Clues for identifying ancestors who are adopted
Aug 18, 2023 12:40:49 GMT -5
Post by gckimm on Aug 18, 2023 12:40:49 GMT -5
Hi:
In Chinese genealogies, especially those from the Siyi (Sze Yup) region of Guangdong Province, it is very common to find male ancestors with adopted sons. Because of the cultural importance of having descendants not only to carry on your family line but also to care for you ritually after death, men with no sons would adopt the son of a close relative, such as a nephew or the son of a first cousin. After such a decision was made, notations would then be made in the genealogy, indicating both that person A is the adoptive father of person B and that person B is the adopted son of person A. For researchers, these notations can be confusing, as B will also be listed both as the biological son of person C as well as the adopted son of A and will show up twice in family tree charts.
For those who are looking at a genealogy but are unable to read Chinese, there are two characters that may help you to identify ancestors who have been adopted:
The first character is chut (Mandarin chu) and the second is yup (Mandarin ru). Chut means to go out and yup means to enter. If you see chut in reference to someone’s name, that probably means that he is a biological son who has “gone out” of the family to be adopted by someone. If you see yup, that is probably a reference to an adopted son who has “entered” the family. Note that these two characters are normally used in combination with other characters that mean “inherit 嗣” or “continue (the line) 繼.”
Greg
In Chinese genealogies, especially those from the Siyi (Sze Yup) region of Guangdong Province, it is very common to find male ancestors with adopted sons. Because of the cultural importance of having descendants not only to carry on your family line but also to care for you ritually after death, men with no sons would adopt the son of a close relative, such as a nephew or the son of a first cousin. After such a decision was made, notations would then be made in the genealogy, indicating both that person A is the adoptive father of person B and that person B is the adopted son of person A. For researchers, these notations can be confusing, as B will also be listed both as the biological son of person C as well as the adopted son of A and will show up twice in family tree charts.
For those who are looking at a genealogy but are unable to read Chinese, there are two characters that may help you to identify ancestors who have been adopted:
The first character is chut (Mandarin chu) and the second is yup (Mandarin ru). Chut means to go out and yup means to enter. If you see chut in reference to someone’s name, that probably means that he is a biological son who has “gone out” of the family to be adopted by someone. If you see yup, that is probably a reference to an adopted son who has “entered” the family. Note that these two characters are normally used in combination with other characters that mean “inherit 嗣” or “continue (the line) 繼.”
Greg
