Finding the town/village in 增城 that my father came from

[mltang]

My father 鄧占鴻 (the only son with 3 sisters; there might be an elder brother who passed away at an early age) was born in 增城 on 10th May 1918. He left China in 1936 and had never gone back. There were some letter communication in the early years but unfortunately the address was lost in a fire. I remember the address has this line - 龍江阬. Father always talked about lychee and fondness of relaxing in the evening by the pond in front of the village 祠堂. There were also 3 cousins who also departed along with my father from the same village - 鄧满庭, 鄧文早 and 鄧苏. My grandfather's name was Tang Siek Tzin (English translation only).


Unconfirmed information indicates that my father was from 新塘镇 or 新塘村.  I would deeply appreciate if forumers could help me to confirm the exact village that my father came from so that my family can make a trip back to fulfill my late father's wish.  Thank you.

[Henry]

mltang,

Your father came from Guangdong province, Zhengcheng district, XinTong town - I could not locate the village [ 龍江阬 ] you had given:

www.google.com/maps/place/Xintangzhen,+Zengcheng,+Guangzhou,+Guangdong,+China/@23.1224199,113.6160999,15z/data=!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x34031522e8b27633:0x6716cf37341af491!2sZengcheng,+Guangzhou,+Guangdong,+China!3b1!8m2!3d23.261141!4d113.810859!3m4!1s0x340308e0be48ae81:0xe45901d677a152e7!8m2!3d23.1193642!4d113.6206055?hl=en

The village [ 龍江阬 ] may not appear maps because it has become part of a larger village cluster that takes its name from the largest village in the cluster.

Since I am not Chinese literate, one of the Chinese literate members of this Forum can offer additional help by trying to check a recent gazetteer for the XinTong Township to try and find the name for the larger village that includes your ancestral village [ 龍江阬 ].

Henry

[mltang]

Dear Henry,


I am so thankful for your quick response in trying to help me out.  Like you, I am also not Chinese literate enough to write as I was educated in English but can  converse in my dialect Cantonese as well as Hakka and Mandarin. I can also read writings in traditional Chinese.  Not knowing hanyu pinyin, the names I wrote may not be 100% correct, depending on goggle translate.

There were a few lines in the address; from my vague memory 龍江阬 was somewhere in it towards the end; don't think it is the village name, maybe area.  Father's village was famous for the 增城掛綠.  Hope forumers residing in 增城 can help me locate the cantonese 鄧 village and do a check on the 祖先紀錄 (chuk pol) kept in the relevant 祠堂.  My father and his 2 cousins (鄧满庭, 鄧文早 ) left when they were grown ups so their names should be there while only 鄧苏 was brought out to Hong Kong as a kid.

The much older daughters of 鄧文早 are quite sure that their father came from the town/village 新塘镇 or 新塘村.

Keeping fingers crossed that my quest would be answered soon.

Have a good day, Henry.


ML from Malaysia

[mltang]

This is information that I have regarding my father's connection in China -

Grandfather passed away long time ago when my father was still young in the village.

Grandmother passed away in the 1960s (cannot remember which year). We received news of her passing near to lunar chinese new year time.

Father's eldest sister 眉 married into the 鐘 family and had 2 sons - 鐘松溪 and 鐘松堅. They were little boys when my father left the village. They should be in their mid 80s now. 鐘松溪 married a few months earlier than my father who married late. So I think I am a little younger than the first born child of 鐘松溪.

Father's second sister 笑 married into the 霍 family. She had a daughter 霍美平 (蘋). I guess she should be in her 70s now.

Father's last sister 玩甜 married into the 劉 family. Her husband was 劉少文. She had a son 劉佩涼 and a daughter (name not given), both should also be in their 70s now.

Hope all these names would help in locating my father's village. Maybe my aunts married to other nearby villages but should not be too far away. My father fondly remembered climbing the fruit trees in the orchard of his sister 眉.

[helen]

The village is probably part of Xintang (New Pool) lots of lychees there.

[mltang]

Thank you Helen for giving me this clue. Any information directing me toward the right direction is valuable; will narrow down to Xintang. We have a very small/not active Zengcheng association here but I haven't joined in yet. A few members have been back to China. The chairman surname Tang has been back but then he is a Hakka so probably from another town/area. I am trying to contact him for further information.

It has been so long and late to do this but I really hope I can locate my father's birth place. My dream is to visit the 祠堂, sit by the pond for a while, bring back a small handful of soil to put on my father's grave. If I could find any surviving cousins or their offsprings who could direct me to my grandparents' graves, I would like to pay my respect to them. Through early year correspondence, my grandmother knew about me and my siblings.

Hope there are forumers from Xintang who could help me with the information that I reveal here.

A beautiful Sunday to you, Helen.

[helen]

Hi Mitang. I'm actually going to be in Xintang in early October. If you can PM me, I will send you my email address. I have had a lot of luck finding information - as my family are also from Zengcheng.
I will need to have Chinese names, and as much information as you have. I may have time to look for you. Do you have any photos of headstones?