A Prominent Clan of Buyong — Jiang Ancestral Hall in Shajing

Shajing was a thriving market in the ancient times, as one of the busiest districts in the ancient county of Baoan in Shenzhen. Before its natural landscape gradually changed into a flatland by the seaside around 2,500 years ago, the area was once a bay itself. This gave rise to Shajing’s early beginning in salt making and trade. Salt was the lifeline for this part of Shenzhen during the Song and Yuan dynasties. At first, salt was yielded by boiling sea water. Then the people of Shajing yielded salt by sun drying the sea water in salt pans. The oyster growing industry in Shajing traced a history of a thousand years since the Song dynasty. By the Qing dynasty, the salt industry has become obsolete. The people then turned to another sea-related trade—oyster farming. They engaged in the cultivation of oysters on bamboo staffs, a type of off-bottom native oyster farming technique. By the Ming and Qing dynasties, the oyster industry in Shajing became the primary produce and business for the community. Where the men tended to the oysters at the seaside, the women made secondary products, such as oyster sauce and dried oysters. Each harvest took 2-4 years to mature. The oyster trade resulted in prosperity for this community, so much so that it was considered the “key economic hub” in Shenzhen. By the 1990s, however, the rapid rise of Shenzhen’s industries caused severe pollution to its environment. The oysters in Shajing started showing signs of pollution, their flesh turning into bluish green colors. The products were no longer edible. This has caused a permanent shutdown of the native oyster farming industry in Shajing. The Jiang Ancestral Hall lies some distance away from the Shajing Old Market. The former oyster trade in Shajing is amply memorialized in the Jiang Ancestral Hall. The exterior of the walls there are lain with oyster shells and it makes a wonderful sight. The Jiang Ancestral Hall is located in Buyong, neighboring the Shajing villages. Like Shajing, the people of Buyong took up oyster farming after the salt trade declined. The Jiang’s of Buyong had a celebrated lineage that goes back all the way to the very beginning of recorded history in China. The very first ancestors assisted the ancient Emperor Yu in his efforts to tame the floods. The Jiang ancestors would be taking up key official positions with quite a few emperors later in China’s long history. The ancestor that established this village of the Jiang’s in Buyong was Jiang Naliu, in the Ming dynasty. The Jiang Ancestral Hall was built in the Ming dynasty. During the 1970s, its front hall had to be demolished due to a long history of disrepair. There were also six flagpole mounts outside of the entrance, but they could not be restored. In 2003, it underwent the latest renovation. A structure of brick and wood, the ancestral hall has the layout of three halls and three bays. The beautiful architectural details at the Jiang Ancestral Hall bespeak the status of the Jiang cl