On Wah, I Long, Lin Doo Jong, Sin Ning

[Krista Li]

Hi everyone!
I am sifting through some immigration records for my PhD thesis and I am STUCK!!! Hoping some of you out there might be able to help locate what counties some of the below listed villages are in:
On-Wah
I Long
Lin Doo Jong
Sin Ning (also Sun Ning, Sang Ning, and Hsiu Ning)

The records I am looking at are the Newfoundland Registration of Trips aborad, which detail Chinese immigrants who left Newfoundland from 1906-1950. All Chinese in Newfoundland were required to register with the government when they left the colony after 1906, which was when the Chinese Immigration Act and head tax of $300 were passed. I am trying to complete some statistical analysis but I can't move forward until I figure out where these places were! The whole thing is frustrated by the fact that immigration officials were so very careless about how they recorded the spelling of these placenames!!! ARGGGG!!

Any help would be MUCH appreciated!

[Henry]

Hi Krista,

It is very difficult to determine these locations without the Chinese characters - romanizations are almost hopeless in terms of trying to determine if these are villages and/or districts. Sun Ning is probably the name for Taishan county/city prior to 1909.

Do you have any additional sources that would provide the Chinese characters for the locations in question?


Henry

[Ah Gin]

Krista,

To add to Henry's posting, a bit of guess work:


On-Wah = 安華,

I Long = 大龍,

Sin Ning = 新宁 or (台山)

To be sure, we need the original Chinese characters.

Regards, Ah Gin

[Krista Li]

Thanks guys! You have helped more than you know, believe me!

I figured I would need the Chinese characters, but immigration records certainly did not list them. And since the people I am studying came before the Newfoundland head tax of 1906, I don't even have original head tax documents or other immigration documents to trace. Prior to 1906, Newfoundland did not have an immigration policy so Chinese immigrants coming before 1906 did not need any documents only personal identification. So, Henry, I don't have any additional sources that would offer up the necessary characters. But your comment about Sun Ning possibly being another name for Taishan prior to 1909 is interesting. For the immigrants that I have found, many clearly list Taishan (Toisan) as their place of birth. Sun Ning and several variants of that spelling are listed separately. I've managed to find pre-1906 immigrants by sifting through the Registration of Trips Abroad, a registry compiled after 1906 to keep track of Chinese immigrants leaving and entering Newfoundland. Chinese immigrants who wanted to return to China for a visit had to 'sign out'. When they did, their information, including name, age, place of birth, and date of original entry was recorded. From this registry I have found 123 immigrants prior to 1906. 122 of them list Guangdong (Canton Province) as their place of birth. The other 1 listed Shanghai as his birthplace. Of the 122, 17 came from Taishan, 24 from Kaiping, and 54 from Canton City or Guangzhou. The rest I can't identify.

I have a further question if you two fine gentlemen don't mind......
Was Canton City viewed as its own administrative region or was it part of another county system or administrative zone? I can't seem to get my head around it, likely because my exposure to Chinese history has been to that of the North of China, since my husband is from Shaanxi. When it comes to the south, I must admit that I am in a tangle!
Thanks again guys!

[Woodson]

Canton City or Guangzhou was and still is the provincial capital. My guess is it would be under the viceroy's direct control. Also I think the administrative system would be the same throughout China when it was unified under one central government. So I think you should be able to apply your knowledge of norther China to Guangdong also.

Do you know which county is Lin Doo Jong is located? If it is in Kaiping then I may be able to help.

[skwdvm]

Hi Krista, several members of the forum have pointed out on previous posts that Sun Ning was the former name for Taishan(Toishan) county. Henry, Raymond and Kevin Lee come to mind. In Ah Gin's post, he provided the characters for "Sun Ning." The set of characters in parenthesis seem to be the accepted convention. You can also click on Toishan on the home page of this website and get some background information on the history of this area and the 1914 name change. As for villages, it may be helpful for you to go to the Roots Village Data base. They have mapped out Taishan. I think you may need to enter a surname from the immigration records ,his village, and a district . Others on this forum have been gracious enough to help other members find villages using this information and maps they know of. I am thankful to members on this forum who helped me find Wan Chau village in Taishan.

Your thesis sounds interesting.

skwdvm

[Ah Gin]

Krista,

Woodson, skwdvm et al addressed your questions, so I think you are well positioned.

Meanwhile, excuse us if we are covering known ground. That said, in case you are not aware, and at the risk of repeating some information well known to others, any study on the question of Chinese migration (cf diaspora), it will be worth while exploring the subject of Siyi, especially if you discover that the majority of the pioneers come from that "4 Regions". A light introduction by Wiki is a useful start en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sze_Yup

Regarding Taishan and its historical context, you will find plenty references or discussions by members of this Forum. It's worthwhile digging around.

On the question of digging, if you come across Chinese Headstones, you might come across the following, which are referring to "Ning Yup", i.e. the Taishan (and some would add Kiaping) "region".

寧 邑
宁 邑
甯 邑

Happy hunting.

PS: October/November I have the pleasure of attending our Clan Conference ( 甄 ) at Kaiping; so I will be around the general area of Taishan, Kaiping etc. If the villages you are trying to locate are within walking distance to where I am staying, I will be happy to take a few photos for you.

Regards, Ah Gin

[laohuaqiao]

A lot of good info has already been given, I just want to emphasize that in rural China family clans of the same surname are found in clusters of villages. That means all the male members of any village, more likely than not, have the same surname. It also means within a county such as Taishan, there is only a handful of village clusters with a given surname. I remember, once upon a time, a necessary follow up question after the introductions among Chinese Ameerican was "you are a _____(surname) from where?" So, having the surname associated with a village name will make it a lot easier for you (for us) to find the location.