We parked the car and crossed the river across a narrow stone bridge, and it’s as if we went back a few decades. Mass had just finished in the church, and both outside and inside were ayis and shushus finishing their lunch. A father came to us asking whether we too would like to eat something — we politely declined but did have a look in the main hall of the church. ‘基督教’ adorned the facade (Christian Church), and the duality of this church being neither Protestant nor Catholic showed in its interior. The cold and minimal tiled walls to do the Protestant bit, but the jubilant decorations from the Catholics in the shape of colorful balloons and pennant banners.

Huatang Village (华堂村) is a well-preserved village, with a church, a temple, an ancestral house, and narrow corridors through old residential buildings — some of which have collapsed. The whole place is scattered with wood carvings and paintings, including one of a young Mao.