Locating 霞橋 (Xiaqiao) or 堡林內, 橋仔頭, 龍溪, 州府 in Fujian

[twnxn]

Hello. I am new to this forum. I know my ancestor moved from Longxi County (which I understand is now Longhai County), Zhangzhou, Fujian to Taiwan 8 generations ago. I need help in locating this. My grandfather, great grandfather, great great grandfather all say “霞橋”(Xiaqiao) on their tombs. However, my family’s ancestry tablet which was apparently compiled by my granduncle (now deceased) states that my first ancestor to move from Fujian to Taiwan during the Qing Dynasty was from 堡林內, 橋仔頭, 龍溪, 州府 (Bao Lin Nei, Qiao Zai Tou, Longxi, Zhangzhou)-which I can’t locate or Xiaqiao. I am aware names have probably changed. My first ancestor to Taiwan from Fujian was supposedly a 武舉人 ("wu ju ren") or provincial military scholar during the Qing Dynasty. I did find several places around Zhangzhou and vicinity named “Qiao Zai Tou” on Google maps. Any tips or does any person have any information? Thanks.

[twnxn]

Here is some update regarding finding my ancestral Chen village in Fujian. The specific village is not Bao Lin Nei- as I thought. As my ancestry tablet photo cut off one character after Lin Nei. It should be Qiao Zai Tou Bao (橋仔頭堡)and Lin Nei She (林內社). Bao was a division used during the Qing Dynasty, but no longer used now. My cousin, Huihan from My China Roots and myself were able to narrow down the location of my ancestral village to Lin Nei within Qiaozaitou Village, Chaoyang Town, Longwen District, Zhangzhou City, Fujian Province, China. Lin Nei (漳州市龍文區朝陽鎮橋仔頭村林內)
does not show up on Google Maps or Baidu. But, Qiaozaitoucun does show up and Lin Nei is within it. It is located just immediately to the west of Qiaozaitoucun on Google Maps:

www.google.com/maps/place/Qiao+Zai+Tou+Cun,+Longwen+Qu,+Zhangzhou+Shi,+Fujian+Sheng,+China/@24.5523286,117.685196,3685m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x3414712185426459:0x02f31e0e5d36e768

NOTE: if you can't open the link, then here are the coordinates: 24.5531285,117.6831533 which you can enter into Google Maps.

There are photos you can find towards the bottom of Google Maps and if you click on the photo, it will point an arrow to where on the map the photo is from. It looks like some of the photos looks like my ancestral village or very close to it and the place looks very rustic.

Per Huihan and his discussion with the Overseas Chinese Association there, it is a Chen village. As for the mystery of Xiaqiao (霞橋). Xiaqiao is the area the Chen clan in Lin Nei village came from. Present day Xiaqiao is also within Longwen District closer to Shicang Village and Buwen Township. And the Overseas Chinese Association unfortunately, stated that the village Zupu/Jiapu was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution (which was very common occurrence). But, Huihan and his team will make a visit Lin Nei to find any other traces.

Read more: siyigenealogy.proboards.com/thread/752/common-ancestor-surname-chen?page=21#ixzz3n3Gapdb8

[tirosen]

Hello,

Here is an update on locating my paternal ancestral village in Fujian- related to my Chen surname. My great, great, great, great, great grandfather moved to Taiwan from Zhangzhou, Fujian, China. My family has an ancestry tablet and a family tree that traces 9 generations in Taiwan. I am the 8th Chen generation (related to my family in Taiwan), though I was born and grew up in US and live in the US. My great, great, great, great, great grandfather was a Wujuren (武舉人) during the Qing Dynasty. Per the ancestry tablet he came from “Lin Nei Shi (Lin Nei Neighborhood), Qiaozaitou Bao (Qiaozaitou Fort), Longxi County, Zhangzhou, Fujian, China. Through the help of my cousin in Taiwan who can read and write Chinese and has access to some of our family information and Huihan Lie of My China Roots, we were able to located where Lin Nei Shi, Qiazaitou Bao, Longxi County, Zhangzhou, Fujian is located today. Today is it is now known as Lin Nei Shi or Lou Nei Shi, Qiaotou Village, Chaoyang Township, Longwen District, Zhangzhou City, Fujian, China (漳州市龍文區朝陽鎮橋仔頭村林內 or 樓內). The Googlemaps coordinates are 24.5531285,117.6831533.. It turns out this village has a city wall that is covered with Banyan Trees- see photo. The wall was erected during the Ming Dynasty as a way to protect the village from Japanese pirates. Here are a couple of articles about this village- one in Simplified Chinese and the other in English. Here are some photos links from Google Maps of the village. The village was founded by Lin Shizhang during the Ming Dynasty. It was a market town where people traded goods and services.

Again my ancestry tablet showed where my first Chen ancestor to Taiwan was from. But, my paternal grandfather, great grandfather, and great-great grandfather’s tombstone all read Xiaqiao (霞橋). This, at first baffled my cousin, Huihan and myself and how it related to what our ancestry tablet showed. However, through talking to the people in Qiaotou Village-which we found out to a village of 1,800 people with 1,300 people residing within the sub-village of Lin Nei (林內) or Lou Nei (樓內)and the 2 largest surnames are Chen and Huang. But there are also people surnamed Han, Lee and Lin. There are 110 Chen families surnamed Chen. Of those 10 families are related to me distantly-as it turns out they before living in Qiaotou Village came from Xiaqiao (霞橋 ) which is now sometimes referred to as下橋, which we found out is located also in Zhangzhou, Fujian area. More specifically, it is located in Shicang Village, Bu wen Township, Longwen District, Zhangzhou City, Fujian (步文鎮石倉村霞橋（下橋）

). It lies just not of the Jiulong River. My Chen clan which is a branch of the Yingchuan Hall, is a sub-branch called the Xiaqiao sub-branch. There is a Xiaqiao Chen Clan Hall (see photo). Unfortunately, most of the village in Xiaqiao has been torn down for new construction. The Xiaqiao Chen Clan Hall (霞橋陳氏宗祠) still stands, but it is closed and you can’t enter it. The fear is it will also be torn down. Unfortunately, at this point, Huihan has not been able to locate my Chen family’s Zupu or Jiapu. The Xiaqiao Chen Clan Hall is closed and the Chen clan that lived in the area moved. Per the Chen family that lives in Qiaotou Village-they don’t have a Zupu or Jiapu- it was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution in China. They think possibly the Chen clan that lived in Xiaqiao might have it, but we will have to track them down. I do believe my ancestors moved from Xiaqiao to Qiaotou Village during the Ming Dynasty or early Qing Dynasty to take part in the market trade.

Here are 2 articles about Qiaotou Village in Chaoyang Town, Longwen District, Zhangzhou, Fujian- the first one is in simplified Chinese (note: there are some photos which load slowly) and the second in English:

blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_62bb13aa0102vpov.html

en.people.cn/english/200004/05/eng20000405_38321.html

Check out these photos posted on Google Maps of my ancestral village- Lou Nei/Lin Nei in Qiaotou Village. Not all the photos are it, but you will see the village wall covered with banyan trees and some of the old homes.



The 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th rows of photos are of the village:

ssl.panoramio.com/user/199395?comment_page=1&photo_page=5



The top 2 photos and the 1st photo on the second row- with the entrance of the village arch with the banyan tree:

ssl.panoramio.com/user/2775110

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