Pingshan

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A new subway line opening means it’s easier to explore another district in Shenzhen and the opening of Line 14 means that Pingshan has become a lot more accessible. I think the subway journey there took about 40 to 50 minutes, which wasn’t too bad. We alighted the subway at Kengzi Station as there were some old Hakka villages around that we wanted to explore. It was a cloudy, warm and humid day, the temperature is starting to drop, but I wish it was a little cooler and that the humidity would disappear. It was a short walk to the first Hakka village, and I was rather surprised at how seriously the surrounding housing estate was taking Covid precautions. The security guards had hand held devices to scan our green codes. Mine must show pretty much nothing as I can’t scan in anywhere. I quite liked the little village/housing estate we walked through to reach the old Hakka village. There was a real South East Asia vibe about it, and it almost felt like we were in a different country. There were kids playing out in the street and small restaurants with tables outside filled with workers getting fed. Some of the buildings seemed to be small factories and other buildings looked abandoned. Some of the houses/apartments also like the shophouse style I’ve seen in South East Asia. It was nice to see a different slice of city life.

Longtian Ancestral Residence was built in 1837 by the Huang Family, However, when we got to there it was closed for renovation and wouldn’t be opened for another couple of weeks or so. It’s a bit of a shame that it wasn’t ready in time for the opening of the subway, and we saw a few other people had made the trip to visit it. So we headed back through the village to another Hakka village, which was about a ten minute walk away. Luck really wasn’t on our side as when we arrived at Xin Qiao (I hope I have the pinyin right) Ancestral Residence, it was all locked up and the security guard informed us that it was lunchtime and that it would probably re-open around 2 pm. Well, we weren’t hanging around for 2+ hours, so instead we just had a stroll around the streets surrounding the complex. There was an outer row of small one level buildings that could best be described as shacks before the inner row of more substantial multi-floored buildings, but even these looked a bit past their prime. The Xin Qiao Ancestral Residence also didn’t look in great shape as there were lots of beams supporting its wall.

There was another ancestral residence about a fifteen minute walk away, so we headed there. There were still some red barriers in place (there had been a Covid outbreak in Pingshan fairly recently), but when we saw a take away driver emerge from behind them, we knew it was safe and someone just couldn’t be bothered to take the barriers down. I think I liked this area the best as for me it was a bit more interesting than the other two places, although I’m not really sure why that was. I think it may have been because it felt like there was a little more to explore. There were quite a few yellow caution signs warning that the buildings might fall down. I walked up and down some alleyways. One plus point of Shenzhen being so warm most of the time is that in places like this people’s lives spill out on to the street for you to see. There were a few teddy bears about an one looked rather painfully impaled on a post. There were also some small farms behind the houses and what looked like a lot of junk. The walk took us in a circle and we ended up in front of the Xiuling Ancestral Residence. This was also closed, but there was a gap in the gate allowing us a look inside and to snap a picture or two.

We took the subway one stop to Pingshan Centre to have a look around there. We wandered across to Pingshan Central Park. This was a really nice park and somewhere I could see myself going if I lived in Pingshan. There was a nice lake in the middle of the park and a walkway to get photos. Lots of people were chilling on the grass. We even saw a kid’s birthday party taking place, before the security guards arrived to break up the fun. The park also had a few random statues in it. I wonder who’s idea and why it was to have a giant baby statues lying on its belly with its bum hanging out. Having said that, it is typically Chinese as babies often have openings in their clothes around the bum that can be unbuttoned so that they can do their business.

From the park, we could see Pingshan Library. I liked that it looked like the concrete and glass building jutted out from the green trees in the park below it. We headed over to the library and spent some time taking photos of it. We didn’t bother to go inside as I doubt it would have been very interesting. Next to the library is Pingshan Art Museum. We had a walk around the outside. I rather liked all the concrete, it had a bit of a brutalist feel, but more modern. Since it was free to enter we had a look around the exhibitions in the museum. To be honest the museum was pretty meh and I didn’t really like the exhibits. One was going through a series of doors trying to find the right one to get out and another was going from a room with the air conditioner on hot to a room with the air conditioner on cold. There was one gallery that had some nice paintings but t hat was it. An annoying feature of the museum was that there was a nice outside space, which I would have liked to have sat and chilled in for a bit, but it was closed due to Covid. I really don’t get the logic of closing off an outdoor space for Covid safety and thereby forcing everyone to congregate indoors. From the museum, we walked down to Pingshan Square to catch the metro home from there. While the day didn’t quite work out as planned, it was nice to see a different part of the city.

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Comments

[RENanDREW]

Local life
I absolutely love these pictures of local life we get in small villages. It makes me feel more connected to a place when I can walk through and observe people going about their day without us interrupting them in any way. And I agree with you, the areas have a very Hue / Hoi An Vietnamese feel :)

[Zephyr]

Village Life
It does add to the connection and the memories gained. Thanks for reading and commenting. :)