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Post by trinity777 on Dec 30, 2011 21:23:46 GMT -5
I've been searching for my grandfather, and the only information I have on him is that he was born in (about) 1913, in Chin-Kang, Amoy, China. When I search for this city, I'm unable to find it. I don't even think that is the correct spelling, but it is the only information my grandmother has. In the 1940's, his family owned a candy factory in the Philippines, where he met my grandmother. They married and only lived in the Philippines, so she knows nothing else about his background in China. He disappeared in 1945 during the war, after leaving his pregnant wife and 2 small children to go to the store to buy some baby supplies. The area where they lived at that time was crawling with Japanese soldiers, so my family has just assumed that he is dead. It would be amazing to find out if he is still alive somewhere, back in China, here in the US, etc. But even if he isn't, I would still like to research that branch of my family.
Can anyone please help me with the Chinese city/province name(s) and give me any further tips on how to research Asian ancestry? I'm not finding this website to be much help in that area, except for the immigration records. My grandfather's name is/was Kang, Sy (not sure which is his first/surname). When he moved to the Philippines, he changed it to Benjamin Lee. Thank you!
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Post by Henry on Dec 30, 2011 22:21:49 GMT -5
Hi trinity777, Welcome to our Forum. Amoy is now known as Xiamen in Fujian province: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AmoyPlease ask your grandmother or anybody else in the family if they can write the Chinese name of your grandfather or the Chinese name of the ancestral village where he was born. If you have any photos, letters, envelopes with Chinese characters with return addresses - this would be helpful. What about any of his immigration documentation and papers - any Chinese characters. You need to know your grandfather's name & name of his village because, this is where you may be able to find a copy of the village genealogy book where your grandfather's name is recorded. The genealogy book is also a source that can identify who your relatives are - some may still be living in the village. Most villages in China have families with the same surname. Also, once you can identify and locate the village - the village chief can be contacted for information. If you have the name of the village, I know people in China that can inquiry for you. Please see if you can find some information that is in Chinese and post it on the Forum. There are Chinese literate members that can assist. Good Luck ! Henry
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Post by helen on Dec 31, 2011 1:50:26 GMT -5
Hi Trinity - Are you searching for information from Phillipines up to 1945? Does your grandfather have any relations eg brothers. Where was the candy factory? Have you been able to track back to the town/city for any mention of the factory? Where did your Grandmother come from originally? Is she Chinese or a native of Phillipines?
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Post by trinity777 on Jan 1, 2012 1:40:03 GMT -5
Thank you for your replies! Henry - My grandmother doesn't have any information about my grandfather, other than what I posted. No letters or anything even related to his Chinese background. She never even knew his parents' names. I will ask her about his immigration though. Maybe I can at least find out what year. If she ever did have any papers, I'm sure everything was lost during the war. Right after he disappeared, my grandmother and her family had to run from the Japanese soldiers who had invaded her town. They only took whatever they could carry, and she was 8 months pregnant with twins, so I'm sure that wasn't much. She is 88 years old now, and has dementia so the windows of moments when I can catch her lucid enough to answer my questions are getting smaller and smaller. My mother was 3 when my grandfather disappeared so she doesn't know anything about him either, other than what I posted. Is Chin-Kang (Ching-Kang, Chiang-Kang - these are other spellings my grandmother has given me) the name of the city or village? helen - I will try asking my grandmother about the factory. As far as her ethnic origins, she is half Chinese, but born & raised in the Philippines. Her Chinese father met and married her Filipino mother there. My grandmother told me that he was from Amoy also, and he died in 1934. His name was Benito Chua. Another reason why I'm having a hard time tracking the Chinese lineage of our family is because my great-grandmother and her kids all changed their last names from her husband's Chinese name to her Filipino maiden name. They said it was easier to just be Filipino rather than Chinese during the war time.
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Post by helen on Jan 1, 2012 4:22:05 GMT -5
Her Chinese father met and married her Filipino mother there. My grandmother told me that he was from Amoy also, and he died in 1934. His name was Benito Chua. . Probably not related to you - but interesting to read that Amy Chua's father Leon Chua was an ethnic Chinese from Phillipines. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Chuaen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Chua
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Post by twoupman on Jan 2, 2012 17:28:49 GMT -5
Trinity777, I have not been able to locate a Chin Kang or anything resembling it in Xiamen (廈門) (in Hokkien dialect it is Amoy) county. Since you are not sure of the name Chin Kang, Chiang Kang, etc. I believe it may be Chin Kiang which is a Wade-Giles Chinese Romanization for today’s Pinyin for Jinjiang. While you mentioned Xiamen it was probably the point of departure for the Philippines rather than where your gf came from. Jinjiang (晉江) is the name of a city located NE of Xiamen (south of Quanzhou [泉州]) and you can easily locate it by going to Goggle Maps and just copy & paste this: 福建省晉江市. It will return a map and the dark red marker is the location of Jinjiang in Pinyin. If you wish to see Chinese just click on the Satellite icon on the top right and de-select English. Since it is not a village you are still short of that information but at least you are one step closer to finding where your gf came from. If you zoom out you will find Xiamen at your bottom left hand corner. It was a former Treaty port for people departing for overseas from Southern Fujian Province. All you need to do is to verify if Jinjiang (晉江) is the correct locale. Twoupman houseofchinn.com
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Post by trinity777 on Jan 3, 2012 12:49:17 GMT -5
Thank you for all the responses! I tried asking my gma questions again yesterday, and it appears that she got information mixed up with HER father's birthplace. Her husband (my gpa) was not from Xiamen. The only part that is true is the Chin-Kiang part. twoupman - I have been studying maps over the past couple of days, and I was also wondering if Jinjiang might be the correct location. I am pretty close to giving up since there is no way for me to find out which village he was from. The only other lead I have is to contact the church where my grandparents were married in the Philippines and see if they still have the marriage record, and then see if my gpa listed any other info about himself. Crossing my fingers!
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Post by trinity777 on Jan 3, 2012 12:53:22 GMT -5
I don't know if this helps with trying to figure out location, but my gpa spoke Mandarin.
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Post by Henry on Jan 3, 2012 22:44:24 GMT -5
trinity777,
Perhaps on your father's birth certificate - the village where your grandfather was born may be listed.
Henry
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Post by trinity777 on Jan 4, 2012 16:12:54 GMT -5
Henry, I just asked my mom (he is my maternal grandfather) and she said that her original birth certificate was burned so she had to have someone make a new one. (I guess their home was burned down during the war). Anyway, the copy has very little details. It only says that my grandfather's citizenship was Chinese, his occupation was listed as "businessman", and his religion was Catholic. Oh, and it also lists his age at the birth, but we already know his birthdate. Kind of a dead end. It was a good idea though! I'm still hoping to find his marriage record and see if that has any more details. Thank you!
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Post by anchor1114 on Feb 3, 2012 17:36:56 GMT -5
ching kang, amoy. ching kang is a tiny island exactly in front of amoy city, or xiamen. an island where mostly rich people lived. the famous university is also located there. i also came from the philippines. my father had a land and four stories building at xiamen financial district. now where banks are hungry to buy this land. building was newly built and finished in 1949. the red chinese occupied the whole china in 1949 and was forced my family back to manila. that was when i was only one year old. luckily i am now in new york.
you can buy a chinese movie name "wild duck" or "野鸭子. this movie was shot at ching kang. and you can also see xiamen city. like hong kong and kowloon or manhattan and queens new york or shanghai and pudong, china.
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Post by anchor1114 on Feb 3, 2012 18:57:56 GMT -5
now if you are talking about this one. jinjiang, fujian, then this city is mostly overseas chinese lived in the philippines came from. while the other one i am talking about is ching kang or 清港, xiamen. use the official chinese translation to get to the right place.
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baksha
Member
wongyen@comcast.net
Posts: 105
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Post by baksha on Feb 10, 2012 3:13:04 GMT -5
Hi Trinity777 Have you searched for Catholic parish records for the Philippines? To narrow the search, you'd need to know what church parish they lived in... unless it was burnt in WWII or the Catholic church may have had their records microfilm or the record. I used to go to one of the local LDS (Latter Day Saints) Family History Centers and look at the microfilm for westerners in HK marriages. You could see if there are such records for the Philippines. That would only give you the date of marriage for the named couple.
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Post by ehsel9102 on Mar 5, 2012 17:51:38 GMT -5
hi..i'm tracking to track my grandfather's identity. as similar to trinity, the only record that i have was that he was from ching kang, amoy china, he was originally named as cua chia but some how when he moved to the philippines, his name was changed to ching chua. he was born approx. in the year of 1905, he died in 1994. other than these information i know of nothing else about my grand father.
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Post by lachinatown on Mar 5, 2012 20:54:33 GMT -5
Best way is if you have some Chinese characters
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