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Fan Zhongyan was a name Fan Guoliang heard a lot in the stories told by his grandfather when he was merely a small boy. A big part of his childhood memories was about Fan Zhongyan, the ancestor of the Fan Clan in the village of Xiwu Jiande, Zhejiang Province.

The ancestor was an accomplished prime minister of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127).In the ups and downs of his career, he served the people well no matter whether he was the prime minister or a regional magistrate in a remote area. There were memorial temples in his honor where he served as a local official. Some temples are still around today.

Fan Guoliang is the 33rd-generation descendent of Fan Zhongyan. His home village is Xiwu or literally Western Valley, where today a branch of descendents of Fan Zhongyan live.

This Fan branch is from the Dragon Gate Village of Lanxi in central Zhejiang Province. According to the family pedigree, Fan Chuyi, the 17th-generation descendent of Fan Zhongyan from the Dragon Gate Village, saw the fengshui of the western valley and married himself into a family in the village near the valley. He fathered three sons and later moved his family to the valley and settled down there. This is how the village of Xiwu started in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

Fan Guoliang is the 17th-generation descendent of Fan Chuyi. Today, the village is home to 421 Fan descendents. The village, in the southeastern suburb of Jiande City in Western Zhejiang, nestles in a wooded valley. The village features many houses in the Anhui architectural style. The village is full of tall camphor trees and the cliffs rise to meet the sky. The song of birds mixes pleasantly with the song of a bubbling stream. The village is scenic and poetic, but it is far away from worldly wealth.

Fan Guoliang runs a truck business and lives in a house in Meicheng Town, Jiande. But he never forgets he is a descendent of Fan Zhongyan. He has paid six visits to the tomb of Fan Zhongyan in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province. The first visit took place on February 19, 1987. And the most unforgettable visit was the one he made on April 22, 2007. It was a rainy day and he spent the whole morning at an exhibition room admiring and reading the deeds of his famous ancestor. On October 28, 2007, a group of 51 descendents of Fan Zhongyan from Xiwu Village, headed by Fan Guoliang, visited the Fan Zhongyan Memorial at Tianping Mountain. Fan Jianjun, president of Fan Zhongyans Descendents Association, came back from Nanjing to meet the group. After the seeking-roots trip, Fan Guoliang made some exhibition boards to display his ancestors selfless dedication to the state affairs and the people and made 80 plus copies of a text in memory of Fan Zhongyan, all at his expenses. The latest visit took place on March 29, 2009. Headed by Fan Guoliang again, a 51-person group went to the tomb of Fan Sui, the ancestor of Fan Zhongyan. They conducted an official ceremony and planted six firs by the tomb.

Over the years, Fan Guoliang has done a lot to promote the spirit of Fan Zhongyan in the village of Western Valley. The road to the village used to be potted with holes. The village was too poor to build a better road and the government did not have a plan to build a road in the immediate future. He started a road project. He raised the money and asked villagers to work free of charge on the road. Nowadays, the road is in good condition and wide enough to ride a midsize bus. The village also has a parking lot.

Although Fan Guoliang lives in the town, he is extremely concerned with the village. On one visit to the home village, he was taken aback by the rubbish in the stream and chickens, ducks and pigs roaming freely in the village. He decided to clean the village. He started another project and asked all the villagers to clean up the village. All the rubbish was moved away. Fan Guoliang received an award of 20,000 yuan from the city government. Fan Guoliang donated the cash and a public toilet and a rubbish station were built in the village.

Some villagers did not understand him either. They knew Fan Guoliang was a smart businessman, but he was neither a party member nor a village cadre. So why was a smart businessman so eager to do such public projects in the village at his own expenses? His wife complained about the misunderstanding of the villagers and felt the money she and her husband earned was spent in the wrong places. Fan Guoliang never argues. He does whatever he thinks is in the spirit of Fan Zhongyan. Now his fellow villagers understand him better.

Today, with the efforts of Fan Guoliang, the village has been officially accepted by other descendents of Fan Zhongyan in Jiangsu and Henan provinces.Six people from the Henan Provincial Fan Zhongyan Institute and Fan Zhongyan Studies have visited Xiwu Village. The village has been mentioned by media both at home and abroad. The Third International Symposium on the Study of Fan Zhongyan will be held in Meicheng Town by the China Fan Zhongyan Institute in the upcoming October this year. Experts and descendents of Fan Zhongyan from all over the world are to visit the village.

Fan Guoliang is looking forward anxiously to meeting the fellow descendents of Fan Zhongyan at the symposium.□