{"id":27838,"date":"2024-10-30T03:37:58","date_gmt":"2024-10-30T03:37:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chestnutjournal.com\/?p=27838"},"modified":"2024-10-30T04:32:37","modified_gmt":"2024-10-30T04:32:37","slug":"in-their-footsteps-33-hui-as-the-origin-of-jiangmen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chestnutjournal.com\/2024\/10\/30\/in-their-footsteps-33-hui-as-the-origin-of-jiangmen\/","title":{"rendered":"In Their Footsteps \u2013 33 Hui as the Origin of Jiangmen"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have a very favorable impression of Jiangmen due to a personal memory of my grandma. When WWII began, resources were scarce. She would take her mother\u2019s Qing dynasty clothes to the merchants of Jiangmen in exchange for money. \u201cOne piece of my mother\u2019s Qing dynasty tunic could be tailored into a few pieces of modern style clothing,\u201d as she would tell me. Indeed, Jiangmen had every geographical feature that gave rise to its emergence as a key trading port in Guangdong Province.<\/p>\n

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The History of Jiangmen<\/span><\/h2>\n

Meaning \u201cThe Gate of the River,\u201d Jiangmen at its inception as a trading port was an area flooded by the waters of Pengjiang River. Two islands, as mountains submerged in the river, were the land mass in this area. Jiangmen was the river mouth, where the river merged with the ocean. The view of these two mountaintop islands standing opposite to each other created the imagery that inspired Jiangmen\u2019s name. The mountaintop islands were the gate of Pengjiang River.<\/p>\n

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Impressions of 33 Hui<\/span><\/h2>\n

From Nan Lou<\/a> in Kaiping<\/a> we called a car to ride for more than an hour before reaching the vicinity of 33 Hui, a photogenic area in Jiangmen. We had to walk through a web of alleyways to find it.<\/p>\n

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Photo: A nice alleyway on the way to 33 Hui<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t miss the oldest marketplace of Jiangmen, however. From every turn of the streets at 33 Hui, a sense of assuredness emanated. From the introductory signs there one sensed a pride revived \u2014 a dilapidated part of the city being thrusted into the national limelight because a popular Chinese TV drama called Kuangbiao<\/em> (2023) was set in here.<\/p>\n

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Photo: A hair salon on Jingguo Jie capitalizing on the TV drama that was set in 33 Hui by offering hairdos that replicate the hairstyle of the TV drama’s characters.<\/span><\/p>\n

Toward the dusk hours we headed into a world of old qilou\u2019s<\/em>, the sprawling arcades that typified the old urban developments of southern China. As the daylight waned, the street lamps casted a yellowish hue upon a busy street scene, unveiling an age-old community that has stood tall amidst the currents of time.<\/p>\n

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Yet 33 Hui clearly struggles between meeting the day-to-day needs of the locals and the sightseeing demands of the tourists. Throngs brushed shoulders under the arcades. Hawkers and proper shops alike placed their goods for sale, encroaching on the pedestrian walkways, and rather shamelessly so.<\/p>\n