The Chinese community has become a ghost town, and the remnants of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom have been silent for years, and they are no longer prosperous
Canadian Taiping Army survivors: Created the world's largest number of Chinese Americans, and has now become a ghost town located in Barkerville, the heart of British Columbia on the west coast of Canada, where more than 10,000 Chinese once lived, becoming the largest Chinatown in western North America except San Francisco.
But now, this place has become a dead land, almost no people, not even a **, and no wifi. It takes 8-10 hours to drive from Vancouver to Barkerville, or you can fly to the nearest town of Quesnel, which is then a little over an hour's drive.
In this remote place, a very special thing is recorded. More than 150 years ago, the Taiping army in the south of the Yangtze River was defeated, and the prince Huang Lianggui led more than 100 people from Guangdong to Canada via Hong Kong, and also participated in this gold rush.
The reason why they camped in Barkerville was because a large number of gold mines had recently been discovered, which was a paradise for gold panning, which could help the Taiping army quickly find the materials they needed for lifeSecond, Barkerville has gathered a large number of Guangdong gold diggers, about 3,000 Chinese, which gives them national cohesion;Third, Canada, under British rule, does not reject China, so its attitude towards Chinese is better than that of the United States. Soon after, Huang Lianggui assumed leadership positions in the Chinese community in Buckville.
He joined forces with the local "Heaven and Earth Society" to establish the "Hong Shun Hall" in Hongmen, and became his first president. "Hongmen" means loyalty to Zhu Yuanzhang, the Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, and at the same time shows his political attitude against the restoration of the Ming Dynasty by the Qing Dynasty.
Hong Shuntang soon took control of Chinatown, and every Chinese merchant had to pay him protection money to deal with disputes between Chinese. In order to punish criminals, Hong Shuntang also invented a "torture instrument".
At the same time, Hong Shuntang also actively assists the new Chinese gold diggers to find jobs and settle down, ensure that they are not bullied, take care of their food and lodging when they are not working, and then make up for Hong Shuntang's living expenses when they have a job.
When Canada was founded in 1867, Hung Shun Tong also expressed his loyalty to Canada by giving a warm welcome to the Governor's visit and erecting an archway at the gate of Chinatown to mark his visit.
However, since 1885, Canada has implemented a series of discriminatory measures against Chinese, including the imposition of a poll tax and employment discrimination. Hong Shuntang launched a Chinese petition calling on the authorities to withdraw his claims, but received no reply.
From then on, Hong Shuntang turned to Sun Yat-sen and raised a large amount of revolutionary funds for him. Among the survivors of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom who followed Huang Lianggui to Barkerville, there were also many accomplished people, who took ** as their business, sent money back to China, and then got married and bought real estate.
However, most of them are still ordinary farmers and workers, and most of the orphans and Chinese laborers of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom who came with Huang Lianggui are still ordinary farmers and laborers, who have spent their lives in obscurity and poverty.
Huang Maiding is a Chinese miner who has been paid very little all his life and can only earn enough money by doing some risky work.
When he was in his 50s, he met a ** named Jishi. Because of the lack of women in Barkerville, dancing at the ball cost 1 Canadian dollar, and 1 Canadian dollar could be exchanged for 1 pound of flour, so there was a black chain that sold women. It was from Guangdong that the Ji family was sold here and then ransomed. After Ji's death, he became Huang Maiding's dowry.
In 1928, they received help from Hong Shuntang and returned to Guangdong, but before they could leave, Ji died, leaving Huang Maiding alone, and there was no news from them since. In the anti-Chinese era, Chinese Americans could not be buried with Caucasians, but were buried in Chinese cemeteries in mountainous areas.
Before Chinese die, they are carried to the morgue of Hongshuntang, where they are cared for by special nursing staff. Hong Shuntang arranged a coffin for him, but the tomb was very simple, with only one plank. According to the custom of "second burial" in Guangdong, after a few years, Hong Shuntang will lift the body and transport the ashes to Guangdong to show his homecoming.
Barkerville went into decline in the thirties of the 20th century due to the depletion of mineral resources. In 1949, two funerals were held at Hung Shun Tong, and by this time, there were no Chinese in the town. Chinese like Ji lie in a strange land forever, never to return home. Barkerville ended up being an empty city, leaving a broken mark in Canada.
Today, Barkerville has been abandoned for a long time, and its past has been forgotten and turned into a broken symbol of Canada.
Over the course of the year, only a handful of tourists come here to get a glimpse of what it was like back then. They walked into the ruins of the former Chinatown and looked at the devastated ruins, and they could imagine the prosperity of those years.
They climbed the mountainside, walked to the Chinese cemetery, and stood in front of the simple graves overgrown with wild grass, guessing what kind of life their ancestors had.
This "ghost town" not only has a special history, but also contains the life journey of many Chinese who have fought tenaciously in the face of hardships and hardships. We will never forget what we have been through here.
Maybe one day, when China becomes stronger, more Chinese will return to the city and revive the abandoned city. When the time comes, the place will return to its former prosperity, and it will be full of Chinese laughter. On this day, it will be those ancestors who fought for survival.