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).

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However, there are more than one version of the story.

The first is that one of the emperor’s concubines, Wu Fei, went missing. A country-wide search was mounted. Nanxiong being so far away from the capital that rumours preceded the royal edict. One of these rumours triggered the exodus. What was the rumour? It was that the emperor had find out the whereabouts of Wu Fei. She was hiding in Nanxiong and the angry emperor’s army was on its way to recapture her and slaughter the entire town for giving her shelter.

Another was that in 1272 Wu Fei, one of the emperor’s concubines, sneaked out of the palace to escape from being prosecuted by Jia Si-tao (賈似道), the prime minister. Once outside, she by chance, met Wong Chu Man (黃貯萬), a merchant, by the water in Hangzhou (杭州). Together they returned to Wong’s hometown, Nanxiong and lived in Zhuji Lane. Before long, Jia Si-tao got wind of her whereabout and dispatched his private guards to massacre the entire population living on Zhuji Lane. This precipitated an exodus. Meanwhile, Wu Fei, in her effort to save the others, drowned herself in a well.

The third version has more detail than the other two. In September 1272 Jia Si-tao was in charge of making an official offering at the temple. At the conclusion of the ceremony, Jia visited the Gain-Ling Palace (景靈宮). It started to rain heavily just as he was ready to leave. So Jia decided to wait it out. However, he did ordered Wu Fei’s brother Wu Hin Ju (胡顯祖) to return to the imperial palace first with the ceremonial utensils and the royal carriage.

The emperor inquired about Jia. Wu replied that Jia would be delayed. Jia took this as meddling by the emperor and became extremely upset, enough for him to resign. To pacify Jia and to get him to retract his resignation, Wu was dismissed and his sister, Wu Fei, was forced to leave the palace and become a nun.

Wu Fei’s son also left the palace and moved to Zhuji Lane in Nanxiong. Some time later because the Queen was childless and Wu Fei’s son was named heir-designated to the throne. As the birth-mother of the heir-designated Wu Fay would be living in the palace once again.

A royal garrison was dispatched to escort her back. However, it was mistakenly rumoured that the garrison was to search and kill Wu Fei and the residents in the neighbourhood. Out of fear for their lives, the residents of Zhuji Lane fled southward into the Pearl River Delta, Guangzhou (廣州).

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Nanxiong (南雄) county lies in the northeast part of Guangdong province. It has 24 towns and a population of 440,000. Historically, Nanxiong connected Guangdong and Jiangxi which made it the key junction between northern and southern China. It was a marketplace and the central point in the exchange of goods and cultures between Central China and the outpost Guangdong.

As with all ancient towns, there are many places of historic interest. We, however, are primarily interested in Zhuji Lane (珠璣巷). It lies in the Meiguan ancient post road (梅關古驛道), nine kilometers from the northern part of Nanxiong county.

Zhuji Lane was first called Jingzong Lane (敬宗巷). The change came about during the Tang Dynasty (唐朝). According to folklore, seven generations of the Zhang Chang (張昌) family lived together in Jingzong Lane. The Imperial court in 825AD bestowed upon them a1 pearl lace for this filial obedience. The following year, the emperor died and his official clan temple title (宗廟諡) was Jingzong. In ancient China it was a common or rather imperative practice to avoid using the same characters as the names and titles of the emperors. Thus Jingzong Lane was changed to Zhuji Lane for this purpose and also to commemorate the honour received by the Zhang Chang family. Zhuji Lane is 1,500 meters long and 4 meters wide. It is paved with cobble stone. There are village houses and memorial temples on each side of the road. Shops are connected with each other, winding straight but orderly, uneven and protruding but naturally. Along this lane in addition to ancient buildings and ruins are bridges, pond and river.

Because of its geographic location, Zhuji Lane became very prosperous during the Tang and Song dynasties. It was a true melting pot where north met south and people with different surnames became neighbours. At the end of the Song Dynasty (宋朝), Zhuji Lane residents migrated southward to the Pearl (Zhujiang) River delta ( 珠江三角洲) to avoid the invading Mongolian army. It was an exodus because a total of 134 surnames and thousands of people were involved. They helped to spread the more advanced Central Plain culture and production techniques to the then still relatively uninhabited southern frontier. The city of Guangzhou has a Zhuji Road (珠璣路) which is supposingly named to commemorate many of the city residents’ place of origin.

1 Source: History Subordinate to Nanxiong county

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