A Week in Hainan - The Countryside

I arrived in Hainan just before lunchtime and was picked up at Haikou's Meilan International Airport (海口美兰国际机场) by my uncle. When my grandfather left Hainan Island in 1947, his oldest brother stayed behind to take care of the ancestral home and also raised his family there. Nevertheless despite being away, my grandfather always made sure to keep in contact with his family members in Hainan to ensure that they had a comfortable life.

After lunch in Haikou, we started our two hour drive to Zhongyuan (中原), a small town close to Bo'ao and where my ancestral village is located. The highway was beautiful. There were no potholes, no bumps in the road and it seamlessly connected the island. My father had told me that fifteen years ago, there was no highway connecting Haikou to the village. He had to take small, unpaved country roads and the journey was much longer and less comfortable.

My uncle told me that it was harvest season and thus the whole village was busy working in the fields. His wife could not meet us at the airport because she had to lend a hand in the rice harvesting. My uncle lives in the same house that my grandfather was born in. He works in a factory but also tends the fields. His weather-beaten face and lean body is a testimony to the hard work he does and it makes me wonder what my life would have been like if my grandfather never left the island.

Upon arriving at the village, we were greeted by smiling faces and golden grains of rice swaying in the wind. Because they were awaiting their turn to use the mechanical rice harvester which they share with neighbouring villages, my relatives took me for a walk in the countryside, allowing me to retrace the footsteps of my grandfather who played in the exact same fields and river as a child.

The sight that greeted me when I entered the village:

View of the village when I peer through the door of my grandfather's home:

Harvesting(I):

Harvesting (II):

While on the walk:

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The sun began to set as we made our way back to my uncle's home and a dusky gold clothed the fields around us. As I contemplated the tranquility and beauty of the sight before me, I began to understand why my grandfather returned to his village ever year since he retired. As a born and bred city girl, I always found the countryside a little dull and a little too slow. I have always loved cities - New York, Paris, Vienna, London, Hong Kong, Sydney, Tokyo. Yet after walking in the footsteps of my grandfather, I discovered a sense of joy, pride and peace. This is after all, the land of my ancestors. Without them, I would not be here.