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Post by ngkokweng on Apr 21, 2013 5:53:06 GMT -5
Just found this site while googling. Help! I m trying to locate my ancestral village. My grandpa address was: 广东，江门， 开平， 新填里。Surname is 吴。Thank you.
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Post by lachinatown on Apr 21, 2013 9:00:50 GMT -5
22.366904,112.698355
This coordinates will take you the approximate location, postal code 529300
广东省 江门市 开平市 长沙区 三江管区 新填里 (This is jurisdiction chain)
And 三江 is located at 22.371666,112.672863 northwest of 长沙. More closer to the village
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Post by ngkokweng on Apr 21, 2013 13:44:46 GMT -5
TYVM for your response. Btw, the village u mentioned is it a 吴 village? I only have my grandpa full name. How and where can I best start to trace my roots? Thanks.
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Post by lachinatown on Apr 21, 2013 18:09:20 GMT -5
village database doesn't show these villages under ng surname.
With his Chinese name you should be able to some information from the village people.
With that address, there is high degrees of certainty this is the correct village for you.
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Post by laohuaqiao on Apr 21, 2013 22:10:36 GMT -5
In the village database, chinese.rootswiki.legacy1.net/doku.php?id=references:villages:village_database:ng#hoipingkaiping_%E9%96%8B%E5%B9%B3%E5%BC%80%E5%B9%B3 , under Kaiping/Hoi Ping, Bat Sing Heung 八姓乡, there is a Sun Tin Lay 新田里 with the surname Ng/Wu 吴. 田 and 填 are homonyms in all relevant dialects, siyi, cantonese and mandarin. There is a likelihood an error was made in the list that produced the database. As a check, in the village database, there is a also Nam on Lay 南安里 in Bat Sing Heung with the surname Ng/Wu 吴. Searching the internet , besides 广东省 江门市 开平市 长沙区 三江管区 新填里 which lachinatown found, there is also 广东省 江门市 开平市 长沙区 八一管区 南安新填村. One is in Sanjiang administrictive district 三江管区 and the other in Bayi administrative district 八一管区 . Both administrative districts (villages) are adjacent to each other in Changsha district. It may very well be the case that 新填里 has been divided into 2 parts, with separate administration, one part having merged with Nam On Lay. Whatever the case the two are nearby if not adjacent to each other. |
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Post by Doug 周 on Apr 22, 2013 9:31:36 GMT -5
...I only have my grandpa full name. How and where can I best start to trace my roots? ... For my reference, from what part of the world are you? You have significant information. The next goal is to find your jiapu, the Holy Grail of Chinese genealogy. See: JIAPU 家譜click . I would recommend more confirmatory information before embarking in your search. The more names you have, the better. Chinese (men especially before the midpoint of the last century) had multiple names Chinese Names-House of Chinnclick. Hopefully the above name is the genealogical name that is recorded in the jiapu. I recommend you do more archeological work to find other possible names. Look for signatures, correspondence to/from China, wedding invitations, characters in the front, back, or within photos, bottom of Chinese decorations, etc. Another safeguard is documenting the parallel lineages your elder’s siblings or uncles who were born in China. Those Chinese names might be documented within the jiapu to confirm the correct document. You will need this data from your oral history of the kin who might have immigrated with your ancestor. Once armed with this information, then consider contacting existing village relatives, the Overseas Chinese affairs office, or hiring a researcher. Please see: How I recently obtained my jiapuclickShare with us more of your research. Remember that just because your surname does not correlate with the data in the Village Database does not mean that this is not your village. At least other members have narrowed down the choices of your ancestor village. |
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Post by ngkokweng on Apr 23, 2013 0:12:45 GMT -5
Thank you laohuaqiao for your effort to highlight that there is a also Nam on Lay 南安里 in Bat Sing Heung with the surname Ng/Wu 吴.
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Post by ngkokweng on Apr 23, 2013 0:39:55 GMT -5
Hi Doug,
Thank you very much for your constructive guidance to show me the way where n how to start to trace my roots.
I am a third generation living in Singapore.
My dad born 1930, son of a carpenter, is a fourth child with 7 siblings - 3 males 4 daughters. My dad n my dad's younger brother are still alive in Singapore but both having dementia. Only my dad's eldest sister did not migrate to Singapore. We have no contacts with her.
I have the full names of my dad's father n mother. I also have the names of two of my grand aunties surnamed 司徒, and their spouses names & some of their children. I have no contacts with them.
My dad speaks Siyi (Seiyap, Szeyap or Szeyup, 四邑). I can fully understand him but can speak only a few words here n there. Shame on me.
Help. I plan to visit my ancestral home next month or in May 2013 if only I can locate it. Thanks.
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Post by laohuaqiao on Apr 23, 2013 10:31:58 GMT -5
Thank you laohuaqiao for your effort to highlight that there is a also Nam on Lay 南安里 in Bat Sing Heung with the surname Ng/Wu 吴. ngkokweng, I was more than highlighting Nam on Lay 南安里 in Bat Sing Heung with the surname Ng/Wu 吴. I was providing reasonable links, though not conclusive, with the surname Wu to the location lachinatown provided. To spell it out more clearly, Nam On Lay 南安里 and Sun Tin Lay 新田里 in the village database were listed as Ng/Wu 吴 villages, within the same heung meaning they were neighboring villages; Sun Tin Lay 新田里 though not the same Chinese characters as 新填里 but as homonyms the two names could easily have been mixed up; there is reference to a 南安新填村 near the location provided by lachinatown. |
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Post by laohuaqiao on Apr 23, 2013 10:38:18 GMT -5
Ngkokweng,
If you can provide more information on your great aunts, perhaps we can help you there. There have been many recent posts on the Kaiping Seto/SooHoo/Situ clan in this forum. The Seto clan is very prominent in Chikan, Kaping.
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Post by Doug 周 on Apr 23, 2013 10:58:37 GMT -5
... I plan to visit my ancestral home next month or in May 2013 if only I can locate it. To narrow down further the locations offered, consider contacting the Overseas Chinese Affairs office or hiring Tan ShiCheng to do some preliminary work before visiting. ShiCheng can be reached via his relative Henryclick Tomclan@Gmail.com who mentors people on this forum. Search for Tan ShiCheng for other Forum references. IMO the Overseas Chinese Affairs office in the SiYi area has been the more active and helpful in finding ancestral villages than other regions. |
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Post by ngkokweng on Apr 23, 2013 12:42:21 GMT -5
Hi laohuaqiao,
Thank you for your prompt response. Indeed, you have helped me tremendously in tracking down my roots. I had many tedious months trying to source out old raw data to finally able to see some light, and hopefully, is the beginning to the end of the tunnel. My paternal grandmother's name is 司徒瑞英。My grand aunties' names are 司徒双莲 n 司徒双风。谢谢！
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Post by ngkokweng on Apr 23, 2013 12:59:28 GMT -5
Hi Doug,
Thank you very much for pointing me the direction to the Overseas Chinese Affairs' Office in the SiYi area n ShiCheng's contacts. I will start off to try to contact the Oversea Chinese Affair Office first and see how it goes. Btw, do you have any experience how best to travel to 三江管区 新填里 or 八一管区 南安新填（田）里. Thanks.
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Post by Doug 周 on Apr 23, 2013 15:51:56 GMT -5
ngkokweng,
Generally after a bit of a dialog, you can tell who has done their research in their genealogy. You seem to have everything well in order.
Travel advice will have to be offered by others in for Forum, as my experience is not as extensive.
Please share your experience after your visit to your ancestral village so others can learn from your perspective.
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Post by laohuaqiao on Apr 24, 2013 10:07:58 GMT -5
ngkokweng,
There are buses from Hong Kong International Airport or Guangzhou Baiyun Airport to Kaiping city center. There are also combination of ferry and bus routes from Hong Kong/Kowloon to Kaiping. 三江管区 新填里 is about 3 or 4 km from the city center. We can provide more detail once you decide when and where to fly to.
Since there are over 200 Seto villages in Kaiping, without the names of your great aunts' villages it'll be difficult to find them. However, it is not impossible, just a bit of work. In Kaiping, as you can see with your grandfather's village, villages are administered by an administrative district (urban area) 管区 or administrative village (rural area) 村委会. Each administrative district or village manages 10, 20 or more villages. Seto villages are divided into 10 or so administrative districts/villages. By contacting the official for each, provide whatever info you have and let the officials do the research for you. Officials are usually happy to help with requests from overseas for ancestral/long lost relative search.
The Seto Library 司徒图书馆 in Chikan 赤坎, which is not far from Kaiping city center (less than 10 km), is a great resource for information on the Seto/Situ clan. It is a historical landmark, a must visit while you are in Kaiping anyway. 三江管区 新填里 is on the way from Kaiping to Chikan, by the way.
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