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Ban Kung, MeiXian

My cousin Isaac is standing in front of the road signs that leads to the Hsiung (or Yoong) family home. The first two characters are the names of the area. It literally means, "Half ditch." Not very poetic.

My grandfather is a Hakka. In Chinese, Hakka is really two words, "Ke" and "Ren," meaning guest. Our family was originally from the Henan province. During various wars they migrated south and settled in this area of China.

The Hsiung Family Home

This is the front rooms. My grandfather's father was one of six sons, thus the six gables. They went to Southeast Asia to make their fortune in rubber plantations in Malaysia and Indonesia. They brought their money back to their home town and built this marvelous mansion.

The average traditional, Hakka home does not have this front room. When this house was fully utilized, these rooms were only used during festivals, for business meetings or for entertaining.

The family name on the red lantern.

In front of the main front door.

Inside the front rooms you can still see the drawings on the balcony. Each panel is unique.

Family Motto

Family Tree

My grandfather is one of the 19th generation Hsiungs. That makes me one of the 21st generation.