Visiting my ancestral village
May 21, 2005 7:46:33 GMT -5
Post by Henry Tom on May 21, 2005 7:46:33 GMT -5
Visiting Cheer-ten-toon: my ancestral village
I always remember dad talking about the village life in China. As an American Born Chinese (ABC), it was all kind of distant to me. I was told that the village was located in Bak shui (white water) in Hoy-san (Taishan, China). After my father passed away, I learned the village name ? it was inscribed on the family gravestone.
Two weeks ago, I visited Cheer-ten-toon. In preparation and for months before, I tried researching my family genealogy and locating my ancestral village on a map. It turned out to be quite an exasperating, but, rewarding experience. In the process, I discovered two first cousins, which I finally met in the village. This research also helped to re-establish family ties between other Tom relatives. Fortunately for me, I also managed to make a new and valued friend, Kevin Lee ? web-master of Siyi Genealogy.
Trying to locate this village just by name and location was rather difficult because the village name had been changed from Cheer-ten-toon to Lung ?sen-toon. The area containing my ancestral village also had it?s name changed from Bak-shui to Hor-bak ? but, there was still an area, although diminished in size, named Bak-shui. My first cousin, who lives in Taishan city, clarified the discrepancies. The village is actually located just outside the city limits of Taishan.
Researching a Chinese family genealogy when you cannot read or write Chinese is not a trivial task. It requires lots of determination and dedication ? as well as the forbearance of many Chinese friends that are kind enough to translate and write the needed Chinese characters when necessary. Because my parents were first generation immigrants, I can speak Hoy-san wah. Finally, it was my first cousin from Taishan who provided me with the Tom family genealogy book that included the Tom family lineage down to my grandfather. My cousin also enumerated the lineage of my father?s family and I provided the lineage from my father. I believe I now have a fairly complete genealogy of my family and feel quite happy about having this. I will organize this information and make it available to the rest of my family.
I had organized a three-week tour of China for members of my family and some of their friends - 26 tour group members in total - visiting 16 cities in China. The last city to be visited in China was Taishan. My 84 year old mother, an older sister and a younger sister also went. Mom had left Taishan 65 years earlier to come to America as a picture bride to marry dad in 1940. When we arrived in Taishan, we met my two first cousins at the Taishan Garden Hotel for lunch and then went to the ancestral village. One first cousin came from Guangzhou (Canton) where he is retired.
As the bus coach approached the village, as you might imagine, there was a mounting sense of excitement. Then it appeared - it was a very typical looking village, rather rural and quite spartan. It looked like it has not changed very much in many years. There were about 7 or 8 houses clustered together with lots of smiling relatives eager to shake the hand of a ?Gim-sun-low (man from the gold mountain - America).
I entered the house where my father was born - one hundred years earlier. There is still no running water and the toilet is somewhere outside. In the main room was an ancestral alter with the 100 plus pound roast pig and assorted food I had ordered. I paid my respects by bowing with the incense and burning of paper money. The attached house is the one that was built with the money my father had sent back and was later given to his brother. I believe a second cousin now lives in this house.
We took photos of the families and then proceeded to the family cemetery where I paid my respects to my grandfather. This was a rather simple place on a hillside with a general Tom family gravestone. We lit the incense bowed and burned the paper money etc. Then we all ate some of the roast pork and other foods. Afterwards, we handed out the traditional red envelopes to the relatives. We also gave out lapel pins that had the Chinese character for ?Tom? that I had made up for this event.
Because it is a two-hour drive from Taishan to Guangzhou and we needed to catch our train to Hong Kong ? we had to leave right after the cemetery visit. Although the visit to the ancestral village was brief, it was a visit that I also did for my father. He had always wanted to return for a visit, but, never did. There is a genuine sense of awe about how humble our origins really are and a feeling of final contentment from this visit to the ancestral village. I intend to return with my son and my brother in the future.
Henry Tom May 21, 2005
I always remember dad talking about the village life in China. As an American Born Chinese (ABC), it was all kind of distant to me. I was told that the village was located in Bak shui (white water) in Hoy-san (Taishan, China). After my father passed away, I learned the village name ? it was inscribed on the family gravestone.
Two weeks ago, I visited Cheer-ten-toon. In preparation and for months before, I tried researching my family genealogy and locating my ancestral village on a map. It turned out to be quite an exasperating, but, rewarding experience. In the process, I discovered two first cousins, which I finally met in the village. This research also helped to re-establish family ties between other Tom relatives. Fortunately for me, I also managed to make a new and valued friend, Kevin Lee ? web-master of Siyi Genealogy.
Trying to locate this village just by name and location was rather difficult because the village name had been changed from Cheer-ten-toon to Lung ?sen-toon. The area containing my ancestral village also had it?s name changed from Bak-shui to Hor-bak ? but, there was still an area, although diminished in size, named Bak-shui. My first cousin, who lives in Taishan city, clarified the discrepancies. The village is actually located just outside the city limits of Taishan.
Researching a Chinese family genealogy when you cannot read or write Chinese is not a trivial task. It requires lots of determination and dedication ? as well as the forbearance of many Chinese friends that are kind enough to translate and write the needed Chinese characters when necessary. Because my parents were first generation immigrants, I can speak Hoy-san wah. Finally, it was my first cousin from Taishan who provided me with the Tom family genealogy book that included the Tom family lineage down to my grandfather. My cousin also enumerated the lineage of my father?s family and I provided the lineage from my father. I believe I now have a fairly complete genealogy of my family and feel quite happy about having this. I will organize this information and make it available to the rest of my family.
I had organized a three-week tour of China for members of my family and some of their friends - 26 tour group members in total - visiting 16 cities in China. The last city to be visited in China was Taishan. My 84 year old mother, an older sister and a younger sister also went. Mom had left Taishan 65 years earlier to come to America as a picture bride to marry dad in 1940. When we arrived in Taishan, we met my two first cousins at the Taishan Garden Hotel for lunch and then went to the ancestral village. One first cousin came from Guangzhou (Canton) where he is retired.
As the bus coach approached the village, as you might imagine, there was a mounting sense of excitement. Then it appeared - it was a very typical looking village, rather rural and quite spartan. It looked like it has not changed very much in many years. There were about 7 or 8 houses clustered together with lots of smiling relatives eager to shake the hand of a ?Gim-sun-low (man from the gold mountain - America).
I entered the house where my father was born - one hundred years earlier. There is still no running water and the toilet is somewhere outside. In the main room was an ancestral alter with the 100 plus pound roast pig and assorted food I had ordered. I paid my respects by bowing with the incense and burning of paper money. The attached house is the one that was built with the money my father had sent back and was later given to his brother. I believe a second cousin now lives in this house.
We took photos of the families and then proceeded to the family cemetery where I paid my respects to my grandfather. This was a rather simple place on a hillside with a general Tom family gravestone. We lit the incense bowed and burned the paper money etc. Then we all ate some of the roast pork and other foods. Afterwards, we handed out the traditional red envelopes to the relatives. We also gave out lapel pins that had the Chinese character for ?Tom? that I had made up for this event.
Because it is a two-hour drive from Taishan to Guangzhou and we needed to catch our train to Hong Kong ? we had to leave right after the cemetery visit. Although the visit to the ancestral village was brief, it was a visit that I also did for my father. He had always wanted to return for a visit, but, never did. There is a genuine sense of awe about how humble our origins really are and a feeling of final contentment from this visit to the ancestral village. I intend to return with my son and my brother in the future.
Henry Tom May 21, 2005
