Chikan, Kaiping

Found etymology,

Chikan (Chinese: 赤坎; pinyin: Chìkǎn; Jyutping: cek3 ham2) is a historic town in Kaiping, Guangdong Province, China. It is officially designated as a National Historic and Cultural Town of China (中国历史文化名镇).

History

The town was founded in 1649^[3] and was originally part of Xinhui County. Due to it being surrounded by the Tan river on all sides, it thrived in waterway transport, and became a regional maritime transportation hub in the Pearl River Delta. According to the 1991 town chronicle, a pier was already present by the year 1676. Historically it was the administrative centre of Kaiping.^[4][5][6] With a population more than 72,000, it is the hometown of significant numbers of overseas Chinese, mostly living in the United States, Canada and Southeast Asia.^[7]

Geography

Chikan is located near the middle of Kaiping,12 kilometres south of Kaiping City. Main roads that run through the town include Dixi Lu(堤西路)(sometimes referred to as 'European Styled Street') and Didong Lu(堤东路) on the either side of Tan river,Er Malu(二马路)(lit.second road) and Zhonghua Lu(中华路)(lit.China Road). There are 19 villages within Chikan as of 2013.^[8]

Sights and attractions

The town is famous for its late Qing and early Republic Qilou (or Tong Lau),numbering over 600 spanning over 3 kilometres. Amongst them the most spectacular are on Dixi Lu. The town also contains a large number of Diaolous, now designated a UNESCO World Heritage.

As a result of the large concentration of historical buildings in the town, part of the town was made into Chikan Studio City (赤坎影视城) in 2005, for filming of historical scenes. Other attractions include:

• Jinghui Lou (景辉楼) on Dixi Road, the former residence of Zhang Jinghui, a famous clinic in the early 20th century. Now converted into a museum.^[9]
• Nan Lou (南楼, lit. South Building), a defensive Diaolou that was involved in resisting the Japanese invasion.^[10][11]
• Yinglong Lou (迎龙楼),one of the earliest Diaolou in Kaiping, built by the Guan clan during Jiaqing years of the Ming dynasty (1522-1566).^[12]
• Canada Village (加拿大村) is a famous village known for its integration of foreign and local architecture. Originally known as Yaohua Fang (耀华坊), but as a result of much of its villagers now reside in Canada, its name colloquially became Canada Village.^[13][14]
• Situ's and Guan's Libraries

Two Large Clans

Two clans largely runs the town, the Situ(司徒族) and the Guan(关族),who resides on either sides of the Tan river. In 1923 the Situs built their own, though publicly open library, the 'Situ's Library', costing more than 30,000 silver dollars.In saving face,the Guan built their own 'Guan's library' at an equivalent scale to Situ's.

Gallery

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  Nan Lou

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  Situ's Library

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  Guan's Library

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chikan.