Following the footsteps of our ancestors

When I was a child, I often heard from my grandparents that our hometown was in a place called Shangbao Jingou. Our ancestors of the Liu family traveled from Shandong to Guandong and settled here. Several generations of our ancestors are buried here. Grandpas said that our ancestors were buried in a place called Bailing Mountain (I don’t know if this name is accurate). After hearing this, I have been yearning for it and always had an idea of ??when I could go and see it.

In fact, this place and the village where I live belong to the same county-level administrative region, Aohan Banner. Looking at it now, the distance between the two places is less than 200 miles at best. But in those days, it was indeed a long distance beyond our capabilities.

In my memory, my grandfather’s generation and my father’s generation occasionally had contact with the people here. Two uncles from Bajingou, Liu Baofu and Liu Baoshen, came to our place. Liu Baofu, in particular, stayed at our house for several days when he came in 1973. He was 19 years old and I was 12 years old. He came to us to find a way out of that difficult era. Unfortunately, we don’t have much money there either. This uncle is very diligent and helps with a lot of farm work. His parents and clan members were very impressed with him. He told us about the conditions of the Bajingou people. I also mentioned to my father that an elder I didn’t know went down to Longjiang to join other tribesmen. Special mention was made of a group of people in Shuangyashan, Heilongjiang. Shuangya Mountain, I have never forgotten this place name.

In 2012, I received Mr. Wu from Shuangyashan in Vancouver. Not long after we met, I mentioned to him that there was also a Liu family of ours in Shuangyashan. At first he didn't care. Indeed, Shuangyashan's millions of people can correspond to this group of people. Unless they are public figures or familiar with him personally, otherwise, it is really like finding a needle in a haystack.

In August 2018, Mr. Wu’s friend came to Vancouver from Shuangyashan for a trip, and we hosted him together. At the dinner table, I mentioned again that our Liu family lives in Shuangyashan. I can't even remember how they came up with a man named Liu Dianxin, whom they were very familiar with. Then I asked him his father's name. They said his name was Liu Baofu. I immediately said that it was most likely our family. Because our ancestors arranged 20 generations for us, our generation is exactly the fifth generation. Mr. Wu immediately dialed his phone number, explaining that your friend in Vancouver feels like you are one of the same family. Then he handed the phone to Dian Xin. As soon as they communicated, he recited "Zhan Feng Jade Palace, Haizhao Wanjin Mountain...". We were immediately sure that the family had been found. This is actually something that my grandparents never talked about. You can imagine the excitement of finding family members who have passed away several generations later.

I don’t actually know the ins and outs of our family. I only heard sporadic mentions from my grandparents that in our village, there is no family tree and no written things are left. Two years ago, I heard that the family tree was still preserved in Bajingou. My brother also sent me pictures of my family tree. This time I told my brother the news that I had found Shuangyashan’s family. He said that there was also a WeChat group belonging to Liu’s family in Jingou. By pulling me into the group, I learned more about Bajingou.

Coincidentally, I planned to return to China on September 21, 2018, and decided to visit Bajingou.

In fact, Liu Baogui from Bajingou was the uncle that my father met and had the most contact with, and he was also the uncle that my father mentioned to us the most. When I asked about family affairs, my father said that he didn’t know much, and your precious uncle knew best. Before returning to China, I talked to him on the phone for the first time. Sure enough, he knew a lot.

Boomerang Jingou’s dream finally came true on October 1, 2018. The younger brother drove the car himself and drove two hours to the place where he had been haunted by his dreams. I made an appointment in advance with my uncle Liu Guogui, who I have never met before and who shares the same grandfather as my father. Under his leadership, we paid homage and paid homage to the tombs of our ancestors. We kowtow in front of the tombs of our ancestors.

This time I went there and wanted to see the original family tree. But an uncle named Baoguang said that it is a family tradition to open it every New Year's Eve and take it back for storage on the second day of the Lunar New Year. It is not usually seen by others. Seeing this situation, I don't want to make any exceptions.

However, this trip to Bajingou was a huge gain. Uncle Guigui holds the family tree in his mind and leads us brothers to worship our ancestors. What makes us especially lucky is that we have a complete family tree with twenty generations of people typed out. Wherever we go, our Liu family, who are of the same blood, will not be lost.

According to Uncle Guigui, our ancestors came here in the 1870s, and the first generation ancestor who rested here was named Liu Cunxiang.

Liu Cunxiang has two sons, Liu Jixiang and Liu Jirui.

We are from Liu Jixiang’s team. The descendants are Liu Kun - Liu Handong - Liu Sheng. Liu gave birth to five sons, namely Liu Zhanyuan, Liu Zhanke, Liu Zhanxuan, Liu Zhanxian and Liu Zhanying. Three of the five brothers went to Heilongjiang. Among them, Liu Zhanyuan should be the ancestor of Liu Dianxin's younger brother. We are part of Liu Zhanke’s team.

Liu Zhanke, who is said to be considered an intellectual, originally won the first prize, but failed due to a stab wound on his neck. Grandfathers often say that he is educated and has judgment about society. When he was still alive, he said, don’t buy any more land, there will be a day when you can open your door and live a good life. This should be the unique insight of an intellectual in that chaotic era. He had four sons: Liu Fengqi, Liu Fengcai, Liu Fenggang, and Liu Fenglai. Liu Fenggang is my grandfather, and he came to settle where we are now. I don’t know why he came here. There seems to be no definite answer. I only heard from my father that there were 70 acres of land at that time and he needed to manage it.

But there is no answer as to where the 70 acres of land came from. My grandfather passed away when I was three years old, but I still have memories of him. My grandma took me to 7 years old. Because she was her first great-grandchild, she showed great preference for me, which I remember deeply. In my memory, under the great uncle, the grandparents and fathers are actually one big family. There are more people in the palace generation, the age gap is bigger, and they have no experience of living together, so they don't seem to be so close.

After more than ten generations, the number of Liu family members with roots must have been very large. Every generation is fighting for a better life. We have the blessing of our ancestors, and the Liu family will surely prosper. Blood is thicker than water, and we are happy for the achievements of every Liu family member.

We are grateful to our ancestors for leaving us a complete family tree and leaving us precious ancestral precepts. As the family tree says, "Be cautious about your death and you need to perform three years of rituals, and always cherish the past with a single heart." .