Xiqi village (local name: Saikee/Saykee) () is located in the

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

of Shuibu, in Taishan City, Jiangmen, Guangdong Province, southern China. Decades ago the village had 1,000 villagers but was almost completely depopulated by emigration to the United States such that fewer than 50 villagers today. It can therefore be viewed as the ancestral village of thousands of

overseas Chinese Overseas Chinese people are Chinese people, people of Chinese origin who reside outside Greater China (mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan). As of 2011, there were over 40.3 million overseas Chinese. As of 2023, there were 10.5 milli ...

throughout the Chinese diaspora, particularly in San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle, and Vancouver. A 1958 U.S. Justice Department investigation identified the village as the source of what was, at the time, one of the largest illegal immigration operations in the United States."IMMIGRATION: A Case of Togetherness."
''Time'', January 20, 1958. The smuggling operation, run by Huey Bing Dai for over 50 years, involved the illegal transplant of over 250 men, almost the entire male population of Xiqi village, to San Francisco. The incident became emblematic of countless similar Chinese

human smuggling People smuggling (also called human smuggling), under U.S. law, is "the facilitation, transportation, attempted transportation or illegal entry of a person or persons across an international border, in violation of one or more countries' laws, ...

operations in the United States during the early to mid-twentieth century. The village is also known for its typically Taishanese rectilinear layout which adheres to ''

Feng shui Feng shui ( or ), sometimes called Chinese geomancy, is a traditional form of geomancy that originated in ancient China and claims to use energy forces to harmonize individuals with their surrounding environment. The term ''feng shui'' mean ...

'' principles, as well as its traditional courtyard houses. Xiqi's traditional village plan has received praise for its economical use of natural sunlight, vegetation screening, and nutrient resources, an efficient system that can still be used as a modern model. Xiqi village's clan name is Xu () in

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l=Mandarin (bureaucrat), officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretch ...

, although historically most villagers did not speak that language and instead used the

Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...

Taishanese Taishanese (), alternatively romanized in Cantonese as Toishanese or Toisanese, in local dialect as Hoisanese or Hoisanwa, is a Yue Chinese language native to Taishan, Guangdong. Even though they are related, Taishanese has little mutual i ...

transliteration of the surname: Hui/Huey/Huie. Xiqi village's name is transliterated from Mandarin, but names from other dialects used are Saikee/Saykee Village.

Gallery

File:xiqi6.jpg, Xiqi village File:Xiqivillage1.JPG, Xiqi village File:Xiqi1.JPG, Xiqi front village File:xiqi2.jpg, Xiqi village File:xiqi3.jpg, Xiqi village File:xiqi5.jpg, Xiqi village File:xiqi4.jpg, Xiqi village

References

;Bibliography * {{DEFAULTSORT:Xiqi Village Taishan, Guangdong Villages in China