Luodai, a once sleepy Hakka township in Chengdu, was given a new lease on life last month during the 20th World Hakka Conference, attended by about 3,000 mainlanders and expatriates who shared stories about their adopted homes.
The town underwent a major facelift in preparation for the event, with historic buildings, including the many guild houses, being restored. Non-historic buildings were given veneers in traditional Hakka style.
Luodai, on the eastern outskirts of Chengdu, covers 43 square kilometres and is home to 310,000 people, 85 per cent of whom are of Hakka origin.
The name Loudai sounds like 'belt dropping' in Chinese, and legend has it that some time during the Three Kingdoms (222-280AD), the town, then called a different name, had a lake filled with holy water from the East Ocean Dragon.
The water was so revitalising, it promoted longevity and a healthy complexion. A well, which drew water from the lake, was built nearby.
The carp growing in the lake were nutritious and sought after. A eunuch passed by one day to see an old man pulling out a big carp with his fishing pole and, in a flash of greed, he tried to snatch the fish away from him. But the fish fought back so violently, the eunuch fell into the well. He was rescued, but the fish broke loose and swam back to the lake through a connecting waterway.