Dapeng New District, located on a picturesque peninsula in southeastern Shenzhen, in south China's Guangdong Province, is known for its harmonious blend of natural beauty, cultural heritage and economic potential. Huang Wende and his wife, Tang Yongxia, have lived in Dapeng for nearly three decades. Huang devotes himself to studying and researching Dapeng's ancient town, which has a well-preserved military fortress and cultural-heritage sites related to China's revolutionary history. Tang, a teacher, concentrates on children's education. She gives selfless love to her young students. Huang and Tang support and inspire each other as they write a beautiful chapter in Dapeng.
Huang and Tang's family has been named a National Most Beautiful Family.
The family is known in Dapeng New District for their virtues: Huang and Tang love each other deeply; they respect the elderly and care for the young; and, they maintain harmonious relations with their neighbors.
Huang is deputy director of the ancient town's museum, in Dapeng. Tang works as a teacher at a local kindergarten. Their daughter, Huang Ziyi, recently graduated from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen (CUHK-Shenzhen). Huang Wende's mother, Lin Caifeng, in her seventies, lives with the family.
Family Full of Love
Moral virtues lay a solid foundation for any family's healthy and harmonious development.
Huang Wende and his family adhere to the fine tradition of respecting the elderly and caring for the young.
Huang Wende's father died several years ago, and his mother suffers from a disease that afflicts her waist. She has to take medicine and, sometimes, she requires hospitalization. To take good care of her mother-in-law, Tang suggested Lin move in and live with the family.
Huang Wende, Tang and their daughter, Huang Ziyi, pay a lot of attention to accompanying and caring for Lin. They cook tasty foods together, and they take Lin to neighboring areas for tours or square dancing. They do their best to ensure Lin is happy and enjoys living with the family.
Since 2001, when Huang Wende and Tang got married, in Shenzhen, they have vowed to treat each other's parents as their most intimate family members. They have consistently been determined to create a good family atmosphere for both the elderly and younger members of their small family. "My husband also shows filial piety to my parents. My mother believes her son-in-law is one of the best in the world!" Tang says.
Huang Wende and Tang have attached the greatest importance to moral virtues, especially when they have provided family education to their child. Since Huang Ziyi was a little girl, she has continuously been taught to be honest, and to respect the elder members of the family.
Promoting City's Red History
Huang Wende's hometown is on Dongshan Island, in southeast China's Fujian Province. His major in college was history. In August 1997, Huang Wende visited Dapeng, which he considered "a treasure house of history and culture" in Shenzhen. He was fascinated by Dapeng, and he decided to relocate there for work. He was hired, as a temporary employee, at the ancient town's museum. Since then, he has visited almost all of the ruins, historical sites and ancient villages on Dapeng Peninsula.
An aerial photo of Dapeng, in Shenzhen [Photo from Tuchong]
"Dapeng has a red history. People here have passed down sincerity and honesty through the generations. However, I must conduct field research, timely, to find those elderly soldiers who participated in the revolution. By learning precious oral history, through my interviews with them, and by reading historical documents, I have helped locate some of the historical sites and ruins in Dapeng's ancient town," Huang Wende says. He often tells his daughter stories about the heroes and heroines of Dapeng, so she will have a better understanding of the city's red history. Huang Ziyi has helped her father record and make notes during some of his interviews with elderly soldiers.
Tang moved to Dapeng in 1996. Within four years, she had taken the lead in organizing the construction of two kindergartens. Both of those kindergartens have a nice, green environment, including gardens for planting fruits.
"Since 2013, I have explored an educational mode of setting up an eco-friendly space in a kindergarten. By encouraging students to take part in farm work, I hope to improve their manual work and innovation abilities," Tang explains.
Given her role, and achievements, in helping advance children's education in Dapeng, Tang has been named a March 8th Red-Banner Holder, an advanced educator and an excellent kindergarten principal — all at the level of Dapeng New District.
In addition to education, Tang helps maintain a clean marine environment. She organizes students, their parents and teachers to participate in activities that call on the public to cherish and protect the ocean.
Tang and Huang Wende have lived in Dapeng for more than 20 years. They have both given back to society. "Dapeng has many vivid stories about its people. The city is like a 'classroom' for visitors to learn about the red history and revolutionary spirit, which have been passed down from generation to generation," Huang Wende says. For example, he arranges for residents to take part in parent-child travels. Attendees walk along certain routes in Dapeng's ancient town, so they can trace the red history recorded by local ruins and historical sites.
While Huang Ziyi was a student at CUHK-Shenzhen, Huang Wende once gave a lecture at the university about the red history in Dapeng. Huang Ziyi signed up to attend that lecture, and she was excited to meet her father in class, and to listen to him telling the revolutionary stories.
During a subsequent interview with a media outlet, from Shenzhen, Huang Ziyi said she had "inherited" a deep love for Dapeng from her father, and added, "I feel so proud that I live in Dapeng."
Huang Wende says he hopes his family will continue to have a positive influence on other families in Dapeng, and that his family will inspire others to promote the family traditions and contribute to the advancement of social progress.
Photos from Interviewees
(Women of China English Monthly July 2025)
Editor: Wang Shasha
