In Search of Gold Mountain

"My Journey to the West was inspired by my father, uncles and grandfather’s ventures to the Gold Mountain at a very young age. I had already made up my mind that I would follow their paths and embark on this adventurous journey when I grew up and searched for my own fortune."

——Brian Wong 黃榮富

From a small village to the west.
From a fish pond to Hong Kong.
Across the ocean to the port city of Liverpool...

The story of searching for Gold Mountain started with a little boy, Brian Wong, who was living in Kaiping City, a small village in China. Brian Wong knew that one day he would embark on this perilous journey—language difficulties, prejudice—but owing to his endurance and hardworking spirit, he overcame. Follow the steps of his ancestors to achieve his dream of a golden mountain.

It is a story about Brian Wong and all the overseas Chinese. See how they built Chinese culture in a foreign land with the Chinese spirit.

Over 200 years ago the Wuyi people (Note 1) consisted of five counties: Jiangmen (Xin Hui), Kaiping (my county), Tai Shan, Enping and He Shan, many of them went overseas in search of fame and fortune. They went to San Francisco and later Barkerville, Canada in search of fortune which actually they worked as coolies in laundries or chefs or grocery keepers. Like my grandfather, he left his wife and the extended families behind and embarked on such treacherous journeys, facing racial discrimination, language barriers, harsh and dangerous working conditions. Some of them returned home in triumph. They became financially rich and spent huge sums of money to build the famous ‘Diaolou’ (under the World Heritage Conservation-a fusion of west and east architectural designed mansion called Diaolou) in Wuyi County, Guangdong Province, China.

In the 17th century, most of the Chinese went to the West because of the weakness of China, which was still under imperial rule, and was plagued by wars, occupations by great powers, Japanese invasions, famines, floods, and warlordism. Domestically, it was faced with rebellions, Opium Wars and banditry, especially in rural areas. These were the turbulent times in Wuyi County, with many Wuyi people went to Southeast Asia and lost their lives in rubber plantations due to harsh working conditions.

My journey will highlight our Wuyi people’s spirit and perseverance across the globe, where the ‘see Yap Dialect’ still exists and is widely spoken in San Francisco today.

Features

It records the struggle of overseas Chinese, who traveled around the west and developed Chinese culture in a foreign country.

Brian Wong 黄荣富

Justice of the Peace, Deputy Lieutenant, M.A. (Economics)

Currently, Brian is the consultant of the Rongfu Business Finance Investment Consultancy. Over the years, he has acted as an adviser to local business community and voluntary organisations. He was appointed by the Jiangmen City (Municipal Government) as the 13th Jiangmen Overseas Chinese Consultative Representative. At the same time he was appointed as a consultant to the Jiangmen City Public Diplomacy Association 2020. Because of his knowledge of legal procedures and laws between the UK and China, he was appointed as the Mediator for Kaiping City’s Overseas Chinese Affairs Bureau in 2020.