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Tag: Diaspora

Historical photograph showing Heshan migrants in Singapore during the early 20th century, with traditional Chinese architecture in the background

From Heshan to Nanyang: How Chinese Migrants Built Lives Across Two Worlds

From Heshan to Nanyang: How Chinese Migrants Built Lives Across Two Worlds Before millions of Chinese families crossed the Pacific to California's Gold Mountain, there was another journey—older, closer, and equally transformative. This is the story of the people who left the mountains of Guangdong's Five Counties region (五邑, Wǔyì) not for America, but for…

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Elder placing incense at an ancestral altar inside a traditional Chinese clan temple during the Qingming Festival.

Qingming in the Five Counties: A Diaspora Descendant’s Guide to Tomb-Sweeping in Wuyi

Qingming in the Five Counties: A Diaspora Descendant's Guide to Tomb-Sweeping in Wuyi Every spring, a quiet migration takes place. From San Francisco, Toronto, Sydney, and Singapore, thousands of overseas Chinese board planes bound for a small region in southern China. They carry no suitcases of gifts—just themselves, and sometimes, a lifetime of questions. They…

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