Milong is a farming village with dirt roads, even the main road that barely fits a compact car is a dirt road. This village is one of the poorest villages within the Taishan area so I was told by some of the villagers. It does not have a village sign/plaque to mark the village entrance - so the virtual one above will have to suffice for now. The village also does not have a pagoda, which traditionally is built right next to the village sign.

Other villages in the area are much better off as they have quite a number of ex-villagers that have done well enough to combine their donations for the betterment of the village. Milong on the other hand can only boast two families overseas: our family was the first to go overseas and a few years back another family went overseas as well. Then two years ago, a neighbor's daughter married a man in Canada. We just simply do not have enough ex-patriates overseas that have done well who can afford to donate to build as basic a symbol as the village entrance marker.

It is only in 2002 that our family could afford to have our ancestral home rebuilt. It will be a while before we can provide any help to the village, especially with the economy the way it has been since 911. We hope someday we can find a way to help the village in some way, perhaps build a library with room to house public computers...This is a challenge that deserves attention...

When we have more information about the village and life there, we will post an update to this page. In the meantime, enjoy browsing through some photos of the village from my 2003 China Trip.