14 Days in Meizhou

The migration story hall by hall, plus the Southern Han iron pagoda of 965 on the town's eastern hill. Salt-baked chicken and stuffed tofu set the table.

1. meizhou china hakka museum
2. meizhou qianfo pagoda

The birthplace of Ye Jianying (1897-1986), his residence a national protected site, then the tea terraces and teahouses of Yannanfei.

1. meizhou yejianying memorial park
2. meizhou yannanfei tea garden

The Tang temple of about 862 with its living-and-withered cypress pair below the 1,298-m summit of Yinna; a ridge walk fills the afternoon.

1. meizhou lingguang temple
2. meizhou yinna mountain

A lakeside recovery day under Yinna Mountain — pedal boats, tea houses and the resort paths, with evening light over the tea fields.

1. meizhou yaminghu

A slow day among the 30-odd Ming-Qing weilongwu of Qiaoxiang — courtyard thresholds, family halls and the guide stories of overseas remittances.

1. meizhou qiaoxiang village

The river town where Hakka emigrants boarded for Southeast Asia from the late Ming on — fire-boat wharf, arcaded streets and the emigration memorial square of 2013.

1. meizhou songkou old town

East to Dabu for the round Huae tulou of 1608 and the stone Tairou of 1763; overnight in Huliao.

1. meizhou huae tulou
2. meizhou taian tulou

Lane mazes, ancestral halls and the decorated Zhaoqing Hall in a town that sent more scholars to the imperial exams than most of the county.

1. meizhou baibou old town

The 1927 Sanheba battle memorial park and the 1929 Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall at the meeting of three rivers — a factual stop with good riverside walks.

1. meizhou sanheba memorial

Five finger-like Danling peaks with cliff walkways in Pingyuan County; the day's long views run toward the Guangdong-Jiangxi border.

1. meizhou wuzhi stone

North to Xingning, among the densest weilongwu districts of Meizhou; the Qing-era Pan'an walled house shows the full courtyard-and-wing plan still furnished.

1. meizhou panan weilongwu

Two hours south into neighboring Chaozhou — the Guangji Bridge first raised in 1171, half pontoon and half beam, the archway street, and the Kaiyuan Temple of 738. Evening return toward Meizhou.

1. chaozhou guangji bridge
2. chaozhou paifang street

West into neighboring Jiangxi province — the Song-era brick wall of Ganzhou, still running about 3,600 m since its 1056-1063 rebuild, the Yugu Terrace of Xin Qiji's 1176 lyric, and the Ming-Qing lanes of Zao'er Alley.

1. ganzhou yugu terrace
2. ganzhou city wall

A final Hakka-themed stroll at Kexiatian above town, then the HSR from Meizhou West.

1. meizhou kexiatian