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Post by harc3 on Mar 4, 2009 20:36:40 GMT -5
Hi all I managed to find an old pic my Dad's sister sent to him from China (a pic of her family) on the back is some Chinese writing. Could someone translate it for me Thank you. As it turns out now I am finding my Great Grandfather may have immigrated here in the 1890s...getting very confusing but am persevering
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Post by philiptancl on Mar 4, 2009 21:48:38 GMT -5
Hi Harc3, The Chinese characters are: 宜昌岳丈收 Yà ChÄng (宜昌) Yuèzhà nÉ¡ (岳丈) shÅu (收) I think the sentence means “For the recipient Yà ChÄng, my Fathe-in-law†Yà ChÄng (宜昌): name of recipient. Yuèzhà nÉ¡ (岳丈): Father-in-law. shÅu (收): receive Do not trust me. I cannot read Chinese. I am just guessing by using the website: www.nciku.com/search/zh/detail/%E6%94%B6/1313915Philip
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Post by harc3 on Mar 6, 2009 8:56:37 GMT -5
Thanks Phillip.......Anyone else have a version? I had to go to view>encoding>unicode(Utf8) to read phillip's response proper
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Post by laohuaqiao on Mar 6, 2009 10:38:41 GMT -5
harc3, The father-in-law's (Chinese is more specific, the term refers to father of one's wife) name could be pronounced as Yee Chong. You have mentioned your great uncle's name is Yee Chong, could it be his son-in-law sending him the photo.
Do you know when this photo was taken or sent? The Chinese characters Yee Chong 宜昌 are more common as given name than either one being a surname. In the old days (prior to 1950s?), no respectful son-in-law would address his FIL by his given name. It was common to give him the title, my "father-in-law the great man", 岳丈大人.
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Post by harc3 on Mar 6, 2009 16:32:32 GMT -5
Thanks I believe looking at the picture and of their age that it was probably around mid to late 50's
at this point anything is possible I just really don't know
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Post by laohuaqiao on Mar 7, 2009 11:37:16 GMT -5
That makes sense. I don't know if it was official government policy, as an attempt to break down feudal family structure, in the 50s and 60s some people in China did call their elders by the given names.
I gather you don't have any contact with the individuals in the photo.
Putting the little bits and pieces together, it is likely that your great uncle's name is Sum Yee Chong, 沈宜昌 and from that it is also very likely that he and your grandfather were from the Chaozhou area because of the great numbers of Sums in Chaozhou area and residents of Chaozhou, being a coastal city, have had a long history of going overseas.
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Post by harc3 on Mar 7, 2009 12:28:51 GMT -5
Wow!!!!!!!!!!! No unfortuneately I don't have any contact with them. It's part of my family I have in China that I am trying to find. thanks laohuaqiao
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Post by harc3 on Mar 7, 2009 13:03:36 GMT -5
If it turns out we are from Chaozhou, where do I go from here to track my ancestors??? Do I need to know the actual village??? I was reading up on Chaozhou and it seems there is an enormous amount of villages. Does anyone know if there is a list of villages or a map of the villages in Chaozhou???
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Post by Henry on Mar 7, 2009 13:32:59 GMT -5
harc3,
Yes, you definitely need to know the village name. If the Chaozhou are is anything like the Taishan, Chaozhou will probably has about 5,000 villages. If the village name is found, we need to find its location. Then the village chief of the village needs to be contacted about possible village relatives and family genealogy book. Since Chaozhou is so close to Meizhou - a Hakka city - you may need a guide who can also speak the Hakka dialect.
Most available maps will show major cities and towns with some large villages and village complexes.
Henry
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Post by helen on Mar 7, 2009 23:41:02 GMT -5
Good luck - we in NZ have managed to identify the major Zengcheng villages that provided some the migrants to New Zealand. They all went backwards and forwards between the countries around the gold mining era to 1930s, via Sydney. Around the Japanese war times of the 30s there was little travel, and in the late 1930s the refugees came here. We found that the villagers here sent money back, to build fortresses (Parlow) and children born in NZ went back for schooling until they were 13-15. However that stopped with the japanese invasion. After that the families remained here - and no villagers came between the refugee years of 1938-1942. After the communist perion of 1948, there was some families who managed to come here - the last about 1955. Have a look at the history of the Chinese in your own country, to see if there is a pattern similar to our experience. You may find that the original men set up an association or 2. we have the Zengheng and Doonguan associations (Tung Jung Association; the "Poon-fah" (panyu and Fah Yuen) associations; the siyip group may ahve also had an association.
Look for family associations, the major Chinese merchants, the local Chinese Church. All of these places would have offered the men a place for get togethers and celebrations.
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