location in Sun Wui

[Ah Gin]

billisew: from photo, chracters look as follows. translated accoring to lachinatown. Hope this helps.

江门市蓬江区
棠下天河朝阳里
負責人:蕭迪坤
电話 07503580783
手机 [phone]
太公:蕭和吉十八世
爷:蕭汝恳十九世
爸:蕭国荣

[Ah Gin]

great grandfather: 18th generation wrt progenitor I presume
father: 19th generation, ditto

[lachinatown]

Yes, makes sense

[philiptancl]

Ah Gin,

I though it should read (in Pinyin) (view in Unicode UTF-8) as follow :

Great grandfather (太公): Xiāo Hé Jí (蕭和吉) 18 Generation (十八世)
Grandfather(爷): Xiāo Rǔ Kěn (蕭汝恳) 19 Generation (十九世)
Father (爸): Xiāo Guó Róng (蕭国荣)

[Ah Gin]

Philip,

You are absolutely correct. My apologies for misleading the Forum. Many thanks for pointing that out.

Regards, Ah Gin

[billiesiew]

Thanks to everyone for helping with the translation. And I also appreciate Ah Gin's version in printed Chinese. Hopefully I can call the person in charge and he can give directions on how to get to the village.

[billiesiew]

Ah Gin, I am also living in Melbourne. I migrated from Kuala Lumpur in 2002. I found out that many of the earlier Chinese migrants in Melbourne are from Xinhui. In fact 2 of my colleagues are from Xinhui, surname is Loke from a place called "Nga Sai" or "Yaxi". I was so surprised when I went to some of the Chinese takeaway shops and they started speaking in Xinhui dialect, sound so much like what my grandma used to speak. I also found out there's a Siyi society here, with a Siyi temple too, but haven't been able to make a trip there. Hopefully soon!

[Ah Gin]

billiesiew,

Yes, the Chinese heritage locations in Melbourne and around Victoria are worth visiting, when you have the time. As you probably know, the Siyi Society is located in Little Bourke Street, and the temple located in South Melbourne.

I am uncertain about the current (2011) composition of the Chinese represented by the original "Yi" (ie County), but in the gold rush days back in the 1850s to Federation, a great proportion of the pioneers came from the Toishan County. In fact, the recent Chinese migrants from China seem to come from provinces other than Guangdong. Increasingly, in Chinese grocery shops, we seem to communicate using PTH, rather than Cantonese or even Hoisanwa. But that's another story.

Regards, Ah Gin

[billiesiew]

Ah Gin, I'm very excited, my fren is going to bring me to the Sei Yap Temple this weekend.. apparently there is a festival for the deity, Guang Goong, on Sunday. I rmbr having this particular deity in my father's house when I was young.

[Ah Gin]

billisiew,

Enjoy your visit. Given the festivities there at the temple, I suggest you take a tram to South Melbourne, rather than to drive there and hunt for parking. I expect the place will be full of smoke, noise, life. Take time to enjoy each corner of the temple, as it is full of history.

Regards, Ah Gin

[billiesiew]

Hi everyone,

Long time no hear from me.

I finally went to Guangzhou in November and found my dad's village, Tianhe. It is the one that's near Chaxi. It is about 10 to 15 min drive from Jiangmen up the Binjiang Highway. I also found that Cha-Tham is a Tham village next to Tianhe, where my mom came from. We managed to contact the person mentioned on the slip of paper, he's already 81 yrs old, and he is not the ancestral temple person, but is an elder in the village who knows quite a lot about its history. The ancestral temples are all locked and deserted these days. But he brought me up the hills to the graves of the original 4 Siew brothers from whom we're descended. And he also brought me to my grandpa's house which is now abandoned and overgrown with grass. (My cousins verified that it was the correct one bec the photos inside matched those that were in our grandma's house in Kuala Lumpur). It was a very beautiful moment for me, one that I will remember for the rest of my life. Unfortunately both my parents passed on before they could make this trip to China. I was told that both villages have been combined and given a name - Heshan (not Hock San, but Ho-san). So if we use the old name Tianhe, we won't be able to find this place. I am determined to get more info if I can, and return there again for a longer period in future so I can explore more. I somehow felt very at home there. The villages still have some very old houses in spite of the increasing modernization. The people there farm freshwater fish and tiger prawns. That explains why my dad used to like eating freshwater fish and would know how to cook it without that muddy smell. I did not attempt to find Sek Tong, my grandma's village.

Thanks so much to all of you for all your pointers during the course of my journey to look for my roots. My heart goes out to all those overseas Chinese who do not have their surnames as the Westerners used our first names as surnames, maybe for them, it will be impossible to find their roots. But as the elder said, as long as you have the intention in your heart, that's good enough.

[Henry]

Hi billiesiew,

Yes, "Tham" is the Malaysian romanization for my my family name "Tan" 譚.

I took a quick look, but, did not see a "Sek Dong" village. If you hire my nephew as your guide - he could probably find this village for you when he takes you to visit your ancestral village.

Henry

[Doug 周]

....But as the elder said, as long as you have the intention in your heart, that's good enough.

Nice quote. Thanks for the feedback billiesiew. Many times forum members give their all to the questions asked, never to hear from them again. Your reporting helps give the regulars a sense of closure, and encouragement to the lurkers and newbies.
Doug