Searching for my true surname

[bchee]

Hello, hoping to get some help in finding my great-grandfather's real surname and village? From what I know (based on English records), he was born in Guangzhou, Shunde, Guangdong, China in the year 1873. By 1901 he was living in Liverpool, England, as an assistant interpreter and ship steward. I know this because that's when his son (my grand dad) was born. He married one year later, in 1902, and died in Liverpool in 1938. I know where he lived in Liverpool, what he did, when he was baptized...and how many other children he had. His recorded name was Dang Chee -- which can't be his actual name -- and there is no record of when he actually left and where he lived. Would appreciate any help or advice.  Unfortunately, i have no images of him or of his headstone. 

[gckimm]

Hi bchee:

Without the Chinese character, it is impossible to verify with 100% accuracy, but based on the recorded name of Dang Chee, I would guess that the surname is 鄧. This family name is basically pronounced "dung" (rhymes with "rung"--sorry for any other meaning) in both Cantonese and Mandarin. In the modern pinyin romanization, the family name is spelled Deng and one of the most famous persons with this surname is Deng Xiaoping, former leader of China. Cantonese speakers might use the spellings Tang, Dung, and yes, Dang. According to a Chinese internet post I saw, it is one of the top 24 surnames in Shunde (Cantonese Shuntak), which was formerly a county 順德縣 and is now a district of the city of Foshan 佛山市順德區. This post says that there are between 10-50 thousand persons in Shunde with this surname.

Shunde is close to Guangzhou, the capital city of Guangdong Province, but, as I said, Shunde is actually in a different city. Sometimes Chinese immigrants would list a more well-known neighboring place when giving information for documents. But the name of a county like Shunde would not appear anywhere if it were not actually relevant.

Unfortunately, even if your real surname is Dang and your family came from Shunde, your village remains a mystery until you are able to uncover more information.

Good luck with your research!

Greg

[bchee]

Thank you! This is very helpful to my search; it helps put more pieces together, gather more information and get a step closer to understanding my heritage. Thanks!