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Post by tallman on Feb 10, 2010 22:13:36 GMT -5
Hi,
I am in the middle of researching my wife's family tree. At the age of eighteen, her grandfather, Chiu Hop Chang, migrated from Hoy Ping, Kwantung, China to Trinidad and Tobago. He left Hong Kong on July 13th, 1928 aboard the SS Protesilaus, and arrived in Vancouver on August 7th, 1928. From there he made his way to Trinidad and Tobago. On the ship's manifest, he listed his mother's name as Chang Fong Shi and gave the following address:
Shiong Hoi Li
Hoi Ping, China
Is Shiong Hoi Li a street or a village? How would I go about obtaining more information about his family in China, given the fact that I do not read or speak Chinese? I tried sending an e-mail to Guangdong Overseas Chinese Affairs <gdsfqb@gdnet.com.cn>, but the e-mail bounced because the e-mail address was not valid. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
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Post by harc3 on Feb 10, 2010 23:00:29 GMT -5
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Post by Henry on Feb 11, 2010 18:10:00 GMT -5
Hi Tallman, Welcome to the Forum. If you could post the Chinese characters for the grandfather - it would clarify if the surname is Chiu or Chang. For Shiong Hoi Li - "Li" refers to a hamlet (small village) - I agree that the hamlet noted by my colleague harc3 may be where the grandfather was born. It would also be great if you could get the Chinese characters for the name of the hamlet/village and post them on the Forum. You can attach the photos or follow the directions for posting an image on the Forum. siyigenealogy.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=comment&action=display&thread=421Henry |
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Post by tallman on Feb 11, 2010 19:54:56 GMT -5
If Sheung Hong Lay is indeed the village, and his mother's name is Chang Fong Shi, what would be my next step in gathering more information? If you could post the Chinese characters for the grandfather - it would clarify if the surname is Chiu or Chang. It would also be great if you could get the Chinese characters for the name of the hamlet/village and post them on the Forum. Although I am not 100% sure, here is what I think is her grandfather's name in Chinese characters.  I don't have any Chinese characters for the village name because I got the name from the Canadian Immigration Record of the ship he traveled on. |
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Post by Henry on Feb 11, 2010 20:06:06 GMT -5
Hi Tallman,
The next step would be to contact this village and ask if the grandfather was born there. Then have the village chief identify relatives still living in the hamlet/village or elsewhere. Also, to check to see if there is a village genealogy book that has the lineage of the grandfather that can be purchased or copied. The genealogy book provides documentation of the family lineage and also confirms any villagers that claim to be related to your wife. I have a Taishan nephew that can do all this for you on a fee for service basis - he has done this and also provided guide services for several Forum members.
Henry
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Post by Henry on Feb 11, 2010 20:48:09 GMT -5
Hi Tallman,
I am illiterate in Chinese, however, I have used some online tools and have come up with the grandfather's name as: 鄭 朝 洽 with the Cantonese romanizations as Cheng Chiu Hop.
Some of my Chinese literate colleagues will have to confirm and/or correct my Chinese.
The grandfather's surname is 鄭 Cheng - so, he is not a 陳 Chen/Chin/Chan - the hamlet/village Sheung Hong Lay is designated as a Chen/Chin/Chan hamlet/village. The mother of the grandfather is a Chen/Chin/Chan and was probably from Sheung Hong Lay - the village where the grandfather was born is probably near Sheung Hong Lay, as people tend to marry people from nearby villages. The Village Database does not have any "Cheng" villages in Hoiping county. But even though the village may have a particular dominant surname - there can be families with a different surname living in the village.
It might be possible that somebody in Sheung Hong Lay might know that a woman by the name Chang Fong Shi was born there and had a son that went to live in Trinidad and Tobago - but, this is highly unlikely.
My suggestion is to try to find the name of the ancestral village for the grandfather - can somebody take a photo of the gravestone of the grandfather - if there are inscribed Chinese characters - this will have the village name.
Henry
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Post by tallman on Feb 12, 2010 8:05:03 GMT -5
My suggestion is to try to find the name of the ancestral village for the grandfather - can somebody take a photo of the gravestone of the grandfather - if there are inscribed Chinese characters - this will have the village name. Unfortunately, his headstone does not contain any Chinese inscriptions. However, I think I can get his Chinese passport. Would the passport typically have information about the ancestral village? I will be searching to see if I can gather any documents related to him that have Chinese writing. |
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Post by harc3 on Feb 12, 2010 9:45:56 GMT -5
If he arrived in Vancouver he probably would have been given a CI36 certificate (or one of the other certificates) which usually name address, village etc etc CI36 www.vpl.ca/ccg/CI-36_Register.htmlImmigrant documents www.vpl.ca/ccg/Immigration_Certificate.htmlThe Vancouver Public Library has a huge microfilm library. I used it and found an enormous amount of stuff and helped me find my village, which I am visiting in a couple months |
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Post by tallman on Feb 12, 2010 10:45:05 GMT -5
If he arrived in Vancouver he probably would have been given a CI36 certificate (or one of the other certificates) which usually name address, village etc etc CI36 www.vpl.ca/ccg/CI-36_Register.htmlImmigrant documents www.vpl.ca/ccg/Immigration_Certificate.htmlThe Vancouver Public Library has a huge microfilm library. I used it and found an enormous amount of stuff and helped me find my village, which I am visiting in a couple months I don't think he received a C.I.36 certificate. The entry in the Action Taken and Civil Examiner column on his immigration record says: Manifested on Montreal per C.I.23 No. 120I did notice that some other people on the ship were given the same C.I.23 number. |
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Post by tallman on Feb 24, 2010 16:40:09 GMT -5
I am illiterate in Chinese, however, I have used some online tools and have come up with the grandfather's name as: 鄭 朝 洽 with the Cantonese romanizations as Cheng Chiu Hop. I have had the translation done by two native Chinese speakers, and this is what they gave me: Cantonese: Cheung Chiu Hap Simplified Chinese: Zhèng Cháo Qià |
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Post by Henry on Feb 25, 2010 8:33:56 GMT -5
Hi Tallman,
The Wade Giles romanization used by the Village Database equates "Cheung" with the 張 surname.
As you have provided the Chinese characters ( 鄭 朝 洽 ) for the grandfather's name, the Village Database refers to this surname as "Cheng".
I believe this distinction is necessary for clarity and correctness.
" Zhèng " is the Pinyin romanization for the Chinese surname 鄭, however, it is my understanding that "simplified" and its counterpart "traditional" Chinese refer to the written Chinese characters and not to romanizations used for pronunciation.
I think you will need to have some locational references for the ancestral village in Chinese characters before you can achieve further progress.
Henry
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