer City is composed of five rows of houses - there are 150-odd
rooms in all - linked to each other by high-walled courtyards.
The Outer City looks out onto a flagstone courtyard and a lake
with pavilions and arched bridges. The Inner City is a square,
open-topped structure fashioned in the same style as those in
Hakka villages in western Fujian. Encircled on four sides by
a 20-metre-tall rammed-earth wall, it is actually a quadrangle
of three-storey buildings.
The Zhao Family Palace is skirted by a l,500-metre-long wall,
six metres tall with crenellated parapets and embrasures. From
the top of the wall one can see a primary school, some tiny
stores and more than 500 families living in the Inner City.
What was once an imperial palace has been transformed into a
tightly-knit village. There is also a museum here which houses
many cultural relics, including 17 portraits of Song-dynasty
emperors. Today the Zhao Family Palace is a well-known historical
attraction in Zhangzhou. |
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