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For the American-born Gardner brothers, Fuzhou, capital of southeast China’s Fujian Province, is the same city as it was 25 years ago when they first visited—warm and welcoming.
Gary, 64, is a pastor living in Colorado, and Lee, 62, works at a nursing home in California. Their family bond with the Chinese city can be traced back to the late 19th century when their missionary ancestors first came to the country.
During the family’s mission to rediscover their roots in the autumn of 1987, the Gardners traced the footprints of their ancestors across many different places. Lee carried a jar on the journey, which he filled with soil taken from outside the Fujian Medical University Union Hospital where his father and grandfather were born.
“I kept the jar on a shelf at home because it reminds me of my family roots,” Lee told Beijing Review.
In addition to the hospital, the Kuling Summer Resort where their ancestors avoided the summer heat was also listed on the itinerary.
On September 27, the Kuling Post Office, which was established in 1902 and is one of the country’s oldest summer post offices, resumed its function as part of the Kuling Summer Resort renovation project. The Gardners sent out postcards with a Kuliang postmark (Kuling in Fuzhou’s dialect) on them to reconnect their family in the United States and the city in China.
Yesterday once more
Located some 12 km on the eastern outskirts of Fuzhou, Kuling, 800 meters above the sea level, is a mountainous area covering 24 square km. Its moderate climate makes it an ideal summer resort destination.
The remote area became popular in the late 19th century partly because Fuzhou was one of the five Chinese cities forced into foreign trade after the First Opium War (1840-42). An American missionary named S. F. Woodin discovered Kuling and rented local houses for summer recreation in 1886.
Word spread quickly among local expats. A year later, Thomas Rennie (1865-1938), a doctor at the British Consulate, built the first Western-style villa. Foreigners and wealthy locals built more villas in the following years. A summer resort complex formed during its heyday in the mid-1930s.
Milton Gardner (1901-86), Gary and Lee’s great-granduncle, was a regular resident in Kuling during the summertime before returning to the United States in 1911. He was a professor of physics in the University of California, and retired at the age of 68. Revisiting Kuling became his biggest dream in his late years, but unfortunately he suffered from paralysis for years after 1972. His widow Elizabeth was familiar with the name Kuling but had no idea of its exact location.
After Milton died, a Chinese student named Zhong Han home-stayed at the Gardner’s and told Elizabeth that the Chinese characters on the postmark that Milton kept was “Kuling, Fuzhou.” An article he wrote about Elizabeth’s story was published in the Beijing-based People’s Daily.
The article entitled Ah, Kuling! was published on April 8, 1992. Xi Jinping, Chinese Vice President who then served as secretary of the Communist Party of China of the Fuzhou Municipal Committee, read the article and invited the then 76-year-old Elizabeth Gardner to visit her husband’s childhood home.
In fact, the summer resort was abandoned after World War II (1939-45). The area did not reopen to the public until May 1, 1980.
Wu Qimin, 44, Deputy Director of the International News Department with People’s Daily, was assigned to cover Gardner’s tour in August 1992. “It was my first business trip. We spent six days together in Beijing and Fuzhou. Mrs. Gardner was really nice,” she recalled.
According to Wu, Elizabeth brought Milton’s photos and the envelope with the Kuling postmark, climbed the hills to overlook the Minjiang River and met with her husband’s childhood friends, all of whom were in their 90s.
Wu told the Gardner brothers that the Summer House, the first Western-style villa in Kuling, “looks better than 20 years ago.”
For old time’s sake
No. 10 Yixia Village in Kuling is a two-story grey stone house where Guo Xiangshu, 75, and his wife Guo Shuzhen, 70, lived for decades. Located along the 800-meter-long old street, the structure was built by Guo’s grandfather in the late 19th century.
“There used to be a bookstore and a photo studio right opposite to my house,” Guo said, pointing to a site now under construction. “We kept some porcelain plates left by foreign neighbors, and Kodak film advertisement plates, too,” he continued.
Before retirement, Guo worked in a local steel mill for 38 years. The only route linking the mill to his mountain home was a walkway with more than 3,000 steps, giving him little ability to return home except for weekends.
The infrastructure in the village was upgraded after the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. Electricity, tap water and communication signals became available for Guo and his neighbors.
“We have wider roads, so the traffic from downtown is easier,” Guo said.
Unlike Guo, 70-year-old Wei Jian lives in downtown Fuzhou but spends the summertime at an apartment in Kuling Summer Resort every year. To avoid the intense summer heat, he stays indoors to write a book about the area.
Wei started his career as a Chineselanguage teacher in a middle school. It took him a decade to finish The Grand Gushan Mountain, The Yongquan Temple. Published by Haifeng Publishing House last year, the 900,000-word book covers topics ranging from history, geology, architecture to religion, literature and tourism. It was dubbed “the encyclopedia of the Gushan Mountain.”
“As a Fuzhou local, I love Kuling and its surrounding areas. So when I was asked to write a journal in 1995, I did not hesitate a second,” Wei told Beijing Review. “I hope my book could help maintain its legacy.”
During his decade-long field research, Wei witnessed the changes in Kuling. Illegal constructions were removed. Local villagers were relocated to new houses. The renovation project for the area’s original architecture—including the post office, the first villa, the church, the club and the swimming pool—was finally finished.
In fact, the Kuling renovation project was initiated in the late 1980s. According to Wu Zhihui, Director of Jin’an District Tourism Bureau, the district government has compiled a blueprint for the area’s development, with an aim to make it a national tourist destination. Some 36 million yuan ($5.5 million) has been invested since 2009 in infrastructure and renovation projects.
In February, Vice President Xi Jinping shared Elizabeth Gardner’s story during his visit to the United States, illustrating the potential for deepened friendship between the two countries.
Two months later, archaeologist David Morse in Fuzhou’s sister city Tacoma, Washington State, was asked by the Fuzhou local government to find the Gardners. Unfortunately, childless Elizabeth passed away in 2011, so Morse reached Gary and Lee, who happened to share ancestors.
The Gardner brothers were excited to have their second Fuzhou trip realized. Before departing, they digitalized family albums and diaries.
Similar to the Gardners, Sallie Parks is a descendent of Thomas Rennie, owner of Kuling’s first villa. Her husband, Alden E. Matthews, worked in Fuzhou as a missionary from 1947 to 1950 and had a residence in Kuling.
Upon reaching the villa, Parks placed her hands on the exterior walls.
“My husband would speak the Fuzhou dialect whenever we ran into Chinese people in Florida,” Parks said. “He said Kuling is a great place, and it really is. I can’t wait to tell friends and people around the world how beautiful it is.”
Gary, 64, is a pastor living in Colorado, and Lee, 62, works at a nursing home in California. Their family bond with the Chinese city can be traced back to the late 19th century when their missionary ancestors first came to the country.
During the family’s mission to rediscover their roots in the autumn of 1987, the Gardners traced the footprints of their ancestors across many different places. Lee carried a jar on the journey, which he filled with soil taken from outside the Fujian Medical University Union Hospital where his father and grandfather were born.
“I kept the jar on a shelf at home because it reminds me of my family roots,” Lee told Beijing Review.
In addition to the hospital, the Kuling Summer Resort where their ancestors avoided the summer heat was also listed on the itinerary.
On September 27, the Kuling Post Office, which was established in 1902 and is one of the country’s oldest summer post offices, resumed its function as part of the Kuling Summer Resort renovation project. The Gardners sent out postcards with a Kuliang postmark (Kuling in Fuzhou’s dialect) on them to reconnect their family in the United States and the city in China.
Yesterday once more
Located some 12 km on the eastern outskirts of Fuzhou, Kuling, 800 meters above the sea level, is a mountainous area covering 24 square km. Its moderate climate makes it an ideal summer resort destination.
The remote area became popular in the late 19th century partly because Fuzhou was one of the five Chinese cities forced into foreign trade after the First Opium War (1840-42). An American missionary named S. F. Woodin discovered Kuling and rented local houses for summer recreation in 1886.
Word spread quickly among local expats. A year later, Thomas Rennie (1865-1938), a doctor at the British Consulate, built the first Western-style villa. Foreigners and wealthy locals built more villas in the following years. A summer resort complex formed during its heyday in the mid-1930s.
Milton Gardner (1901-86), Gary and Lee’s great-granduncle, was a regular resident in Kuling during the summertime before returning to the United States in 1911. He was a professor of physics in the University of California, and retired at the age of 68. Revisiting Kuling became his biggest dream in his late years, but unfortunately he suffered from paralysis for years after 1972. His widow Elizabeth was familiar with the name Kuling but had no idea of its exact location.
After Milton died, a Chinese student named Zhong Han home-stayed at the Gardner’s and told Elizabeth that the Chinese characters on the postmark that Milton kept was “Kuling, Fuzhou.” An article he wrote about Elizabeth’s story was published in the Beijing-based People’s Daily.
The article entitled Ah, Kuling! was published on April 8, 1992. Xi Jinping, Chinese Vice President who then served as secretary of the Communist Party of China of the Fuzhou Municipal Committee, read the article and invited the then 76-year-old Elizabeth Gardner to visit her husband’s childhood home.
In fact, the summer resort was abandoned after World War II (1939-45). The area did not reopen to the public until May 1, 1980.
Wu Qimin, 44, Deputy Director of the International News Department with People’s Daily, was assigned to cover Gardner’s tour in August 1992. “It was my first business trip. We spent six days together in Beijing and Fuzhou. Mrs. Gardner was really nice,” she recalled.
According to Wu, Elizabeth brought Milton’s photos and the envelope with the Kuling postmark, climbed the hills to overlook the Minjiang River and met with her husband’s childhood friends, all of whom were in their 90s.
Wu told the Gardner brothers that the Summer House, the first Western-style villa in Kuling, “looks better than 20 years ago.”
For old time’s sake
No. 10 Yixia Village in Kuling is a two-story grey stone house where Guo Xiangshu, 75, and his wife Guo Shuzhen, 70, lived for decades. Located along the 800-meter-long old street, the structure was built by Guo’s grandfather in the late 19th century.
“There used to be a bookstore and a photo studio right opposite to my house,” Guo said, pointing to a site now under construction. “We kept some porcelain plates left by foreign neighbors, and Kodak film advertisement plates, too,” he continued.
Before retirement, Guo worked in a local steel mill for 38 years. The only route linking the mill to his mountain home was a walkway with more than 3,000 steps, giving him little ability to return home except for weekends.
The infrastructure in the village was upgraded after the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. Electricity, tap water and communication signals became available for Guo and his neighbors.
“We have wider roads, so the traffic from downtown is easier,” Guo said.
Unlike Guo, 70-year-old Wei Jian lives in downtown Fuzhou but spends the summertime at an apartment in Kuling Summer Resort every year. To avoid the intense summer heat, he stays indoors to write a book about the area.
Wei started his career as a Chineselanguage teacher in a middle school. It took him a decade to finish The Grand Gushan Mountain, The Yongquan Temple. Published by Haifeng Publishing House last year, the 900,000-word book covers topics ranging from history, geology, architecture to religion, literature and tourism. It was dubbed “the encyclopedia of the Gushan Mountain.”
“As a Fuzhou local, I love Kuling and its surrounding areas. So when I was asked to write a journal in 1995, I did not hesitate a second,” Wei told Beijing Review. “I hope my book could help maintain its legacy.”
During his decade-long field research, Wei witnessed the changes in Kuling. Illegal constructions were removed. Local villagers were relocated to new houses. The renovation project for the area’s original architecture—including the post office, the first villa, the church, the club and the swimming pool—was finally finished.
In fact, the Kuling renovation project was initiated in the late 1980s. According to Wu Zhihui, Director of Jin’an District Tourism Bureau, the district government has compiled a blueprint for the area’s development, with an aim to make it a national tourist destination. Some 36 million yuan ($5.5 million) has been invested since 2009 in infrastructure and renovation projects.
In February, Vice President Xi Jinping shared Elizabeth Gardner’s story during his visit to the United States, illustrating the potential for deepened friendship between the two countries.
Two months later, archaeologist David Morse in Fuzhou’s sister city Tacoma, Washington State, was asked by the Fuzhou local government to find the Gardners. Unfortunately, childless Elizabeth passed away in 2011, so Morse reached Gary and Lee, who happened to share ancestors.
The Gardner brothers were excited to have their second Fuzhou trip realized. Before departing, they digitalized family albums and diaries.
Similar to the Gardners, Sallie Parks is a descendent of Thomas Rennie, owner of Kuling’s first villa. Her husband, Alden E. Matthews, worked in Fuzhou as a missionary from 1947 to 1950 and had a residence in Kuling.
Upon reaching the villa, Parks placed her hands on the exterior walls.
“My husband would speak the Fuzhou dialect whenever we ran into Chinese people in Florida,” Parks said. “He said Kuling is a great place, and it really is. I can’t wait to tell friends and people around the world how beautiful it is.”