Seeking Roots

After experts verified the historical evidence she presented, Xu-Shi Yin’e received many invitations for interviews and numerous calls from Sri Lanka. In 2000, a panel from Sri Lanka traveled to Quanzhou to carry out a first-hand investigation. Two years later, Xu-Shi Yin’e was officially invited to the land of her ancestors and was received with royal honors.

In Sri Lanka, Xu-Shi Yin’e visited the National Museum, which exhibits a large number of Chinese cultural relics, including gold and silver articles, coins, silks, bronze censers, and candelabra given by Zheng He to a local monastery, as well as a stele commemorating his donation in the Chinese, Tamil, and Persian languages. Besides, the museum boasts many Chinese porcelain items of different ages, some of which were made in Dehua County, Quanzhou. These cultural relics not only confirmed that Quanzhou was an important port on the Maritime Silk Road, but also that it witnessed a long history of friendly exchanges between China and Sri Lanka.

To continue this traditional friendship, Xu-Shi Yin’e presented to the museum a white-ware statue of the Goddess of Mercy made in Dehua. Further on her trip, she was feted by Jiang Qinzheng, the Chinese ambassador to Sri Lanka, and was encouraged to continue her support for China-Sri Lanka friendship.

During her visit to Kandy, a cultural hub of Sri Lanka, the mayor held a tree planting ceremony for Xu-Shi Yin’e in Peradeniya Royal Botanical Gardens, one of the best tropical plant gardens in the world, to commemorate the prince who made such an outstanding contribution to Sri Lanka-China friendship.

During the 10-day trip to her ancestral land, Xu-Shi Yin’e realized that the local government and people cherished and attached great importance to their friendship with China, and hoped to develop it further.

Envoy of Friendship

Xu-Shi Yin’e leads an ordinary life, not much different from that of many citizens in Quanzhou. She runs a small antique shop, whose name, Xilan Studio, is a homophone of Ceylon. But all the while, she endeavors to play an active part in China-Sri Lanka activities.

In 2010, she was received by Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister, D. M. Jayaratne, during the pavilion opening ceremony at the Shanghai World Expo. In 2012, she was invited to a banquet to celebrate the 64th anniversary of Sri Lanka’s independence and the 55th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Sri Lanka. In 2013, she attended the founding conference of the Sri Lanka-China Cultural Exchange Association. In 2014, in Quanzhou she received Ranjith Uyangoda, Sri Lankan ambassador to China.

The Silk Road is not confined to the history books for Xu-Shi Yin’e; it is a living page of her family history. Over the centuries, the Shi lost their mother tongue and Sinhalese facial features, but Xu-Shi Yin’e still senses her Sri Lankan roots. She has inherited a staunch Buddhist faith, a sunny disposition, and a love for black Ceylon tea. Even though her family has been away from their ancestral home for more than five centuries, they remain closely connected with it.

"I hope that the old ties between the two countries will become much more intense in the future," she said. "Today, the routes between China and Sri Lanka are much closer than in the past and it would be a shame not to make full use of this."

In 2008, Xu-Shi Yin’e met Huang Yongjiang, whose company maintains close economic relations with Sri Lanka. Huang imports black Ceylon tea from Sri Lanka and not only brings with it a piece of Sri Lankan culture to Quanzhou and China, but also strengthens the economic relations between the two countries in the new era.

"I hope that the old Silk Road and trade between our two countries in the future will continue to flourish," said Xu-Shi Yin’e. "People in my old home will not only benefit economically, it will also bring our two peoples even closer."

Huang learned of the descendant of Sri Lankan royalty during the media frenzy. "He said he wanted to get to know me," Xu-Shi Yin’e said when recalling that first call from Huang. Today, the two not only share their love of strong Ceylon tea, but also a close friendship.

Even though the modes of transport along the Silk Road are vastly different today and allow people to reach other countries in a matter of hours, rather than weeks and months, the fact remains: The new Silk Road is like the old one; it combines not only different economies, but above all different peoples, their cultures, past, and future.