Nanxijiang

cctv.com 12-01-2004 14:33

As a veteran traveler, we have been thinking a lot about the purpose of traveling lately. Perhaps most of the time we travel to get away from something, but sometimes we also travel to look for something. That's why we made this trip. We think for millions of overseas Chinese scattered around the globe, sooner or later you will find compelled to make this kind of trip, to learn more about how is really alike to be a Chinese.

Nanxijiang River zigzags its way 150 kilometers southward creating a fertile drainage area of picturesque countryside. Veiled in harmonious nature, many of the villages along Nanxijiang River still remain the way as hundreds of years ago.

But we are not here only for a promise of primordial thrill, or the anticipation of beauty, but also to discover how a group of uprooted people were re-rooted, grounded, and grown here in the history, and to pay tribute to one kind of unique peasantry living, so-called "farming and self-learning culture" - Nong Geng Wen Hua.

Historically known as Yongjia County, nanxijiang river drainage area used to be quite remote and seclusive until jin dynasty. It is said many ancestor of todays residents were originally from northern china. Some were frustrated officials tired of the struggle of officialdom and brought their rather well-to-do families here; some were common men who were just seeking a hideout from military and social turbulence at home. What these people had in common was the wish for a start of a new life, preferablely in a place surrounded by harmonious nature, so to be forgotten by the outside troubled world.

Settled in nanxijiang drainage area, the ancestors of today's residents created family settlements as their Xanadu. Leading a farming life, the descendents today all inherited the same family name, and more importantly, the same living philosophy from their ancestors never consider education and culture the exclusive privilege of city people. As the most common teaching at home to be "do farming to make a living, read book to live better".