Home's crumbling bricks and dust should raise an alarm

My fourth visit in six years to Chenjiagou included a very special moment.

As my friend Lu Dongdong, a doctor of law and grandson of the famous tai chi Grandmaster Chen Zhenglei, led me along a weed-choked path toward a wooded area in a less-traveled part of the ancient village, he stopped abruptly.

"There it is," he said, pointing past a natural arbor that surrounded a humble, crumbling brick building in the distance. "That is where my grandfather grew up. But we can't go any farther."