The Lum's Clan's Ancestral Home (祖屋) in the village of  "Gao Por" (高坡村) outside the city of Xinyi (信宜) in the administrative district of "Maoming"( 茂名市) in the Guangdong (广东) Province of the PRC.

(This is the first of two Parts about our ancestral home. The second and final Part will be posted in a couple of days' time.)

(1) Backdrop

On the first day of CNY 2023, I was on the wechat's app talking with our China-based cousin, Wai Hon (位漢). I was told that all our cousins and their respective families are all doing fine in the PRC.

Wai Hon (born 1950) is the second eldest son of our late uncle "Yee Mei" (YM) (義美叔). YM was the youngest of three brothers. His late elder brothers were Lum Heng (LH) and Lum Pooi (LP). 

Wai Hon's late elder brother was "Wai Hoong"  (位鴻). I believe his birthyear was 1948.

Almost 10 years ago, eight of us made a trip back to visit our ancestral home.(See video clip below : 

It was the first for all seven ladies/girls in the group and the second one for me. I first visited our ancestral home in 1988. I even shared a mini 'large-table' style farewell dinner in the original ancestral home prior to my departure from the village. 

My visit then was very brief : At most just one hour or so. The reason was night time. Then there were few street lights along the route from Xinyi back to Guangzhou. The driver was anxious about night driving for reasons best known to himself.

For your information, it was during the visit in 2013 that I told Wai Hon to preserve and strive for the perpetual existence of our ancestral home. He promised me he would try.

In early 2014, I personally remitted two tranches of RM5,000 each to Wai Hon's bank account. That was meant as our Malaysian-based relatives' financial contribution towards the upkeep of our ancestral home.

(2) Likely Age of Our Ancestral Home

According to the late Wai Hoong, the earliest 'part(s)' of the ancestral home was there since 1949 (the year before he was born - he quipped so  in the video clip). However, I recalled that during my first visit, YM told me that his brother LP was the first to join their father (our common grandfather) from the village in Gao Por. According to YM, 'they' walked for three days over the hills behind their home to the township (now city) of Zhanjiang (湛江) - a city opposite Macau. 

LP was brought to Malaya when he was about 9 years old by his father i.e. our grandfather. In this return trip back to China to fetch LP and another of his nephew, "Uncle Jor" (左伯) I ventured and guessed that was when our grandfather implanted the 'seeds' for YM's eventual birth. Consequently, LP was 10 years older than YM (Alan can confirm this).

LP's birthyear was 1918. If we factor in his age when he left the village at say 10, then our ancestral home would have been at that spot or nearby since 1928. Lets round off to 1930. So, by logical extension, the site and/or the foundation or part(s) of it of our ancestral home would be or might well become at least 93 years in 2023. It is definitely worth preserving the said fixed asset for posterity  - if not for our descendants !

(3) The Building Structure Itself As It Is Now

I recalled from LP and/or  YM's casual talks/chit-chats that their early memories of their homestead was a 'straws-thatched abode' facing hills and surrounded by paddy fields. LP reminisced that he often rode on the back of a buffalo to and from the 'Learning Hall' (学堂) (psuedo-school if you like). He did also carried his baskets of home-made cookies for sale in the morning makeshift-market (trans-literation "charng houie") - again, by riding riding the buffalo.

Back when LH, LP and YM were kids, I guessed that their home was at best a mere spartan straws-roofed simplest of wooden-cum-mudded structure. Likely with open yards and few or no separate bona fide rooms.

When our late grandfather ran his 'pigs raising, pork butchering and selling business' in Mempateh, Mukim of Lanchang, Pahang, the then Malaya as well as LH and LP having their own businesses, money was sent back, albeit irregularly at first, to Xinyi for our late grandmother. On these frugal remittances she did eked out a subsistent living with the young and poverty-strickened family. It was during the 1970's and 1980's that LH and LP sent in more money to Gao Por.

Together with the contributions from our cousins who were growing up in the PRC and with the money they earned and expended, the ancestral home became what it was like as you have just seen in the linked video clip.

(4) The Ancestral Home in 1988 - as I Recalled It

My first glean of our ancestral home from a short distance away was of a rather sprawling wooden cum bricked single storey structure sitting atop a small hill. Its surrounding area was an open-area with only a lone but seemingly large village hut sited some 30 yards at the back of it. That, as I was told by 'Jor Pak' himself during the large table style dinner, was the home of our "Jor Pak". 

The private Peugeot 504 car that drove me for some 12 hours from Guangzhou to Gao Por was parked right in front of the house  - though on a slight slope. My quick scan of the areas abutting the building gave me a "gut feel" of some one to 1.50 acres of land. I must admit here that I first arrived at the ancestral home about dusk and was unable to take a quick look-see of the general locality. Hence, my gut feel.

The  main praying and joss-sticks offering altar as seen in the video above was, I recall, a 'deeper' chamber complete with a large Mao Tze Tung's potrait plastered centrally. Why 'deeper'? Well, I had to move farther back with my camera in order to capture the entire chamber where our cousins lined up pair by pair and their kids in order for me to take their pictures. I think where I stood and shuttered the camera then was now some point above the main road running 'infront' of the house.

Main road in front of the house? How so?

(5) Land Size Reduced for Rural Trunk Road

According to Wai Hon, part of the ancestral land's original size was compulsorily acquired by the local authority. That was for a then proposed principal rural trunk road. Consequently, a motorizable main road is now present 'in front' of the ancestral home.

In return for surrendering the larger part of the ancestral land and as due compensation, the authority alienated five plots of housing-lot sized land to the five sons of the family. These plots are sited about 100m away. 

The brothers have since constructed their respective family-homes. Their houses have seen some major improvements and renovations up till now (see latest clips from Wai Hon).

(6) Conclusion

Our ancestral home sits on a piece of relatively prime rural land. Its structure is traditionally completed with a large rectangular court yard. Structures-wise, the building is still fundamentally sound - save for some minor roof leakages. 

I personally believe that our ancestral home is perhaps one of the few surviving 1940's styled typical Chinese rural homestead. Its preservation for posterity is and must be culturally and filially pursued by all our clan members-of-means.

So, my dear relatives ... time to dip into your pockets and kitties to do your filial duties lah ... (:-D) 

BL 6th. Feb. 2023 KL

(P/S : I have yet to dig up some past and recent pictures and videos and then uploading them for your viewing and referencing. These will be accomplished in my next posting in this blog. Cheers!)