Trace Levantine/West Asian ancestry in ethnic Chinese people
Sept 4, 2022 11:39:18 GMT -5
Post by gckimm on Sept 4, 2022 11:39:18 GMT -5
Hi Sylvan:
That is very interesting!
The simplest explanation is that this report is in error. A few years ago, when I first had my DNA tested by Ancestry.com, my report said that I had something like 11% Polynesian, which I thought impossible based on what I knew about my lineage. The DNA results have since been updated a number of times and my report no longer mentions any Polynesian ancestry. I think some other people of Chinese descent reported similar Polynesian surprises in their DNA results. It all has to do with these companies' sample populations.
Regarding the Sogdians and other peoples from Central Asia, while it is true that there was formerly a lot of intermarriage between Han Chinese and other ethnic groups, this was typically not true of Cantonese people from small rural villages in the 18th-19th centuries. They simply did not have the means or the opportunity to meet many people from far away. Most people would have to go back many generations (and centuries) in their family trees to find someone--probably someone with an official post--who might have intermarried with someone from this area. For example, I have an ancestor who lived in the 1300s whose third wife was a woman of Turkic origin. But this was about 300 years before my family even moved to our ancestral village in Toishan.
However, your family tree may be different. If you have ancestors from Hong Kong or Macau or some other "crossroad of the world," you might have a more recent ancestor of unusual ethnicity. Or this may also be possible if you have some ancestor who moved from some other part of China--I'm guessing this would have to be somebody of some prominence and/or wealth. It would be important to obtain genealogies that might give you the information you seek.
Good luck!
Greg
That is very interesting!
The simplest explanation is that this report is in error. A few years ago, when I first had my DNA tested by Ancestry.com, my report said that I had something like 11% Polynesian, which I thought impossible based on what I knew about my lineage. The DNA results have since been updated a number of times and my report no longer mentions any Polynesian ancestry. I think some other people of Chinese descent reported similar Polynesian surprises in their DNA results. It all has to do with these companies' sample populations.
Regarding the Sogdians and other peoples from Central Asia, while it is true that there was formerly a lot of intermarriage between Han Chinese and other ethnic groups, this was typically not true of Cantonese people from small rural villages in the 18th-19th centuries. They simply did not have the means or the opportunity to meet many people from far away. Most people would have to go back many generations (and centuries) in their family trees to find someone--probably someone with an official post--who might have intermarried with someone from this area. For example, I have an ancestor who lived in the 1300s whose third wife was a woman of Turkic origin. But this was about 300 years before my family even moved to our ancestral village in Toishan.
However, your family tree may be different. If you have ancestors from Hong Kong or Macau or some other "crossroad of the world," you might have a more recent ancestor of unusual ethnicity. Or this may also be possible if you have some ancestor who moved from some other part of China--I'm guessing this would have to be somebody of some prominence and/or wealth. It would be important to obtain genealogies that might give you the information you seek.
Good luck!
Greg
