Some British scholars have said that in this world, China is the most distributed country, and thousands of Chinatowns around the world are the best proof of this.
Among them, the longest Chinatown is in Melbourne, Australia, the most touristy is in Paris, France, and the most traditional taste is in London, England, and the oldest is Chinatown in New York, USA, which has existed for more than 100 years.
Of course, some countries or regions are not called Chinatown, but Chinatown or Chinatown.
In fact, no matter how they are called, they are Chinese gathering places and have very strong Chinese characteristics.
However, many people do not know that in the distant east of Kenya, Africa, there is a small island that still has the legend of "Chinese Village" more than 600 years ago, and even now there are many Chinese characteristics left on the island.
One
The name of the small island is Pateay Island and is located in eastern Kenya.
Don't look at the small size of the island, but it has a very long history, and the history of human habitation can be traced back to more than 1500 years ago.
At that time, the island was inhabited by the Dark-skinned, Athletic African Nigro race with curly hair.
Because of the scarcity of land here, the inhabitants of ancient times made a living by fishing. Of course, because of traffic restrictions, they also rarely have contact with the outside world, like a scene of paradise.
However, just over 600 years ago, when local residents were fishing, they found that a sea boat had sunk due to the reef, but there were more than 20 black-haired, yellow-skinned "strange people" on board who were rescued by them.
Although the people were rescued, the patriarch was afraid that these people had come to destroy them, so he wanted to drive these yellow-skinned people away.
And these people do not seem to have malicious intentions, but also helped them solve many problems in life, such as the problem of drinking water.
Don't look at them living by the sea, but the sea water can not be directly drunk, so they have to store rainwater in many containers for drinking.
But these yellow-skinned people actually built a reservoir, completely solving the draft problem that had plagued them for hundreds of years.
Not only that, but they seem to have a more efficient way to catch fish, and they can get a big harvest every time.
After a long time, the relationship between the two gradually became harmonious, and then they intermarried with each other and established a village.
However, communication has always been the biggest obstacle between the two, and in order to solve this problem, the tribe has sent a few smart young people to learn the language with them.
It was not until the pronunciation problem was solved that they came from a place called the Ming Dynasty and followed Zheng He to the West to come here.
Two
According to the History of the Ming Dynasty, Zheng He visited more than 30 African countries.
However, the temper of the sea was sometimes mild, sometimes grumpy, and Zheng He's fleet was in danger many times, including the sixth time when it reached eastern Kenya in Africa when it encountered a storm, and Zheng He quickly ordered people to turn the bow of the ship and return.
Therefore, this voyage to the West ended in only ten months, and there was no gain.
Of course, at the time of the final inventory of the ships, it was found that there were 4 sea vessels missing, and these 4 ships were also driving at the end, which must have been engulfed by the storm.
According to the History of Ming, all four ships sank in the sea, and all crew members were killed.
However, after combining the legend of Pateay Island, it is not difficult to see that although these ships have sunk, more than 20 sailors have survived.
They also tried to build their own large ships to return to the Ming Dynasty, but unfortunately the island was short of resources and did not have the right tools, so they finally had to take root, marry local women, and establish a Chinese village.
According to local residents, before the 16th century, there was a lot of evidence of chinese descendants settling on the island, such as a large number of porcelain, pure Chinese architecture, and so on.
However, due to the invasion of Portuguese colonists, the island was destroyed, many porcelain was robbed, houses were burned, and a large number of descendants of Chinese crew members were forced to migrate to the African continent, and since then there has been no news.
Of course, there are still a small number of descendants who have survived to live, but they no longer have the glory of the Chinese village in the past.
Three
To this day, although the island no longer has the same ancient Chinese architecture as before, there are still many buildings that still retain the shadow of Chinese architecture.
From the photos, many houses have "roof slopes" on all four sides of the roof, and there are also "wing corners" at the edges of the four corners, which is a typical ancient Chinese architectural style.
In addition, walking on the streets of the village will find that the physical characteristics of the villagers are very different from those of the native Nigros.
The villagers' skin is light black and yellow, their figures are generally thin, and some of them have brown eyes, which shows that they are all descendants of the Chinese crew.
If these are not yet proven, then their habits and customs speak for themselves.
It is well known that Africans are very enthusiastic and unrestrained, eating with their hands, performing exorcism rituals when they are sick, and burying them casually or even burying them in the sky when they die.
And the people in the village speak very subtly, are accustomed to stir-frying, like to cook, eat with chopsticks, can raise silkworms and weave silk, know some knowledge of Chinese herbal medicines, and even the funeral habits after death are the same as Chinese, and there must be a variety of funerary products.
What's more interesting is that a big aunt in the village also showed a piece of ancestral porcelain to reporters, which also looked quite old.
In fact, looking back, the Chinese crew trapped on the island must have been very bitter in their hearts, just as the so-called "leaves fall back to the roots", which is a deep-rooted tradition of Chinese.
"Look up at the bright moon and look down at your hometown."
Li Bai sighed just a few hundred miles away from home, and what kind of pain should be the lonely nostalgia in the hearts of those Chinese sailors who were thousands of miles away.
But Chinese have had the spirit of struggle since ancient times, just as the so-called "peace with the encounter", since the heavens let them survive, they should also choose to face it bravely.
What's more, it is not a good thing to spread Chinese culture to the african land.
Reference: History of the Ming Dynasty