Traditions have it that one can visit the ancestral halls during the first few days of the Lunar New Year and are allowed to move the ancestral plate so to reveal the names written on the back of the plate. Most of the residents in this village are Song descendants. We met the town Magistrate, Song JinSu, who is a distant cousin. He took us around to visit various sites and saw amazing relics left from olden days. I was very glad to have learned about this custom of visiting during the Chinese New Year through one of the members of the Church, which made it possible to make this visit.
Picture 1: Cousin Song praying to the ancestors to allow us to move the name plate.
Picture 2: Food items and flowers are placed on the altar table.
Picture 4: Another ancestral stand
Picture 5: Genealogy writing in the back of the Ancestral plate
Picture 6: Ancestral stand for Song Tian-an's brother
It was touching to me as the distant Song cousins showed such respect to our ancestors. I was later told that traditions had it that women were not supposed to see the sacred name plates. May be they had a change of hearts as they were very kind and respectful to my request to see the names. I found out later that my first cousin, Song Bo Ming, has our Grandfather Song's name plate in his house on an altar table. I asked if he would let me come to visit and pay respect to our Grandfather Song's name plate. He told me he had to ask grandfather (through some means) if it was okay with Grandfather, but he never got back to me. May be I need to wait until next Lunar New Year.
Grandfather Song was a distinguished looking man with a white beard and had respect of everyone. Rumors had it that when he came around, even the babies would stop crying. He was a prominent figure in the community, probably because he was very wealthy. Many stories told about how much land he owned.
He was the State Representative and had the licenses to sell rice, sugar and tabacco and even opium. He exported sugar to China and the saying in one of the community published books said that: Hangzhou had beautiful lakes, but Er Chen Hang had sugar, meaning that Taiwan sugar was very popular in mainland at that time. I interviewed one of the older Song relatives with great memories of details, Song Dong Cai (宋冬菜）， who told me that my grandfather
When Chiang Kai-shek's government came to Taiwan, they took away most of Grandfather's land. To compensate for the loss, the government gave him grain coupons instead. My parents and us lived with our grandfather for years during my growing up years. One of my chores was to clip the grain coupons that matured at the end of each month and we would go to the Land Bank of Taiwan (土地銀行) to turn them into money. In my young mind, I thought it was a pretty good deal that he turned in some papers and the bank gave him cash for it. Little did I know how hard it must have been for him, but he accepted it without much complain. It was such an honor that he trusted me to do it. He wouldn't let any of the grandsons do it. :-)
One of the more memorable things I remember was Grandfather Song's birthday celebration each year. There would be feasts for at least 2 days. A group of caterers would come and start preparing for the food the day before. All the sons and daughters would come with the children and there was always plenty of food and fun. On the birthday, about 20 round tables were set up in the courtyard with white table cloths. We kids would sit together and had a great time visiting and eating. The last of such banquet was at his funeral when he died at the age of 87.
When it came to education, Grandfather Song would send his sons to Japan to get the best education possible. His first and second sons were physicians. One of them took 12 years to finish his medical school. Number 3, and 4 earned business degrees. Number 5 uncle had no interest in getting any advanced education, so he stayed home to run the rice factory, sugar factory and other businesses. My father, number 6, the youngest of the 7 sons, was sent to Japan when he was 14 years old to study. He entered the law school at the University of Japan. It took him 8 years to finish his law degree, but Grandfather Song continued to support his sons to finish their education. The advice my father gave me when I went away to college was: don't send any telegraphs, or calls for money, because I have played every trick in the book. That's my dad!
Grandfather didn't send his 3 older daughters to school. But number 4 aunt had a mind of her own and decided that she should go to school and she did. Number 5 aunt stayed home and was one of the illiterate women of that era. Number 6 aunt went to Tainan Girls High School. All the girls married very well and lived comfortable lives.
During the QinMing Tomb Sweeping Holiday (equivalent to Memorial Day), I had great desires to visit my Grandfather Song's grave. I made many calls and were mostly told that no one knew where the tomb was. I went to bed in tears feeling very frustrated the night before the special holiday. I remember my prayer was sad. I was awoken by a phone call early the next morning, the day of the tomb sweeping day. On the other end of the line was my cousin, Song Bo Ming. He said that he found another cousin who knew where grandfather was buried. I called this cousin right away and he said he would be happy to take us. So we decided that we would go on Saturday, April 6, early in the morning. This cousin asked if I could round out at least one representative from each of Grandfather Song's 6 sons. I told him I would try.
We went on to do tomb sweeping with the young missionaries on Tomb Sweeping Day since we weren't going to visit Grandfather Song's tomb until Saturday, a couple of days later. It was a very touching experience to see how hard these young people worked to clean up the cemetery. There were tents set up by the city fire department across from the cemetery. I went over to visit some of the firemen and asked why there weren't as many people out there doing tomb sweeping. The answers surprised me. They told me people took advantage of the holidays to go on family outings. Not too many people were willing to go clean up the tombs in the hot sun and do dirty work. They may hire someone to come to clean it up later. I was astonished to hear this and frankly saddened. But we did see many people visiting the military cemetery about a mile down the road. Elwin and I could not find the one the missionaries were working at. We walked in the hot sun looking for it. Luckily we met a good Samaritan who took time to drive us around until we found the missionaries working at the other cemetery. The Lord sure takes care of his missionaries. Many thanks to the kind gentleman who helped us.
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| the Song Clan |
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| One rep from each of Grandfather Song's 6 sons (2 from the same family) |
Three of the cousins came on the train and stood out side of the train station waiting for us to come. In the meantime, another cousin came early to wait for us at the train station. These 4 cousins stood almost next to each other and didn't even know each other. Wow, the two cousins looked so much alike (they are first cousins). How did they not recognize each other! It was time for this reunion to happen. Thanks to our Lord God for his tender mercy and his love for us, his children. Below are some of the pictures:
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| Grandfather Song's grave |
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| Xu Tao 1883-1950 |
As it turned out, a cousin, Richard, already took care of the tombs each year. We were able to discuss what needed to be done and each family would pay a part to have the place cleaned up, stones repaired, and grass put in. It was wonderful to have feedback from each family right there. I know Grandfather and Grandmother were happy to see us all there. And it turned out to be a beautiful cool sunny day. In fact, it started misting after we had lunch. We were truly blessed!
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| One of the cousins treated us to a delicious lunch at a fancy restaurant in Tainan |
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