Exploring Jiangshan in E China
 |
|
Three peaks of Mount Jianglang in Jiangshan city, Zhejiang province. Photo provided to China Daily |
 |
|
|
Qingyang village with its ancient temples and houses could be your next stop in Jiangshan. It is known for its deep association with the surname Mao. Many people bearing the surname had lived in areas toward the south of the Yangtze River.
In 1999, experts confirmed that Mao Zedong's ancestors used to live in Qingyang, before moving to Shaoshan in Hunan province. The village is also the ancestral home of Mao Fumei, Chiang Kai-shek's first wife, and Chiang Ching-kuo's mother.
However, Mao and Chiang never knew about the connection, as they died more than 30 years prior to the discovery.
The other house of interest in the village once belonged to the family of Dai Li.
Dai worked for Chiang Kai-shek, as head of a bureau that specialized in surveillance, kidnapping and assassinations, and also engaged in espionage activities against the Japanese in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1937-45). Dai died in a mysterious airplane crash in 1946.
Built in 1943, with some 85 doors and 122 windows, Dai's house seemingly reflects the personality of an intelligence agent. His study has six doors through which escape in an emergency situation would have been quick.
A traditional Chinese landscape painting had once graced the sitting room wall. Above the room's gate is a small cabinet where Dai kept his gun. A secret chamber behind the wall where he used to live, protected by personal armed guards, is also difficult to make out at first glance.
