On the 9th March 2003, as one of the main organizer, I warmly welcomed a Canadian Summer Camp group named "Searching for Your Roots". This was the first summer camp organized by Overseas Chinese Affairs Office Guangdong Provincial Government (OCAO) in the year of 2003. 10 Overseas Chinese Youth from Toronto joined the camp to search for their roots.
Overseas Chinese young generations are tend to be brought up in two different kinds of culture background, i.e. the culture of their resident country and the Chinese culture background from their parents. Thus, they always face puzzles such as "who I am", "where I originally come from" and "which country is my motherland". The same puzzles exist in this Canadian Camp. It's our responsibility to organize the tour and give them a good chance to find answers themselves. We've found that "Searching for Their Roots" is a perfect way to help them find the answers which explain why OCAO have organized summer & winter camps for 22 years.
Many members of this group had been looking forward to this trip long before they arrived in Guangzhou because they had been fully informed of their hometowns. When the group arrived at their hometowns, the local OCAO receiving them added more practical information about root seeking so that they could search for their roots even easier than they'd expected. There is a good story here I want to share with you. Ching, a group member, hoped to find the patrimonial temple and put her father's name there. Ching was born in Hong Kong, but she is aware of the importance of the patrimonial temple for Chinese people. When she arrived at her patrimonial temple in Shunde city, she was very excited. She felt that there was not much difference between the cities of Toronto and Shunde because Shunde was so modern as Toronto. She was so proud of this. Ching regarded that to put her father's name in the temple means her family were accepted by the village and that her root was really in this village.
Yuanyuan, another member of the group, was taken to her ancestral house and was told the story why her ancestors moved overseas and how they developed aboard. She thought that it helped her understand more about her ancestors. She then climbed up a hill in the village to show respect to her ancestors in front of a tomb. Yuanyuan said, " I'm doing something that my parents have never done. It more closely linked me with my ancestral family and the village. I would always remember today cause I've found my root."
Most of the campers have found their roots in China. Since root seeking procedure can be quite time consuming in some cases, some of them couldn't go to their ancestral village and search for their root personally. But in short, all the campers were very glad to share their root seeking experience. They thought it was a good chance for them to learn more about Chinese culture and local custom. Most of the group members came to realize the link between themselves and china by root searching. They started to feel proud of their Chinese origin.
Peter said, "china enjoys a long gorgeours history. When I got to know more about China, I just couldn't help loving her. I feel very glad having a Chinese origin. Most of the group members were no longer confused about "who I am". They have found the answers themselves through this trip. As for Douglas, a businessman, his rook seeking purpose was different from others. He thought he might knew more about Chinese people and their life through this root seeking experience. So when he does business with Chinese people in the future, he would have more chance to win than his competitiors. The root searching camp ended on 19th march 2003. It was an extraordinary trip for the group. Kennit said: "It's the best trip which I have ever joined. I will keep it in my memory forever. I think it's a good start to know Chinese culture and people. I know myself better through doing this".
Editor: Dawn By: Xueting Source:OCAO
