Meizhou Ancient Town, Relive the South Seas Dream

Meizhou Ancient Town, Relive the South Seas Dream

📍Songkou Ancient Town, located in Songkou Town, Meixian District, Meizhou City, was the first stop for Hakka people to travel to the South Seas after the end of the Ming Dynasty. It was also one of the important starting points of the Maritime Silk Road in China and is known as one of the "Four Ancient Towns of Lingnan". Songkou Ancient Town was also a major commercial town in history, with the reputation of "Never Recognizing the Prefecture". Despite the vicissitudes of life, people can still glimpse the ancient style of the town.

🏚️The ancient town's gray-brown riverside houses are lined up, and the more than 400 shops along the river form a winding and undulating outline of the ancient town. The gray plaster arcades with a South Seas style are even more distinctive. The upper floors and lower corridors not only provide shelter from the sun and rain but also serve as both commercial and residential spaces. The crisscrossing old streets reveal a unique overseas Chinese style amidst the vicissitudes of life.

🚢 Fireboat Wharf
It was the first stop for Hakka people to travel to the South Seas. People took boats from here to Shantou, transferred to ocean-going ships, and sailed across the ocean to the South Seas to make a living. The Songjiang Grand Hotel in front of the river and the bronze sculptures on the shore all tell the stories of the past. "A river flows eastward, sending my husband to the fireboat wharf." The fireboat on the shore blows its whistle and sets sail, carrying the dreams of young people. Hakka people also set out from here to the world.

🏨 Songjiang Grand Hotel
Located on Songkou Ancient Street, opposite the Fireboat Wharf, it witnessed the prosperity and decline of Songkou. At present, the Songjiang Grand Hotel is no longer used for its original purpose and has been transformed into an Overseas Chinese History and Culture Museum. It exhibits thousands of exhibits, including overseas Chinese letters, furniture brought back by overseas Chinese from foreign countries, daily necessities, and handicrafts. It has become a window for people to understand the customs of Meizhou overseas Chinese a hundred years ago.

Post by Seeker-Serenity | Sep 9, 2024