In Chaoshan area of Guangdong, there is an ancient village, which is known as "the first hometown of overseas Chinese in Lingnan". This is a village built in the form of a family portrait. The rich culture of the hometown of overseas Chinese has influenced generations of future generations, and the younger generations who have come out from here are working hard to have such a hometown. Hundreds of years of wind and rain, hundreds of years of vicissitudes, left many historical traces and humanities here, telling future generations the glory of ancestors and the glory of villages. Because the ancient culture has been passed down from generation to generation, she has been included in the list of famous historical and cultural villages in China and traditional villages in China. This ancient village is Qianmei Village, Longdu Town, Chenghai District, Shantou City.
According to the genealogy of the village, the history of Qianmei Village seems to be not as long as Nanshe Village in Lingnan, so long ago, so rich in ancient marks, but Qianmei Village feels like a family's growing experience here. Judging from the ancient residential buildings here, it is basically a whole building structure, which wraps all the people in the village together to form a United collective and a good development trend.
The ancestors of Qianmei Village moved here from Fujian to escape the war in the Yuan Dynasty, took a fancy to this lush land and began to build beautiful homes. After several generations of reproduction, the Chen family in Qianmei Village has ushered in two wealth peaks. Once, granddaddy Chen Tingguang made a fortune as an official in Yongzheng period, and then returned to his hometown to do a lot of public welfare undertakings and build a mansion. The other was a business empire run by overseas Chinese represented by Chen Cifu in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China. They created great wealth and left a glorious mark in their hometown that their hometown people are proud of so far.
Qianmei Village is mainly represented by two buildings, one is Yongning Village, which was built more than 300 years ago. Yongning village is a huge square village with an area of 10333 square meters. In fact, the pattern of the village is like a small castle. It is the birthplace of the Chen family and was built by Chen Tingguang in the tenth year of Yongzheng. Because the ancestors expected their people to live a peaceful and peaceful life forever and not be invaded by foreign enemies, the stockade was named Yongning.
"Yongning Village" is built on low-lying land, surrounded by high walls, forming a style of low before and high after. The three high walls are 8 meters and the front wall is 4 meters. It's all tamped with gray sand and mud, and it's rock solid. So far, no one has collapsed. The stockade is like a sofa chair. Facing the Lotus Mountain in the distance, whenever the sky is clear, the blue sky and white clouds are reflected in the big pond in front of the village. The scenery of the village pool is clear, the lotus peaks are reflected, the famous halls are open, and the water and light are gathered, which is refreshing. It is said that this village was designed and built by Chen Tingguang with the help of a Buddhist at that time, so it is a treasure trove of geomantic omen.
Besides, the architecture of another village is a representative work that people in Qianmei Village are proud of. These buildings are mainly ancient dwellings centered on the former residence of Chen Cifu. These buildings not only conform to the architectural style of Lingnan School, but also perfectly combine the western interior decoration with the whole building, which is a wonderful architectural work combining Chinese and western. The former residence was built in the second year of Qing Dynasty, which lasted for nearly half a century, and it took several generations of efforts of Chen family to build it. The overall layout is magnificent, with 506 houses and an area of 25,400 square meters. It combines western-style foreign architecture, embellishes pavilions, cloisters and flyovers, twists and turns, and enters them like a maze, which is full of fun.
The ancient houses in Qianmei Village are the essence of the village, but Chen Jia Chen Fu is the essence of Qianmei Village. Let's talk about Chen Cifu's experience and how he became the pride of Qianmei Village. 1844 was born in Qianmei Village. When he was a teenager, he was smart and eager to learn. When he was a teenager, he had been doing business with his father Chen Xuanyi and became a good helper in his father's business. In his twenties, he made his mark in business. When his father was seriously ill, he took over all the business of the Chen family. The most important thing is the "Gantailong Tour" in Hong Kong.
187 1 year, Chen cifu came to Bangkok, Thailand to develop and set up "Chen cifu Li Xing" in Wuli, specializing in import and export trade, especially rice transportation and sales. Since then, he has sold Thai rice to places where rice is scarce in the south of China, and then shipped our specialties to Southeast Asia and other places to earn profits from commodities everywhere. At that time, Chen Cifu's main job was to keep an eye on the business reports of Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Shantou and other places and direct the development of "Chen Cifu's money-making business". Due to the increasing quantity, increasing demand and booming business, naturally his business territory is also expanding. Since then, a number of semicolons have been opened one after another, becoming business tycoons in Southeast Asia. It is said that at that time, there were countless silver dollars that were profitable every day, all of which were calculated by the meter bucket, which was a daily gain.
In fact, there are many buildings, folk customs and delicious food in Qianmei Village, which people talk about, but we are telling a long-standing inspirational story about how an overseas Chinese in Chaoshan worked hard until he succeeded in his career and finally returned to his hometown.
Now Qianmei Village not only has an ancient history and culture, but also has beautiful natural scenery, clean and tidy streets, shady green vegetation, pure lotus flowers planted in the clear pond in the village, and weeping willows flowing by the pond, all of which create a fresh and beautiful environment for the ancient village, a water town in the south of the Yangtze River.