Sujiawei Hakka Village Tourism Zone Heyuan Su Clan Village
The Sujiawei Hakka Village Tourism Zone is a must for tourists who are interested in the Hakka culture and customs.
Bordering Dongjiang River in the north and Jiushe River in the south, the village is located in the Heshui Township, 26km away from the city of Heyuan.
Today the village is described as a “picturesque village in south china”, featuring old trees and houses, wild lands, bamboos and fresh air. Also it has a profound cultural history and is said to be the habitat of descendants of Su Shi, who also known as Su Dongpo, a famous Chinese literate in Northern Song Dynasty. Hence All people living in the village now are surnamed “Su”.
It also provides some performances for travelers to get a better known of Hakka culture such as their wedding customs. You can take part in the producing lines of making bean curd, wine or oil; or enjoy yourself in activities like fishing, swimming and boating.
The first spot we encounter is the Yingqing Bridge, where has a panoramic view of Sujiawei. The bridge is a place to welcome all families, relatives and friends.
Here is purple perilla park. The purple perilla can be used as medicine to cure cold, or purple dye or cooking. The origin of this park is as follows: one day one of Su Shi’s offspring passed by this place, he dreamed five old men pointed a big tree and told him it is perilla tree. When he woke up, he found this place is full of perilla, and the environment is quite beautiful, so he thought the old men would like he move the Su clan here. So after he came back, he always mentioned this dream to his late generations. To fulfill his this dream, over 700 years ago, the Su clan moved here and Sujiawei started its story.
From this purple perilla park to Pool lips estate, is gallery of Hakka villages gender culture, which shows the Hakka people’s moral ideas and customs, they think everything has two opposite extremes like negative and positive. In Hakka dialect, have a boy baby is named “tian deng”, the same pronunciation as “add a lantern”. So in Chinese lantern festival, any family which has a new boy baby will hang a big lantern in their ancestors’ shrine.
Later we will visit Sugong Shrine Yongsi Hall, Guanghua hall, Su school and Yi Jiang temple. You may find the Hakka architecture is well preserved here. These ancient buildings are square flat houses with dark blue bricks and roof tiles that belong to the style of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The oldest house, Yongsi Hall, was built in 1481 in memory of Su Dongshan, the eighth-generation descendant of Su Dongpo and as a place for the villagers to worship their ancestors and discuss important affairs.
Now we walk along the Dongjiang river and enjoy the Hakka folk music. At the riverside you see bamboo everywhere. Su Dongpo loved bamboo, he once said “I can eat without meat, but I can not live without bamboo. No meat to eat only makes me thin; but live without bamboo makes me vulgar”!
Walking so long time, are you a bit tired and thirsty? Let’s go to Her Workshops to taste Hakka traditional snacks and tea. There are tea leaf, sesame, peanut, red jujube and longan in the tea. Do you taste them?
Ok, after a break, we go to experience traditional Hakka wedding performance. If you are lucky to be chosen and act as the bridegroom, you will be invited to the stage and join their show.
The village also preserves many slogans printed on the walls during 1950s to 1970s, which are silent witnesses to Chinese modern history.
Do you see the big bamboo hats holding by bamboo sticks in line? It is farm four seasons gallery. On the bamboo hats marked farming planting and harvesting dates and festivals.
Finally we have 15-minutes free activity in the countryside vegetable fields. You may like farmers to pick fruits, vegetables you like in the fields.