Looking for Liu family in Xiamen, Fujian

[bhliu11]

Hello All,

My name is Bruce and I am in the first stage of looking for family members in Xiamen, Fujian. Someone said we are from Penglai, Anxi County

This is what I know so far ..

My Great Grandfather info is as follow: (Still getting more information as we speak)

 Born and raised in Xiamen, Fujian??

 Youngest of 4?? (2 older brothers, 1 older sister)

 Both of his older brothers were sold by his dad to feed his Opium addictions.

 We do not know what happened to his sister.

 He was saved by his Grandma (his dad’s mother) who convinced his dad (need at least one kid to take care of you after life) to not sell him for Opium money

 He worked in the morning to get daily Opium money for his dad (Filial Piety)

 At the age of 12??? Or so, he made a deal with the neighbor, who was Chinese Medicine doctor. Deal was that he would gather woods (for cooking), and do chores for the Doctor’s family and at his office in exchange for learning how to read / write.

 In the afternoon, he would work at the doctor’s office and in the evening, he would go out into the forest to gather / chop woods for cooking

 After several years of working for the Doctor, doctor liked him for his commitment / determination / filial piety, and taught him everything he knew

 Due to his work ethic, he became a well known / popular doctor in Xiamin, Fujian.

 He had the largest house (3 Tier House or currently, 3 Tier District) in Fujian (三落厝)

 He had 9 sons, and a daughter??


My grandfather's name is Liu Han Chong 劉漢宗 . Youngest son. He moved to Burma in or around 1940s. His biography is located here (If anyone can help me translate the page, they are welcome to since I do not speak or write Chinese - LOL). drive.google.com/file/d/0B-hmjT4bcXafZ25seW5rdmFkN2M/view?usp=sharing 

My grandma, 林招治, is from Pantucan village - 中國 福建省 厦門市 同安區 潘涂村. She was born on June 16, 1922 and raised in Pantucan, Tong’an, Xiamen (Amoy), Fujian. Her

Grandfather was an official with Qing Dynasty

Thank you. 
 

[Doug 周]

Your cloud document has a lot of information. I highly recommend you have someone formally translate your document. It seems like what was written in English is an executive translation.

You really need to tease out the surname and given names of as many ancestors born in China. You will also need to extract the grand paternal ancestral village in Chinese characters, like you did with your grandmother. If Chinese literate people on this forum cannot help you, depending on what part of the world from which you are from, consider going to a LDS church (Latter Day Saints or Mormon), which will usually have young mainland Chinese missionaries who can gather these few characters for you.

From there you will be able to make a visit to the village, or commission a field researcher to make contact for you.

[FayChee]

Hello,

I use the Google Translation App to try and get an idea of what is written in Chinese documents. It does not do a good translation, but you can get an idea of what is being said, but sometimes the translation is just a little crazy.....

I copied and pasted the first 2 pages of your relative's biography into the Google translation app, and this is exactly how it came out......

"Yu Zhijiang, that is, Zhiwu has Liu Hanzongjun, Gao Caishuo, especially physics and chemistry, theory and reality
The use of fine, for the director Dong to push the weight, for the students love, steal the admiration. Jun Shiren’s Agriculture and Forestry School
The divisions are 12 miles apart and cannot be counted. The holiday encounters the teacher's house and they all have a chat.
No opportunity to benefit. Gengwuqiu, Yu coached Nan'an Xixi, winter vacation revisited alma mater, Yu Jun in Science Museum
Zhao Li Xie Ye is here, the master is cooking, the guest is talking, the hometown school and the literary affairs,
Jun Bo Zheng Guang cited, to say no trouble, to study its source, are very popular books, and the rest is very different. Jun
Admonished: "This is not a matter of learning. Since the first brother and the brothers, they are all interested in art and art.
Pick up, know one or two, after the specialization of the quarantine has been fortunate enough not to laugh. Yu Yin confronted: "Yellow

Mr. Jie’s Royal Long Shirt, who has been teaching English for 20 years, does not change its style.
Those who have flooded the Chinese ancient books do not have to go out of the liberal arts college." Looking at the smile, the teachers laughed.
After 30 years, I was as good as yesterday. I knew that my old man had been a colleague for more than ten years, and he was almost dead and alive.
The monarch is enshrined, and the Hanzong word is also. He lives in Penglai Township, Anxi County. Mr. Kao Yinxian, the word Minghui, Bo
Viewing a group of books, the mountain doctors' life, the whole phase, all without ruthlessness, especially good at the yellow, hanging pots to help the world, the young doctors to practice Lujiang
, Chuangchuang Dechuntang Medical Bureau in Jiangtou Street, has survived so far, has been reading for more than 80 years. Zhang Zhangfu
People, Ling Meiwang. Mr. has nine sons, and he is the youngest. All the brothers are quite educated: six
Xiong Zongzong, graduated from Fuzhou No. 1 Middle School, once traveled to Malay Asia, and served as the headmaster of the school for three years.
Luan County magistrate. The seven brothers and Confucian scholars, the revolutionary army entered the shackles, once participated in the political training work, and then returned to Jiangtou Street, Shao
Committed to the pharmaceutical industry. Eight brothers and gossip, Shanghai Medical Department Tuen Mun repair is full, and the examination is sick. Jun family rich education
Education environment, there are many books, ancient Chinese and foreign languages, different books forbidden, all things, young and curious, reading
It’s all over the place, so it’s learned a lot."

余負笈潯江，即知吾邑有劉漢宗君，高才碩學，尤尚數理化，理論與實
用俱精，為董長所推重，為學生所愛戴，窃敬慕之。君時任農林學校講
師，相距一十二里，不能數數見，假日偶遇於教員住宅，皆歡飲閒談，
無請益機會。庚午秋，余執教南安西溪，寒假重遊母校，揖君於科學館
，趙李謝葉諸師俱在座，主人烹茗，邀客長談，自鄉事校事及於文事，
君博徵廣引，要言不煩，究其出處，皆非常人所讀之書，余甚異焉。君
告曰：「此非學而致之也；自先君與諸兄，皆嗜文藝說苑，少時耳聞目
接，畧知一二，專修格致以後荒蕪已多幸勿見笑。」余因對曰：「黃稱

潔先生御長衫，教英文二十年不改其素，通外國語者，不必皆西裝革履
，淹通中國古籍者，亦不必盡皆出於文學院」。相顧莞爾，諸師大笑。
事隔三十年，恍忽如昨，寧知埀老竟得同事十餘載，幾乎死生與共之。
君諱奉使，漢宗其字也。世居安溪縣蓬萊鄉。考堯賢先生，字明輝，博
覽羣書，山醫命卜相，無不窮究，尤擅歧黃，懸壺濟世，壯年行醫鷺江
，遂創德春堂醫藥局於江頭街，迄今猶存，已閱八十餘年矣。母張太夫
人，嶺美望族。先生有子九人，君其最幼者。君諸兄皆受相當教育：六
兄舜宗，畢業福州第一中學，曾遊馬來亞加影，任中學校長三年，後署
漳平縣長。七兄儒宗，革命軍入閩，曾參加政訓工作，後返江頭街，紹
承醫藥業。八兄八佾，上海醫科専門修業已滿，臨考病歿。君家庭富教
育環境，藏書亦多，古文時文，異書禁書，無所不有，幼慧好奇，閱覽
殆遍，故其所學多方，少時已出類拔萃。

Sorry it didn't do a better translation.

Fay Chee

[bhliu11]

Thank you, Dog and Faye.

I tried the Google translate and had a friend from Hong Kong translated for me as well. Only issue is that some of them are written in old traditional Chinese while new ones are written in (I guess) new simplified version.

I did give a copy of that to a friend's acquaintance who is a Cultural Counselor from China. After he read it, he was impressed. He was able to read and understand the Traditional old Chinese writing. I thought about asking him for help with translation but since he's a friend's acquaintance, it's hard for me to ask him to translate.

Just by being on the forum, I am hoping that someone will be able to understand it or know more about my grandfather or great grandfather. And of course, it would be a plus if someone related seen the post.

[Doug 周]

Your best bet is to have someone identify the given names of all your ancestors born in China; then identify the ancestral village. This will give you a clue where to physically search for your potential family genealogy booklet. That should be low cost

To get the best translation, I recommend you commission someone to translate your document.

You won't find many people who are from your village on this site. This is a self help advice site and not a social media site. People come to this site for specific advice, then leave for long periods of time, if not forever, once their goals are accomplished.

~woof

[bhliu11]

Thank you, Doug.

I understand your point about not being a social media search, however, people here are doing something I am doing and for all we know, I may run across someone by reading the title of my post.

We are having a family discussion (3 generations) in few days for Chinese New Year and I may know some more about my ancestors or where to start the search.

[Doug 周]

It is very rare to find people of the same clan or even region as one's ancestor. This is one rare thread where Sophie is from the same surname and village as FayChee see: Looking for Daijin District ^link
Please don't hesitate to share more information with the Forum as your family gathers for the upcoming New Year celebrations.

[Doug 周]

Jan 31, 2019 20:36:26 GMT -5 bhliu11 said:

... that some of them are written in old traditional Chinese while new ones are written in (I guess) new simplified version….

There is simplified, traditional, and classical Chinese characters and writing style. My cousins in Shanghai, who have transferred their jiapu to a modern word processing format, like yours, have trouble reading traditional characters. Traditional characters are better interpreted in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Then there is classical Chinese writing style. This may have been typed into the document you own. Let me quote Dr. David Moser of University of Michigan wrote on his now dark webpage:

Whereas modern Mandarin is merely perversely hard, classical Chinese is deliberately impossible. Here's a secret that sinologists won't tell you: A passage in classical Chinese can be understood only if you already know what the passage says in the first place. This is because classical Chinese really consists of several centuries of esoteric anecdotes and in-jokes written in a kind of terse, miserly code for dissemination among a small, elite group of intellectually-inbred bookworms who already knew the whole literature backwards and forwards, anyway.

[bhliu11]

Finally acquired the name of my Great Grandfather: Liu Tian Cai - 刘天財

Hope this info helps someone find their ancestors.

Supposedly, we still have a family book some where in Fujian and may travel there one day to locate it.

Since my last post, good news is that few people from Malaysia and Singapore some how located us here in US, and visited us. They are my distant relatives (my grandfather's sisters' family)

Bruce

[philiptancl]

Bruce,

From the exchange of emails with me, you said that your ancestral village is Lian Méng Cun (联盟村) within of Peng Lai Town (蓬萊镇) of Anxi County (安溪县) in Fujian Province (福建省). If that is so, your zupu could be 蓬萊刘氏族谱. The generation names and the updates of the zupu is shown on the attachment below. Now it is a matter of you going there to source the zupu. I understand the Anxi Liu Clan Association located in Kepong in Malaysia could have a set of the zupu. Should you have a Liu relative in Malaysia, you could ask him to get a scan of the set from there.



Philip