Location for Tang Kou Li village

[kenjohnson]

Hi!  I am trying to find the location of the village of Tang Kou Li （塘口里村） in Guangdong （广东省）。  It is in Xin Hui county (新会縣）in Lu Chong heung or xiang（芦冲郷).  I am trying to locate the Lin family there and connect with the village elders to tie into any Jiapu or Zupu that links Lin Shi Qiang (林世强)，a great grandfather of Norman Lin living in Sacramento, California.  His Cantonese name is Lim Sai Keung.  I tried to find the village myself but I got three villages that listed that village name.  Your help will be greatly appreciated.

Ken Johnson
Elk Grove, California

[Henry]

kenjohnson





Click on: Tang Kou

Henry

[kenjohnson]

Hi!  Thanks for the reply!  However, I do see the village with the arrow but since the village is named Tang Kou Cun is it the same as the Tang Kou Li village back in 1883?  Is the county and heung the same, in other words is it in Lu Chong heung and Xin Hui county?  If they are a different heung and county what is the heung and county name?  So far I have been unable to locate it on a map.  Your help will be appreciated.

Ken Johnson
Elk Grove, California

 

[Henry]

Ken,

"Cun"/村 and "Li"/里 are descriptive terms for "village" & "hamlet" respectively. A Li/hamlet is a very small village of maybe 6 or 7 houses. A village/cun is usually a dozen or more houses.

Lu Chong heung or xiang（芦冲郷) is a heung / district or maybe a subdistrict - usually containing a village with the same name, i.e., Lu Chong village 芦冲村

I took the hierarchy of a geographic administrative districts for this village [ 广东省 新会縣芦冲郷塘口里 ] & did a search on BaiDu Maps:

The result of that search was:

map.baidu.com/poi/%E5%A1%98%E5%8F%A3%E9%87%8C/@12561714.344531758,2547399.0760281878,18.96z?uid=71db5ff8e381f0072b11d120&ugc_type=3&ugc_ver=1&device_ratio=1&compat=1&pcevaname=pc4.1&querytype=detailConInfo&da_src=shareurl




If you are in China, Google Maps will not work because it is banned. The China equivalent is Baidu Maps.





Please note that arrow 1 points to Tang Kou village.

Arrow 2 points to Lu Chong village.

Arrow 3 points to 西月 Xī yuè / West Moon village - which appears on both maps & can serve as a reference, do to its proximity, to Tang Kou village

Henry

[kenjohnson]

Hi Henry！I got onto Baidu maps and found the point where your first photo shows a map with one balloon on it but when I enlarge it doesn't go down far enough to show the other villages or the ponds as shown in the last photo.  I tried using the link but I can't get it to show the map with the ponds and the two other villages.  Is there something that I am not doing that is keeping me from seeing what you see on the last photo?

Ken Johnson

[Henry]

Hi Ken,

No, the large scale map of the village is from another website - from the Chinese national mapping agency:

Click on Tian Ditu


Trying to find a village location in China on a map sometimes requires using a couple websites - so, you have to use Western & Chinese websites. The Tian Ditu website has been very finicky lately & one of my colleagues from Canada is blocked from access


Here is a satellite view of the village from Google Map Pro - use these decimal degrees to locate: 22.431097 112.833947











Henry

[kenjohnson]

Hi Henry！
I found Google Earth satellite view and found the picture of the village but I have another question.  When I loaded the geographical location into the Village Database and requested the Lin surname (林）it listed lots of Tang Kou Li villages but none listed the Lin surname.  How do I know that the village you found is the Tang Kou Li village (塘口里村）with Lin surnames?  Of course, they would be pronounced Lam or Lum or Lim.  Also, how do I connect to the village elders to find out if they have a Lin Jiapu?  Thanks for your help!

Ken Johnson
Elk Grove, California

[Henry]

Hi kenjohnson,

In this kind of research – you can only rely on a reasonable level of probability that you have found the correct village.

I believe this is the ancestral village because I searched Baidu map website according the administrative hierarchy for the village and because there is a the Luchong village nearby Tang Kou village that probably administers this village:



江门市新会区罗坑镇芦冲村民委员会 ( 芦冲村民委员会) Luchong Village Committee

Click in Luchong Village Committee


Since I am not Chinese literate, you would need someone in China that can make the Luchong Village Committee inquires for you.

Usually – find the map location first, then contacting the administrating village committee and/or village chief and then visiting the village & interviewing the village chief & elders to confirm that this is the correct village.

After confirming this is the correct village, interviewing the village relatives or the people living in the ancestral home in the village – and then try locating the village genealogy book that contains the family lineage.

Actually, we will be doing all this & more in Tour Segment 2 when I conduct the China Trip during April 2025. In preparation, Norman Lin may want to attend the 3-day Chinese Genealogy Workshop I organize during January 26-30, 2025 in Las Vegas. These 2 events will help him to understand how to research & understand while answering many of the questions asked.
If interested in attending & participating – my email address is: “ [e-mail] “

The Village Database is an excellent source for finding ancestral villages, but, there are limitations, it is not a comprehensive / complete because the compiling organization, the US Consulate in Hong Kong, compiled these village name & associated surnames only from applicants seeking entry into the US – it was used as a tool to expose any fraudulent applications. Also, the are so many villages with the same name in the Village Database & it can become a nightmare in trying to sort it all out.

If you are that interested, I did an article a couple years ago on the Village Database:

Click on Village Database article:

Henry

[kenjohnson]

Hi!  I need some help finding the village for another Chinese friend by the name of David Zheng （鄭）。 A gravestone of one of his ancestors says the following for her birthplace; 中山大都南庄村人or Zhongshan Da Dou Nan Zhuang Cun Ren.  When I enter the surname I select Cheng (鄭） and then I typed in 南庄村but I get no results.  If I take out 村 I still get no results.  I tried Zhongshan (中山郷）and I get a big long list of villages but none with the name of 南庄。 There is a Sui Kit Village in Wong Pak Heung with the (鄭）surname.  Have I done the search correctly or am I not searching correctly?

Ken Johnson
Elk Grove, California

[Henry]

kenjohnson,

The Village Database is not complete because it was information compiled only from people going through the American Consulate during the 1960s, this person may have gone through the Canadian Consulate or emigrated after the 1960s.




Click on Google


Confirmation of the surname associated with this village can probably be done by a researcher in the field, the gravestone information about the district where the village is located was incomplete - it should be 四大都, but this is an old district name not used anymore.

Henry

[gckimm]

Hi Ken:

I believe I found a webpage with some photos of and information about Nanzhuang Village: zsrbapp.zsnews.cn/home/content/newsContent/1/577483.

It is the same village shown on Henry's map above. It appears now to be in Nanlang Subdistrict, Zhongshan City 中山市南朗街道.

Scroll down to the third and fourth photos. To me, these aerial photos on Chinese websites are not very helpful. I am afraid that I cannot tell you exactly where in the photos the village is located. The description for the top photo says that the village is in the lower portion of the photo and the description for the other photo says that it is to the left. But more important is that in the description for the top photo there is mention that members of the Lee and Cheng clans moved there when the village was founded in the Hongwu era of the Ming dynasty (1368-1398).

Greg

[kenjohnson]

Hi Henry!  I am helping Jansen Huang in Elk Grove, California to find his ancestral village.  His village name in romanization is Tian Lu Cun in Guangdong Province, Jiangmen, Xinhui county.  Your help will be appreciated.

Ken Johnson

[Henry]

kenjohnson,





Click in Google Maps

The village does not appear to be in the Village Database - so Huang surname cannot be confirmed.

Click on YouTube Video


Henry

[kenjohnson]

Hi Henry！  I am trying to find the home village in China for Reuben Wong's paternal grandmother.  I have a picture of her headstone but I can't quite make out the name of her village.  In Newcastle, California she went by Ham See and her married surname was 黄。 The headstone seems to indicate that her maiden surname was 譚。 She was from Taishan, Guangdong province but I can't quite make out the name of the village on the left of the headstone.  Maybe you can help.  Ken Johnson

[gckimm]

Hi Ken:

I too am having a problem making out the characters in the far left column. According to the Village DB, Nam Hang 南坑 was a Wong village in Shek Fa Heung 石化鄉. But I am not sure that column of characters has to do with Mrs. Wong's (or Mr. Wong's) home village.　The last character that is somewhat visible (#9) looks like it might be 題 --"inscribe"--which would mean that the left column just has the name and place of origin of the person who wrote the characters for the headstone. Can you get a clearer photo?

Greg