Wait, Why Were We Fighting Again? Two Chinese Villages End 200-Year Feud

Two feuding villages in South China have officially put an end to a 200-year marriage ban between them - mostly because no one really remembers what started it.

Representatives from Guolong and Beishan, two villages in Puning, Guangdong Province, held a reconciliation ceremony in Guolong on Sunday to mark the end of the centuries-old feud, media reported.

A friendly agreement was also signed between the two villages to start cooperation on issues such as education, economy, environment and culture.

Guolong has about 24,000 residents all surnamed Zhuang, while Beishan, population 16,000, is home to people are all surnamed Xu. They are only six kilometers apart.

But for more than 200 years, cross-village marriages between the two villages were taboo.

In the past, couples would be forced to break up by their families, local residents told nfncb.cn.

However, locals said that while village ancestors had passed down the feud generation after generation, the reason it sparked in the first place had been long lost.

"Village elders said that perhaps long ago, there had been some conflicts over agriculture, such as fighting over land and water rights. The feud started back then," said Zhuang Chengjie, the Deputy Secretary of Guolong Committee.

The villages' officials are happy to let the healing begin, the report said.

"It happened a long time ago. We are in a new age now and we need new thoughts. We can't let younger generations suffer anymore," said Zhuang Junfa, the head of the Guolong Welfare Association.

This article was originally published in The Global Times and does not reflect the views of Sputnik.