Chaozhou

Chaozhou (Teochew) City is 40km from the port city of Shantou. It is located in the north of the Delta of the Hanjiang River, north east of Guangdong Province. It had been the location of Lu Administration, prefecture and capital of dynasties of past ages. It was named Chaozhou originally in the Sui Dynasty (591 AD).

The city is surrounded by the Golden Mountain, the Silver Mountain and Hanshan Mountain. The Hanjiang River flows through the city and eight scenes distributed along its both banks.

With so many historical places to visit, it was impossible to do all this in a day. The one place where many tourists visit was the Hanjiang Wall, dating back from the Ming Dynasty. The ancient city wall is Chaozhou’s greatest pride. In the past, this lofty wall prevented the ancient city from flooding by the Hanjiang River and the same time protecting the city.

Hanjiang City Walls

Inside the city wall. Bottom left are fish floats drying in the sun.

L to R: , Shop selling some local sweet, Me on top of city wall,
looking down at the Xiangzi Bridge, remains of the old city wall

Opposite the wall is the Xiangzi Bridge. It was built by Han Yu and named it after his nephew, Han Xiangzi - one of the Eight Immortals.

L to R: Looking down into the city from top of city wall, taking a nap, outside Hanwen Shrine, Flowers on the side walk

Han Yu governed Chaozhou for 8 months before he left for the Capital. The mountain (Han Shan) and river (Han Jiang) were named after his surname Han. Hanwen Shrine on Hanshan was also built in his honour.

Top: Hanwen Shrine,
Bottom: City wall on the left

L to R: Xiangzi Bridge across the river opposite the city wall, Looking down from Hanwen Shrine

Teochew is primary spoken here. The Teochew are a subgroup of the Han people who lived in the eastern coast of Guangdong and represent one of the 3 major ethnic groups in the province. It was generally believed their ancestors moved to the present Chaoshan to escape the series of civil war from Central China during the Jin Dynasty.

These people traditionally were involved in smuggling, piracy and illegal emigration and sometimes known as the Jews of China. Whenever I get cheeky, I always teased my wife over it.

My in-laws felt so at home in this city and was at ease chattering with the locals in their dialect. It is not uncommon that a Teochew person addresses other Teochew as ga-gee-nung, which means "my people" in the Teochew language.

The city has so much to offer and it is a pity to only see a part of it. It has so much to offer and I hope to come back again especially to savour the food.

The one thing that soured this trip was the beggars. A word of advice – do not give them any money. When we alighted from our bus we were accosted by a blind musician accompanied by a lady. My SIL being kind hearted gave them some money. Instead of being grateful, they continued to hound all of us, following us everywhere, expecting all of us to give them money. Before long more beggars came surrounding us. It became intolerable that we have to seek refuge in Xiangzi Bridge because they were not allowed in. Instead of moving on, they camped outside waiting for us. As soon we came out, they were harassing us again. My eldest BIL lost his temper and told them to shove off but they still continued following us. My younger BIL stopped and told them they are ungrateful lots and they can continue to follow us but they will be getting nothing. It was before long they got the message.

Later, the locals told us these beggars are a syndicate of people hiring blind people, babies, crippled or deformed children to make money out sympathetic tourists. It was disgusting to hear that and I wish the local council or police would do something about it before tourists are driven away.