Chinese Genealogy
This site is devoted to the genealogy of Chinese families from an area of Guangdong, China (中國廣東)commonly known as Siyi (四邑) or four counties. The counties are Xinhui (新會), Taishan (台山), Kaiping (開平), and Enping (恩平). The families in this area have much in common besides geographic location. The great majority trace their origin to China’s central plain. Each faamily may have different reasons for leaving the Central Plains and migrated southward. The most common would be fleeing the turmoil caused by an invading nomad tribe, internal uprising or natural disaster. This southward journey happened in multiple stages and over hundreds of years. Each major unrest or disaster drove them further south until they finally settled in their current locations. In many cases this final settlement took place five to six hundred years ago.
Due to crowded living condition and lack of agrarian land the migration, however, continued. At first a small number headed to the South Pacific. Since the 1850′s an increasing large number had crossed the Pacific and Indian Oceans in search of work. This is not a true migration in that they seldom settled in their new locations due to cultural and political reasons. This, however, began to change in the latter half of the 20th century as the Western nations amended their immigration policies primarily because of the overseas Chinese’s contributions to the war effort during World War II. This coupled with events in China made many decided to have their families joined them and settled in the foreign land.
A place of great significant during this southward migration is Zhujixiang, Nanxiong (南雄珠璣巷). A vast majority of the families in the Pearl River Delta area trace their roots to there. One can say it is Pearl River Delta genealogy’s equivalent to the Americans’ Mayflower and Plymouth Rock.
The surnames we are actively researching are: Chan, Chow, Der, Kwan, Lee, Mak, Wong, and Zhao (陳周謝關李麥黃趙). So far we only have time to compile some of the information on the Chow (周), Der (謝), Lee (李), and Zhao (趙).
searching for my father-in laws family in quangdong in china and also in shenzhen my father in law entered new zealand in 1920 and died in nz 27/1/1976 he was a private person didnt talk about his family in china but now we are getting older and that my father in law didnt go back to see his family in china we felt that is my husband and i would like to make contact with the families in china as we would like to vist with our 6 childern to reunite with my father inlaws family his name is joe ying jun his daughter name is feng hua zhou her husband is zhi rni xu i dont know if she is still alive or not if any one knows of these two people could you contact me as soon as possible i think they have been living in shenzhen since 1980s
thank you daphne young
If you have the names of your father-in-law, his daughter, and her husband in Chinese character would be really helpful. You’ll need the name of your father-in-law’s village in Chinese characters as well.
Any correspondence between your father-in-law and people in China are good sources for such information. The question is finding them after all these years.
Good luck!
Daphne – Are you in New Zealand? Is your father in law “joe ying jun “? Where was he living? Is he part of the Joe family from Taranaki?
to helen yes my father in law is joe ying jun he was living in auckland he had a market garden in hamilton then he moved to old papatoetoe he had a fruit shop in papatoetoe im not sure if he has family in nz he had another chinese man that lived with the family for many years until he died his name was joe quin if he was family we dont know i would like to know though if any one knows it would be so good you can e mail me on (due to spam considerarion Daphne’s email address has been deleted. Anybody wanting to contact Daphne, please contact us. See Contact Us.) no im now living in australia we have been here for 5 yrs now i go back to nz every now and then my daughter still lives there
my grandfather is death 15th year ago. Your documents I don´t know your origen exactly. I only know that he is the Cantoon China in Hong Kong. His name was Moi Lam Chong. He come to Nicaragua 60´s approx. I´d like to know your origen and if he has some family there. Present I live in Nicaragua. I need something of information. please and thanks.
Mario,
Canton is now known by its Chinese name Guangzhou which is a short train ride from Hong Kong. See map.
In the old days some people gave Canton as their place origin although they weren’t from there. The reason being it is well-known. If your grandfather’s tombstone has Chinese writing then most likely it has the name of village and county he came from. Take a photo, email it to me, and hopefully we can locate it on the map.
I am looking for any Chinese families associated with Lytton B.C. Canada especially with the joss house that was located in Lytton c.1882-1920.
Thank you,
Koten
In reply to Koten Benson, I am very much interested in your research. I know of some of the descendants from a business family that was located in Lytton for years and have a friend who has done some research as well. Please email me about the joss house. I have always wondered what happened to the deity’s.
John.
Feb 01, 2010
My father came to Samoa (formerly known as Western Samoa) as an indentured laborer in the 1900s and married my mother, a Samoan. His name was recorded as Sing Chao Lei Sam but I believe this was not the correct spelling of his name. His recorded birth date was Feb 14 1914. He was from the Quagdong province or Canton as he told us. We never knew of any of his families and would like to find out any families and his correct name and any other information regarding his family line.
To John Haugen re. Lytton Joss house.
Please email me lionsgatebuddhistpriory@lyttonbc.net
Thank you,
Koten
hello
My Husband is seaching for information about his grandfather.
Could someone give us an idea of where to start please .
We will be thankful for ideas please email us at kepaandsarahandrews@gmail.com
His grandfather was Sing lip Hing Gin,we are not sure extactly what province he was from but stories say he was from Canton. He married Queenie Josephine Birch they had children and later had a market garden in Panmure Auckland. This is the first website we have come across that maybe helpful.
thank you
Hello, I noticed you mentioned having done research on the Chan (陈） family line. My husband is from this family tree we think, but we have no info on the family past his father. My husband’s father was orphaned very young (8 I think, but maybe a few years older). We recently learned from one of my husband’s older sisters that their father came from a chen villiage slightly south of Guangzhou and origionally traveled with a younger brother, who died in their journey. My husband’s father went by the name Chen Laizai, but the sister also told us his origional name was 陈营来 (b. abt 1922) and the younger brother’s name was 陈营富 (b. about 1926 ??)
My husband’s father traveled north of Guangzhou and settled there. My husband grew up in a small village that is part of a larger group of villages called “Bamboo town” just north of Guangzhou. He is the only son and almost the baby of the family (5 older sisters, 1 younger).
My husband’s father died very suddenly and unexpectedly when my husband was just 13 years old, so we know basically nothing about his family. Is there any hope of being able to tie into the Chan family tree with such scanty information??
Thanks.
Hi Amber,
Sorry, what I have is not of much help to you. Chan is the biggest surname in Guangdong. Many of the members on our message board are Chan. Please visit the message board at:
http://siyigenealogy.proboards.com/index.cgi
I’m doing genealogy research on Lau/Liu 劉 family of Mao Lin village near the town Chonglou, ten miles south of Taishan. Can anyone provide me with any leads as to where I can find their genealogy records? You can email me at adam2005lee@yahoo.com
Is the genealogy booklet Mak, the same as “Mai”? I would like to buy same. My grandfather Mark Goey (Mark Ru), (Mark Yuan-Suen formal, Mai Yuan Xuan, Pinyin) came to America in 1884.
Any info will be appreciated. Thank you.
I believe Mak, Mark and Mai are one and the same. Do you have any way of validating the purchased Mak genealogy records?
Interested in finding out father’s family. Adoptive Mother went to Hong Kong in 1918 to 1920 to bring him back to Taishan. He was believed to be born around 1914. He did not know his name, nor where he came from. His adoptive mother noticed he had a different dialect and did not look like the taishanese – he was very fair skinned. He did remember his mother had bound feet. I believe he and his mother were kidnapped away from huge family, with many adults and many children (he remembered this). Are there any documents or history that were kept that may reveal who may have been kidnapping children for adoptions at this time in this region? If you know of any resources that could help me find out my father’s history I would greatly appreciate it. Please email me. Sincerely, Hong
At the time China was going through a long transitional period, the end of the Qing dynasty and the establishing of a new central government. Chaos was the order of the day. On the national front we had the war lords fighting each other. The ongoing warfare displaced a huge segment of the population. Some turned to criminal activities for survival.
Kidnapping was very common. From your information your father was either from a wealthy family where many generations lived together under one roof or from a Hakka family (客家).
The fair skin and large family under one-roof do suggested a wealth family. If he was kidnapped from Guangzhou (Canton) then one of his elders could well had been a Qing official who chose to settle in Guangdong after Qing dynasty ended. This would account for a different dialect.
On the other hand huge family, with many adults and children plus the transaction took place in Hong Kong and he spoke a different dialect make me think your father may have came from a Hakka family. There is a large number of them in the Hong Kong area. They don’t integrate with the local and kept their old customs and language. They also lived in large houses that are designed to defend against intruders. Many of these houses still remain in the villages near Hong Kong.
My great grandfather Yuen Mao Piou was bought off the street and adopted by my great great grandmother Chan Si Laou Si who was childless and feeling very lonely while her husband Yuen Sang left her with a few servants to blaze a trail into the South Pacific islands of Tahiti to prepare a home for them away from Canton.
When Yuen Sang finally sent for his dejected wife and the rest of the household, she had already fled to Paris and left the running of the household to her adopted son, my great grand father who at the time already had a son, about 18 years old, my grandfather Yuen Thin Soy. Both of them barely met the master of the house on his death bed.
I can go back only 4 generations ending with Gione Oum in one line Pen Kao Chin and wife Shi Tsen(or Tein Chao Chin and wife Sin Fook Cheung).
Do you have any information on this family clan? Any help would be sooo appreciated! Thank you.
I think it is safe to say your great grandfather was wealth and may be a government official or had connections to them because those migrated from China generally were poor. They certainly couldn’t afforded to travel with servants. The fact that his wife, your great grandmother, was able to travel to Paris indicates she may be educated and spoke a foreign language. From these I would say your family originated from Guangzhou and may be a prominent member of the upper society. A research of the Yuen family in Guangzhou of that era may be fruitful.
If i understand generational names correctly when i say that my grand father’s Yuen Hsin Soy genarional name is Hsin, how does that fact help me in researching my ancestors?
How does the knowledge that my great grandfather was rich or that he most likely was a court official help me find his lineage?
There are nothing online that I can find about a Yuen lineage in Guangzhou, but there is of a Yuan lineage. Yuan is listed as a variant of Yuen on this website :
http://legacy1.net/chinese-surnames-and-spelling-variations/
Somis it right for me to assume they are family?? What should my next step be?
Thank you so much.