Research in China through www.MyChinaRoots.com

[rhew]

In case anyone is considering employing a third party to help in their research, I can HIGHLY recommend www.MyChinaRoots.com - I only have good things to say about them.

Several years ago when I was just starting the project to digitize the Jamaican Cemetery records and was having difficulty locating the 500 ancestral villages, I was introduced to Jallo Tang on Facebook, and he voluntarily scoured the Chinese web and single handedly found about 50 of the 250 that we hadn’t yet been able to locate. When he was in Shenzhen on other business he also did some pro bono research for me and found some of my relatives still living in the village. A couple years later he just happened to join MyChinaRoots, and introduced me to its founder, Huihan Lie, who after several phone calls and emails I found to be very dynamic, infectiously enthusiastic, with a generous heart, entrepreneurial, and with big plans that I thought would help advance the whole field.

I was happy to share with him our experiences in digitizing the records from Jamaica, and our database. He took that and produced a very informative flyer on the Hakka migrations distributed free at the 2016 NY Hakka conference (he wasn’t able to attend in person), and is now researching profiles on the top 100 Jamaican Hakka villages for publication in an upcoming web site upgrade. He also arranged/sent one of his officers, Clotilde Yap, who was travelling in the Americas, to participate as a panelist in the 2017 Miami Hakka symposium, and to Jamaica to help us catalog and translate some of our Chinese language records, and deliver a lecture on the origin and history of jiapu’s, all for free.

In a trip to China in September 2017 Helen Lam, MyChinaRoots’ Guangdong rep based in Hong Kong, arranged transportation for me, and acted as translator in formal meetings with several local branches of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, and with several of my relatives there who did not speak English. She also tracked down some other leads which (hopefully) will lead to me finding an alternative to my village jiapu which was destroyed in the Cultural Revolution. And later in Beijing, Hai Miao, their Research Director, also acted as translator for me in a formal conference I had to attend.

All in all, I have found ALL of them to be very committed, earnest, willing to go the extra mile, and just a pleasure to work with! They have gotten a LOT of very good press, and Huihan has appeared in a documentary and in an episode of the American series "Who Do You Think You Are?" www.mychinaroots.com/about/film/

[philiptancl]

Yes, I know Huihan Lie and My China Roots well enough. I have communicated with Huihan on many occasions and had introduced a number of people to them to do the research for them. I had met Hai Miao, Clotilde Yap and another one from Beijing in Kuala Lumpur sometime in August 2016 when I had arranged a meeting with the Federation of Chen Clan Associations Malaysia together with Surnames Clans Association for them to explore areas of cooperation.

For those who know their ancestral villages in China but do not want to travel there to do the research yourselves, I understand they could, in addition to finding the jiapu/zupu of your interest, they typically try and find other traces too during their field trips. Such other traces could include ancestral tombstones, ancestral temples with altar tablets, old family houses, local gazetteers, and last but not least; they interview elderly villagers about possible stories about the emigrating ancestors and village history. This allows them to put together comprehensive reports, which include a considerable amount of information that is not to be found in a zupu (for instance, tombstones typically contain dates/years, whereas zupus might not, and local gazetteers tell us what exactly went on in the area while specific ancestors were alive).

Huihan had obtained for me two sets of zupu entiled “江邱曾氏族譜” (a set consisted of 2 volumes totaling 1,700 pages) that was updated in June 2014; one set for me while the other set for Eugene Khoo who has a blog entitled “Overseas Chinese in the British Empire”. I also arranged for Hai Miao to meet up with Eugene Khoo during the August 2016 trip as well.

Huihan was featured in Chinese Documentary entitled “South of the Ocean” and an edited version only featuring him can be viewed below:

[huihanlie]

thank you so much for your kind words, Robert and Philip. This forum has done such amazing work in helping Overseas Chinese trace their roots, it's most certainly been a source of inspiration for us over the years. the more we can all work together towards our common purpose, the more people across the world will be helped and feel connected, with their ancestry and with themselves!

[twnxn]

I would certainly recommend My China Roots. I personally used it. I gave them what information I had about my family. My ancestors left Fujian, China 7 generations ago for Taiwan. Though, Huihan and his team was not able to find my Clan's zupu or jiapu as they were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, I appreciated the information you was able to obtain. His team visited my ancestral village in Zhangzhou, Fujian; spoke to people from my clan, villagers, experts. He even visited Philip Tan in Malaysia.

[rhew]

twnxn

There might still be hope (or at least that's what I am telling tell myself). My village jiapu was also destroyed in the Cultural Revolution, but by persevering and pestering people, I discovered that perhaps 10 or so generations back they came from a different village, so I am now trying to locate a jiapu there. If I find one, it may refer to one of the "pruned" branches as "moved to village X". And if I can get a DNA confirmation that we are distantly connected, then I would be able to "splice" into that older jiapu, even though there might be an undocumented gap of a couple hundred years in it somewhere.

[twnxn]

Nov 8, 2017 21:56:52 GMT -5 rhew said:

twnxn

There might still be hope (or at least that's what I am telling tell myself). My village jiapu was also destroyed in the Cultural Revolution, but by persevering and pestering people, I discovered that perhaps 10 or so generations back they came from a different village, so I am now trying to locate a jiapu there. If I find one, it may refer to one of the "pruned" branches as "moved to village X". And if I can get a DNA confirmation that we are distantly connected, then I would be able to "splice" into that older jiapu, even though there might be an undocumented gap of a couple hundred years in it somewhere.

Well, the best that could have been done is somewhat trying to re-create a jiapu.  There were some gaps.  For example, my family has an Ancestry Tablet which showed all my male ancestors in Taiwan for 7 generations. It stated where my first ancestor in Taiwan came from in Zhangzhou, Fujian, China. However, my grandfather's, great grandfather's and great-great grandfather's tombstone had the name of a different village. That was confusing at first. But, then they were able to sort out the relations. It was tricky at first, since the name of the village changed. But, through some research, process of elimination they were able to narrow it down to the correct village based on tracing the name changes, location, talking to the villagers and looking at their tombstones. It turns out my ancestors moved from one village (the one listed on the tombstone) to another one (the one listed on the ancestry tablet) before moving to Taiwan. The villagers from the one listed on the ancestry tablet- unfortunately did not have the jiapu or zupu, but stated their ancestors during the late Ming/early Qing Dynasty moved to that village from the one listed on the tombstone. Their families tombstones also had the same characters of that village. They also told where that village is now. The present name is similar phonetically, but they use a one Chinese character that is different. Unfortunately, with the village, it was pretty much torn down to make way for new development. But, fortunately, before the Clan ancestral temple was torn down, they were able to get information from the temple and speak to local leaders and experts. They found out the progenitor of my clan moved to that village during the Yuan Dynasty and got his name and his wife's name. So, based on that we could partially re-create the names of people, though there will be gaps also.  Incidentally, I also found this website: www.nanchens.com/chcs/chcs70/chcs70059.htm and it lists both of the villages (the one on the tombstone) and the one on the ancestry tablet- further confirming that they are associated with each other.

[ronchun]

I've received a proposal from My China Roots for a very difficult project on my paternal side: I do not have the Chinese name of my grandfather even though I knew the village.  Through Doug's encouragement and Phillip's recommendation, I contacted My China Roots and accepted their proposal.  One thing I should make clear: is that I solicited My China Roots on my own after I learning about them through Doug and Phillip and I realized I indirectly hired them on another project.  My China Roots did not contact me and, in fact, did not disclose their affiliation with My China Roots until I took the initiative and confirmed their affiliation with My China Roots.

I hope I can share in your good experiences.  Posting your experiences are important in taking that first step to hiring an outside researcher in China.  I'm sure we can debate whether there are many other alternatives --- e.g., Henry Tom's group and Roots Plus Program.  All of them really know their stuff.  But I appreciate Doug's candid advice that not knowing my grandfather's Chinese name could be a major road block for the other alternatives.  I am hoping that all of the alternatives are not mutually-exclusive - you try mix and match and set boundaries between the different alternatives.  I remember seeing Miss Yap on YouTube and now, I put two and two together.  Learning about My China Roots through this forum eased my worries.  My only regret is that I hired another big name genealogy research firm to do my maternal side and I found out they hired Huhan Lee and Helen Lam for my project when I should have hired them directly.

[showlim]

looking for family history this stone is my gradfather in canada he moved here in the 1900s you have any info

[ginagaladriel]

showlim ,

I'm not Chinese literate, and hopefully I transcribed all the characters correctly

林諸先生之墓
= The tomb of Mr. Lin Zhu.
廣桌新会
= Guangfu Xinhui
中国 = China


"
"Guangfu" is an elision of the town's older name Guangpingfu, referring to its former status as the seat of Guangping ("Expansively Pacified" or "Peaceful") Prefecture under the Ming. The name was first borne by the town under the Han.[4]



By the Tang, it was known as Mingzhou from its former prefecture, itself named after the nearby Ming River. It has also been known as Yongnian ("Longevity") from the name of its former county and present district."
"Xinhui, formerly romanized as Sunwui and also known as Kuixiang, is an urban district of Jiangmen in Guangdong, China."


Hope some of our fellow forum friends can confirm this?

[lachinatown]

It's 廣東新會, not 廣桌新会 = Guangfu Xinhui Gina.

[Doug 周]

Are you using My China Roots service?

[jeremychin]

There is very limited information here as there is no village name. Only province: Guangdong, and City: Xinhui. Do you have any other documents such as a ship manifest for when he came to Canada?

[ginagaladriel]

Thank you for the correction lachinatown
I tried drawing each character with google translate, so I knew I might have had a few characters wrong

[cdnheadtaxdata]

showlim:

The head stone of Lam Woo
林護先生之墓
You need to provide more information for others to help.
Is the headstone located in Ocean view cemetery, Burnaby, B.C.

cemeteries do keep excellent record on each burial. Try looking for the original file at the cemetery. 1974 was not that long ago.
Check also with the Lam Sai Ho Tong (the Lam Family Association).