Andrew Hong/Haong Pang from Guangdong Province, Xiang Jiao

[douglaslam]

Laraine, I'd like to see your grandfather's grave on our cemetery outing next April. Can you give the row number from the roadway and approximate location? I know the name to look for in the old section next to the pavilion. Douglas

[lolly]

Douglas,  I will be in Sydney tomorrow (Friday) and will visit my grandfather's grave at Rookwood with my uncle (his son).  The grave is in Chinese 4 Section,  Grave No. 0000075.
We have also arranged to meet Susan Pang tomorrow evening and are looking forward to that very much.
I have sent a message direct to your inbox on this forum .... at least I hope I have sent it .... correctly!

[douglaslam]

Laraine, I couldn't log on until now. I hope you had a happy meeting with Susan. She is a very lovely person. I am always comfortable in her company. I could not make it today, and I am working through Saturday and Sunday. Do let me know the next time you are in Sydney, we can then meet up with Susan.

This maybe of interest to you: depending on the generation poem designation, Susan is either a sister or auntie to you. This is so because you are both from the same village and have the same family name. Kindred spirits run deep in traditional Chinese rural communities.

I am going to the Chinese visa agency probably on Monday to clarify new visa requirements. If all goes well, I'll leave on Nov. 11th. or 12th. for a direct flight to Canton. I'll spend a few nights with an aunt before returning to my own village. By Nov 19th. or 20th. I shall be on to your ancestral village. I am excited just thinking about it. Douglas

[lolly]

Hi Douglas.  Have just returned from a lovely meeting with Susan.  My Uncle Denis particularly enjoyed the banter and general discussion.
We will certainly stay in touch.  Not sure that I understand the family generation poem reference .... but I will work on that.
We went to Rookwood this afternoon to see Andrew's grave.  The headstone is beginning to fall into a bit of disrepair.  My uncle was a bit disturbed about that. 
I asked directions of a gentleman near the pavilion as to where the "picture" monument was located.  It turned out I was talking to Francis Wong,  and he was very friendly and helpful.  I mentioned to him that you had been the source of my interest in the memorial and how much assistance you have been able to give me in my pursuit of knowledge of my grandfather. 
I have also just met with two of my cousins in northern NSW who did know our grandfather.  While I did learn a few anecdotal stories about him,  there was unfortunately nothing new in terms of old family pictures or recollection of any relatives back in China.
Hope all goes smoothly with your visa meeting .... and November can't come soon enough!
Will let you know when we are likely to be in Sydney again.  Sorry that we could not arrange to meet this time round.  I will be better organised next time!

[douglaslam]

Hi Laraine, it is quite remarkable you should meet up with our Chungshan Society president at Rookwood. Francis is a very capable person. Mark this in your diary; our Spring Banquet ie the Chinese New Year celebratory dinner is on Monday, 10th. Feb.2014. Come and join us to celebrate. Bring your uncle, book a table with Susan. I'll be there.

Do you or your uncle want to repair Andrew's grave? I think Andrew might have fallen on hard time at the time of his passing because you said it was the Chinese Masonic Society which gave him a proper burial. What else do you know about Andrew, did he ever go home for a visit? He must have been a very homesick man if he never had the chance to go home even once. I know what it was like to feel homesick in my early years.

[lolly]

Hi Douglas.  We have had a busy time since our return home.  In our absence we had a 30+ foot pencil pine tree fall on our house.  Fortunately the damage was limited and mostly superficial,  but it has kept us busy organising quotes and repairs!

Meeting Francis Wong was quite a bonus for us.  He took a letter from me that had Andrew's details in chinese as provided by Godfrey Mar.  I don't know what he planned to do with that.  We will certainly be considering if we can do some maintenance on Andrew's grave in the future.  Much will depend on when we can make time to spend in Sydney again.

I have no knowledge of whether or not Andrew ever made a return trip to China.  I will ask my cousins again if they have any recollection of that being the case.  The only other piece of information I have is from his time in Melbourne.  It would seem that he worked for a furniture maker called "Sam Way & Co" in Bennetts Lane,  Melbourne in the mid 1920s.  My parents purchased their bedroom suite from Sam Way in the 1940s,  so I often wondered if there was more than just an "employer" connection there.  I have not been able to learn anything further about Sam Way .... other than there was another furniture maker Lin Wing Way & Co also in the same street.

As November draws closer,  please let me know if there is anything further we can do in regard to your proposed travels on our behalf.  I will message you separately on this subject.  Happy birthday to me today!  Laraine.

[douglaslam]

一百 一十三年前,清光緒二十六年, 西元一九零零年, 一個十八,九歲青少年彭洪扳隻身從香山象角村遠赴澳洲謀生, 十一年後與壹十六歲妙齡愛爾蘭裔女子成婚, 婚後育有九子女. 據所知彭姓青少年到終老異鄕(一九五八年)再沒踏足故鄕家園.

五十五年後彭公的後人, 八十八高齡之糼子及孫女(長子出)極渇望知道彭公在唐山之點滴, 其他彭氏至親也如是. 孫女在互聯網求助, 小弟毛遂自薦, 答允彭公之孫女我會在一三年十一月回鄕期間替她走訪祖藉故鄕. 果然不負斦托, 實現我的承諾, 找到他们尋求的答案, 賞心樂事.

這是我近三兩年間代人尋根問祖成功之一例, 小弟高度嘉許讃賞我炎黃子孫, 不論膚色國藉, 以一夥熾烈之心,滿腔熱誠追尋根源. 吾能力所在,必全力以赴襄助, 義不容辭.

I thought I'd like to be the first person to post something entirely in Chinese. After all, this a Chinese genealogy website.

This message sums up my two visits to member Laraine alias Lolly's grandfather's village in November. It was an exhilarating experience for me and my companions. Better thing was to come because Laraine told us it brought much joy to her and her uncle. To me, that is my greatest reward and satisfaction.

All our exchanges on line, snail mail and visits to the village came together today when I met Laraine, her husband Bill, and Uncle Denis over lunch at one of Sydney's better known Chinese restaurants, The Marigold.

Laraine's party has to come all the way from Melbourne for the meeting. It is a long return trip driving, and I appreciate that.



With a camera in hand, I arrive in the nick of time for our 12 noon meeting at The Marigold, one of Sydney's better known Chinese restaurants. Only the one on the right, Susan, is known to me personally, then.



This is Laraine, better known to us by her username lolly. Here I am going over the family tree diagram, all in Chinese, to her. The blue folder is Laraine's own version of the family tree in Australia. It is richly illustrated. She can now add on to it with an appendage in Chinese.



Whist in China, I went past a street stall one day which sold key rings with a family name to them. I bought the lot with Laraine's family name from the vendor. Here I am presenting all three to her.



This is Denis, Laraine's uncle and only surviving son at eighty-eight years of age. Uncle Denis is keen as mustard to learn all about his father. There is a void in China-side of the family story. I guess the urge to know is all-consuming.



All together now. Second from right is Susan from Sydney. Susan's parents were well-known Sydney Chinatown identities. They had the same family name and were from the same village as Laraine's grandfather. Susan remembers Laraine's grandfather well when she was a little girl in the mid to late 50s. Uncle Denis is next to me, then there is Bill, Laraine's husband.

In all we had a get together just short of five hours which included a tour of Chinatown, with Susan and me providing the commentary on how it used to be to the best of our knowledge over the course of fifty years and more.

[helen]

Dougaslam is a great host - looks like you all had a great time. Congratulations Lolly and Douglas lam - for the visit and newly found knowledge. It's a great feeling to know that the circle is complete.

[FayChee]

Douglas and Lolly,

I loved seeing your pictures and the happiness in everyones faces. One day I hope it will be me.

Fay Chee

[douglaslam]

Helen and Fay Chee, yes, it was a great afternoon. It started at noon, by the time we parted company, it was close to 5 in the afternoon. It was a learning experience for me because Laraine told me a good deal about her family past. From Andrew Sr. it has grown and grown. It all started from a then tiny rural community in South China.

This is an interesting little footnote on our friend Susan. I only remember her mother but not father. Susan's mother had interests in a restaurant and the old trading house Kwong War Chong 廣和昌 next to it. It was from KWC that I used to remit money to China and Hong Kong, and receive return letters. KWC was a favourite hang out for people from Chungshan and other counties as well because of its ground level convenience. That was back in the days when there were few Chinese, few unfamiliar faces about.

Susan's mother used to make our county district specialties on weekends so that we could all savour what we were missing on. She was an exceptionally kind and generous woman. When I was working in Chinatown throughout the 1980s, I frequented her restaurant often. Mrs. Pang would always remind her kitchen staff to give me an extra, extra, large serve at no extra cost because she knew I was, and still am, a big eater. It was like a haystack on a large dinner plate.

At Ching Ming time, Mrs. Pang would charter a bus on a certain Sunday, to leave Chinatown after the morning trade. All her family members, close relatives, and staff must go to Rookwood Cemetery to pay their respects to the deceased. No exceptions, no excuses. On site they would perform the usual rituals and divide up the roast pig and other offerings. It was an admirable thing to do, a tradition of honouring and remembering the ancestors she was so insistent on. I always remember her for that. She was one of a kind, a very unique individual.

Fay Chee, I do hope 2014 is the year you're going to make your trip to China with brother Lew. It will be an unforgettable experience for the two of you. Don't dwell on getting old and all that crap. You're not. You are bright as a button. Douglas

[lolly]

Quick check in from Lolly as our drive home from Sydney is not long completed.  But I do need to take time to say what a wonderful visit and meeting with Douglas we had!  Not only was it a most delightful meal at the Marigold,  but to finally have the register of my father's chinese ancestors, going back several generations, in my hot little hands ... albeit in chinese! .... was so far beyond any imagined expectation, it is very hard to express how I feel.

I will be posting a more detailed report on this meeting and how we got to this point (as per Doug's suggestion) in the next day or so .... with some additional pictures.

Meanwhile,  I want to again thank Douglas on behalf of my Uncle Denis and the rest of my family,  for all that he has done to make this occasion all that it is.  We are absolutely blown away by what he has achieved for us.

...... and now my work begins even more in earnest as I take what has been presented to me and try to unlock all that it contains.  Step 1 will be to get a translation.  I can't wait!

[douglaslam]

Lolly, this Forum is endowed with experts in many fields. All our regular contributors are specialists in more than one way. There is laohuaqiao, who has a good all-round knowledge on how to tackle a search, and in Chinese customs and traditions. Henry, our resident cartographer who can locate with precision the most obscure of villages on the map for you. You can't go pass Philip Tan for his thoroughness in building up a coherent clan genealogy chart, Geoff for his expertise in cracking the archives to extract information, Helen for her energy in identifying points of interest and hints to would be searchers. Fay Chee is always a source of inspiration. DJ, undoubtedly is our go-to man on IT and on line issues. Lachinatown, ever so enthusiastic and Chinese literate. There are just so many of you that I am afraid I must have overlooked many.

As I always maintained that I am just a spectator on this board. But I do fancy myself as a foot soldier. If a clear picture emerges, and the query item is in my comfort zone, I do enjoy going out in the fields as it were to do the actual probe. And I had some very pleasing results to share.

Over the years I've met a few of you in person, Lolly being the latest. It is always a great privilege and pleasure to meet the nicest people. And it confirms one thing, the people who frequent this Forum are real, not from a virtual, make believe world.