The Stone Road -
A Tour of the Ts'ung
Fa Hills
The Stone Road -
A Tour of the Ts'ung
Fa Hills
(This is a condensed version of an article written by the Rev Bert Davies of the Canton Villages Mission in South China for the NZ Young Men's Bible Class magazine "Four Square" in 1924. It describes in words and pictures an excursion through the Ts'ung Fa Hills, from Kaai Hau to Leung Hau and along the 'Stone Road' on to Lui T'in then returning back to Kaai Hau).
Rev Bert Davies in his 'hiking gear'
"...I have a little excursion that I take once a quarter, which brings back the days of youth when I roamed the hills of Wellington with Bible Class mates. The most distant part of the Canton Villages Mission field I visit is the Ts'ung Fa Hills. It is about one hundred miles north-east of Canton. The country is sparsely populated, the chapels are far apart, and the walks are long - about twenty-three miles a day.
Preacher Lai Wai Man, a Chinese Evangelist,
and Mrs Davies climbing over the Taii Laap.
Mrs Davies is said to be the first white
woman who has gone over this track.
The "chair' bearers can be seen following
behind Mrs Davies & Preacher Lai
But the air is fresh in comparison with the stuffy, smoky atmosphere of the Canton delta, and although the journeys are often tiring it is like a tonic to take these long tramps over hill and dale as each season comes around. Mrs Davies went with me for the last Spring trip, and I am sending a few snaps I took on the road to give you an idea of the countryside.
Approaching the first lot of tea houses
after leaving Leung Hau for Lui T'in. Cockscomb Hills in the background.
The dragon that protects Canton is said
to emanate from these hills.
The Cockscomb Hills on the Road from Leung
Hau to Lui T'in.
The last lap of the journey, between Leung Hau and Lui T''in, runs over the hills and valleys along a remarkably well-made stone track. It is seldom one finds such good roads among the mountains....
Mrs Davies pictured on the "stone road".
The tall trees are Chaam trees, the principal
building timber of South China
I enquired as to who had provided the funds. I was told that about thirty years ago a man had opened an iron mine among the hills, and worked it to such profit that after a few years he retired, a wealthy man, to his native village. His Mother asked him what he was going to do with all the money he had made, and he replied that he would now be able to live in luxury fo the rest of his life. But what about the people who helped you to make so much money ? asked his Mother. Think of all the men and women who carried your heavy loads of iron from the mine over steep and difficult tracks to the river for a few cents a load. Had it not been for them you would never have become so rich, Why not do something to help them ? So, the son decided to make a stone track along the way that his loads of iron had gone to the river.
Crossing the stone bridge over the upper
reaches of the Te Sung Fa River on the road to Lui T'in.
Mrs Davies and Preacher Lai followed by
luggage bearers
Rev Bert Davies & Preacher Lai pictured
at two overhanging rocks on the road to Lui T'in
The iron mine has been closed long since, but the two feet [wide] stone track, which forms part of the highway of the district, remains as the testimony of a good Mother. Everyday hundreds of men and women pass over it with their loads of timber and bamboo cut out of virgin forest, their baskets of charcoal, burnt on the hillsides, and their loads of rice and other produce as they come and go between the distant market towns. And last of all to pass over it are the Missionary and the Evangelist, carrying with them the most precious burden of all, - the Gospel of Jesus Christ."
Returning along the track to Kaai Hau after
leaving Leung Hau. Coming down from the summit of the hill.
Mrs Davies, Preacher Lai and a boy from
Lui T'in. Preacher Lai blistered his feet and had to take a 'chair'.
Mrs Davies being carried by a 'chair' on
the road back to Kaii Hau.
A sail cargo boat on the river beside the
road back to Kaai Hau