Reading about Chaozhou (2)｜Who lives in this old house?

It was already late at night when we arrived in Chaozhou yesterday, and we entered the long-awaited Chaozhou City in the dark. Chaozhou is silent late at night, just like the culture this city carries.

Although Chaozhou has many trendy merchants, the city’s construction is much more conservative than we imagined. When I first entered Chaozhou City last night, I thought I was back in Deqing, but the road was wider than in Deqing.

When I first arrived in Chaozhou, I was full of curiosity about everything around me. He pressed his face against the car window and opened his eyes wide to capture the street scene that was impossible to see clearly in the dark night. The navigation accompanied us all the way through the streets and alleys, and finally we arrived at the residence that our companion Akiko had booked for us in advance.

The residence we chose for this trip is a private house, which is also a popular B&B in recent years. I heard Sister Xinye tell me this morning that this old house has a history of one or two hundred years, and its current appearance was built by the overseas Chinese who came back. I leaned against the wall outside the house, looking at the fallen leaves in the corner of the courtyard and lost in thought. Sister Xinye’s words seemed to tell me that every brick, every brick, every plant and every tree here is filled with stories belonging to this family.

The dust from those fallen leaves is what the leaves on the tree in the courtyard will look like in the end. Looking at this old house full of stories, I was thinking, who once lived here? What's the story here? Who was born here? Who is leaving here? The faces I didn’t recognize flashed through my mind one by one like a movie.

The old house is called Laocuo in Hokkien and Chaoshan dialect. Naturally, this old house is qualified to be called an old house. I have been very fond of old houses in southern Fujian and Chaoshan since I was a child. From the layout to the connotation, there are things that I like very much. I didn't know why I liked them when I was young, but now I understand that in addition to the obvious regional characteristics, these buildings also have traditional Chinese cultural ideas. As lifestyles change, so do the old houses. Take the old house we live in as an example. It has been transformed from a traditional residence into a B&B. Most of the people who come here are people like us. In a sense, we are just passers-by in Chaozhou. It seems that because of the existence of this group of us, this old house has taken on a new meaning.

I have been to Liang Qichao’s former residence in Xinhui no less than five times. Each time I went there, I gained something different. The last time I went there was at this time last year. Liang Qichao grew up in the current former residence of Liang Qichao when he was a child. There is a place where he studied and studied when he was a child. In the past, this was Liang Qichao's home. But now, it has become an educational base. Because of Liang Qichao's existence, this old house has a new meaning.

We also have an old house at home, but the old house that has been unoccupied for a long time has long become a paradise for little animals to find happiness. Only on some major festivals will the elders return to the old houses with some offerings and incense to clean the house and pay homage to their ancestors. The main hall in the old house has long lost its luster, and has become more of a small family ancestral hall. Decorated with incense, this place seems a bit sacred. This is my family’s old house, which has been transformed from a residence into a worship house. If people really have spirits in heaven, then these ancestors must have never thought that they lived here and ate here while they were alive, but they still have to receive incense here after death.

People need reasons to live, and buildings also need reasons to exist. The existence of all things must have its reason. Just like the spring rain tonight, although it fell a little unexpectedly, it still washed the soul and the air. Late at night, sitting in front of the window of my old house and listening to the rain, people often can truly release their souls and lives only in the silent night. On a rainy night in the ancient alley, in front of the window of the old house, listen to the rain and trace the secrets of the past here.

Written in Chaozhou on the night of April 14, 2018