Vignettes of the World
If the 1,200 rakan statues that stand at the Otagi Nenbutsu-ji Temple represent the Buddhist followers’ celebration of their faith in life, then the 8,000 stone markers at the Adashino Nenbutsu-ji Temple are the proper tribute to death. The sky opened up at this hour …
The Hehu Xinju is in so many ways representative of Hakka culture in both Shenzhen and in China. In this tour of the enormous Hakka residential complex, I learned about the significance of the Luo family, who established its prominence in Shenzhen since the Qianlong …
Sheung Shui Heung, also known as Sheung Shui Wai, is traditionally of the Liu surname. As a large centuries-long settlement area for indigenous villagers, Sheung Shui Heung has a few heritage sites worthy of visiting. I have discussed the stately Liu Man Shek Tong Ancestral Hall in a previous entry. There are more interesting heritage buildings in Sheung Shui Heung.
This time I visited the old house in Chung Sum Tsuen Village, passed by the Liu Ming Tek Tong and also took a quick look at the Liu Ying Lung Study Hall. The suggestion is to visit all of these in one visit, along with the Liu Man Shek Tong Ancestral Hall.
Chung Sum Tsuen Village came into being when the Liu’s settlement sprawled beyond the original Wai Noi Tsuen Village area. Sheung Shui Wai, originally Wai Noi Tsuen Village, was established in around 1646. Then other villages, including Chung Sum Tsuen Village, was established in the 19th century as an expansion of the Liu’s settlement in Sheung Shui Wai.
On No. 9, Second Lane, Chung Sum Tsuen stands an old house with interesting architecture. For a long time I have been intrigued by the “wok handle top” (“wok yee” gable) gables of Qing dynasty era vernacular village homes. They shape like the handle of the wok, as the name suggests.
According to the Wikipedia on Lingnan Architecture, during the Ming dynasty, only those who have achieved a certain level of recognized scholarship could build this kind of top for their village homes. In terms of practical purpose, these types of walls prevent fire and provides shade against the sun.
On this site once stood the Ngai Lan Tong Ancestral Hall. The original structure collapsed in the 19th century. Thereafter, the villagers built their homes in this location. I took a short walk around the neighborhood and saw Ngai Lan Tong’s modern structure not far away.
On No. 11, First Lane, Chung Sum Tsuen stands another old house. It is actually just around the corner from No. 9, Second Lane. It also shows the “wok handle top” that fascinates me.
In terms of architectural merit, “it is constructed of green bricks with its walls to support its pitched roof of timber rafters, purlins and clay tiles” (AAB Historic Building Appraisal No. 1082).
Both of these houses are Grade 3 Historic Buildings. These old houses are still the residence for villagers. Therefore, please respect their privacy and minimize all potential disturbance when you visit.
The Liu Ming Tek Tong Study Hall is a structure of the 8th year of the Daoguang reign in the Qing dynasty (1828), just ten years prior to the building of the Liu Ying Lung Study Hall, discussed below.
Built in the 2-hall, 1-courtyard layout, Liu Ming Tek Tong celebrates Liu Ying Fung, the brother of Liu Ying Lung. Liu Ming Tek Tong Study Hall and the Liu Ying Lung Study Hall lie nearby each other, as a celebration of the brotherhood between these two brothers.
The Liu Ying Lung Study Hall is a structure of the 18th year of the Daoguang reign in the Qing dynasty (1838). It commemorates the fourth-generation ancestor Liu Ying Lung. The structure is built in the 2-hall, 1-courtyard layout. The pitched roof of the study hall is supported by granite columns. On three sides of the courtyard there is a veranda.
At the back hall, an altar is set for the spirit tablets of the ancestors. The courtyard is the venue for all kinds of community events, including marriage celebration, New Years festivities and newborn ceremonies.
Other than community events and ancestral worship, the Liu Ying Lung Study Hall also served as a study for the village children to learn the Chinese classics. As with the Liu Man Shek Tong, the Liu Ying Lung Study Hall was once a kindergarten for modern education between 1963 to 1988. As such, the Liu Ying Lung Study Hall is itself a testament of the Liu’s tradition of saluting erudition and education in its clan.
The Liu Ying Lung Study Hall is a Grade 1 Historic Building.
The Liu Man Shek Tong Ancestral Hall was built in the 16th year of the Qianlong Reign during the Qing dynasty (1751). Unlike most other ancestral halls in the New Territories, where they bear the name of a certain accomplished ancestor, the name Man Shek in this ancestral hall has a special story. According to the description on site,
Literally meaning 10,000 shi (“shek” a unit of measure for grain), the name “Man Shek” dates back to the Song dynasty… a distant ancestor of the clan, Liu Kong, and his four sons were all high government officials who each earned an annual salary of 2,000 shi of cereal, thus 10,000 shi in total. Their descendants named the ancestral hall “Liu Man Shek Tong” in their honour.
See more on the Liu Man Shek Tong Ancestral Hall in my previous entry.
Antiquities Advisory Board, 1444 Historic Buildings Summary No. 1074 on No. 9, Second Lane, Chung Sum Tsuen (Chin).
Antiquities Advisory Board, Historic Building Appraisal, No. 1082 on No. 11, 1st Lane, Chung Sum Tsuen, Sheung Shui.
The Wikipedia on Lingnan Architecture (Chin).
Tungknow.blogspot.com on Ming Tek Tong Study Hall (Chin).
For all of my friends that visit Hong Kong for the first time, I always suggest the Peak as a must-do itinerary. Even for friends that have been there before, I would suggest visiting it again. The Peak offers a whole lot of things to …
Chenpi, the dried mandarin peel, is a specialty of Xinhui for as far as history remembers. In this part of China, the chenpi is so well-known that it is considered one of the three treasures of Guangdong, alongside with old ginger and straw. At first …
In this three-day, two-night trip, I tried three restaurants.
After the heaviest day of sightseeing on Day 2, I decided to treat myself at Daxia Tanbao Restaurant. It serves Malaysian cuisine and offers a few significant strengths in its dining experience.
First of all, I generally enjoy dining with a view. The Daxia Tanbao Restaurant is located right by the Tanjiang River, a section of which will eventually meet the Yamen Channel not very far south. The view at the restaurant was fantastic, right across from a kilometers-long row of densely grown bald cypress trees. At this time of the year, all the foliage remained red. This is the view that I was dining to.
The dining area is covered but semi-open in terms of ventilation. There was a big party that evening, but the dining hall was very spacious. The second great thing about Daxia Tanbao is the interesting menu. I opted for a one-person BBQ platter, to be cooked at the table by yourself over a charcoal lit stove with a piece of tile as the cooking “pan.”
The meat was quite good, in the platter there was marinated beef, Japanese grown pork, chicken, octopus sausage and two kinds of vegetables. It took me about 1.5 hours to finish my plate. Needless to say, I felt an incredible sense of satiation after eating all that food. I topped up with hot coffee and I paid about RMB 200 yuan for a fantastic time. If you do not want to do BBQ, there are also hotpot options, or otherwise just regular Southeast Asian dishes.
The address of Daxia Tanbao Restaurant is 50 Meters North of Tanjiang River, Jinguzhou Dahuabofuyu, Xinhui, Jiangmen, Guangdong.
On Day 1, I needed a quick and easy dinner after settling down at the hotel. I searched on the Gaode Map App and it pointed me to a few restaurants in the neighborhood. The first one that I looked at was too local for me. It was so local that I thought I went back in time to 1970s Guangzhou. Since there has been prevalent instances of food poisoning, I decided that cleanliness was key for dining in China.
I finally decided that I would just eat at the clean, brightly-lit, tidy restaurant right by the 7 Day Premium Hotel. The restaurant’s name is Xianggang Cai Yeye, Fresh Shrimp Wonton Noodles.
As I entered the restaurant, I noticed that the owner was handling his noodles in the shop. I knew he was the owner because the signage of the shop shows his caricature. He was surely very friendly, and so were his staff. I do remember the claypot rice of Jiangmen rather fondly, so I ordered a fish claypot rice. I figured that something so hot as a claypot rice would kill all germs and prevent me from catching food poisoning.
After chatting with the owner and the staff for a while, we started speaking Cantonese because he has worked in Hong Kong as a chef at Mak’s Noodle, which is likely the most well-known wonton noodle in Hong Kong.
The claypot was certainly very good. I enjoyed it much and decided that I would come back to try their wonton noodles. The shop does make the representation that you will get Mak’s Noodle here, and of course, at the price level of a small county in China.
I thought the wonton tasted quite close to Mak’s Noodle, but the noodles at this shop certainly has not achieved the bounciness and smoothness of the noodles of Mak’s Noodle. The soup was fine. Given its good price, I really wasn’t complaining.
Xianggang Cai Yeye is located on Nanyu Lu, between Qixiang Nanyujie (7th Alley of Nanyu Street) and Jiuxiang Nanyujie (9th Alley of Nanyu Street).
On Day 3, I must have some food early morning before heading out to the chenpi village. The dim sum restaurant in the neighborhood, which opens 24 hours a day, had to be my choice. Not too bad for a little something in the morning.
The address of Gongfuke is No. 83, Ground Floor, Huicheng Nanyu, Qixiang, Nanyujie, Xinhui, Jiangmen, Guangdong.
This trip to Xinhui is certainly not a foodie excursion, so I went easy on what I was going to eat. It turned out that I had a pretty good selection of satisfying meals.
After seeing the Lvmei Ecological Park and the Shijian Park, I was geared up for some historic sightseeing. The Yamen Fort came into mind. The Qing dynasty era old fort stands beautifully restored at the mouth of the Pearl River. It has a proud history …
I had to leave and return to Xinhui in order to have a proper meal. I checked the Gaode Map App and realized that I could in fact walk from Lvmei Ecological Park to Shijian Park, which was what I intended to see next. The …
At Lvmei Ecological Park (Green Beauty Ecological Park—in Mandarin Chinese, “lv” is pronounced in l as the consonant combined with the French vowel “u”) in Shantouping, Xinhui, a flourish of purple tabebuia flowers has drawn the curtain for the spring season with a colorful song of life. I took a 2-day trip to see the park that may very well have been heaven on earth.
In China, the floral season for purple tabebuia (tabebuia impetiginosa) is typically January to March every year. The day of my visit was January 24, 2025.
The admissions fee for the Lvmei Ecological Park (Lvmei Shengtaiyuan, Shantouping, Xinhui, Jiangmen, China) is RMB 48 yuan. The opening hours are Mondays to Sundays 8:30am to 5:30pm. Allow about 2-3 hours for photo taking at the park. At peak days, perhaps you must wait a little longer to take your photographs without the crowd.
To avoid crowds, I arrived at the Lvmei Ecological Park on a weekday, and right when it opened at 8:30am. For about an hour or two in the earlier morning, there were but a few souls in the garden. I took my time and toured every road in the garden, including the outer areas that were really not meant for tourists.
A slight disappointment for me was that the sun was only really coming up at around 10:30am to 11am. That was when the natural azure of the sky showed, but also when throngs of tourists started coming in. In terms of lighting, photographs are certainly much better taken between 11am to 3pm, but you would have to fight with other tourists for the prime spots. Since I had other sightseeing in mind, I decided to leave the garden around 11:00am.
The tabebuia impetiginosa (commonly named trumpet tree) is a deciduous tree, which sheds leaves at certain time of the year. The flowers of the purple tabebuia come in a cluster. When viewed closely, you see handfuls of bouquets hung on the branches.
As a medium height tree, the purple tabebuia usually grows to 15 to 30 meters high. The tabebuia tends to thrive in warm and humid climates, and it is a species native to Central American countries. The species’ blooming bouquets have made it one of the most popular transplanted species in all parts of the world. Needless to say, they are planted mostly for ornamental purposes.
In fact, the actual business of the Lvmei Ecological Park is the planting of these trees for sales. All the trees in this park were cultivated, and the park is a dealer in tabebuia impetiginosa saplings.
Perhaps I will share just one more fun fact about the tabebuia. The genus name of this floral tree came from the Tupi words for “ant” and “wood.” Many tabebuia species “have twigs with soft pith which forms hollows within which ants live, defending the trees from other herbivores.” (Wikipedia on Tabebuia).
The Lvmei Ecological Garden spans a whopping 400,000 square meters. More than 6,000 purple tabebuia trees spread all over this space, making it an expansive sea of purple to behold during the floral season.
There are quite a few features in the park that I found commendable. Tourism is a key business in China. With the rise of Red Note of late, there is a strong tendency for the Chinese people to take instagrammable (or “Red-Notable”) pictures, with shots taken at particularly “photogenic” spots.
To meet this tourist demand, many site administrators like to install “props” that encourage this type of photo taking. Very often, I find these efforts to be annoyingly unnecessary. A lot of these so-called photogenic spots consist of gaudy or otherwise cliché elements – drapes above a tired-looking wheeled metal cart, too many colorful lanterns or a random chair here and there that serve to ruin the natural views instead.
At the Lvmei Ecological Park, there are surely such instalments as well, but I did not find them annoying. The park is big enough that, if I did not like the props in one part, I certainly could take a photo without them anywhere else.
Where there is significant effort in beautifying the environment with a human touch, I found it to be well done. By the pavilion, there is a small pond, and I found it to be truly delicate in highlighting a sense of the “typically Asian” landscaping.
The pleasure of touring the park also came from the fact that the purple tabebuia was not that tall, and at almost every turn you could just reach out and touch the flowers. You feel intimate with these trees as you walk through them. I felt being wrapped around a natural wonder.
There are three high points where you can capture the panorama of “the sea of purple.” One is a viewing platform up on the hill, with a short flight of stairs and this would be the highest reachable point. The other is in the middle of the park, also a built viewing platform of two flights of stairs and a gaudy piano on top for “Red-Notable” pictures. At this spot you see the sea of purple at medium height. The third is the café area, with cute coconut shell platforms to view the trees on a higher vantage point.
Photos above: A panorama of the sea of purple tabebuia at the viewing platoform on the hill.
Finally, I enjoyed the coffee at the café very much. I had a nice chat with the staff there. A relaxed time with coffee was very much appreciated after seeing the beauty of tabebuia impetiginosa.
Baidu.com, Green Beauty Ecological Park (Chin).
Leafy Place, 121 Types of Trees with Their Name and Picture – Identification Guide.
The Wikipedia on Tabebuia.
In January of 2025 we welcome spring with open arms. The floral season has begun, and I have been seeing some really beautiful photographs of purple tabebuia on travel and photography blogs. Striking the iron while it’s hot, I packed my bags for a quick …