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Post by pacificteine on Feb 9, 2016 21:34:27 GMT -5
Hi Everyone, I am literally new to this forum and I am thankful for it as well. I am not new to family history research as I absolutely love the work. However, I am very very new to the research on my Chinese bloodline as I just made contact with my biological family early last year and no surprise I do have Chinese blood in me. My two great grandfathers were both Chinese men. I will first research one before I venture out to the other. So this first one is account from my grandmother who says she does not know much about her fathers Chinese roots. His name is Lee Wai Chung, from the village of Hung Mee, in Canton, migrated to Fiji in the 1920s, settled there and married a native Fijian woman from a chiefly family, and is now buried in the Chinese Labasa Cementary. I believed he did travel back and forth maybe two other times. There are no Chinese inscription on his grave that would indicate his clan name. It seems like he did not have much belongings from his homeland. Also according to my father, both of his grandpa's spoke Cantonese to each other, then picked up on Fijian and Hindi. Ive tried to google map the village and nothing, maybe due to development its no longer there. When I did some digging, its Heshan District in the Guangdong Province-- but the village doesnt seem to exist anymore I guess. So if someone could please point me out in the direction I should begin, I will be grateful. Thank you in advance!
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Post by Henry on Feb 10, 2016 8:10:02 GMT -5
Welcome to our Forum,
Do you have the Chinese characters for names of Lee Wai Chung and Mee Hung village in Heshan ?
Searching for a ancestral village on Google maps using a Cantonese romanization will not usually result in a hit - Google maps uses Pinyin romanization and simplified Chinese characters - using traditional Chinese characters also does not usually result in a hit because approximately a third of all modern Chinese characters use simplified Chinese characters.
Most historical material that people have are in traditional Chinese characters.
Henry
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Post by pacificteine on Feb 10, 2016 8:54:31 GMT -5
Thank you and no I do not have the Chinese characters of anything you mentioned. I am not exactly sure how I would look for it though. For my great grandfathers name, Ive asked my grandma, who is his oldest daughter and she said she doesnt know. Thank you for the information. Have a blessed day!
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Post by helen on Feb 11, 2016 4:26:35 GMT -5
its Heshan District in the Guangdong Province--
Would this be Zhongshan?
Heung-san (Chinese: 香山; literally: "Fragrant Mountain")
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Post by tyuti1668 on Feb 11, 2016 8:10:21 GMT -5
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Post by pacificteine on Feb 11, 2016 8:55:21 GMT -5
OH MY GOSH REALLY? I mean if this is the village... wow, wait til I share this with my grandparents... I am in the US and they are in Aussie!  Thanks heaps for this help. I mean ... its totally soooo different from what Ive been looking at. I really appreciate the help. |
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Post by lachinatown on Feb 11, 2016 11:27:48 GMT -5
Can you explain "When I did some digging, its Heshan District in the Guangdong Province" how "Heshan" came about?
This 恆美 (Hengmei) village sure sounds like a match for you, being a Lee village, in Zhongshan.
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Post by pacificteine on Feb 11, 2016 21:13:33 GMT -5
You know honestly, the reason why I came up with "Heshan" was because when I did a general google search, they gave me results of some people who might have been from similar village with the spelling of "Hung Mee".... thats all I can tell you. Now that I think about it, my grandma might have spelled it how it sounded to her. I was very focus on the spelling I didnt really look into any other options. But atleast those that have replied are such wonderful help.
By the way, could you please help me locate where "hengmei" is in Zhongshan.... I am now reading the history of the place, pretty interesting stuff. Thanks again.
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Post by twoupman on Feb 11, 2016 22:05:43 GMT -5
pacificteine, 恆美 (Hengmei) village @ GPS 22.471857, 113.349934 twoupman houseofchinn.com |
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Post by lachinatown on Feb 11, 2016 22:34:18 GMT -5
Please note 恆美 or 恆美村 (traditional Chinese) or 恒美村 (simplified Chinese) Heng-mei-cun or Hang May (in Cantonese) are all the same.
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Post by pacificteine on Feb 11, 2016 23:03:51 GMT -5
Thanks for clearing this up. I am such a novice in this particular research area. I was abit confused at that other part and not knowing if they were one and the same. I appreciate the clarification.
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Post by pacificteine on Feb 12, 2016 0:06:13 GMT -5
I have another question. That Chinese"Lee"Character in that village site....would that be how my family character name would appear in Chinese. One lady told me, each family has their own Chinese characters, so when doing researching, there may be lots of "Lee's","Liu's etc. but you can identify the ones in your family by their Chinese characters, is this true?
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Post by tyuti1668 on Feb 12, 2016 5:47:41 GMT -5
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Post by douglaslam on Feb 12, 2016 7:54:53 GMT -5
If Heng Mei is the village you are looking for, here are some photos.  This is the gateway to the Lee village of Heng Mei 恆美村. It is built in the 1980s. There are many villages bearing the family name Lee / Li, Heng Mei is certainly a better known one.  There is a second gateway to the Mar / Ma village of Sa Chung.  Immediately to the left, after passing the gateway is the Lee ancestral Hall. this a complete rebuild by donations from Lee villagers all over the world. The original did not survive close to thirty years of ravages under Mao. It is just an auditorium, nothing from the original ancestral hall survived.  These are a few of the seventeen-strong party from Australia who came on a roots discovery visit to Sa Chung. I had the pleasure to act as their guide and interpreter just last October. |
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Post by lachinatown on Feb 12, 2016 9:58:06 GMT -5
douglaslam, great photos. How do you able to keep track of all your photos?
Hopefully, this is the village pacificteine is looking for.
So the gateway was built in the 1980s douglaslam? It uses simplified Chinese. Looks like the 2nd photo is an enlargement of the first one but showing the 2nd gateway in the back. Is this unusual? Didn't look like the villages are that close together on the map.
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Thanks heaps for this help. I mean ... its totally soooo different from what Ive been looking at. I really appreciate the help. 
