Hongsheng Palace, Sydney, Australia

It is said that the Zhonghua Hongsheng Palace in Sydney has been listed as one of the temples for cultural relics protection by the provincial government. I drove from CBD and arrived in less than ten minutes. This Hongsheng Palace is different from other temples I have been to. Its interior decoration and products are full of local folk colors. In the middle of the temple, there is Sheng. It is said that Hong Sheng was an important minister in the Tang Dynasty. His name was Hong. Because of his knowledge of astronomy and geography, he often helps local fishermen. After his death, Cantonese built temples. For more than a thousand years, he was worshipped as a god. After the failure of the Second Opium War, the corrupt and incompetent Manchu government signed a series of compensation and land compensation treaties with foreign countries. 1856, when the British and French allied forces attacked Guangdong province, the local government levied exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous fees on the people to pay off the debts of the invaders, which made the local people's lives in deep trouble. /kloc-in the middle of the 0/9th century, a large number of laborers went overseas to make a living. The Hongsheng Palace in Sydney was built with donations from workers from Gaoyao, Guangdong who came to Australia to "sell piglets". Although the temple has experienced more than a century of wind and rain, its structure and paint color do not indicate that it has a history of 100 years. It is not only the spiritual sustenance and protector of the upper class in Guangdong, but also the cultural relic witness of China's early immigration to Australia. Among the countless Chinese organizations in Sydney, there is a "Red Rice Association in the Ming and Tang Dynasties" which is often seen in newspapers. Founded at the end of 19, it has a history of more than 100 years, with as many as 30,000 members. This is one of the earliest, oldest and largest Chinese communities in Australian and China history. If it is a traditional vegetable growing place in Guangdong, the upper class in Sydney has been growing vegetables for more than 100 years. However, in the past years, especially in the era of "White Australia" policy, the proportion of vegetables grown by upper-class people in Sydney's vegetable market was very small. At that time, most of the vegetable gardens in Sydney were taken care of by European immigrants. Because of my work, I visited the homes of two retired old vegetable farmers who came to Australia to grow vegetables with their parents from Italy during World War II. The owner of a vegetable garden lives in a beautiful villa on two floors, and the old couple live an idyllic life-fruit trees are planted in the distance, and some people take care of them just to decorate the environment; There is a small vegetable field nearby, so I have to plant it myself for a lifelong hobby. My descendants will never have anyone to deal with soil again. In another family, only an elderly widow lives alone, and she rents most of the vegetable garden to others for cultivation. She said that she likes the living environment in the countryside and doesn't want to sell her land and move to the city to live with her children and grandchildren. With the improvement of the cultural level of European immigrant descendants and the shrinking of their vegetable market, people with high status gradually controlled more than 95% of the vegetable gardens and 80% of the vegetable market in Sydney. In recent years, about 50,000 high-ranking people immigrated to Australia. Many people rent other people's land because of language, skills and funds. With their diligence and unique experience, vegetable farmers have introduced a large number of new varieties of vegetables from Gaoyao, in addition to the vegetables that westerners like. Vegetables in China are much richer now than when I first came to Sydney more than ten years ago. In addition to Hongsheng Palace, there is also a vegetable garden near Sydney Airport, which has been taken care of by senior people 100 years. Although the land price in this area has soared in recent years and there are many high-rise buildings around, the provincial government has listed this vegetable garden as a cultural relic protection unit, so that all Sydney citizens can remember the great contribution of high-level people to the Sydney vegetable market!