In my quest for civilizational exploration in the footsteps of a globe trotter, Meizhou remains the Mecca of my heart, stirring my soul in search of my identity and ancestral roots .My frequent pilgrimages to the land, where my ombilical cord was buried, are always tinged with mixed feelings of sadness of split family but pride of self discovery of my origin and self accomplishment of my career. There is no better place than Meizhou tugged with nostalgia to visit in the universe.Blessed am I to be born in the Middle Kingdom and later bred on such a speck island of Mauritius, lost in the Indian Ocean, nursed and impregnated with western values and education to give me wings to fly high professionally and to be groomed in the cauldron of literary and legal formations , mesmerised by the insightful writings of Shakespeare and of Lord Denning the outspoken judge and to have achieved a double degree in both English literature and legal studies to equip me with both lens to look at the world in a more detached way endowed with a critical mind. For this I am deeply indebted to Mauritius for its eye-opening, then my gratitude goes to India ( St Xaviers College my alma mater. I always recite in my mantra : hindustan dil hai) and England ( London University). How have I been wrapped in swaddling clothes, brought on an epic journey of 40 days to Mauritius in a tempest -tossed sea, hoarded on in the hold of the ship is a question clouded with mystery which has always perturbed me and by a stroke of fate I was destined on this island in search of greener pasture ..… my adopted country……..a citizen of the world.

My recent journey to Meizhou dates back to last September much after the liberalization of frontiers in the wake of covid onslaught . The metamorphosis of Meizhou is so obvious to the eyes.Everything has changed beyond recognition.Only the bridge Moy Kwong Kiao remains still there as a vestige of the past to echo the odyssey of the valiant Hakkas who had set sail to brave the oceans in search of El dorado abandoning everything behind even wives and children ( note that Chinese immigration was spelled masculine only in those early years ) and the emotional loss of all their material belongings during the turbulent years.These were the bleak years in the history of China:Japanese Invasion , the domination and exploitation of Western powers with the Opium Wars and the dismemberment of Chinese territories into morsels and worst of all the deadly fratricidal war raging between the Kuo Ming Tong of Tchang Kai Sek and the Communists of Mao Tze Toung.At that time China was weak and submissive and had to suffer stoically such humiliations in the hands of Western powers.

Nowadays China the dragon is rising from its deep slumber.The road to Meizhou is much shorter and enjoyable . From Guanzhou to Meizhou the journey is covered within two hours by rapid train. Whereas in bygone days it took us almost one day long from dawn to dusk for the bus to crawl along the bumpy, dusty and serpentine roads on back breaking hard benches across mountainous regions.Technology has now conquered time and space.I can still recall my first journey to Meizhou: Half a decade ago it was a heart rending scene to meet our close relatives shabbily dressed for the first time working like beasts of burden.Poverty was rampant.They lived in abject poverty and squalor.It was the days when foreign visiting relatives were reckoned and hailed as Father Christmas ( Santa Claus) coming laden with gifts like bicycles,sewing machines ‘and radio and tape recorders.Those were the days when visiting relatives became a ritual and long forgotten ones were most yearned for to relieve their misery and sufferings. But miraculously as if the revenge of History , within a few decades these people have risen from rags to riches.In no human history have we witnessed such a glaring transformation in the standard of living of people taken from misery to opulence under the blessing of Deng Xiao Ping’s revolutionary policy of opening China’s doors to the outside world.Today the modern Chinese citizen drives in comfort and lives in luxury.The Chinese tourists have invaded the European capitals en masse queueing and craving for latest fashion clothes, perfumes and luxury goods in high brand mark shops with their handbags bulging with foreign currency bank notes.The young wear jeans and addidas, they drive in porche or BMW and smoke benson and hedges.They are westernized completely ; only their hearts on left hand side have stayed socialist but their purses are capitalist and on right hand side.In big cities like Beijing,Shanghai and Chongking they can be seen performing line-dancing in public parks in the early hours of morning with loud melodious music blaring from loudspeakers and during the day they can be perceived playing mah jongs and in the evenings they revel in karaoke songs in crowded restaurants or private houses.Modern technology has invaded into their lives and they have a lot of leisure time to spend with friends and relatives.On the whole there is a lot of social interactions among themThe days of Mao entailing sacrifices and puritanism are long gone.What contributes to this jovial atmosphere is the rigid maintenance of law and order by law enforcements..Skyscrapers have risen like mushrooms in every nook and corner of the city centre.A visit to Hakka museum is a must for any holiday maker to journey into the past history.The Hakka Park is a place of touristic attraction for food lovers for its dimsum and especially the mouth-watering typical Hakka dishes long forgotten unfortunately in Mauritius ---a festival for our palates.The visit will be incomplete without tasting moy choy niewk ,yam khe ,micaopang and sien niew pan.The Hakka cuisine is most appreciated for its culinary skills and recipes

My visit would not be complete without the ceremony of ancestral worship.It was a sine qua non condition. It became the highlight of my visit to Meizhou.On my very first day we prepared feverishly for this ritual. Invitations were issued to gather all close in blood. Before the first rays of the sun we were on the way to climb the steep hillside where our departed relatives were buried according to feng shui.A few ahead of us armed with long knives had to clear the way of long bushes and thorny plants.The ceremony was carried out according to Chine millennial culture. We prayed to receive the blessings of our departed relatives and we believed from high above they would shower us with their blessings.Fire crackers were burst to announce the end of the ceremony and afterwards a sumptuous dinner would ensue to cement the close knit ties existing among the members with long anecdotes spanning over years of absence amid joy and laughter.

In retrospect there remain two outstanding journeys to Meizhou which have remained engraved in my memory.The first one is my mission there to shoot a film on how there are similitudes in our celebration of Chinese spring festival.This ingenious project was fathered by Yves Chan Kam Lon the then member of the Board of MBC tv and also the Secretary of Chinese Speaking Union and was approved and supported by Dan Callikan the late Director of MBC tv .A team embarked on this project comprising of Avinash Bissoondoyal the producer. ,Ah Thow the then executive member of CSU and myself the then treasurer.It was a fabulous journey almost unique in the history,.We were warmly received and applauded in different sectors and among them were the Chan Society in the heart of Meizhou amid huge congregators and also in Kok Koon Liang among the Chung, Wong and the LI clans.An atmosphere of festivity and joy reigned supreme amid the bursting of fire crackers and beating of drums accompanied by the recitations of prayers in the pure tradition of Chinese Buddhist and Taoist rituals.Tables richly ornated and laden with offerings were laid in the huge parlour to herald the coming of Spring festival amid smokes of joss sticks and burning of paper money.Exchange of gifts and foung pao marked the end of the celebration.We hugged one another warmly to express our joy and gratitude to have come such a long way to capture these images for posterrity. The film becomes a buzz in You Tube bearing the title A Journey to our Ancestral Roots in 3 serials.

There was another journey to Meizhou which has turned out to be a landmark almost unprecedented in the history of the Chinese Community.The idea of sending a cultural troupe to Meizhou in an exchange programme crossed my mind after my conversation with Mookeshwar Choony the then Minister of Arts and Culture who hereafter gave us his entire support when we materialized it .Air Mauritius partially sponsored this challenging project.We embarked headlong upon it to Meizhou with a newly constituted cultural group to stage a play in Hakka and there we received the logisticl support of late Professor Fang the vice Chancellor of Cai Ying University of Meizhou .It was a roaring success and was warmly applauded by the public.

Meizhou will forever cast a magnetic spell on us from the Chinese Hakka diaspora.Every year millions of Hakkas across the far flung corners swarm on a pilgrimage for bonding and to renew and consolidate their cultural and familial ties against the backdrop of a symphony of Hakka language .The older generation has the sacred duty of inculcating this urge to go on a pilgrimage to Meizhou to the younger generation.Not knowing one’s history or being indifferent to it is tantamount to erasing a large segment of one’s collective memory resulting in a loss of identity and sense of direction.Otherwise we become rudderless, rootless and faceless without any sense of direction We cannot know where we are going unless we know where we have come from.Consumed with materialism too many of us tend to forget to inculcate among the younger generation our rich heritage, to teach them who we are ,where they have come from and the tremendous sacrifices our forebears have endured to pave the way for us to live better.In a nutshell we must never forget the precepts of Confucianism ( filial duty, respect for our elders,resilience,sincerity, honesty and work ethics.)

Philip LI CHING HUM

B.A Hons/LLB Hons/LLMHons