Trip to Guangzhou Kwok Fook Sing

After the demise of my dear mother, I decided to organize a trip for my father to visit his home town.

After the 100 days mourning period, my wife Get Hoey and myself started to make enquires as to the actual whereabouts of the village.

Ah Kum provided the photos taken by Stanley many years ago during his business trips there. The ancestral book we had from the Singapore Kwok Clan Association, was also helpful.

Ah Lai, whose interest in the Kwok family history coupled with the ability to read Chinese was most helpful. I met up with them to find out more.

On one of my many trips to China to conduct classes for the students there, my counterpart and the chaperon for the boys Miss Phyllis Liang was able to contact her old classmate who lives near the Dalang village. She confirmed the location based on the photos taken by Stanley.

All the available information was forwarded to Ah Kum and Agnes and he was able to pinpoint accurately the location of the village. We both started planning for the trip and co-ordinate our schedule.

In Singapore, we got Five Star Tour to organize a dedicated tour suited to the needs of my father, with main consideration for his comfort.

The trip was planned in two stages to allow my father time to rest on arrival in Guangzhou after a four hour flight. Pullman hotel (located at the Baiyun airport) was the main choice to avoid another one hour bus trip to town.

The next morning, we met up with Ah Kum and Agnes, and set off for Heshan on a chartered bus. The uneventful journey (approx. 2+ hours) was pleasant and my tracking of the journey with my hand phone GPS came to an early end when the battery went flat.

We checked in the “Heshan Blue Cassia Bark Tree Phoenix Hotel” around lunch time, ordered lunch (room service) for my dad and the maid while we headed out on a “reconnoitring” trip to Dalang village.

The next day, after breakfast, we brought dad to the village. Almost the entire clan turn up to meet him and brought him on a tour.

The remnant of his old room was still there and I noticed the actual hand shaped mud bricks, with their irregularities and imperfections.

That evening, we had dinner at one of the restaurants nearby. It was the traditional steamboat with boiling porridge used to cook the raw food. The hearty meal was rounded up with the porridge which by then had all the flavours of the meat and seafood.

A simple prayer was arranged for the next day to give offerings and respect to the Kwok ancestors, followed by a dinner for the entire village.

We visited the Wong Fei Hong academy on the return trip back to Guangzhou. A stopover at Panyu for golf clubs was not successful but we had a wonderful lunch.

Ah Kum and Agnes had to return to Shanghai while we brought dad for lunch followed by shopping at the mall.

Dad was very much cheerful after the visit home and I am glad that since his return from trip, he was very contented and at peace.

This visit was very important to him as it was almost 50 years since he left home to come to Singapore. I am glad we made this trip possible for him.

You can see the photos of the village and the google map of the village.

As I understand it, the village does not have an address per se, but is simply known as “Guangdong Province, Heshan Prefecture, Dalang village.”

It is located along the side of 325 National Road from Heshan.

Look out for the arch.