Two Questions - Birth order and Generation Number

[ALing]

Hello,

I am learning how to navigate our jaipu. My Chinese is very rudimentary but I have been reading various posts and articles to guide me.

Am I correct to read the birth order of siblings from right to left (older to younger)?

There seems to be two sets of generation numbers on the attached copy of a page from the jaipu. I am hoping that someone can help to clarify for me.

Thank you.

[philiptancl]

Hi ALing,

I am quite familiar with the charts you have posted. The two sets of generation numbers are with reference to two of your clan's earlier progenitors. If you continue following the connecting charts, you will know who they are. I can see another set of generation numbers marked in pencil. I would think it would be with reference to the start of your sub-clan.

From the chart, the generation numberings are placed on the right of the page. It follows the traditional Chinese system where they start from the back of the book to which we are normally accustomed. The reading of a page is from right to left. Therefore for each generation, the birth order of siblings from right to left (older to younger) as you had quoted.

Usually, the zupu may contain details for each profile which gave you the date and time of birth. From there you can reconfirm.

Philip Tan

[ALing]

Hi Philip,

Thank you for your explanation. It adds to my knowledge on how the zupu is structured and helps to narrow down areas to "study" in this nearly 400 page book.

I've determined that the first clan progenitor is Huangdi, the Yellow Emperor, who I presume all Chinese are descendants :>.

The second clan progenitor is from Generation 65 on the Huangdi line. There is a lot of Chinese writing on this row and the one below it. I'm not sure which parts of the Google Translation are credible but I will check later with a Chinese speaker.

I think the most exciting part so far are the Pencil Markings denoting the sub-clan generations. When I look on some of the other pages, I can see certain names have been circled. I am guessing that someone was tracing a "bloodline" (?) for the more recent generations.

My initial goal for this zupu was to figure out how my cousins and I are related because our parents never really clearly spelled it out for us. I used the Chinese characters from gravestones and matched them to those in the zupu and now we know. The irony is that if I recognized the pencil markings in the first place I wouldn't have needed to scroll through 400 pages to find what was already marked out in pencil :>.

Alex.