A Brief Introduction At the foot of Simatai Great Wall, there lives a large family who has resided here for about 600 years. When the ancestors of this family first migrated here, they were here to build the Great Wall. They lived in the castle with no other livelihood. Later on, after they had cultivated the wastelands nearby, they started to farm on their own lands, doing a little trade occasionally, and became farmers. In the Ming and Qing dynasties until the Period of the Republic of China, the Lüs owned the lands they lived on.In the early establishment of the People's Republic of China, these lands were all converted to collective properties, and the family became landless farmers. Around the Spring Festival of 2010, villages located nearthe Great Wall were required to migrate so as to make way for the Gubei Watertown Leisure Resort International. The villagers had to be resettled and the graves of their ancestors, including those belonging to the Lü family, also needed to be removed. Because in Chinese culture ancestors’ graves are the base of a family’s spiritual heritage, and because it is taboo to open up the land of these graves, the Lü family called on the government to preserve their ancestors’ graves. After a series of negotiations, the family conceded to move the graves to a new location allotted by the government. These experiences of the Lü family resulting from the development of Great Wall tourism have urged present day family members to re-examine their family history. Below the well-known Simatai Great Wall, there are relics which have witnessed the vicissitude of the Wall. Among them are the Simatai castle, brick kilns of the Ming Dynasty, firearms cartridge cases scattered in the grass, and the hot springs beneath the reservoir. The Lü family, who has dwelled at the foot of the Wall for more than 600 hundred years, can also serve as a living monument to the history of the physical wall. This book is an effort of the Lü family to leave proof for the existence of this monument. It documents several generations of the family through their livelihoods, wedding and funeral practices, family traditions, and religious beliefs. Particular focus is given to any changes the family went through from the establishment of the Republic in 1912 to the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. This book brings us close to a family who were originally the builders and guards of the Great Wall. Looking through the life stories of the Lü family, in the garrison and on the farm, at the weddings and funerals, before the migration and after the resettlement, readers can get a glimpse of the actual life of Chinese people from the Ming Dynasty to the present, especially those residing in the mountain region and the border area in North China.
A Brief Introduction At the foot of Simatai Great Wall, there lives a large family who has resided here for about 600 years. When the ancestors of this family first migrated here, they were here to build the Great Wall. They lived in the castle with no other livelihood. Later on, after they had cultivated the wastelands nearby, they started to farm on their own lands, doing a little trade occasionally, and became farmers. In the Ming and Qing dynasties until the Period of the Republic of China, the Lüs owned the lands they lived on.In the early establishment of the People's Republic of China, these lands were all converted to collective properties, and the family became landless farmers. Around the Spring Festival of 2010, villages located nearthe Great Wall were required to migrate so as to make way for the Gubei Watertown Leisure Resort International. The villagers had to be resettled and the graves of their ancestors, including those belonging to the Lü family, also needed to be removed. Because in Chinese culture ancestors’ graves are the base of a family’s spiritual heritage, and because it is taboo to open up the land of these graves, the Lü family called on the government to preserve their ancestors’ graves. After a series of negotiations, the family conceded to move the graves to a new location allotted by the government. These experiences of the Lü family resulting from the development of Great Wall tourism have urged present day family members to re-examine their family history. Below the well-known Simatai Great Wall, there are relics which have witnessed the vicissitude of the Wall. Among them are the Simatai castle, brick kilns of the Ming Dynasty, firearms cartridge cases scattered in the grass, and the hot springs beneath the reservoir. The Lü family, who has dwelled at the foot of the Wall for more than 600 hundred years, can also serve as a living monument to the history of the physical wall. This book is an effort of the Lü family to leave proof for the existence of this monument. It documents several generations of the family through their livelihoods, wedding and funeral practices, family traditions, and religious beliefs. Particular focus is given to any changes the family went through from the establishment of the Republic in 1912 to the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. This book brings us close to a family who were originally the builders and guards of the Great Wall. Looking through the life stories of the Lü family, in the garrison and on the farm, at the weddings and funerals, before the migration and after the resettlement, readers can get a glimpse of the actual life of Chinese people from the Ming Dynasty to the present, especially those residing in the mountain region and the border area in North China. |
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