Unforgettable Guling

Relatives of former foreign residents of Guling post letters in the village’s old mailbox.

The Story Continues

Although Elizabeth has now passed away, connections between Guling and its foreign friends remain strong.

On September 26, 2012, Gardner’s nephews – Gary and Lee Gardner – arrived in Guling along with many other foreign visitors whose senior family members had also lived there.

The Gardners’ grandfather and father were both born in Foochow Christian Union Hospital. In 1987, the brothers came to Guling on a mission to trace their roots. They carried with them a glass jar, which they filled with earth from Guling’s White Tower (Baita) as a souvenir to take back to America. “This time, I don’t regard myself as a foreigner,” Gary said during his trip in 2012.

The other foreigners on the pilgrimage to Guling included Gordon Trimble, a descendant of Lydia Trimble, founder of The Woman’s College of South China, and Sallie Parks, a descendant of Thomas Rennie, who built the first Western-style villa in Guling. Already in her 70s when she came to China in 2012, Sallie took many pictures around the villa her ancestor built to show her husband, who had also lived in Guling for three years and was a keen calligrapher.

Guling has witnessed great changes over the past century. Nowadays, there is a comprehensive transport network and the locals are more prosperous. In the summer, urbanites rent family hotels from local villagers for a holiday or weekend breaks to escape the city heat.

The original stone steps that Guling’s first settlers would have used back in the 19th century have been preserved integrally. Local elder Liang Kuidong told China Today that the steps, which were the only route downhill until 1958, were 1,000 years old.