Guarding Huaxia Through Three Lifetimes: I Witnessed Three Migrations South

My name is Chen Shi. I am a fragment of a soul who, over three lifetimes, personally witnessed the three most painful southward migrations in Chinese history.

During the Rebellion of the Eight Princes in the Jin dynasty, when Yongjia was in chaos and Luoyang fell, I was a distant scion of the Wang clan of Langya. Abandoned north of the Yangtze, I built a fortified village in the mountains, gathered refugees, and preserved our cultural heritage. During the An Lushan Rebellion in the Tang dynasty, when Chang’an fell, I was a scholar who fled south with my books. I returned to the old stronghold, passed on the skills of the many crafts, saved my neighbors, and kept the flame of civilization alive. During the Jingkang Incident in the Northern Song, when the two emperors were taken north, I fled south with my mother. I returned to the old stronghold once more, relying on memories from three lifetimes to sustain myself through farming and study, and to watch over the hearths of our community.

Three dynasties rose and fell, but the river’s song never changed. The aristocracy crossed south in search of power; emperors fled south in search of safety. All I wanted, amid the chaos of war, was to preserve a wisp of cooking smoke, a patch of mulberry and hemp, and an unbroken thread of Chinese heritage. I had no ambition to conquer the realm, nor any dream of becoming a marquis or chancellor. I only wished, through three lifetimes of wandering, to protect a corner of peace and prove that civilization would endure. Wherever the cooking smoke rises, there is China.