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Post by laohuaqiao on Jul 8, 2011 7:29:05 GMT -5
c-c-c.org/villagedb/search.cgi site is down.
Does anyone know if it's temporary, been moved or gone for good?
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Post by helen on Jul 8, 2011 19:26:58 GMT -5
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Post by lachinatown on Jul 8, 2011 21:15:06 GMT -5
It is not the same. We want the old one back.
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Post by laohuaqiao on Jul 9, 2011 6:34:04 GMT -5
Agreed, it's not the same. The rootsdb is list of villages the particpants of the roots project visited so far.
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Post by christine on Jul 11, 2011 17:16:03 GMT -5
I'd like to clarify (I work on the new database) - the old and new are independent of each other. One is not meant to replace another. I have notified staff at the CCC that the old one is down. It is probably a server issue. I don't work on the old one (I can't touch it if I wanted to) but just wanted to share what I know.
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Post by chak on Jul 12, 2011 6:22:29 GMT -5
No 梅 villages were included on the above link so I am very relieved to hear it may just be a server problem and not a replaced database! Thank you for the clarification, Christine. Does the CCC offer a roots program for adults?
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Post by Doug 周 on Jul 13, 2011 8:48:29 GMT -5
Christine, Thanks for the Village Databaseclick update. The Database is back up! The browse function is not fixed yet. This Database is a world wide asset used by all overseas Chinese. As many of you know, the Database is the legacy of the late Him Mark Lai, ‘Dean’ of Chinese American History. With the upcoming travel season to China (Fall and Spring are usually the peak travel times to China because of the cooler weather), I am sure that reconfirming the ancestral village is becoming urgent. I would like to advocate that people write to the Chinese Cultural Center of San Francisco and voice their support for this project. Every day over 300 people (mostly non members) log onto this site to learn techniques on discovering their heritage. Please to give the organization feedback. Their email address is info@c-c-c.org. Let the Cultural Center know about your support and the importance of this community asset. IMHO Doug
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Post by christine on Jul 13, 2011 18:46:18 GMT -5
Hi Chak, Absolutely there is a program for adults! It started just last year, and it's called Roots Plus. You can read about it here: www.c-c-c.org/roots-plus/. If you send it your application now, they will put in the running for the 2012 group. The 2011 group has already got underway I believe, as the lecture schedule mirrors the regular Roots schedule (Feb-June). Thanks, christine
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Post by Doug 周 on Jul 14, 2011 9:51:49 GMT -5
Dear Chinese Genealogists, Even though the 1st and 2nd levels of the Village Database are up, if you try to click on a Heung or Village, your get a 404 error message. Where this is important is the ability to (1) get the map coordinates (military coordinates, which require some effort to translate to GPS coordinates) and (2) the names of the nearby market towns. The market towns are important, since they are the larger towns in proximity to the villages and allow you to confirm the general location. Therefore, we need everyone's help to email the Chinese Cultural Center of San Francisco (the webhost of the Village Database) at info@c-c-c.org and advocate their commitment to keep the Village Database functional. Doug
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Post by ziqing on Aug 15, 2011 18:00:06 GMT -5
Hi Doug and everyone,
Village Database is still down for me, I didn't even reach the 1st level.
As suggested, I emailed CCC with my support for immediate attention with the server issue.
Ziqing
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Post by Henry on Aug 15, 2011 20:04:32 GMT -5
Dear Colleagues,
The Village Database is a computer implementation of the information from the 4 volumes ( Toisan, Sunwui, Hoiping, and Chungshan ) published by the American Consulate in Hong Kong in the 1960s and used as collateral information to detect fraud in the cases of 'paper" sons & daughters.
These continuous episodes of not having access to this valuable information in the research to identity and locate the ancestral villages of so many overseas Chinese has become totally unacceptable.
I would like to propose that the Siyi Forum establish its own computer implementation of this US public domain information.
Do I hear any seconds to this proposal?
I will be happy to contribute in any way I can.
Henry
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Post by Ah Gin on Aug 16, 2011 4:02:11 GMT -5
Henry et al,
I second that. I am willing to contribute in a small way. Let's talk about the mechanics and logistic of transferring the DB to this Forum. Not trying
Regards, Ah Gin
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Post by Ah Gin on Aug 16, 2011 4:15:24 GMT -5
Sorry. Truncated posting. "Not trying to replace CCC to host Village. But that said, if CCC cannot devote the resources to support Village, after the passing of MHL (?), then another Host organisation should be found. It would be good if CCC simply transfer the Village DB to the new organisation, when we found such an organisation.
Regards, Ah Gin
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Post by laohuaqiao on Aug 16, 2011 11:11:16 GMT -5
I agree that we should consider setting up another site providing a free database of villages and surnames.
I'm assuming that the US documents available are either in paper form or scanned images of the papers, they can be easily obtained for, at most, a small fee. However, CCC has already put in great effort to enter the information in digital form. Ideally, if we can negotiate with CCC to obtain the digital data file from them, I think that would save a lot of time and effort.
The questions are: 1. Is it feasible to set up a database in Siyi Forum? 2. Do we have the expertise to set up and maintain the database? 3. Can we obtain a digital data file from CCC? Else, 3A. Obtain the documents from US government archives. Can we hire someone to do data entry?
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Post by laohuaqiao on Aug 16, 2011 11:38:06 GMT -5
Another thought that I have had is creating a database by scanning the Chinese newspaper obituaries. The information that can be extracted from the obits are surname and ancestral village of the deceased. The advantage of this database is it'll include all regions of China, not just the 4 counties in the US government files.
For the past 15-20 years for the Chinese community in New York City Singtao Daily has been publishing obituary ads or announcements, prior to that United Journal did it for many years. Perhaps electronic version of it is available from Singtao. Otherwise, the Chinatown branch of the public library keeps copies of old newspapers in the reference section.
Other cities with large Chinese community probably have something similar. This project will require a lot of work and resources. It's an idea I want to throw out there.
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