Researching Chinese Genealogy
Because I had always thought that it would be impossible to do
genealogical research on my family, I never even attempted to do so. Both my sides
of my family fled China for Hong Kong during the Chinese civil war around 1946.
I had assumed many of the records back in China were destroyed, if not during
the civil war, then during the Cultural Revolution. But in reading articles on
how to conduct genealogical research in China, I have found that
many records exist outside the country and that the Shanghai Library, where my
family is from, has preserved a great many Chinese genealogies.[1]
According to S. J. Chao, Chinese surnames were created around
three thousand years ago in the Three Dynasty Period.[2] Chinese genealogies are
patrilineal and follow the male line of descent and includes the names of those
related by marriage, birth, or who otherwise recognize a common ancestor. Genealogical
records are mostly called jiapu, 家谱, which
includes a family’s common ancestor, names and ages of members, records of
marriages, births, and deaths, as well as a listing of merits and deeds.[3] For
the most part, Chinese genealogies were private and kept in ancestral halls[4] and usually not shared
with outsiders.[5]
Chao also notes that “without the ability to read the Chinese language, Western
scholars are unable to access these valuable resources.”[6]
This is undeniable; the greatest impediment in conducting genealogical
research in China is the language. After
immigrating to the United States when I was two, I did not grow up speaking or
writing the language. Another complication is that while there is an official
language, Mandarin, there are many dialects in China (see blog entry here
for examples of differences in dialects and on the language).
When I learned Chinese in college 25 years ago, I had to look up
each character in the dictionary, which is “alphabetized” by radical. Looking at 張, for
example, it is made up of two radicals, the left and the right.[7] If I didn’t know how to
pronounce the character, I would have to guess which radical is the dominant
one – the left or the right, and go to the dictionary section with that radical
and then scan the entire list, which are organized by sound, looking for that
specific character. It’s kind of like
going to the “p” section of the dictionary and looking for all the words with
the letter “a” in it. It was extremely
tedious, time-consuming, and slow. More modern dictionaries were
organized by romanization of characters or by stroke order, but again, one
would have to know how to pronounce the character in the first place!
Now, however, with Chinese dictionary apps, the Chinese language
is now my oyster! Chinese dictionary
apps have two innovations that make research much easier. First, there is a live OCR scanning
function. I can just hover my phone
camera over the Chinese character and the app will do an optical character
recognition scan and automatically pull up the character, its romanization, and
definition. Another function is writing the character with my finger in the
app, which it will then recognize and pull up the definition. The one that I
use more frequently is Pleco and it also includes Cantonese pronunciation.[8] However, its full functionality is behind a
paywall. Google Translate also has the OCR
scanning and handwriting functions, but its translations are crowd-sourced and can be a little inaccurate.[9]
Now armed with the Chinese language, I can now utilize the many
Chinese genealogies that unbeknownst to me prior to this assignment are
available! Surprisingly, many libraries in the United States have extensive
records, including the Family History Library of the Genealogical Society of
Utah, Columbia University’s C.V. Starr East Asian Library, Harvard-Yenching
Library, Chinese Catalogue, and the U.S. Library of Congress.[10] And in China, the
Shanghai Library, where my family is from, has the largest Chinese genealogy
collection worldwide.[11] Many of these records are
already online and more are being digitized every day.[12]
Chao recommends several books for those beginning research, including
In Search of Their Asian Roots: Genealogical Research on Chinese Surnames,
Basic Guide to Chinese Genealogy, and China Connection: Finding
Ancestral Roots for Chinese in America, among others, to find out how to
conduct research and where to look for records.[13] I hope to have time over
the summer to read these books and to get started on my family tree.
I already have some information on my family’s history. In 2004
when I was working in China, my aunt, her husband, and my grandfather came to
visit me as well as to take us to my grandfather’s ancestral home,
which is the origin of one’s family or clan (not necessarily where one was
born). This visit to China was my
grandfather’s first time back to China since 1946. We flew to Shanghai, where a
distant relation helped arrange for a car to take us to my grandfather’s
ancestral home in Zhejiang Province, Wuxing County, Zhujiadou Village. It was
about a 2-3 hour drive along back roads that eventually turned into dirt roads.
As we drew closer to the village, we saw rice paddies that were dotted here and
there with farmers bent over in their labors. What I remember is that the
buildings were built out of cinder blocks with cement floors. I don’t believe
the buildings had glass in the windows or were electrified, but my memory could
be faulty. I remember walking down to investigate the village shrine. It
surprised me that the shrine had survived the Cultural Revolution, but it could
have been rebuilt after. I really couldn’t ask anyone as the oldest village
members only spoke Shanghainese, a dialect with which I am unfamiliar. We found
an ancient and frail auntie of some distant relation, who after some digging,
found a photo of my grandfather from his early childhood, showing that yes,
they were related somehow. She didn’t seem all that surprised to see my
grandfather, even though it had been at least six decades since he had been
back to the village. I guess for her,
after surviving the Chinese civil war, Great Leap Forward, the Great Famine,
and the Cultural Revolution, seeing a long-lost relative was no big deal. I
plan to visit my aunt the next time I’m down in Georgia to get the name of this
auntie and any other extended family members still in China.
In 2008 for his 92nd birthday, my father and I interviewed my
grandfather by video about his life. At this time, I collected the Chinese names of my
grandfather, grandmother, and their children, and the name of his ancestral
village that we visited in 2004. I also asked him some questions about the history
of China, Shanghai, and about the warlords. In Chinese history books, the
warlord period is one noted by regional despotism and Hobbesian rule by force. His answer surprised me, however.
He said that they were generally good to the people and provided more
security than the Nationalist government led by Chiang Kai-Shek. Who knew? Shanghai was and is known to be the
most sophisticated city in China – I asked him about how people dressed,
popular films and music, and the like. He didn’t have much to say about that,
other than he and my grandmother had their wedding photos taken in the French
Quarter! Shanghai was one of two cities where foreigners were allowed to live
in China. The British, French, Russians, and Americans each had their own
sections of the city.
I also asked him about the Japanese Occupation of
Shanghai. I remember his face closed down a bit and he just shook his head. It
was a terrible period in China’s (and Japan’s) history that I think he just
wanted to forget. The only time I think I ever saw him even remotely angry was
when we were in the hotel in Shanghai after returning from his ancestral home. I
offered him a Japanese beer, but he pushed my hand away to reach for a Chinese
one, saying he wouldn’t take anything from Japan.
Since I am the only grandchild to speak and read Mandarin, it took
me a few years to transcribe the interview and add English subtitles so that my
sister and cousins could watch the interview and learn about our family
history. The actual transcription and subtitles only took a few days; it was
finding time to do so that took several years, which I finally did on maternity
leave. Perhaps in a few weeks when this class is over, I will have time to delve
into the rich genealogical records that are available online. Thank you,
COVID-19!
At present, this time is a bit poignant for me because my
grandfather passed away earlier this year just before his 104th birthday. In
writing his obituary, I was struck by the historicity of his life that includes
both World Wars and so much more. I also wanted to add the details of our migration
from the mainland to Hong Kong and then to the United States and Canada, which
I find to be an extraordinary tale. Most
people I know are deeply rooted in their place of origin, like my husband’s
family, while my family has skipped like stones over 7000 miles and three
countries. I also wanted to add details such as, even with six
children, they opened their home in Hong Kong to extended family members, freely and generously
sharing what little they had. I wanted to add that my grandfather read deeply
and widely on topics of religion, history, politics, and even economics, and
that he taught himself English through reading magazines and billboards. I wanted
to add that his kindness and simple joy with being alive shaped who we are
today, his children and grandchildren. After submitting my first draft with all of this, however, I was told by the aunties and uncles
to “keep it short.” In writing this post, I am getting a little overwhelmed with memory and grief.
However, it is a Chinese custom to celebrate those who lived more than 100
years, which the Chinese view as an accomplishment. So today, especially in
this time of pandemic, I hope all of us will be able to celebrate such an
accomplishment someday.
[1].
My apologies for such a long post. I
found that I had to explain a great many things about Chinese culture, names,
and language.
[2]. Sheau-yueh
J. Chao “Chinese Genealogical Research: Coordination and Resource-Sharing with
a Global Perspective1.” Library Collections, Acquisitions, & Technical
Services 27, no. 2 (June 1, 2003): 225–41. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649055.2003.10765920.
[3].
Sheau‐yueh J. Chao, “Tracing Their Roots: Genealogical Sources for
Chinese Immigrants to the United States,” Collection Building 27, no. 2
(January 1, 2008): 76, https://doi.org/10.1108/01604950810870236.
[4].
Ancestral halls were usually built by clan members in order revere and honor ancestors.
There are many in southern China, which I think is because that is where most overseas
Chinese originated and they sent money home to build ancestral halls. A famous one that I have visited is located
in Guangzhou, the Chen Clan Ancestral
Hall.
[5].
Carol H. Shiue, “A Culture of Kinship: Chinese Genealogies as a Source
for Research in Demographic Economics,” Journal of Demographic Economics;
Louvain 82, no. 4 (December 2016): 461,
http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.princeton.edu/10.1017/dem.2016.24.
[6].
Chao, "Chinese Genealogical Research," 227.
[8].
“Pleco Software – The #1 Chinese Dictionary App for IOS and Android,”
accessed April 22, 2020, https://www.pleco.com/.
[9].
“Google Translate,” accessed April 22, 2020,
https://translate.google.com/.
[10].
Chao, "Sources on Overseas Chinese Studies," 20-22.
[11].
Chao, "Sources on Overseas Chinese Studies," 21.
[12].
Shiue, “A Culture of Kinship,” 464.
[13].
Chao, “Tracing Their Roots,” 85.
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