“Wow! So beautiful” HFPJC delegates were surprised when they arrived at Qianyancun, a village in Fujian.
The village was located in the countryside of Fujian. “You need to take a ‘rollercoaster’ ride for two hours from the high-speed rail station”, said the House Association secretary Hillary Yang, “I feel a freshly air after getting off the bus, and I feel relaxed. The scenery is beautiful here, without fancy enrichments. Although somewhere in the village has the grass grown higher than us, I think that the village is still lovely. The people are lovely, too.” Ryan Leong from City University of Hong Kong also shared similar feeling, “driving on the rough road for one and a half hour to the village, you will find a group of buildings that were painted in red. This is a traditional and peaceful village, Qianyangcun. Despite most of the residents moved away from here, the culture here still exists. Walking into the village, you will find that the signal of your cellular phone becomes weak, and you will also find out that the walls, the eaves, and the rocks are full of historical stories. Although your cellular phone can barely connect to the internet, you will not be bored, and you will reflect on everything that happened inside the village.”
Woke up in the morning of the second day, what you see is a beautiful green colour. “When I first met Qianyangcun, the sky becomes darker, and seems only cicadas singing in the valley. Getting away the noisy city, what I am looking for is just a piece of silence”, said HA Vice President Jennifer Yang, “We expected a life in a yard of countryside, so we started the journey to Qianyangcun. When we looked at the village that surrounded by trees, the sun light passed through the leaves and projected on the roof of buildings in red. When you looked more closely, there seems a mini museum that tells the history for the villagers. In addition, there are also artworks built by bamboo, which enlightened the energy here in Qianyang. Following the path by the river, walking through the woods and an old bridge, you will smell a freshly air and you will enjoy it a lot.”
The other college member, who was a resident assistant of HFPJC, Christy Choi says, “This village has a graceful nature, and the plants are growing healthily. I personally like insects. It is more like a hobby. Macau is a small city, and only some tiny bugs and plants are left, but I find out that there are plenty of insects inside this village. Some of them are not popular, and they are colourful. Such experience indicates a good environmental protection.” What attracted her the most was the artwork created by the bamboo, because the artwork enriched the energy of the village. She believed that those artworks were a part of our Chinese culture and she thought that this would become a unique characteristic of this village. The other spot that attracted her was the cloudy atmosphere appeared in the morning. When sun rose in the morning, the whole forest will be foggy, with a colour of white, red, and orange, and it looked like a fantasy. “Elderly, bamboo pavilion, ancient houses, and stream altogether act as an elegant scenery. I hope that visitors who come here will value everything during their stay, in order to maintain the beautiful scenery in the village”, said Christy.
“Through the experience of Qingyangcun for several days, although the time was short, I basically learned that the problem that existed in the village. However, the whole trip was unforgettable, and it let us pay attention to the problem in villages of China”, said HA President Cheryl Cheang, “The one who travels far knows much”. What we saw, touched, felt could not be learned through textbook. The oldest ancient building was built in the dynasty of Song. Told by Prof. Zhang and his colleagues, to fix and repair the damaged building was not an easy task. Except the repair of ancient buildings, Prof. Zhang helped build the village with heart. For example, he grew some flowers on the wall for enriching the road with beauty and favour. “With the support from people and the persistence from Prof. Zhang, I am lucky to see the fixed buildings and road during this visit. The beautiful scenery here awoke my curiosity and imagination. I cannot stop thinking what’s the life of people in the old days. I wish all those ancient villages could be preserved and let the others can enjoy the traditions of ancient villages.”
