Jiashan

My granddad was born in Shanghai in 1917, his father was born in Jiashan, in one of the articles written by my grandfather, he talks about his father's home in Jiashan, located in a street immediately after crossing "Maiyu" bridge (bridge to sell fish), take a right and walk to the end to a large home.

Well the road now leads straight through, the old houses there have been torn down now and a new development would be put up. The government officials said if we had come 3 years earlier and, they could have at least saved it for a memorial or a building.

Jiashan is situated about an hour from Shanghai, Hangzhou and Suzhou, they have abundant veges and fish and now also factories. The population is about 700,000 people and there is an old city called Xitang just 15 mins away, where they have preserved the lifestyle of the inhabitants.

The government has been trying to promote culture and has built 2 other facilities for 2 other famous people from the area. They are keen to do something with us but I think they are now in shock as to the amount of work he has done and the amount of possibilities...

Our welcome started with a banquet... a big breakfast, a lunch banquet at Xitang and a dinner banquet with the vice mayor (who is in charge of culture). After our meeting which took alot more time than they thought, they cancelled the sightseeing at the economic zone. We did see 2 museums there, the chinese grave is of the famous artist from the Yuan dynasty. The other is of a famous actor. Their first thoughts were to maybe build a research center for my granddad, but they also wanted time to think and digest.