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Post by jtsao on Dec 11, 2018 0:41:43 GMT -5
Hello all, It’s been a while since my last request for help back in April. Since that time I’ve made an incredible amount of ground and wanted to share the story. In April, I found a post with an email for Pecky Yang (who has since immigratednto Canada herself!) in the overseas office in Kaiping. My understanding is that the work of that officeis to help overseas Chinese returning and connecting to their roots in kaiping. I contacted Pecky with the details I had about my family, names of my grandfather and name of my old village. A month went by with no reply until the end of May. The email told me that the government officials went to my village multiples times to speak to the elders and located my long lost relatives! This November,I went to Kaiping and actually got to meet a cousin of my grandfather and his family. With me I brought no expectations, lots of hopes, and little information. All I had was a few old pictures of my grandfathers last visit to the village in the 1970s (1 year before he died). It was an amazing experience. I met long lost relatives, and showed them the old photos with our ancestral house in the background, and low and behold the first thing they said was “that’s our old house! It’s still here, we can take you to see it!” I got to walk around the old house, heard stories of my ancestors, and all about the last visit my grandfather (who died before I was born) made to the village in the 1970s. I was also able to secure a copy of our family zupu, which was recreated by hand, by my grandfather’s cousin in the 1980s. It was such an amazing experience, beyond any dream I could have, and it was all thanks to the help of the folks in the overseas office in the Kaiping government. Long story short, if you want to find out about your roots you will hit many dead ends, but never give up! All you need is one lucky break and it can lead to an amazing end! Thanks to everyone who has helped me along the way! If you want to get in contact with the overseas office in Kaiping, they said they would be happy to help anyone searching for their roots in Kaiping, their email address is Kpswqj@*. Jonathan At my ancestral house in Goldfish Pond Village (Kam Yue Tong 金魚塘)
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Post by FayChee on Dec 11, 2018 11:35:33 GMT -5
Wow Jonathan!!!
What a very happy ending to your long search! I got all tingly when reading it and couldn't stop smiling to myself.
Your story will definitely give encouragement to all, and I hope that Chakrajuices will be as inspired as I am to keep digging for her Ancestral history. I think that she should also contact the Office for Overseas Chinese in Kaiping, but the email address did not show completely in your post. Is it possible to give us the complete email in a private message?
I am so very very happy for you.
Fay Chee
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Post by chakrajuices on Dec 12, 2018 0:57:44 GMT -5
Hi Jonathan, What an amazing story!!!
Fay, I am not giving up I'm learning alot more than I ever dreamed of this far!
And secretly have a dream in my heart to take my mum to her Dad's village to hopefully meet her family one day💕
I am so thankful for the help received so far it's been an amazing journey which I am sharing with siblings.
Fay, I am keen to email the Office in Kaiping too - what do you think?
Thanks again for sharing such a wonderful story Jonathan it certainly is inspiring!
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Post by FayChee on Dec 12, 2018 7:40:58 GMT -5
New Translation help.....I just discovered it on WeChat!!! I know everyone told me that there is a way to Translate to English on WeChat.....I tried the 'hovering' and did find it worked....but I did not discover the other option until just now!!! WeChat - open APP Contacts - 2nd bottom New Friends- at top Add Contacts - upper right Scan - 4th link QR code or Translate - bottom right..........you take a picture of Chinese character and it will translate to English! Not an exact science, but helpful and doesn't work well on handwritten characters.....but try it! Fay Chee After spending an hour here searching for the email address for 'Overseas Chinese Office Kaiping' and still not finding a link that works for it, I came across Doug's instructions on using WeChat........I know I've read it before, but my dense brain blanked out most of it. After re-reading it now, I have an 'oh-yeah' moment. To get to this valuable information: - Go back to the 'Home' link - Look down the list for 'Software for Chinese Genealogy' - Then look for 'WeChat' Thank you Doug and Gina for this very helpful information! Fay Chee
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Post by FayChee on Dec 12, 2018 10:57:51 GMT -5
Still searching for the email address of Overseas Chinese Office Kaiping....
Post by jing on Apr 19, 2010 at 3:36pm In 2005, while visiting various ancestral villages in the Pearl River Delta, we met Mr. Deng Jian Qiang. He is the Head, The Foreign Affairs & Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of Kaiping City. 529300. Address: 2/F, #18, Yanjiang Rd. West, Changsha. Kaiping.Guangdong, China. Office Tel:2215216; Fax : 2286842. No email information. There is someone in that office who speaks English.
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Post by jtsao on Dec 12, 2018 17:16:16 GMT -5
Hi all the email address for the office is:
kpswqj@ 163. com (just remove the extra spaces)
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Post by FayChee on Dec 12, 2018 18:30:31 GMT -5
Thank you so much Jonathan!
Fay Chee
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Post by Doug 周 on Dec 12, 2018 22:52:32 GMT -5
... I contacted Pecky with the details I had about my family, names of my grandfather and name of my old village. A month went by with no reply until the end of May. The email told me that the government officials went to my village multiples times to speak to the elders and located my long lost relatives!... Jonathan, Wonderful story. Thanks for the feedback, especially the success of contacting the Overseas Chinese Agency in Kaiping (Taishan?). I don’t know from which part of the world you are, but because 80% of the Chinese-Americans are from SiYi (Four Counties or Taishan), The Agency has made extraordinary efforts to help Overseas Chinese find their genealogy. They have even compiled Zupu in bound books for purchase from their shop. Zhongshan has not been has helpful. I doubt Shenzhen and Guangzhou will be as helpful. Only time and patience will tell in the future. Was Pecky your contact via the agency, or did she since move to Canada and is not available? For other Forum members, here is the original post which you got Pecky’s contact information. siyigenealogy.proboards.com/post/20452/thread
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Post by jtsao on Dec 14, 2018 9:17:48 GMT -5
Hi Doug,
Thanks for your support (I live in Toronto).
Yes these folks work for the Kaiping Government and were incredibly helpful, I was so impressed how much they went out of their way to help me!
My understanding is that Pecky now lives in eastern Canada and no longer works for the government. I was very lucky because by the time I found her email on this forum and contacted her, she was moving to Canada one month later. So if I had delayed contacting her, this story may not have had such a happy ending!
I dealt with the Director of the department, Mr. Leung, and one of Pecky’s colleagues Ms. Morning Su (both of whom I met while in Kaiping). The email I provided a little further up on this thread is the general email for the overseas office, so we don’t have to worry about staff turn over in the future.
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Post by FayChee on Dec 14, 2018 9:44:01 GMT -5
Hi Doug, Can you make a new Folder/Topic that is easy to find from the Home page (I don't know how to do this), for people looking for the contact information of Overseas Chinese Affairs Offices in the SiYi area?. I have spent many hours doing searches just for an email address and there are many references scattered throughout various posts on this forum, but I could never find a solid answer until Jonathan posted it for us.
Thank you,
Fay Chee
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Post by Doug 周 on Dec 14, 2018 13:18:27 GMT -5
Let me think about the organization and where to place the topic. So far only Jonathan, Gina, you and Greg has had any success in getting a response from anyone in China, via WeChat, snail mail, or email. This does not include those who have actually made a visit to China.
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Post by ian54 on Dec 15, 2018 15:14:50 GMT -5
Hi Doug/Fay Chee,
You are correct that we need either a folder or a thread specifically for contacts at the various Foreign Affairs & Overseas Chinese Affairs Offices, so it is easily accessible for all to find, for contacting those offices, otherwise it is very difficult to find the information in the old emails.
Pecky Yang found both my Tham and Chan ancestral villages last year. Pecky also emailed me the Enping Office contact that helped her find my Chan Lianjiangli ancestral village in Enping county;
Foreign Affairs & Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, Tony Yang: Email address: 15015052131@qq.com Phone 86-15015052131
TO: Pecky Yang...as one of our newest "Overseas Chinese" migrants, welcome to Canada/North America!! Hopefully you have ended locating in Toronto, which is a wonderful city with a very large Chinese population, so you will feel right at home. We do not know if you had access to our siyiproboards website in Kaiping, but we hope you are able to participate in this forum and share your expertise and wealth of experience with the community.
Ian
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Post by ian54 on Dec 15, 2018 15:18:01 GMT -5
Please note that Tony Yang is at the Enping office, whereas Pecky was at the Kaiping office. I do not know if they are related.
Ian
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Post by wingjoe on Dec 31, 2018 13:54:07 GMT -5
Hi Siyi Forum members: It's been a long time since I had last been on siyigenealogy. I've been writing my SooHoo narrative - its like a biography. I've written it for my extended family in the US. The 27th generation was started in the Spring of this year. I am 24th generation. So far I'm the only one in my family who has the time and interest in documenting this. I'm over 50 pages.
Before this year is over I want to thank everyone who has helped me get as far as I have gotten. A year ago I started with characters from part of the generation poem and headstone carvings. With help and encouragements from your forum (especially Fay Chee and Hong Kong based Wing Tak) I have made significant progress. So Thank You again.
One of my next areas of interest is giving Chinese names to my American born family members who have never received it. I'll detail that in another post. They say you should go to the elders of the family or clan and have a name bestowed. I/we are the elders and don't know how to go about it. If anyone can help I will need it.
WingJoe
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Post by wingjoe on Jan 1, 2019 11:56:09 GMT -5
Happy New Year in 2019
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