Water Has Ten Thousand Branches but One Source
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In 1225 on a hillside in northern Guangdong, one man gathered his family and made a pact. His name was 陈辉 (Chén Huī), honorifically called 凤台公 (Fèngtái Gōng, Honorable Fengtai). He was a Song-dynasty jinshi (进士), the highest imperial examination degree, who served as Imperial…
Between 1840 and 1940, the Siyi (四邑, Four Counties) region of Guangdong sent over two million laborers overseas — the largest sustained labor migration in modern Chinese history. These were not explorers or merchants. They were farmers, woodcutters, and village men who walked from counties like Taishan (台山) and Kaiping (开平) to the departure piers…
The Women Who Built Gold Mountain: Jinshanpo Wives and the Hidden Architecture of Qiaoxiang
By RootsWeb Newsroom | June 10, 2026
1. A Face in the Dust
The year is sometime in the late 1940s, and the village lies in Taishan (台山, Táishān), in the rocky southwestern corner of Guangdong's Pearl River Delta. A woman…
A tower stands alone in a rice paddy near a river called Baisha. Its reinforced concrete walls face west — toward America. It was built with money sent from a laundry in San Francisco by a man — call him Zhang — who left his village in 1902. He never saw the tower finished. He…
New Gold Mountain: Wuyi Pioneers in Australia 1850-1901
Your ancestors might have talked about going to Gold Mountain (金山 Jīnshān). But which one?
The Old Gold Mountain (旧金山 Jiù Jīnshān) was California—San Francisco, the gold rush that began in 1848 and drew thousands from Guangdong's Wuyi (五邑) region to seek their fortune.
But there was…
Plan Your Roots Trip: A First-Timer's Guide to Taishan and Kaiping Villages
You've done the research. You know the village name. You've looked at the maps, traced the migration routes, maybe even found your great-grandfather's immigration file.
Now comes the moment you've been waiting for — going home.
Planning a roots trip to China is…
If you're curious about what makes Wuyi (五邑) such a fascinating region, look no further than its breathtaking Wuyi landscape. Nestled in the western Pearl River Delta of Guangdong Province, this area—often referred to as the “Five Counties”—is more than just a collection of hills, rivers, and plains. Its unique geography has shaped not only…
So there I was, sitting in the Four Seasons Restaurant in Kaiping Tangkou (yes, that Four Seasons), when I bumped into Peter Stuckey. Now, Peter’s no ordinary retiree—he’s not out here sipping margaritas on a beach or playing bingo. Oh no. This guy spends his days volunteering at the Tangkou Community Project , jetting back…