Village name

[ian]

ni hao to all, I'm from the Fiji islands and am searching for the name of my father's village in the area of Taishan, Guandong province. My father's name is Ng See Min and I'm aware that my family surname 'Ng' is also written as 'Wu'. From my various enquiries over the years the only information that I've been given is that the village is located in an area called 'Lou Gang, Tai He Li', which is supposed to be located within the area of Taishan; although I'm not too sure as to the accuracy of this info. I don't have a lot of information about when my father left China to come to the Fiji Islands but, I believe he arrived in the 1950s and passed away in 1970. Unfortunately, I am not in contact with relatives who all reside overseas and my mum is local. But, I am planning to make a trip to China most likely later this year to see the village if I'm able to get some reliable info.

[helen]

Hi Ian, Is there any Chinese characters on his headstone? Did he have any other Chinese friends that you can ask? Maybe he belonged to some associations - Does the goverment have any archive records for him? There were many Chinese in Fiji in the 50s and 60s - many moved the Canada in the 50s due to racial tensions there.

[ian]

Hi Helen, firstly thank you very much for responding. I do have a photograph of my father’s headstone, which is written in Chinese characters. Question: How do I post it? I don’t know much about my father’s background as I was just a toddler when he died. To make things worse I grew up only knowing my polynesian family (mother’s polynesian) and without much contact with my Chinese relatives who all migrated overseas after my father’s passing, and contact has been difficult. I do recall having heard info a long while ago that my father did have an association with a group called ‘Kwong Tiy’. I’m aware that this was a kind of business association (could possibly have been clan as well) but, it is now defunct and most if not all involved have moved overseas. As you suggested, I will endeavour to check Government archival records but, am not too confident that this will yield results. It has only been in the last few years after visiting China a few times that I’ve felt a yearning to know more about my father’s background and family. Thanks again.

[harc3]

posting photos is explained here
how to post image

basically upload image to photosite (photobucket.com for one) and then copy and paste the image code

[Henry]

Hi Ian,

Welcome to the Forum.

Here are the directions for posting an image on the Forum:

siyigenealogy.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=comment&action=display&thread=421

If this is too much of a hassle, just email the image to me [ [e-mail] ] directly and I will post it for you.


Henry

[Woodson]

Hi Ian,

I think Lou Gong in Chinese is 樓崗 which is in Kaiping (開平). The Village Database site under the surname Ng (吳) shows a Tai Uk Lay (Li) 大屋里. The village you are looking for may be within the vicinity? Henry can you shed some light on this?


2869-1511-6763

Lou Gang, Tai He Li',

[twoupman]

In Cantonese there are two surnames for Ng which have roughly the same pronunciation, one is for 伍 (this means “5”) and the other is 吴. You have not specified which one is yours.

It appears you have then used Hanyu Pinyin in Lou Gang and Tai He Li, which translates to 楼岗 and 太和里. These can also be written as Luogangxu 楼岗墟 or Luogangxiang 楼岗鄉 and Taihecun 太和村. This place however is not in Taishan County 台山市 but in Kaiping County 开平市.

This information can be found in the Village Database under surname 吴 at www.c-c-c.org/villagedb/search.cgi. Line 31 will show 楼岗鄉 the township and Line 68 shows 太和坊 where 坊 and 里 and 村 all mean a “village”. This place is located just west of Kaiping City 开平市.

Perhaps you should check your photo to verify it is in Kaiping 开平市 and not Taishan 台山市 now that the characters are shown.

[Henry]

Hi Ian,

Woodson and twoupman have provided you with some valuable information and I believe they are correct - to be confirmed by the
Chinese characters from the digital photo of the gravestone. Meanwhile, I have posted a map of Kaiping also known in Cantonese
as Hoiping, a map of Tai he village, and also a bi-lingual map of southern Guangdong province - so, you can get your bearings
on places and their relationships.

Henry





mysite.verizon.net/vzepzaui/Tai He.jpg[/img]


mysite.verizon.net/vzepzaui/Southern Guangdong 2003.jpg[/img]

[ian]

Wow! Thank you all for your help..much appreciated.

I've taken up Henry's easier offer and emailed him the photo of my father's gravestone for uploading..thank you.

Twoupman: the character shown by Woodson representing my family name 'Ng' is the correct one and I believe is also written as 'Wu'..please correct me if i'm wrong. Thanks for the link. You probably are right about the village being in Kaiping and not Taishan.

I look foward to more info once Henry has uploaded the photo.

[Henry]

Hi Ian,

I gave you the wrong email address - the correct email address is: [ [e-mail] ] - sorry, I guess I had a "senior " moment - must be getting old.

If you'll re-send, I'll post your image as soon as I receive it.


Henry

[Henry]

Hi Ian,

Here is the image of your father's gravestone:




The Chinese characters on the gravestone confirm definitely that "Lougang" is the nearest market town and I do believe that twoupman was certainly correct that your ancestral village 's name is "Taihe" village.

I believe the Chinese literate Forum members will confirm this.

If you are interested in getting a copy of your family/clan genealogy book and knowing who your village relatives are. My Taishan nephew can be hired to visit your ancestral village, he can speak to the village chief and the village chief can identify your village relatives and they can try to find and make a copy of your family/clan genealogy book. This book will be useful inverifying the identity and relationships of your relatives and a record of your family lineage. Please email me if you would like to move forward on this research.

Henry

[ian]

Thank you again Henry, Twoupman and Woodson for your help and I've also looked up the database. Indeed I'm beginning to realise that my planned trip to my ancestral village will be deeply meaningful and Henry's suggestion of doing a bit more research for my family/clan genealogy would mean a lot me. Henry: I'll email as suggested. Thank you all.