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Post by kerry on Jan 3, 2008 17:57:05 GMT -5
Some of the stuff I've seen on the web suggests that Jia Pu are traditionally held very closely to family and not shared with outsiders. Anyone here have an opinion on how this translates to the Internet? As you may have seen, details which are essentially drawn from two jia pu are on my website and visible publicly. I haven't found anyone in my immediate family who has expressed any concern about this but if anyone's had a different experience, I'd like to hear about it.
Going a step further from content, what about digitizing the actual document and putting that on the web. Goodness or badness?
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Post by Henry on Jan 4, 2008 11:28:11 GMT -5
Growing up in New York City, I always noticed a strong desire to keep family/clan genealogy documents and books confidential among many Chinese. Unfortunately, some people were deported because their real surnames were exposed to the authorities. Even when the US immigration had a confession program for "paper sons & daughters" in the 1960s - many did not participate and still keep this information private. I spoke to a person 2 days ago and he still keeps his real surname secret. This may also be because of the heightened and strong feelings regarding illegal immigrant issues in the US.
Authorities can use a genealogical lineage chart as a fairly complete document to identify all male members of the family as direct or collateral information for official actions. If you are doing just a "pedigree" chart this would be okay because it only concerns you - but, may be not all members of a person's family tree would agree to making this lineage tree - public.
As a first generation American Born Chinese (ABC) of immigrant parents - I feel comfortable as an American, however, I am also aware that ethnic minorities, even in the US, can still be the victims of prejudice and discrimination. There are many overseas Chinese living in many countries that suffer from being an ethnic minority.
I admire your willingness to share, but, I suggest you do this on a personal one to one basis - I do it this way.
Henry
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Post by Ah Gin on Jan 5, 2008 0:56:36 GMT -5
Kerry, I agree with Henry's wise advice. There are indeed still quite a few paper folks who understandably are still reluctant to revel their true surname, except to close family members and in death. Our Jia Pu is readily available to clan members, but I am not sure if it is as accessible to non clan members either -- again for understandable reasons. Perhaps one fine day in the future, the world will be in a better position for all to share such information openly.
Regards, Ah Gin
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Post by kerry on May 29, 2008 6:34:26 GMT -5
I've taken on board the comments made by Henry and Ah Gin and will not be recirculating directly without more consultation. More recent news on this subject from Ancestry.com myfamily.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=121 - different context since the material is already "public" - just inaccessible to many of us... |
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Post by Henry on May 29, 2008 11:48:19 GMT -5
Kerry,
This is great news ! The Shanghai Library was supposed have done this by the end of 2007 and it was never done. So, it looks like they have decided to make some money by allowing access to their holdings.
I am sure there will be some cost associated with accessing this information via Ancestry.com, but, it will be done professionally. It will sure be cheaper and informative than having to journey to the Shanghai Library - just to find out that they do not have what you are looking for.
Ciao,
Henry
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