msen
Member
Posts: 59
|
Post by msen on Mar 25, 2013 10:24:41 GMT -5
Thank you Twoupman (love the history, culture and name info on the houseofchinn site) and Fay Chee. Have not been able to see the coordinates but will search again.
Still no death cert from NYC but heard a pronunciation of Sen that could be described as a high pitched "seen".
Slowly but hopefully surely, some progress. Thank you, msen
|
|
|
Post by FayChee on Mar 25, 2013 20:57:38 GMT -5
Here's a little more information that came today:
Mara's father's cousin, Jimmy Sien, who had the same grandmother as her father, was named Sik Hong Sien. He was born in 1905, and parents names were Quong Young Sien and Wong Mae (maiden name). If they came from the same Village as Choy Sen (Pingling or Pinglian), how can we see if that Village has any Sien families? I tried to search several Village Databases online, but to no avail. Are there any other resources we are missing?
Thanks.............Fay Chee
|
|
msen
Member
Posts: 59
|
Post by msen on Mar 25, 2013 21:22:51 GMT -5
Hi, this is Mara Sen, with just one change to the above info. Jimmy (or James) Sien shared a Grandfather with my father, Chuck Sen. Hope someone might know of these names in a village database. Thank you, msen
|
|
|
Post by laohuaqiao on Mar 25, 2013 23:32:16 GMT -5
On this website, which discusses the origins of families in Hok Shan/Heshan, tieba.baidu.com/p/221833596 it mentions 平岭冼氏 Sin/Xian of Pingling.
|
|
|
Post by FayChee on Mar 26, 2013 8:21:19 GMT -5
Thank you Laohuaqiao,
I see the problem now.....the information we seek is out there, but we are not able to access it because of our inabilility to read or speak Chinese. This is why having a forum like this is so very important!
Fay Chee
|
|
|
Post by twoupman on Mar 28, 2013 14:49:42 GMT -5
Fay Chee & msen, Subsequent to Laohuaqiao’s mention of Pingling (平岭) I searched for other Sin (冼) villages in Heshan but it returned only one village called Pingdiling (平地岭) (see this site: baike.baidu.com/view/2687894.htm). This village was established in 1268 during the Southern Song Dynasty when the Sin, Yuan and Li clans migrated south from Zhujixiang (珠玑巷) (for more information please see: houseofchinn.com/Zhujixiang.html) in northern Guangdong Province via Chonghua village in Xinhui (新会冲花村). Pingdiling (平地岭) which means “level land ridge” was named such as its topography referred to the village sitting atop a hill as in Shandingcun (山顶村). It was later shortened to Pingling (平岭) to mean a “level ridge” and conjures up a mesa type landscape. It is a fairly large village with a population of 3800 people in 1998. It appears that Sin Choih’s (冼才) village of Peung Leung referred to in the previously posted government document by Fay Chee is most likely to be Pingling (平岭) rather than the Pinglian (平连) as I suggested and the GPS is 22.595549, 112.966475. If you select the Satellite image option you will see a large hill where the village is located. This village is located about 9km east of the municipality of Gonghezhen (共和镇) and is at the border with Xinhui County (新会区). twoupman houseofchinn.com
|
|
msen
Member
Posts: 59
|
Post by msen on Mar 28, 2013 18:09:14 GMT -5
Thank you for this research Twoupman. I know for sure that there was a cousin relationship descended from their (James and Chuck) Grandfather. Therefore, once I have that death certificate we may (with the help of the forum), trace them back to this village. It will be amazing. I will post more info, as it comes in. msen
|
|
|
Post by FayChee on Mar 28, 2013 19:19:43 GMT -5
We are so close to solving this mystery.......I'm getting excited! Is Ping Ling far from Taishan? Maybe we can get Henry's nephew to go there and search for the Sin/Sen/Sien Village? I just looked at the coordinates on Google Maps and it is 57.7km from Taishan...........my map view was pretty 'fuzzy'.........is there another Map (?Mapquest, ) that will show the landscape clearer?. Fay Chee
|
|
|
Post by laohuaqiao on Mar 29, 2013 17:54:01 GMT -5
I think the most famous person in recent history with the surname Sen/Sin/Xian is Xian Xinghai, a well-known Chinese composer of the early 20th century. His ancestors were from Panyu which is adjacent to Hok Shan/Heshan.
From wiki, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xian_Xinghai
Among his famous works are: music for the "March of the Volunteers" which became the national anthem of the People's Republic,
and "Ode to the Yellow River"
|
|
|
Post by FayChee on Mar 29, 2013 18:09:50 GMT -5
Laoquahiao, that is the most beautiful music I have heard in many years. It soothes the soul and puts you into a meditative state of mind. I felt like I was floating on clouds, even with my granddaughter yelling in the background.
What a great way to end my long stressful day at work.
Many thanks to you............Fay Chee
|
|
|
Post by douglaslam on Mar 30, 2013 7:29:21 GMT -5
Nice one laohuaqiao. Fay Chee, March of the Volunteers was a song rallying the people to fight the Japanese. It is a most stirring number. China adopted it as its national anthem, I think, as late as the 1970s. The composer was hounded to an early grave during the Cultural Revolution. You must have heard it many, many times during medal ceremonies in the Olympic Games. I first heard of it back when I was a small boy in China.
So too, is this very majestic march. This is the same song which was sung in the Beijing Olympics in 2008. There was controversy because the young singer was miming. It is a popular propaganda piece. I like it. Again, it was brought to my attention when I was in China in the early 1950s. Thanks to the www. I can now listen to it anytime I want to. I don't like the bit that heaping praise on Mao. Douglas
|
|
|
Post by FayChee on Mar 30, 2013 12:50:25 GMT -5
Douglas, Thank you for the links to those two inspiring compositions. I must say that it pumped up my mood and made me want to work-out and move around. Then it stopped, and I sat back down in my old grandmas rocking chair During the Olympics, our broadcasters seemed partial to the Americans and didn't show much of the competitors from other countries, or maybe it was me. I loved the opening and closing ceremonies alot, and I teared up watching them because I was so proud of my Chinese countrymen for this awe inspiring display of perfection, but my ear is not trained enough to pick out the Chinese Anthem from other great pieces yet. Fay Chee
|
|
msen
Member
Posts: 59
|
Post by msen on Mar 30, 2013 15:37:48 GMT -5
Yes, two musical pieces that I can relate to right now. According to the NYC Heath Dept, vital records, they should be processing my request currently. I feel like marching over the Plains and Prairie of the Midwest to NYC to urge them to "please find the death certificate". However, I will relax and imagine the joy of finding the vital doc while listening to the music of Xian Xinghai. Thanks for posting the links, msen
|
|
msen
Member
Posts: 59
|
Post by msen on Apr 1, 2013 15:47:55 GMT -5
No, this is not an April Fools joke. NYC Health Dept has just today deposited my check for the vital record that I requested over a month ago. Perhaps now they will begin to search for it. Well, slowly but surely, I hope... msen
|
|
|
Post by twoupman on Apr 4, 2013 11:00:42 GMT -5
msen and Fay Chee, My previous posting’s (#50) referenced website mentioned the Sin clan (冼氏) migrated south from Xhujixiang (珠玑巷) in 1268. Out of curiosity I looked through my collection of clan surnames posted in Zhujixiang (see houseofchinn.com/Zhujixiang.html) and found the point of origin was Guangzhou (广州) in Guangdong Province (广东省) and the hall name is Nanhaitang (南海堂). This is quite a surprise because Guangzhou is in the south which somehow contradicts the notion of the southward migration. Something is amiss or there is likely a logical explanation. Perhaps this can be clarified should Fay Chee be able to get a copy of the zupu from your ancestral village during her visit to Kaiping this year. Heshan is not far away and there is a highway linking the two counties as well as Taishan county. Further, I did a search on the Sin (冼) surname and found it originated in the area of Foshan (佛山), Nanhai (南海) and Panyu (番禺) which is basically in the Guangzhou area. It came from the Hao (豪) clan of the Gaoliang (高凉) minority group. This corroborates the location indicated by the Zhujixiang surnames billboard. Another very interesting fact is that the original character was written as 沈 (now pronounced as Sam in Cantonese) and later changed to 洗 (now pronounced as Sai in Cantonese) with other variations like 姺 and 侁 which are not normally found today. Later it was simplified to 冼 and has remained so as a surname character only. twoupman houseofchinn.com
|
|