LUCHEN RURAL VILLAGE

LUCHEN is an ancient, rural village 2 hours from the city of Haikou, Hainan Island. There is a stone marker, at the entrance to the village, from the 'Ming Dynasty', 1500 A.D. It lists 10 rules for the village --'don't steal;don't cut down trees', etc. The foilage is tropical & the soil very fertile. Fruit trees are very abundant --jackfruit, pineapples, leechie nuts, bananas, to name just a few. The houses were all built from volcano bricks......bricks cut into squares from volcano lava, no mortar is used. The bricks are porous & would leak in the rain.....however, it is a very dry climate, & rains infrequently. Electricity & water are brought in from Haikou -- there is a TV antena attached to one of the electric poles along with an electric meter! We did see a 'DISH' on one roof! The people were very friendly, especially the children! They followed us around the village, smiling as we took their photo, not one of them asked for anything! They were even more surprised when I showed them their photo on my digital camera!!!! They didn't speak cantonese, but had their own dialiac, which is not uncommon --there are no fewer than 56 dialiacs in China. Some of the families had their own temple, so we saw a few temples throughout the village..........

We also stopped to see the 'Five Lords' Temple'. This is a temple built by five men exiled from the mainland several hundred years ago. In ancient times, if you disobeyed the law, you were transported to Hainan Island. These five men were very active on the island & built a large temple.....

We also passed through several villages & since it was Sunday, the streets were very busy with many people & merchants......we passed many fish & meat merchants........there doesn't seem to be any refrigeration & so it sits on the tables waiting to be purchased!

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