Burying his nose deep into a tea bag, Dean Billing took a deep breath. A moment later, he cried out. "This smells like grandma's tea!"
Billing's grandmother began a tradition of drinking Chinese tea with her family. He remembered his grandma saying Guling, a mountain 13 kilometers from Fuzhou, capital of east China's Fujian Province, was her second home.
In September, Billing, 73, and his family visited Guling along with six other families from the United States and New Zealand. Tasting local teas was part of the experience of tracing their family's history.
"This is the jasmine tea grandma made for us," Billing said.
Billing's grandmother returned to the United States in 1944, bringing Chinese tea with her.
At an altitude of more than 800 meters, the mountain village was a popular summer resort for foreign residents to escape the extreme heat in Fuzhou in the early 1900s.
They built a community in Yixia village, with schools, clinics, swimming pools and clubs. More than 30 houses previously owned by foreign residents have been preserved.
SEEKING MEMORY
Among the group was Marybelle Brewster who was born in Fuzhou and moved to the United States at age 15. Now 83, she can still speak Fuzhou dialect with locals.
Brewster's children Josiah and Julie Olson accompanied her to China for the first time.
"We've always wanted to come to Guling. We've heard so much about it," said Josiah.
Together they visited the Brewster's former house, now called Yixia Villa. Built in 1886, it is the oldest foreign residence in the village.
In 1992, the local government consulted senior villagers to refurbish the room layout and rearrange the furniture to restore the villa to its former appearance.
Old photos of Guling and its foreign residents are now displayed in the main room and a side room has been converted into a cafe for tourists.
Guling receives tens of thousands of tourists every year, and Yixia Villa is a popular stop.
Huang Zhenrong, a former English teacher, now runs the cafe. Every morning, she picks flowers from the nearby hillside and carefully arranges them in vases placed in the rooms.
"I want the old house to look lively with fresh flowers so that it feels more like a real home and tourists can better relate to the past," Huang said.
Born and bred in Guling, Huang is very familiar with the village's history, and her job is more than just serving drinks. She likes talking with foreign tourists and answering their questions.
"I enjoy doing it," Huang said. "The stories here should be shared with more people."
"For many foreign guests, the trip is tracing a memory or reconnecting with the stories they've heard for years," said Jiang Jingting, head of cultural exchange department of Guling administrative committee.
"KULIANG"
Because of the history, rural people in Guling have grown up accustomed to seeing foreigners.
Liang Kuidong, 74, said he remembers giving berries and flowers to foreign children and receiving notebooks and erasers in return in the late 1940s.
The story of an American couple's touching journey to find Guling is well-known amongst the local community.
In 1992, a Chinese newspaper covered a story of an American couple who tried in vain to locate Guling, where the husband Milton Gardner had spent nine years of his childhood before returning to the United States in 1911.
Since diplomatic ties were established between China and the United States in 1979, Gardner had been longing to revisit his childhood home, but he never made the trip due to failing health.
According to the newspaper, Gardner kept uttering the words "Kuliang, Kuliang" in his final hours.
After he passed away, his wife Elizabeth Gardner made several unsuccessful trips to China to try to find the place her husband remembered.
A Chinese student staying at the Gardner's house realized the small town the late Mr. Gardner called "Kuliang" was actually Guling after seeing postmarks on some old mail.
With help from the Chinese government, Mrs. Gardner fulfilled her husband's wish by visiting Guling in 1992.
"The visit was a big thing for our small village and was widely reported," said Guo Xiuling, owner of Bamboo Villa, a local homestay. "Since Mrs. Gardner's visit, more and more foreigners have come."
Guo also knows Billing, whose grandmother's former house was bought by one of Guo's relatives and is now a part of Bamboo Villa.
"When Billing came, he took a black-and-white photo from his pocket and compared it with the house," Guo said. "He said something excitedly. I cannot understand English, but I guessed he was saying 'It's the same.'"
