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Post by philiptancl on Apr 8, 2009 21:37:59 GMT -5
Hi Looi,
I notice that you are a fellow Malaysian Chinese, not knowing how to type Chinese (and I presumed you are, like me, not able to read Chinese) and seeking help in an English forum hosted in US. I noticed that you are very much in a hurry and that could in itself be the reason behind something glaring, which I noticed, you had inadvertently missed out. You seem to thank everybody that was helping you except Henry. From what I can, Henry’s help in locating your ancestral village is of no small measure.
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Post by Henry on Apr 10, 2009 7:32:47 GMT -5
Hi Philip,
Thank you for your kind comments.
Unfortunately, this individual Franky Looi engaged my Taishan nephew for his services to research his ancestral villages. After a full day of some very difficult research and a costly long distance telephone bill:
Franky Looi is not interested in replying or paying my nephew for his services.
Henry
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Post by helen on Apr 11, 2009 3:39:36 GMT -5
I'm not sure about my fellow researchers - but for me - my journey has been about 5 years. I know that that's a long time, but the hunt, and the pieces of jigsaw puzzle falling into place, makes the searching all the better. It helps you to understand what happened and helps you appreciate what ever has happen to ancestors on the past, reflects on who you are today. Instant success is never possible. I will only help those who have started their journey. I won't hand over my research matter to anyone who doesn't have the heart to travel the long road.
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Post by Ah Gin on Apr 11, 2009 9:40:55 GMT -5
Helen et al,
I see some passionate and wise counsel expressed on this and related subject. And I learn from you all.
There is no question that there is a great deal of goodwill on this Forum. When someone called for help the quality of the advice from each and every serious researchers is undoubtedly highly professional and mostly patient advice. Most are based on personal experience or personal connections. There is humour (humor as our American cousins would spell -- not that my spelling is any good). I think for this reason this Forum attracts and retains some old hands (old to mean Honorable and well respected, not necessarily in age, as some people are still sensitive about their age, although the Chinese considers age = wisdom).
Many years ago as a poor student in a country where they used to send their best prisoners overseas (to the Americas and then to Tasmania and mainland Ooostralia) me & my wife had the good fortune of receiving kindness from a great family. To this day, we are still trying to repay their kindness by passing on their goodwill to others. Goodwill is a funny thing.
OK, this old man gets off his wooden horse and gets back to drinking Oooolong, Iron Goddess, or whatever tea brewing. (But we should not Chinese brew tea, should we? Maybe we should start a new conversation on making a good cup of Chinese tea. Now that will be an interesting subject.)
Regards, Ah Gin
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Post by philiptancl on Apr 11, 2009 18:29:28 GMT -5
I would refer to Henry’s posting: Unfortunately, this individual Franky Looi engaged my Taishan nephew for his services to research his ancestral villages. After a full day of some very difficult research and a costly long distance telephone bill: Franky Looi is not interested in replying or paying my nephew for his services.Henry It is with much embarrassment to me reading the posting where Henry referred to Franky Looi not living up to his part of the bargain for services render to him by Henry’s nephew; I am embarrassed because Looi is a fellow Malaysian Chinese. Henry’s posting actually followed my comment on April 8 2009 where I had pointed out Looi’s lack of courtesy with respect to Henry assistance rendered to him. I have the deepest admiration for Henry for being so magnanimous; promising to continue his traditional help and welcome to participants and readers to this Forum notably to those new to the Forum. His willingness to help especially, with his knowledge of geography and maps, has proved so invaluable to many trying to locate their ancestral villages. Though I knew the location of my ancestral village, visited it for the first time and obtained a set of my Clan zupu about a year before I knew of the existence of this Forum, I am nevertheless very thankful for the welcome and friendship accorded to me by Henry through this Forum. Whatever knowledge of Chinese genealogy I now have is mainly attributable to him. I hope the action of this someone from my country will neither dissuade Henry from helping others from Malaysia seeking assistance nor diminish his friendship with me. I would like to take this opportunity to add my say on comments expressed elsewhere regarding the monetary expectation when we, as Chinese from overseas, visit our ancestral villages. Though this has not been the experience that my wife and I had when we visited our respective ancestral villages in 2007, I would nevertheless like to put forth a point for the readers reflection. What would the mainland Chinese think of us overseas Chinese over the action of Franky Looi?
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Post by Henry on Apr 11, 2009 20:06:07 GMT -5
My dear friend Philip,
Thank you for your generous and very kind comments - they are most appreciated!
No, I would never allow this kind of a disappointment to deter me from helping people in the Forum. I truly enjoy Chinese genealogy research and always learning something in the process of helping others.
But, I have come to realize that I have been very fortunate to meet so many very wonderful people through this Forum that share the same interests and passions for Chinese genealogy. It has been indeed my great fortunate to meet many wonderful Malaysian Chinese over the years, but, I believe I have met more than my match in Philip Tan - a really kind and generous person who is willing to share all - with friends and even strangers. He maintains the highest standards in how people need to conduct themselves in life and with people. I hope I am always able to follow his excellent example.
Thank you Philip !
I posted this response in the other thread, however, I am so surprised and rather shocked by the actions of Franky Looi. I actually feel sorry for him as a person - I just cannot understand why somebody would sacrifice his honor and his name for money - and not very much at that.
I believe that my nephew will probably only remember that this person, a Malaysian Chinese, an overseas Chinese, would cheat him - this is money that would have been used to put food on the table. " Breaking his rice bowl" is not something a person in China will forget.
Best regards,
Henry
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Post by chansomvia on Apr 14, 2009 21:00:50 GMT -5
Dear Henry,
FRANKY LOOI MALAYSIAN
This tremendously helpful forum has found many a needle in a haystack, nothing is more gratifying than finding one's roots in China with so little to go on. Some roots would have been impossible to find without the encouragement of sincere people like you and the others on this forum - too many to mention - most of those searching give up when they are told to employ the services of commercial firms.
It is extremely sad to see that "FRANKY LOOI" has taken advantage of the goodwill of people on this forum:
" Franky Looi engaged my Taishan nephew for his services to research his ancestral villages. After a full day of some very difficult research and a costly long distance telephone bill:
Franky Looi is not interested in replying or paying my nephew for his services."
I take this terrible event as a triple whammy, firstly, as Philip says how can such a person from Malaysia bring so much shame internationally to the Malaysians by not paying for a days work done on his behalf, I hope that this is only a lapse in “Franky Looi” memory and he will settle this small debt.
Secondly, I have met Tan Shi Cheng personally and there could not have been a more humble and helpful person, when we met we did not have a pre-arranged meeting or entered into any prior formal contract for any service. I rang him up from my mobile phone when I was in the bus midway to Taishan and said that it would be nice to meet him to get acquainted as I heard of him from his uncle Henry. He responded immediately by saying he would come to meet me at the busy and chaotic bus station. I told him that this was just a courtesy call and not a business call because I did not want to interrupt him from what he was doing. He responded by saying that he would meet me in half an hour as: ANY FRIEND OF HIS UNCLE HENRY WAS HIS FRIEND!
Upon meeting me at the bus station and seeing the difficulty I had with haggling with the taxi drivers he immediately took over the negotiations in Toisanwaah and saved me a substantial sum. He noted that I had only the address of the village and although the taxi driver could eventually find the place by asking around Tan was uneasy and said he would accompany me. I said he had done enough but he was afraid I would get lost – so off we went. Fortunately he accompanied me as things got nasty, the taxi driver demanded more money as we were at the outskirts of the city. Tan Shi Cheng got into an argument and demanded he stop and we would take another taxi. This was at the outskirt where few taxis ran – no newbie would ever dare do that – we negotiated for 50 RMB more and the taxi driver became docile knowing that Tan was a local and would take another taxi.
On the way back from the village I dropped him off at his shop which he had closed when he came to meet me, I found that his wife was working elsewhere and his daughter was busy studying for her University entrance. This is a hardworking honest working couple out to educate their only child, how sad to see they are the subject of a cheating case. This was the third whammy, to see that the little extra the family is trying to earn for the betterment of their child is lost.
This is an appalling incident and hope that there is closure in this case. Do as Malaysian do – settle all debts by New Year Eve – to enter the New Year in a clear and clean state. An old adage, never lend money to friends as this is the best way to lose the friends. The moral may be to supply upon payment.
Joe
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Post by xinhui09 on Apr 23, 2009 3:34:43 GMT -5
I am from Malaysia and am trying to locate my villiage in Xinhui. The villiage is situated in nutsou (hanyu pinyin) and is called Zhong Xin Li. In Cantonese it is pronounce as "Zhong Sum Lei". I intend to visit my ancestral villige in the near future. It will be great if I get to know or see some photos of this village.
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Post by xinhui09 on Apr 23, 2009 3:36:48 GMT -5
Sorry, it should be nutsou and not nutsou (typo mistake). Or in Cantonese...Sek Tou
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Post by xinhui09 on Apr 23, 2009 3:39:56 GMT -5
Oh dear, something is wrong in the posting. I've type S h i t o u but it came out as n u t s o u.
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Post by Henry on Apr 23, 2009 6:19:55 GMT -5
Xinhui09, Welcome ! This particular server has a profanity filter and converts what it thinks is profanity to "nuts". Xinhui/Sunwui is now part of Jiangmen and "Shek Tau" (Cantonese) is located approximately 6 miles ( 10 km ) north of Jiangmen City center. The following is a map of Shek Tau and towards the top of this map of Jiangmen and I have identified the location of the village and included the traditional / simplified Chinese characters. According to the Village Database: www.c-c-c.org/villagedb/about.htmlShek Tau village is located in the Kwoon Lan heung ( 觀瀾鄉 ), heung is a rural district and has a several surname clans living in Shek Tau village: Chan, Cheung, Wong, Lo, Tam, Chung Henry
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Post by xinhui09 on Apr 27, 2009 0:32:23 GMT -5
Dear Henry, Thank you so much for your quick reply to my quiries. The map is very helpful especially to the location of Shek Tau. Now But I understand that my Village (Chung Sum Lay) is located within the San Wui county but in the Village Database it is shown to be within the Hoiping county. Mmmmmmm...I had better check this out again with my elders again. Thanks again
KK Chan
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Post by tyuti1668 on Apr 27, 2009 1:17:35 GMT -5
There's plenty 中心里 in "新会" Rssults from China post db supports IE only (just select "广东" 省 "江门" 市) & input "中心里" .
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Post by Henry on Apr 27, 2009 8:11:23 GMT -5
KK Chan, If your ancestral village "Chung Sum Lay" is in the "San Wui"= "Sunwui" (Cantonese)/"Xinhui"(Pinyin), then it cannot be located in "Hoiping"(Cantonese)/"Kaiping"(Pinyin). Also, the Village DB indicates that " 中心里 " is a Chow clan village, not a Chen/Chan village, assuming that Chan is your surname. As "tyuti1168" indicates " There's plenty 中心里 in "新会". "Sunwui" (Cantonese)/"Xinhui"="新会", I believe you need to check with your elders to confirm: 1 "中心里" are the Chinese characters for the name of your ancestral village 2 ask what is the name of the largest market town near 中心里 and please provide the Chinese characters You can post the Chinese characters by typing in directly or post a scan or photo of the Chinese characters by posting it as an image: siyigenealogy.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=comment&action=display&thread=421The same Chinese village name can be the name for several villages within a county and across several counties. What distinguishes the villages are the surname clan for the village and also its location near a large market town that is rather prominent. Sometimes, even with this information the villages and/or hamlets are so small, they do not appear on maps or have been incorporated into a larger village cluster which appears on the map - but in reality, the village and/or hamlet remains a separate village/hamlet within or near this larger village cluster. By the name of your ancestral village, the "lay" part refers to a hamlet, which is a very small village. Assuming that these ancestral villages, "Shek Tau" & "Chung Sum Lay" are for your grandparents - then, they should be within walking distance of each other. I went back and check and updated the original map I posted for you and added in the location of "Chung Sum Lay" - which is very close ( about 3 km/1.8 miles NW of "Shek Tau" village. Please take a look. In the old days, people tended to choose spouses from nearby villages. Henry
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Post by honchmatt on Apr 27, 2009 9:19:24 GMT -5
Dear All,
I have been researching for over a month now before I stumble upon this website, if I had known about this site earlier, I would have save myself a lot of pain.
I am pretty amaze by the generosity of the people on this forum in sharing opinion, advise, guidance and information.
Just like so many others on this forum, I finally will be embarking on our journey to our ancestor village. Bring my 83 year old dad back to visit his grandfather's home. A place we heard about from young but never knew where and how it looks like. We were told my great grandfather build a large house there and my dad being the oldest in his generation still have the house and land title deeds with him.
Cutting a long story short, I would really appreciate it if some one can help me to locatecan Guongzhou, Hoy Ping, Changsha, Zhu Lu chiun (sounds more like "g look chiun" in Cantonese). I can find Hoy Ping (Kaiping) but have no idea where Zhu Lu chiun is.
I tried looking up the village db but I am not able to find Zhu Lu chiun.
Thank you all.
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