Why MILLIONS Left This City For AMERICA 🇺🇸🇨🇳 I S2, EP122

Why MILLIONS Left This City For AMERICA 🇺🇸🇨🇳 I S2, EP122

Taishan Has a lot of overseas Chinese, right? A lot A lot, in the US, Canada And Australia Our Taishanese Many went to the US Every family has someone Out of 100 90, or 80 families Have a family member in the US maybe you’ve been to a lot of Chinatowns around the world they often look pretty similar the big archway at the entrance dim sum carts rolling through restaurants and shop signs written in calligraphy but here’s a twist cities in China don’t actually all look like that have you ever wondered where did chinatowns really come from i’ve always wanted to know where the story began the restaurants the lanterns the people and that bring us here Jiangmen Taishan a place you may have never heard of it’s a hometown to over a million overseas Chinese and the one that has quietly shaped Chinatowns all around the world good morning everyone welcome back to the channel today i am in taishan in guangdong province they say that if you walk into a Chinese supermarket in America in Australia or in Canada there is a good chance that the owner of the supermarket is originally from here the story is that in the early 19th century many people from Jiangmen went overseas to make a living and slowly over time they settled in foreign countries and established their own community this small town is the prototype of Chinatown overseas and there are many similar elements so today i’m going to explore jiangmen and you will see it along the way What’s this? egg burger burger With pork? It’s with egg and taro root inside I see Do you want one? Do you want it? Yes, I’d love one ok How much? 5 yuan 5 yuan. ok Do you want some chili? A bit please Hello, you can try this out En, You can try this out Thanks! You’re welcome This is Mango pomelo sago Is it sweet yes ok De-xiang-you-tang-mi-jiu so that is a store that used to sell oil sugar alcohol and rice four those stores probably used to sell agriculture products róng-xiang-jiang-yuan so the store here might used to sell soy sauce in the old city center of Taishan there is a large area with a traditional Qi-lou so this is a traditional towelling type very typical to guangdong province and also fujian province and there is a corridor like this so that you can walk during hot summer and during rainy days it’s beautiful Yes very nice I want to say it’s beautiful Nice and beautiful It looks nice yes very beautiful beautiful very interesting yes this is Taishan Taishanese tradition ah tradition it’s too old how old？ i don’t know i was born here i am i children i am baby already have this okay it looks like Europe But why So many people here Can speak very good English Even some random people we met in the elevator Can speak English Because here it is Taishan Taishan is China’s Nr. 1 hometown of overseas Chinese oh In china, Taishan is The birthplace of the Overseas Chinese it’s a real Nr. 1 Which country did they go to? Taishanese went to Amercia Canada New Zealand Almost in every country But mostly to America Other Chinese came from Fujian Ximen Fujian Amoy Fujian Xiamen is only next to Taishan Guangdong Taishan is the Nr.1 Hometown of overseas Chinese Some are in the UK Do you have relatives in the US Outside China? Yes, I do My auntie Where? Sacramento in California Sacramento capital I don’t know He knows about it I know 是… How to say it, the capital capital yes，the capital of California Capital of california capital is Sacramento Sacramento is California‘s capital capital Taishanese Who went to the US and Canada What do they do? Doing business? Or work in restuarants Mainly Chinese restaurants restaurants Or open up an Chinese supermarket And sell something And sister Do you still go to American And see your family? （shook head with a sigh） Do they come back to visit? So that’s His sister His elder sister Has settled there They moved over That’s the older generation Back in the 80s In the 80s That is Almost 40 1980s It has been over 40 years yes
Will their kids come over to visit? Yes, once in every few years I see The tickets are very expensive yes To come over It’s not easy to come back Yes, you’re right? Nowadays Our life is much better So less people (went abroad) yes Life was much harder before During the war time Many fled They fled to other countries So now in Taishan Do many young people still go abroad? Are there many? There are But now
I feel that kids who are in their 20s they think differently They seem Think differently about going abroad They have a different mindset Unlike the older generation The time is changing Life gets better They think life is also quite good here So there is no need To make a living abroad Yes, right Now the life is much better When my dad was in primary school When it comes to food There wasn’t not so much to eat There wasn’t enough money For us to buy food If introduced us a job in the US People wanted to go yes Life was so hard In the 1980s So the old quarter Won’t be demolished The government preserves it It refurbished the shop signs And the windows Like this And repaint the colors It looks so pretty now The street over there is even nicer In the past those apartments that is to say, were owned by overseas chinese By the rich people They earned money abroad And build house back home yes But some were also rich landowners Rich people Average family couldn’t afford it You see that, if it rains If the sun is out You won’t be exposed That is called arcade We call that arcades in many Chinatowns, there will be a big Archway at the entrance and the idea actually came from here and in Taishan every village has an Archway today this old city became a preserved area and the local government even built a timeline the story of immigration started in 1774 the earliest Chinese immigrants to North America especially during the California gold rush in the 19th century came right from here after the gold rush many Chinese stayed and found work in other sectors besides, there is also an interesting pattern for immigration that is one region sent its people to a specific country or city abroad in jiangmen there are five counties ‘wuyi’ and their descendants are spread across the Globe Taishan Kaiping and Xinghui mostly in the US and Canada Enping many settled in Venezuela heshan you’ll find many in Chile and among all five counties Taishan stands out as the biggest and most influential with a population of around 900,000 Taishan has sent more than 1.1 million people overseas making it one of the largest hometowns of overseas Chinese in the world back in the days once one villager made it to a city like San Francisco or New York and found work he would send words and remittances back home relatives and neighbors would then follow often staying in the same place working in the same business and even living together today Chinatown still have a major Taishan population they brought Cantonese food Chinese traditions and their native taishanese dialect shaping what many today think of as Chinese culture abroad many elements you can find in the Chinatown can be found here such as a Cantonese Dim-sum restaurant For 2 sit there You have inconvenience All right ok Thanks Black tea. Thanks we are in a dim sum restaurant and i didn’t expect there are so many people we came from the other side and we walked along all the way to the other end of the restaurant i found this table so this is a very traditional restaurant we got the tea serve and Flo is checking the menu there are two pages of nice stuff and always pictures so you know exactly what you’re going to order people are running over with a cart like this and they pick up the food from different windows this looks outstanding our food is more or less ready we ordered eight dishes the good thing with dim sum is that you can order a lot of food and try a little bit of everything we got this hongchang rice roll with shrimps and lettuce and some pancake this is Cantonese changfen rice roll and that is chaozhou dumpling that is zheng-pai-gu, steamed rib and finally you-tiao, deep fried dough this is a very typical store in guangdong province they sell all kinds of Preserved fruits, so dried plum um made with for example sugar or Chinese herbal medicine and those are all pu-er Tea because Cantonese people are very fond of Puer Tea those are guan-shi-yin so this is also something that you tend to see in a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown a small shrine where the deity is worshipped those are all the deities Guan-shi-yin and guan-gong Buddha wow i’ve never seen this for example in my hometown but apparently in guangdong traditional belief is still a big thing I have a fracture But I haven’t fully recovered yes Walk slowly You twist your ankle Yes, I injured my bone It was an accident yes thanks Thanks check the menu we came to a very local restaurant and we want to order some food thanks so the clay pot rice is the most I see This is salty chicken Salty chicken leg This is chicken leg leg 啊但我觉得 I want the one with water eel Another with salty chicken A salty chicken Don’t you want cantonese sausage Oh, yes I’ll get water eel and cantonese sausage Cantonese sausage and water eel And one with salty chicken yes ok Ok, we’ll make them ok that’s the very typical food in Taishan the clay pot rice clay pot rice Is he your friend My husband where Is he from Germany or France Germany Oh, he is good looking Your are lucky You’re pretty If you tell him, he’ll be so happy He likes to hear others say he is good-looking Where is he from? Which country Germany Aren’t there are many overseas Chinese from Taishan? A lot right A lot America, canada And australia Many Taishanese went to the US To the US So can we say Each family has someone in the US? Yes, almost every family has one A lot Every family has some one Out of 100 80 or 90 families I see Have family member in the US And in which years Did most people go? In the past, it was Like this Sometimes The mum went for about 10 years And then took The kids with them Sometimes 10 or 8 years later It’s hard to say And the Taishanese overseas What do they do there? Business Or get a job Or fashion industry Sometimes they do This I see, apparent En yes Just like this this is a very famous Cantonese dish called bao-zai-fan clay pot rice but now they’re using a metal pot the clay pot rice Is using iron pot? We used to use clay pots Clay pots
Like that This is aluminum If it’s an iron pot It is not good The aluminum is better so basically they are using a aluminum pot and then put rice and water in it put it over the fire and let it boil and then put some toppings and behind us that’s the topping that’s the most famous one huangshan （water eel） there is also frog which is called tianji and then there is chicken and there is a sausage Cantonese sausage Do you have to soak the rice? yes So the rice can get cooked easily So after soaking It gets cooked faster otherwise It’s hard to cook It’s not that tasty We usually Soak it for 2 or 3 hours This is salty chicken And water eel thanks enjoy ok and we order three dishes this is guangdong cai-xin some stir fried green vegetable and i got huang-shan-la-chuang-fan so water eel with Cantonese sausage Flo got some salty chicken that is chicken with rice the best part about the baozaifan is that it has a layer of crispy rice and Flo is trying really hard to scratch it down i’m afraid i break the spoon Ok, thanks thanks here’s the best part of the whole dish so crispy bye Walk slowly Don’t be so fast ok Thanks. Take your time overseas taishanese not only brought back the western flair to the cities but also to the villages the next day we took a taxi a nd got out of the city in a picturesque rural area there are some interesting tower buildings called diao-lou those multi story fortresses has ornamented balconies Roman columns and concrete structures in afternoon we came to fuyue because we would like to see the typical diao-lou and diaolou is a local watch tower so we are now at the village entrance and i try to find someone who can show me inside the door is locked i guess the owner has left the houses were very pricy Mostly built by the money earned from abroad Only those who worked abroad had money we can buy small stuff from the stores here and he will show us his own diao-lou wait for a moment He’d love to buy that Ok, 15 for 2 bags ok Go and visit first And enjoy the food later ok
sure We have it ok
ok (Taishanese dialect) the village isn’t that big so we are following her through the whole village ok Walk up from there Ok, I see Do you still live here Yes When was it built? In 1921 1921. yes It has been 105 years 105 years By then there was no concret in china It was all bought from Britain Concrete in buckets Concrete from the UK yes So the owner must be so rich Yes, he worked hard in the US And built this to glorify his clan That is to say the owner’s family Still live in the US yes Where in the US? In Chinatown Chinatown yes from my understanding the owner of this building is a relative a family member of the lady so that family is now in in America in this big living room there’s a table and also a chair in Kaiping region there are many tower buildings like this they were built for defensive purposes because by then there are lots of tu-fei so bandits and the village unit themselves to defend against the bandits that’s why normally in those tower buildings the windows are very small when the village is attacked by the gangsters everyone come together and hide inside one building I think this is where they shot through a wall yes you’re right i think that’s the hole through which they shot their enemies Building a diaolou was no simple task Back then the cement came from Britain and Sweden the steel from Germany the tiles from Italy and the timber from Indonesia the architectural style was a blend of East and West creating a rare fusion that reflects global migration But the original owners have long since settled across the seas only the diaolou remain standing quietly in their hometown guarding memories and a lingering sense of homesickness and i saw many small villages each with a small pool in the front i don’t know whether it’s for fireproof or it has more symbolic meanings so today the village is mostly abandoned many houses are left empty i guess its owners have settled in another country and this is the story of the hometown of many overseas Chinese and if you are one of them i hope you enjoy your hometown and thanks for watching and bye bye bye bye

Taishan is a relatively small city near Jiangmen and Zhuhai, nestled in Guangdong province’s Pearl River Delta, a region home to over 88 million people. What makes Taishan truly unique is its remarkable legacy as the birthplace of Chinatowns around the world.
It’s said that nearly one million people emigrated from Taishan to the United States, making it a major origin point for Chinese communities across the West. That legacy lives on today — most families in Taishan have relatives living abroad, and English proficiency here is unusually high for a town of its size.
This massive wave of emigration also brought foreign investment in the early 20th century. However, as many migrants never returned, the region is now dotted with hauntingly beautiful abandoned villages and diaolou (fortified watchtowers) — now preserved as historical and tourist landmarks.

Join us as we uncover the untold story of Taishan 🎬

0:00 Intro
1:10 Tiashan
7:25 Chinatown
9:30 Cantonese Food
17:25 Diaolou Village

#foshan #guangdong #china #guangdong #chinavideo #chinatravel #taishan

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