Wandering Alone: Exploring the "Shaanxi Village" in Central Asia

Author: Chen Qi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-02-01
Features: With just a bicycle and a warm-hearted spirit, you might be able to travel through time and witness history. Why not? After enduring 90 days and traveling over 10,000 kilometers, a commoner from Xi'an recently embarked on a solo bicycle journey to seek out his Shaanxi compatriots who had been lost in foreign lands 130 years ago. Few people know that in the Central Asian region outside China, there is a Shaanxi village with 120,000 residents. They speak Shaanxi dialect and follow customs identical to those of Qing Dynasty Shaanxi. Where do their roots lie, and what is their connection to China?
At the age of 40, Chen Qi, a former military veteran with 15 years of service and currently a cadre at the Personnel Bureau of Lintong District, Xi'an, is a regular newspaper reader. One day, an inconspicuous piece of news in the corner of the newspaper caught his attention. The Donggan people of Kazakhstan are descendants of the Shaanxi Jiacheng uprising army from the late Qing Dynasty. Their homeland is known as the "Shaanxi Village." After a century of vicissitudes, the Donggan people have preserved the customs and traditions of their ancestors from the "Great Qing Empire" in complete integrity, demonstrating the enduring vitality of Chinese culture.
Chen Qi, a Shaanxi native, embarked on a long journey by bicycle, enduring hardships and bringing sincere greetings to the Donggan people as "fellow villagers." His heartfelt dedication is truly admirable. What makes readers unable to forget is the unbreakable attachment of the Donggan people to their ancestral homeland.