I have been living in Australia for 27 years. My parents and siblings are living in China. Therefore, I visit to China each year, withextra visits for some special occasions. The visit often combines seeing family, learning new things and having fun. Each visit is a big visit.
My father is 84, mother is 76. I have 2 younger sisters, 1 younger brother and their families in China. They all live in a small city in Fujian, China. They are all well and do interesting things for their livings. My father is a Tai Chi master, he has many students, many of the students have become his god sons. My mother is a Chinese herbalist, she heals strange deseases and have saved many people from disabilities. She has retired, but is still seeing patients who have found her and come from far away.
My family house stands on an old piece of land on top of a hill. It has view of the town and mountain top in the distance. The old house has been there for more than hundred years. My father was born there and same was I. The old timber house was a traditional Chinses 四合院 (SiHeYun). It was destroyed by fire some years ago. A new modern apartments has replaced the burned house. Fortunately they have kept the centre wall and reused some of the old stones and bricks.
In past three decades, China has changed rapidly. Every visit I see the differences. The feng shui of my hometown has changed dramaticly since the national highway went through the mountains and passed the city, the high speed (bullet) train has also reached the town. My home town used to be a mountain town, and public transportation was poor. The fresh tea leaves and fruits used to rot before they were delivered to main cities. The 30 hours journey in old days now only needs 5 hours. The highway and bullet trains in the city have made good connections to other part of the country. The economy flourishes and people’s lives improve every year.
This year my husband and son joined the trip. Our jurney was at high speed, but comfortable and at ease. We were taken to banquets every day by relatives. Eating, chating and playing music at night. It was a loving, fun and high spirit gathering.
From my house, there is a new road with car access to the centre of the town which we use all the time. The highlight of the trip was that we have discovered the winding pathes from the old part of the house to the centre of the town were still there. With all the developments, the paths were kept and are almost the same as in older days. The Tiger Well my mother used to fetch water from is still in the same spot. The path leads to a local temple and joins other paths to the city.
It has good feng shui layout. The well is in a great position from the feng shui compass reading. This part of town has never flooded in history.
My husband filmed the path, as a western tourist he was amazed to enter an ancient world so suddenly.
Here is the link of the video he has filmed: hope you like it.