Da Guan (大官) - Fujian Province (Fuzhou) -late Qing Dynasty

[wonton888]

put your raw dna results in GEDMatch, 23andme is horrible and is only good for dna matches.  

[tirosen]

Sounds quite interesting. My 5x great grandfather was a wu juren 武舉人 during the Qing Dynasty. That is a provincial military/scholar official. He was from Zhangzhou, Fujian before moving to Taiwan (though back then Taiwan a prefecture of Fujian Province and a part of Fujian province until 1885 when it separated before the Japanese took control of Taiwan in 1895). I presume he had to take his exam in Fuzhou, Fujian as that was where they took the exams at. My uncle has an ancestry painting of him with the Qing Dynasty military scholar-official uniform on- probably similar type of painting as your 2x great grandfather.

As for DNA tests, 23andMe does not give that detailed results for Asians. I would suggest like someone suggested you upload you data to GedMatch and try the different calculators there. It is free. You can also upload your 23andMe raw data to WeGene which is a Chinese DNA company which will have more detailed breakdowns of people of East Asian and Chinese background. It is also free to upload it there. There is a Chinese and English version of the site. There is a lot more information on the Chinese version. If you can't read Chinese, you can use Google Chrome and it does a fairly nice job of translating the site into English. Like you, I have studied my paternal genealogy but also taken various DNA tests (23andMe, Ancestry, DNA Tribes, Family Tree DNA). Unfortunately, most of the mainstream DNA companies in the U.S. has a much smaller database on Asians and substantially larger database for people of European background. But with 23andMe and Ancestry you can download their raw data and upload it to various other places. Feel free to private message me.

[chang]

Hi, Melange,

I have read an article from New York Tribune, October 25, 1896.  A person's name Yen Nien, used to be the highest level official of Fuzhou, Fujian.   I have spent quite time to dig out who is Yen Nien, finally I found his real name is Ho Yen Nien 何英年, a first rank of Mandarin in Late Qing Dynasty.    He came to US to investigate the American industries and railroad for reform China for several month.   I don't know if it's a coincidence, because his last name is also “Ho”.  

1896-10-25 Yen Nien – New York Tribune


The recent war between China and Japan has taught the Flowery Kingdom many lessons, not the least of which is the knowledge of its own limitations. That China has benefited by this knowledge is evidenced by the fact that she is planning to introduce modern methods in her internal affairs, and to increase her commerce, both with Europe and America. To this end Li Hung Chang made his memorable and picturesque tour around the world and in his footsteps follows one of his distinguished compatriots, another royal commissioner, Yen Nien, at present in Washington.

Yen Nien, who is a mandarin of high rank and taotai, or perfect, of the Province of Foo-Chow, a man of great wealth and an erudite scholar, has visited the United States unostentatiously in marked contrast to the triumphal tour of Li. His suite consists of a secretary, an interpreter, who, while speaking French and German fluently, has only a limited command of English, and two servants. They live at the Arlington Hotel, eat in the public dining-room and are in no way remarkable except for their Oriental robes, which provoke attention and comment.

Yen Nien is an industrious sightseer and enthusiastic over the capital, which he considers the most beautiful of cities, save always Paris. He is particularly pleased with the work in applied electricity done in this country, and says that in this the United States leads the world. The commissioner is making an exhaustive study of this subject. On his return he will lay the results of his investigations before the Emperor, and hopes to be the means of introducing electricity for motive and illuminating purposes into China.


chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1896-10-25/ed-1/seq-31/ 

- chang

[chang]

Hi, melange,

Although you might think Ho Yen Nien was not your Great Great Grand-father, here I tell you more about Yen Nien. 

In the article, it did not say Yen Nien knew any foreign language,  his "secretary and interpreter, who, while speaking French and German fluently
".  Yen Nien had spend two months in US to investigate the American industrial methods and would like apply to China in the future. 

Yen Nien was a favour personal to Empress Dowager.  In 1900, the Boxer movement (anti-foreigners and christian) started, Empress Dowager assigned him as the third commander to the Boxer, to fight with the foreigners and foreign troop in China, at the end, the Boxers were defeated, the foreign troops entered Peking,  the foreign troops wanted those Boxer officials with severe penalty in order to withdraw from Peking.   Later Yen Nien was dead in the jail in early 1901.   Since then Yen Nien's family was no long rich and famous.   I do not have any information about his descendants. 

[chang]

Hi, melange,

In Fujian history, it seems that only have one person called He Jing 何璟 (1817-1888) , he was on the highest rank official in Fujian (1876-1884) , born in Xiangshan 香山 county of Guangdong province. Ho Yen Nien could be just his son or grandson of He Jing.   He Jing could be your maternal Great Great Grandfather,  Yen Nien could be just a relative to you.   

[chang]

Hi, melange,

I searched highest level governors in charging Fujian and Zhejiang two provinces, here is the list from He Jing from 1876 to the last one in 1907:

baike.baidu.com/item/%E9%97%BD%E6%B5%99%E6%80%BB%E7%9D%A3#2



何璟 He Jing, 广东香山(今中山) 光绪二年 1876

杨昌浚 湖南湘乡 光绪十年 1884

卞宝第 江苏仪征 光绪十四年 1888

谭钟麟 湖南茶陵 光绪十八年 1892

边宝泉 奉天辽阳(今属辽宁) 隶汉军镶红旗 光绪二十年 1894

许应骙 广东番禺(今广州) 光绪二十四年 1898

锡良 蒙古镶蓝旗 光绪二十九年 1903

李兴锐 湖南浏阳 光绪二十九年 1903

魏光焘 湖南隆回 光绪三十年 1904

升允 蒙古镶蓝旗 光绪三十一年 1905

崧蕃 满洲镶蓝旗 光绪三十一年 1905

端方 满洲正白旗 光绪三十一年 1905

周馥 安徽建德(今东至) 光绪三十二年 1906

丁振铎 河南罗山 光绪三十二年 1906

松寿 满洲正白旗 光绪三十三年 1907



I also searched next level of the mandarins, but no luck to find any “Ho” . If you have more information, like any name of the descendants, or involved some historical events at that time that might be able to help you search more.