An American pilgrimage to Xinhui

[slee808]

Hi,

I am an American woman with Chinese roots. My grandfather immigrated to New York from a village called Xiao Tang He (Siu Tong Ho in Cantonese I think) located in Xinhui.

I was given the opportunity to visit China and decided that now was the time to seek out his village. I am in Hong Kong right now, just days away from travelling to the area.

My plan is to go to base myself in Guangzhou and try to visit the village from there. I have no idea where it is located. I spoke to the staff at the place I will be staying at and was told that Xinhui is not a good place for visiting and that I should not go there. When pressed for details, I was told once again that it is not a nice place and one woman said something in regards to the people there and then stopped. I did not get into detail about why I needed to go there. I figured that I would worry about that once I got there. Yesterday, I met a British man travelling to Dong Guan for business. He said someone will meet him at the Lo Wu border and go with him since they told me the Pearl River Delta is dangerous due to migrant workers.

With each day that goes by, I am losing the courage to go to this place. I do not know of any relatives that live there now. I have no one meeting me there. I am travelling alone. I barely speak Mandarin, let alone Cantonese. I am scared.

Despite all of this, I have to press on. When I told my father that I was going to China, I saw an excitement in him that I have never seen. His surviving siblings have been reading my emails from China with anticipation and share my experiences with their friends and co-workers. I am helping my father and his siblings to re-discover their Chinese heritage, a part of them lost when their father died. I have everyone cheering me on and waiting for news, pictures and stories about Xiao Tang He. This is simply a mission that I have to see through.

If anyone out there has any words of encouragement, advice, warnings...anything, please share. I need it all.

Thanks!

[helen]

I would see if there is a guide that you could arrange in Hong Kong, to meet you in Dong Guan. My children went to Dong Guang last Christmas - although they had adults with them , it was safe for them to visit the village clusters that they belonged. I'm sure there will be some tourist places that could assist. Or locate a student wanting to learn English to take you in. Good luck and I hope you make great progress in meeting your families.

[Henry]

Dear slee808,

My recommendations are:

Contact Michael Hu, CCT in Xian, he has several agents in Guangzhou that can meet you when you arrive from Hong Kong and take you to Xinhui. Tell him you were referred by Henry Tom - Michael's coordinates are:

Hu Bin (Michael)
China Connection Tours
Manager
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Cell Phone: [phone]

In Guangzhou, there is a very experienced organization that assists overseas Chinese to locate their ancestral village - I suggest calling them to get them started in tracking down your ancestral village:

Guangdong Overseas Chinese Affairs

gocn.southcn.com/english/
Email: [e-mail]

8 Haishan Jie, Ersha Island
Guangzhou 510105
Tel: + 86-20-8735 3375
Fax: + 86-20-8735 2060

Most importantly, you need to get the name of your father/grandfather and ancestral village in Chinese characters. Call your father and ask him or one of the relatives in NYC to write the Chinese characters - scan and email or FAX this information to you. This is critical in locating your ancestral village. Is "Lee" your real Chinese surname or is it a "paper" surname? Knowing your real surname will help in knowing which family association in Xinhui that you need to contact. If you can provide me with the Chinese characters for your ancestral village - I will try to locate it for you and provide you with a map.

You can look at my website [http://mysite.verizon.net/vzepzaui/index.html] to get an overview of the background that you need to know while traversing the Pearl River Delta. Do not be scared - if you are with a guide - there should be no problems - take lots of photos, get a map and mark the location of all sites pertinent to the history and heritage of your family.

Once you know the name of your ancestral village - your guide can call the Xinhui government and ask for the name and telephone number of the village chief and he can meet you and show you around the village. If you have any additional information about your dad or grandfather - then the village chief would probably know who are your blood relatives. Get a hold of any old family documents, photos, and especially a copy of the family genealogy book (zupu) while you are there. All this information will make for an easier follow up visit by you, your dad, and other family members. Good Luck - this is an adventure into your heritage !!

Henry

[slee808]

Hi,

Thank you for the replies. I think I will be leaving for Guangzhou tomorrow since I don't want to get stuck without a place to stay due to National Day. I will base myself there, just until I get my bearings and contact someone to help me.

I have brought with me all that is left of him that we know of. I have 3 old pictures of him and a picture of his grave marker, which has his English name and date of death and then 2 lines of Chinese characters. The characters on the first line are big and the second line are small. My mother visited the office of the society that my grandfather used to belong to and they were able to answer her questions, however she came out of there not completely understanding anything and the only thing she was able to tell me is that they said his village was called Little Ho Tang or something like that.

I decided to take it upon myself to do the research but I am not located in New York so I showed a picture of his grave marker to a Taiwanese friend who was able to translate the whole thing in Mandarin. I double-checked what she told me against a Chinese dictionary and she was correct. She told me the bigger characters were his Chinese name and the smaller characters said Xinhui county and his village name Xiao Tang He...of course, she is pronouncing everything in Mandarin but when I looked up the characters in a Chinese dictionary, they translated to Little Pool (or Pond) by the River. She thought that maybe his village is located near a river that goes through Xinhui.

As for any papers, I don't think we have any. When my grandmother died, I'm pretty sure that my father went through their things and if he had found something, he would've told me. I'll have to ask again just to make sure.

Thank you all for your advice. Wish me luck!

[slee808]

A quick question...I don't really understand this paper surname thing. His last name in English and his last name in the Chinese characters on his grave marker are the same. His brothers took care of his burial. Is it possible that that is not really his last name?

[Henry]

If you have your grandfather's name and village in Chinese characters - this should be enough. The "paper" surname was a way that Chinese were able to enter the US - posing as the son/daughter of a Chinese who had US citizenship - hence, the actual surname of the person was usually different. Try reading some of the material on my website - this will save you a lot of unnecessary running around. Good luck.

Henry

[David Wong]

Hi Slee808-

I did the same thing last year... I embarked on a trip to my ancestral village without any knowledge of where and how. Everyone I spoke to, told me it was "dangerous"...as there was all sorts of talk about theft, rip offs, gangsters etc. So I figured the best way was to hire a vehicle for the whole day (your hotel can arrange it for you) and for the driver to accompany you on your quest. It costed a bit more, but at least this way I could hold a bona fide business responsible.

This worked well for me. And seeing that you're a woman, I'd think this may the "safest" route - as the hotel folks know your whereabouts and you'd be in touch with someone "local". If you can find someone you can trust to join you ...even better. All the best, be safe and good luck.

We look forward to hearing and reading about your pilgrimage.

[Woodson]

Here is a photo of slee808's grandfather tombstone. Henry, could you give us a hand here? Thanks!

[Henry]

Unfortunately, I was not able to locate this village - sorry.

Henry

[helen]

This is siyip province - Sun Woi - Sui Tong Ho (Little Pond River)

[leaslie]

Thank you to everyone . bring back our siblings.
лл´ó¼Ò¡£
from leaslie

Hi Sasheen :
contact information:
qq:67344196
hotmail:[e-mail]
name: Li Yan Xiao
remeber send the photo to us! all of us miss you come back next time!

[slee808]

Hello all,

Just a quick update from London Heathrow airport during my layover as I am on my way home from China.
After my last posting, Su Zhiwei contacted me to tell me that the local officials had located not only my grandfather's village, but 22 cousins that I didn't even know that I had. Once all the information was verified, my family and I are excited to welcome our newfound cousins. As you can see, one of my cousins found this website and posted a few messages! They are wonderful people and I am very happy to have had the chance to meet them on the day of Mid-Autumn festival! We plan to keep in touch with them. My Chinese teacher will be seeing more of me since I need to learn how to communicate with my newly-found relatives!