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I grew up learning the name of my ancestral village to be "Foong Siu Long".
Even the markers on my grandparents' and fellow clanspeoples' resting places identify their origins as children of "Foong Siu Long" village at "Hau Shan" mountain. But I look at grandpa's Head tax certificate and it identifies his village as "Wing On Le".
And to further complicate matters, a recent book prepared for the restoration of the Diaolou and my ancestral villages (prepared by academics from Hong Kong and China for the UNESCO application) identify it as Yong'an Le. So what gives?
Yong'an Le is the Mandarin enunciation of the Cantonese name of Wing On Le. Wing On Le means, "Village (or lane) of eternal peace".
Foong Siu Long is the locals' name for my ancestral village. It was the original name for this place, and despite an "official" naming of the village 50 or so years ago, the original local name of Foong Siu Long remained. Foong Siu Long means "bountiful harvest forever".
Information board fronting my ancestral village explaining the cluster of villages, it reads:
| " Situated at the flatland on the eastern coast of Tanjiang River, the Majianglong Village Cluster is under the administration of Baihe Township. It is composed of 5 villages. Yong'an and Nanlan villages of the Huang family and Qinglin, Hedong and Longjiang villages of the Guan family.
Yong'an village was established during the Qianlong period (1736 – 1795). In the early years, it was known as "Fengsuilang" – which bears the symbolic meaning of "good harvest every year". They renamed the place, "Majianglong" after 1949. A large number of the villagers have emigrated to the United States, Canada, Mexico and Australia. The 7 Diaolou and 8 villas in the villages were constructed in the early 20th century.
In June 2001, the Majianglong diaolou was declared by the State Council as a protected Major National Cultural Heritage."
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