This post is a work in progress. My family will be in Taishan from July 17-20. Our main reason for going is to see the ancestral home of my mom’s Wong (Huang) family and my dad’s Fong (Kuang) family. The last time I visited was with my mom, Cindi, and her dad in 1997. I’m sure a lot has changed
Father’s Village
Google: “Today, as Taicheng has modernized and expanded, Yifengli is officially registered as Yifeng Village (仪凤村), located along Lanes 1 through 10 (仪凤村10巷) within the Cangxia Community network. It is located just a short distance north of Taicheng’s old historical city center, putting your ancestral home in a highly urbanized, convenient part of Taishan rather than a remote mountain region.”
Baidu/Gaode Maps Search: Copy and paste 仪凤村
Mother’s Village
Dongcheng Village (东城村)
- What it is: Your mother’s ancestral village where your mother grew up.
- Exact Address for Maps: 广东省江门市台山市台城街道圆山村委会东城村
- How to search on Baidu/Gaode Maps: Copy and paste 东城村
- What to do: Look for the classic gray-brick Lingnan style village houses and the historic 1916 defensive watchtower (Diaolou) that stands over the village.
Middle School where my mom taught and my parents met
Taishan Peizheng Middle School (台山市培正中学)
- What it is: The local neighborhood middle school serving the Cangxia and Yifengli area where your mother taught.
- Baidu/Gaode Maps Search: Copy and paste 台山市培正中学
- What to do: Take photos of the school gates and the campus environment. Depending on when she taught there, the architecture may bring back incredible stories. Note: If it happens to be a different local school, the next closest historic option in that exact immediate pocket would be Yuying Middle School (育英中学).
Fong (Kuang) Ancestral Hall
Google: “Because Yifengli is a sub-village within the greater Cangxia cluster, the Yuanzuo Kuang Public Ancestral Hall (元佐鄺公祠) is unequivocally your family’s ancestral hall. When the global Kwong diaspora raised millions of RMB to rebuild that temple for the grand March 2017 reopening, the Kwong/Kuang families living in Yifengli were directly involved as local hosts. Your direct ancestors’ names and generational tablets are tied to this exact hall.”
Baidu/Gaode Maps Search: Copy and paste 元佐鄺公祠
Wong (Huang) Ancestral Hall
Because your mother is a Huang (黄) from Dongcheng Village, her family lineage rolls up into the main regional clan hub. Her specific ancestral hall is the historic Taishan Huang Clan Grand Ancestral Hall (台山黄氏大宗祠).
Historically, while small sub-lineage villages kept basic shrines, the massive grand lineage temples for the city-dwelling Huang families were built right in the heart of downtown Taicheng. This fits perfectly with the old local proverb we discussed: “Inside the city walls live the Huangs.”
1. Where It Is Located
The hall is located right in the historical urban core of Taicheng, hidden within a bustling commercial shopping district.
- The Address: 广东省江门市台山市台城街道正市街17号 (No. 17 Zhengshi Street, Taicheng Subdistrict).
- Baidu/Gaode Maps Search: Copy and paste 台山黄氏大宗祠.
2. What It Looks Like & How to Find It
Because downtown Taicheng has built up over the decades, the ancestral hall is uniquely tucked away from the main road.
- The Golden Entrance: As you walk down Zhengshi Street, look for a large, beautiful archway framed by a gold-lettered sign reading “黄氏大宗祠通道” (Huang Clan Grand Ancestral Hall Pathway).
- The Building: Once you walk through the corridor, it opens up into a majestic, massive 1923 Republic-era brick complex (known historically as the Puquan Tang 溥泉堂). It features six grand solid granite pillars, historic tiled rooftops, and hand-carved stone plaques.
3. Its Rich Local History
This temple was constructed in 1923 using massive funding sent home from the global Taishanese-Huang diaspora (including organizations like the Wong Kong Har Tong in the US and Canada). In 1926, the local clan used the hall to open the Juzheng Middle School (居正中学), a famous local school built to educate clan youth
Historic Yuanshan Market and Changfan School
Yuanshan Market (圆山圩) & Changfan School
- What it is: The pristine, frozen-in-time 1920s Western-style arcade square where your grandmother’s family shopped, directly neighboring Dongcheng Village.
- Exact Address for Maps: 广东省江门市台山市台城街道圆山村委会 (原圆山圩)
- How to search on Baidu/Gaode Maps: Copy and paste 圆山圩 or 昌蕃学校
- What to do: Walk out into the empty, ghostly quiet courtyard surrounded by 58 historic Qilou buildings. Right next to it, take photos of the striking 1924 red-brick Changfan School with its massive Western pillars.
This market would have been one that my ancestors on both sides would have gone to and shopped at. The Chinese sites that describe it takes forever to download, so I made PDF’s.