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Post by chengkeikong on Jan 6, 2014 18:12:40 GMT -5
Good Evening All,
Thank you for taking the time to read this post. A little background about myself. I'm ABC american born chinese, with not much knowledge of my ancestry other than the fact that my barber is convinced that my lineage is from Zhong San, China. I really want to learn more so I can pass down to my children. Would you experts suggest where I can start my research?
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Post by Doug 周 on Jan 7, 2014 3:26:32 GMT -5
Please share the dialog with your barber which convinced him you are from Zhongshan.
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Post by douglaslam on Jan 7, 2014 5:24:09 GMT -5
There are many Zhongshan or Chungshan folks in America, and more so in Sydney my hometown, until quite recently. I just returned about three weeks ago after spending a month there. Let's hear more from you.
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Post by chengkeikong on Jan 7, 2014 19:49:12 GMT -5
Sure Doug,
My barber and I have the exact same last name CHENG (郑) and he came to america when he was 27 years old. He told me I'm also from there and I'm convinced because my grandfather had owned a newspaper company which resided in Macau, which is fairly close to zhong san.
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Post by Doug 周 on Jan 7, 2014 23:05:36 GMT -5
Cheng is a fairly common name. Cheng is among the top 100 Chinese names which make up the 85% of names in China. In the USA, 70k unique names cover 90% of the Americans. Another possibility, do you understand words of a local Zhongshan dialect? Dialects and languages can localize your region of origin. When the Chinese disembarked off the boat in San Francisco in the 19th century, various clans would call out in their dialect. Disembarkees would recognize their dialect above the din. Then help was offered to these clan members. More precisely, do you have the ancestral village names in Chinese characters from your ancestors' gravestones. If you have any phonetic spelling of their ancestral villages, members on this site with private copies of the US embassy's Village Database might help you. You can also yourself look at the Chinese Wiki Village Databaseclick |
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Post by douglaslam on Jan 9, 2014 8:24:58 GMT -5
Chengkeikong, if your ancestors were from Chungshan, or Zhongshan, chances are they were from 濠涌
or 三鄕 where many villages have the Cheng family name, which includes 烏石 Black Rock the main one.
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Post by Doug 周 on Jan 10, 2014 9:34:21 GMT -5
... they were from 濠涌 ...or 三鄕 where many villages have the Cheng family name, which includes 烏石 Black Rock the main one. Or they could be from 銭山, which is the ancestral village of my maternal grandmother’s 鄭 clan of Zhongshan. This depends on the level of precision you desire for your descendents. If you want to attempt recovery of your Jiapu(家譜)click, you will need to get more information. Family heritage study will always have conflicting data. You may be satisfied with your barber’s attestation that you are a Zheng from Zhongshan. If you want to work out your family heritage in more detail, use some of the techniques we recommend on via website. |
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Post by douglaslam on Jan 21, 2014 18:46:37 GMT -5
My mistake, I got 濠頭 and 濠涌 mixed up. The Youtube video is on Ho Chung, the Fong family name village. Ho Tau 濠頭 is the Cheng village but there is nothing on Youtube.
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Post by tyuti1668 on Jan 22, 2014 2:45:23 GMT -5
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Post by laohuaqiao on Jan 22, 2014 10:18:44 GMT -5
chengkeikong,
I think we should go back to the basics, tell us more about yourself,as much as you know. Who first came to America? Do you know the Chinese name? Are your parents or grandparents still alive? If they are, would they know which village your ancestors came from? Have you asked them?
If they are deceased, are there any documents or letters from China which might contain an address? Have you checked the writings on gravestones which usually contain ancestral village info?
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