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Post by Doug 周 on Jun 27, 2013 10:35:54 GMT -5
My biggest thanks is when family historians share the results of their earnest research. Learning is a two way street.
Looking forward to your further posts about your ancestral visit.
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Post by FayChee on Jun 27, 2013 11:32:05 GMT -5
Hi Ngkokweng, I love that picture of your great grandfather! Looks like it was hand painted?? Anyway, it is very clear and expressive. I hope that one of my relatives in China has some old photos that I can copy. I may still have more relatives that I don't know about, as my granddad had two brothers and I have yet to find the descendents of the older one, You Yen Szeto. The younger brother, You Chang, adopted my dad's younger brother, Wing Zan, to carry on his family line, which is howYuet Ngor came to the family. The search for me continues...............
I have not yet received the Cantonese CD, but I have been playing the Mandarin one all week. For some reason, I get very sleepy towards the end of the 30 min. lesson. I will look on Amazon.com for Hong Kong drama series........are there any you can recommend?
Thanks, Fay Chee
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Post by ngkokweng on Jun 27, 2013 13:23:31 GMT -5
Fay Chee, Highest-rated top ten Hong Kong serial dramas of 2013 (by viewership) 1 Inbound Troubles 老表,你好嘢! 2 Friendly Fire 法網狙擊 3 Sergeant Tabloid 女警愛作戰 4 A Great Way to Care II 仁心解碼II 5 Slow Boat Home 情越海岸線 6 Missing You 幸福摩天輪 7 Reality Check 心路GPS 8 A Change of Heart 好心作怪 9 Awfully Lawful 熟男有惑 10 The Day of Days 初五啟市錄
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Post by FayChee on Jun 27, 2013 18:09:00 GMT -5
Thanks for the recommendations Ngkokweng......I will check on Amazon.com to see if they are listed.
Fay Chee
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Post by Angela on Jun 27, 2013 22:29:09 GMT -5
Fay Chee,
You dont need to purchase from Amazon, You can download or stream online for free. It saves you money, and some of them are really NOT WORTH keeping/watching. Those Hong Kong TV series listed are quite new, you wont find them available for purchase yet. I suggest perhaps watch Hong Kong movies, that maybe a good start.
If you like Chinese history and martial arts, perhaps try Ip Man. I found the 'true' story to be very touching and I cried when I watched the movies ( each movie show different stage of his life - but what I liked was when Ip Man's son appeared in the movie, making it more valuable to watch). I've sent you a private message, since this topic is not related to the forum.
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Post by ngkokweng on Jun 29, 2013 15:00:26 GMT -5
Last Monday morning, on 18 June 2013, I met up with Mr. Ng Xi Chi in Sun Tin Lay village in Kaiping. We spoke briefly. He did not talk much. It was more like a question-and-answer session. His responses were mostly short, the yes-no-and-don’t-know type. I couldn’t extract more information from him what laohuaqiao had already told me. I resigned to the fact that I had come to the end of the road for this lead. The only consolation - I was certain that my feet were on the ground of the village where my dad and grandpa once lived. The other Sun Tin Lay village in Kaiping was not a Ng village. Not wanting to leave the place so soon after having spent so many hours travelling here, I chose to stay on to take more photographs and sauntered around the village. I told myself, “At least, this place was where my dad and grandpa once lived”. Light showers came and went. Then, out came the scorching sun. With the sweltering weather, I lost my enthusiasm to walk anymore. Just a minute shy of leaving the place for good, a topless man in his fifties (later I discovered was my cousin) emerged from his dwellings and approached me to offer his help. His wife was walking a couple of steps behind him. His father soon joined us too. The village looked like a ghost town. Dead quiet. I did not expect anything fruitful out of that conversation. We spoke and exchanged introductory formality. During our conversation, I mentioned my dad’s nick name. His dad exclaimed, “Yes, that’s him, the three brothers”, in Toisanese. I couldn’t believe my ears. They didn’t seem to be pulling my leg in fact looked dead serious. I couldn’t believe it. How did he know “the three brothers”, that is, my dad and my two uncles. I didn’t want to jump to conclusion without being absolutely sure. More dialogues and verification enthused. His father said that he had spent his earlier part of his childhood days together with my dad. His father is now eighty-four year old – a year older than my dad. I realized that he is my dad’s cousin and also my uncle. Finally, I came to my senses I succeeded in tracing my lineage that morning. They were all happy to have found a long lost relative. I was happier to have started the journey. I discovered that most people in the village did not address my father with his formal Chinese name. They called him by his nick name. They called my two uncles also by their nick names. Soon, I realized their nick names were genealogically organised when I started to write down some to the nicknames of my clan. Every family unit had the same first character of their nick names, for example, Siew Lui, Siew Sin, Siew Lan. Siew is the same first character for every family’s nick names. It was not my grandfather’s formal name that traced my genealogical relationship. It was not even my father’s formal name. It was my dad’s nick name that made the connection. By now, more and more people had gathered around me. They had emerged from their houses to greet me. I was so overwhelmed by their presence. There were more than twenty-over people around me. Just an hour ago when I arrived in the village, I could see nobody except Xi Chi waiting for me by the side of the road. My new found uncle reviewed that in the many Sun Tin Lay villages in Kaiping (to the extend of ALL the other villages in Kaiping) there was only one family with three brothers with the middle name which my dad had. It was an easy confirmation for them. He could also recall all the ages of my dad and two uncles. I took some photographs of my great grandparents’ portraits. The attached photograph shows the actual size of the portraits. Will write more shortly… Attachments:
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Post by lachinatown on Jun 29, 2013 15:33:43 GMT -5
Wow this is a wonderful story ngkokweng! You found what you were looking for at the last minute. So was the map the right location of your village?
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Post by helen on Jun 29, 2013 16:17:40 GMT -5
ngkokweng - awesome news. I believe that the initial response that you got, is the norm. Chinese people are suspicious people, and it is only time that helps people to open up. It is also important that people have done their homework, with Chinese characters, and other useful information, like old photos. It's also good to go in with another person, to capture the moment.
Congratulations on the end result.
When we went back to my husbands village, he found his father's cousin - but we were lucky, as everyone in that village are related - from generation 9 to 27. The founding generations 1-8 were from the Wong village next door.
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Post by FayChee on Jun 29, 2013 21:57:35 GMT -5
That is fantastic Ngkokweng! Thank goodness your heart made you linger there, thinking of those who walked the same roads, saw what you were seeing, thinking of their families.........your dad and granddad were probably walking right beside you, smiling, and happy to have you home......(I'm going to make myself cry)..........
Congratulations Ngkokweng..............Fay Chee
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Post by lachinatown on Jun 29, 2013 22:46:27 GMT -5
Fay Chee, you look so young in your photo.
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Post by ngkokweng on Jun 30, 2013 1:51:28 GMT -5
Wow this is a wonderful story ngkokweng! You found what you were looking for at the last minute. So was the map the right location of your village? Yes, the map showing Baiyicun indicates the right location of Sun Tin Lay village.
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Post by ngkokweng on Jun 30, 2013 2:05:39 GMT -5
Fay Chee,
You dont need to purchase from Amazon, You can download or stream online for free. It saves you money, and some of them are really NOT WORTH keeping/watching. Those Hong Kong TV series listed are quite new, you wont find them available for purchase yet. I suggest perhaps watch Hong Kong movies, that maybe a good start.
If you like Chinese history and martial arts, perhaps try Ip Man. I found the 'true' story to be very touching and I cried when I watched the movies ( each movie show different stage of his life - but what I liked was when Ip Man's son appeared in the movie, making it more valuable to watch). I've sent you a private message, since this topic is not related to the forum. Fay Chee, I agree with Angela. If you like Bruce Lee, it is good to know he was one of the disciples of Ip Man (pronounced as Yip Man).
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Post by FayChee on Jun 30, 2013 9:43:21 GMT -5
Fay Chee, you look so young in your photo. Thanks Lachinatown.........I was born in 1950, so I guess I was around 44 or 45 there (about 1994) and living in Silver Spring Maryland. Behind me is my first computer.......we've come a long way but it seems like last week. "1990 In 1990 Tim Berners-Lee, working with Robert Cailliau at CERN propose a 'hypertext' system, which is the first start of the Internet as we know it today. " "1990 The World, the first commercial Internet dial-up access provider comes online. " "1990 Archie, the first search engine is introduced on September 10, 1990. " "1990 Tim Berners-Lee successfully sets up the first web server at info.cern.ch on December 25, 1990." "1991 The World Wide Web is launched to the public August 6, 1991. Tim Berners-Lee, a scientist at the European Partial Physics Laboratory (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland develops the Web as a research tool. " "1993 President Bill Clinton puts the United States White House online with a World Wide Web page and E-mail address for the President, Vice President and first lady. " "1993 The first live streaming was done by the band Severe Tire Damage on June 24, 1993. The event was seen live in Australia and other locations over the Internet. " "1994 Yahoo! is founded by Jerry Yang and David Filo in January 1994. " "1994 Amazon.com domain is registered November 1, 1994. " Fay Chee
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Post by FayChee on Jun 30, 2013 9:54:30 GMT -5
Ngkokweng, it took me awhile to figure out that Ip Man was the same as Yip Man..........I got the Cantonese CD's and tried them in the car yesterday, it is pretty different than Mandarin. Later that night I got some take-out Chinese food and was disgusted with myself that I couldn't manage to say 'Thank you' in either language..........
Fay Chee
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Post by ngkokweng on Jun 30, 2013 14:13:25 GMT -5
Ngkokweng, it took me awhile to figure out that Ip Man was the same as Yip Man..........I got the Cantonese CD's and tried them in the car yesterday, it is pretty different than Mandarin. Later that night I got some take-out Chinese food and was disgusted with myself that I couldn't manage to say 'Thank you' in either language.......... Fay Chee Hi Fay Chee, Yes, Cantonese is pretty different from Mandarin. I understand that some Chinese food take-out operators in your part of the world may not speak Cantonese/Mandarin. Some are run by Vietnamese or others. Btw, do you have any tentative dates to visit your ancestral place.
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