Meizhou, China

Meizhou (梅州) is a prefecture-level city of the People's Republic of China, located in eastern of Guangdong province of southern China. It has an area of 15,836 km², and a population of 4.8638 million.

Administration

Meizhou has juridiction over six counties: Meixian County, Dapu, Fengshun, Wuhua, Pingyuan, Jiaoling, one district: Meijiang, and mandate of Xingning City.

Culture

One experiences a very different culture, when visiting Meizhou. The standard dialect Hakka dialect is spoken here, the traditional Hakka culture is present.

It is considered one of the largest habitations of Hakka people in the world. It is the home of pomelo, and the home of football, and also the home of many expatriate Chinese. For these reasons Meizhou is famous.

Hakkas are a unique ethnic group of Han Chinese originally from around the Yellow River area, later they migrated to the south to avoid the chaos created by wars centuries ago. The word 'hakka' means literally 'guest'. The "guests" chose to live in the mountain regions, and led a hard and thrifty life there, so they gradually acquired a tradition of welcoming strangers.

Hakkas are among the most conservative keepers the tradition. Yet, many are willing to take risks and seek new opportunities elsewhere to establish themselves. The migratory tradition results in the redistribution of Hakka people in the most remote parts of the world. Many people in Meizhou migrated during the last century to earn money to raise their families. They then returned to build their hometown.

Many buildings can be seen named after famous people in Meizhou. They were built by the returning Hakkas. Tsang Hin Chi, founder of the Gold Lion Tie company, has made a great contribution to the development of Meizhou. Thanks to this company, the city has fine buildings and the economy has improved.

As Meizhou is a mountain area so there are many beautiful natural scenes and the air quality is good. Many visitors came to the Yannanfei Tea Garden to mountaineer. On the mountain, eyes will view the green colours, and one will feel as if walking among the clouds. Here, one cannot avoid the flavour of the tea.

Hakka folk music is also a feature of the area. One must experience while there a musical tour of Hakka traditions in the parks. Here many old people gather to sing the folk songs for entertainment. In the folks songs one will hear more about the Hakka people and their passion for their hometown, and love songs.

Food

If one visits Meizhou after August or September, one will view a sea of pomelos (a kind of fruit, yellow, shape like calabashes), especially in the orchards in the villages. The visitors will perhaps buy this delicious special local product as well as the salt baked chicken, the most famous Hakka food, which can be bought in many other cities in China. Another local dish is Rangdouful, a kind of meat-stuff bean curd, which has a very interesting origin. It is said that when Hakka people first came to the south, there was no wheat flour to make dumplings so they used bean curd instead. They put meat and some other ingredients into the bean curds and it made a good, special taste. It was handed down and became a special recipe of Hakka cuisine. Other foods like preserved beef, ginger candies are also very popular.