Traveling Through Ancient Towns in Southern Guangdong (Part II): Yongmo Village in Zhongshan

Yongmo Village is located in Sanxiang, Zhongshan, known as a famous hometown of overseas Chinese and a millennium-old village, established during the Northern Song Dynasty. Yongmo was originally a person's name. The Zheng family ancestor, Zheng Zigang, styled Bingchang, was known as Yongmo. Yongmo Village is also the birthplace of Zheng Guanying, a famous modern Chinese industrialist and reformist thinker, and the foremost figure in modern business warfare thought. His work 'Words of Warning in Times of Prosperity' is considered a programmatic text for the spread of Western learning to the East, influencing countless people. This place also produced several notable figures, such as Zheng Tianxi, a famous diplomat and jurist who served as the ambassador of the Republic of China to the United Kingdom and the first Chief Justice of the International Court of Justice in The Hague; Zheng Jin, a master of the painting world, a famous modern artist and educator; Zheng Jingkang, a pioneer in the cultural field, a renowned photographer who took the first standard portrait of Mao Zedong; and Zheng Kelu, who translated 'The Count of Monte Cristo' and 'Les Misérables'. They were among the first in China to open their eyes to the world. Near the Yongmo market, there are many family restaurants bustling with lively crowds. The old streets also feature many fresh and petty-bourgeois tea houses, coffee shops, and private kitchens. The main street of Yongmo, Yongmo Upper Street, is the ancient Qiao-Ao trail. Established during the Song Dynasty, it was rebuilt in the eighth year of the Tongzhi era of the Qing Dynasty (1869) with donations from Zheng Qihua (father of Zheng Guanying) and his wife, and in the thirtieth year of the Guangxu era (1904), locals carved stones to commemorate, with two steles now standing at the east and west ends of Yongmo Upper Street in the village. Some public halls here, besides being used for sacrifices and exhibitions, also serve as activity centers for the elderly. You can see the elderly playing mahjong, adding a rich atmosphere of life to the place. From Yongmo Upper Street to Yongmo Lower Street, one experiences a complete ancient village. Stone slab streets, oyster shell walls, ancient post roads, ancient temples, old ancestral halls, along with internet-famous homestays, coffee, tea houses, and study rooms... Lingnan charm interweaves with the ancient fragrance of Xiangshan, where poetry meets history. Zheng Public Ancestral Hall in Yongmo