Ho Lui Hap/Guangzhou

[gymlaw]

I've just started researching my side of our family tree and have hit roadblocks on my maternal and paternal side.

On my maternal side, my great grandfather, Ho Lui Hap was supposed to be an important general under the Ching Dynasty and assisted Sun Yat Sen but I am unable to find any such reference anywhere. Further talks with my grandmother indicated that Ho Lui Hap might not be his actual name as he was of mixed blood (Turkish, Mongolian, Chinese and supposedly descended from Mongolian royalty). Any suggestions?

On my paternal side, my father was raised by the number one wife who had his birth certificate changed to reflect herself as the mother. His actual mother was the "wife number 2 "and was sent away after his birth. Any ideas as to how to track her down?

Thank you

[helen]

Can you be a bit more specific about the possible location of villages/area your folks are from? From what source have you managed to get this information? word of mouth? headstones, family? What country are you researching from? How many generations back are you going - to get back to China?

[gymlaw]

Hello Helen,

Everything is by way of mouth and from my grandmother who remembered her father-in-law. Haven't been able to locate the birth records for my grandfather (his son) or my great uncle either. But for my Great Uncle, Chapman, I found a copy of a passenger list that listed him as born around 1913 and from Canton China. The Canadian immigration docs for my grandfather indicated he was born in Hong Kong in 1914.

Ho Lui Hap's date of birth was about 1885 and he died around 1945 in Hong Kong. She believes he was born in Hoiping.

Haven't been able to view the jiapu on jiapu.cn due to a glitch.

I am researching from Canada.

Thanks for your reply.

[Henry]

Gymlaw,

Welcome to our Forum.

Please ask your grandmother if she knows the Chinese characters for Ho Lui Hap's name and also the Chinese characters for the name of his village. Also, the Chinese name of the nearest larger market town will help to locate the village. Then take a digital photo of the names and post them on the Forum:

siyigenealogy.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=comment&action=display&thread=421

Go to the Village DB : www.c-c-c.org/villagedb/search.cgi

Do a search on the "Ho" surname, under Hoiping, there are 76 villages with Ho clansmen. Ask your grandmother to look them over, maybe it will help her to remember. Many of the villages are located quite close to each other and the names of surrounding villages may help to identify your ancestral village.


Henry

[helen]

If you are still in the same part of Canada as your Grandfather is, then try all the local Chinese groups - especially the Si Yip ones. I know this sounds silly, but try to locate the oldest peron you can find - the one who has been in your area the longest - especially the ones who had laundries. In the old days the men used to get together on a Sunday to play Mahjong. And on the Double 10th (!0 October) or other special dates like Chinese New Year, the men would come from far afield just to catch up. Often that would be their only social life - away from the garden, store and laundry. Keep a log of all the names and information you find out - and a note of where the information came from. If you have a digital camera, ask if you can take photos from people's family albums - and again label them. Good hunting.

[harc3]

Where in Canada? I live near Van. so I used the Library and looked thru oodles of micrfilm. You can access Ancestry.com at the libraries for free
Look through your province archives. BC for example is here
search.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca/sn-527F455/gbsearch/Births,Marriages,Deaths

Look through Collections Canada as there are passenger lists and a General Chinese Register (invaluable)
www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/website/index-e.html
under exploration and immigration.
All Chinese are on the register. Just gotta find em. The name thing makes it very difficult but persevere and it will pay off. It did for me as I found a lot of info.

Good Luck!!!!

[gymlaw]

Thank you for all your assistance. My grandmother only remembers where they last lived in China.

Fukien, Ding Chau Yuen, Seung Hong Heung

I am trying to copy Ho Lui Hap's chinese name in this message but can't figure out how

[Henry]

Gymlaw,

Please ask your grandmother to write the Chinese names of the ancestor Ho Liu Hap, ancestral village, and nearest larger market town near the village. It will make locating your ancestral village easier.

Okay, since the Village DB is for the SanYi & SiYi region - it will not help you.

Take digital photos of the Chinese names for:

1 Ho Liu Hap
2 village name
3 nearest large market town

It would help if you knew the name of the nearest largest major city or port in Fujian province - English name is okay for this one.

Post on the Forum via these instructions:

siyigenealogy.proboards.com/index....play&thread=421


Henry

[laohuaqiao]

Fukien, Ding Chau Yuen, Seung Hong Heung

As a start Fukien Ding Chau Yuen may be 福建汀州縣 Tingzhou xian, also known as 長汀 Changting.

Regardless this is the right place for gymlaw or not, Tingzhou, near the border with Guandong and Jiangxi provinces, is an interesting historical place on its own.
1. City was founded during the Tang Dynasty
2. Home of the largest Hakka people in Fujian, thus also known as the "capital of Hakka"
3. Located in a mountainous area, it was one of the seats of the communists during the Civil War and the the starting point of the famous Long March.
4. Together with Hunan's Phoenix City, named the 2 most beautiful small city (walled city?) in China

The city is bounded by 汀江 Tingjiang or Ting River and just to the north by 臥龍山 Wolong Mountain or Sleeping Dragon Mountain. The old city wall runs along Tingjiang and wounds over the Wolong mountain ridge. Thus the city includes half of the mountain and Tingjiang forms a natural moat for the walled city, a great scenic location as well as military defensive spot.

[gymlaw]

Good morning,

Thank you once again for all your assistance. Laohuaquiao, I believe I have found where my Great Grandfather is from in Fukien. (Han people)

Tingzhou Yuen
Shanghang

On the back of a picture, the following was listed.

no year on his date of birth (10/10) or date of death (1/1). He is buried in Happy Valley Cemetery in Hong Kong.

I'm not very good technically on the computer as you can tell. Still can't figure out how to post his name and other information that my grandmother wrote in chinese on the site.

Thank you,

[laohuaqiao]

Tingzhou 汀州 and its town of Shanghang 上杭 are now administered by the city of Longyan 龍岩市 in Fujian province

The region at the center of this wikiMapia:
wikimapia.org/#lat=25.0537235&lon=116.4188576&z=12&l=0&m=a&v=2

Coordinates: 25°3'20"N 116°25'12"E or latitude =25.0537235 longitude=116.4188576 will help you locate it on Google Earth.

[gymlaw]

Hello,

Can anyone tell me what the Chinese Translation for
Guangdong San, Lam Hoi Yuen, Fuk San Jun is and where it is located? Hit another wall onHo Lui Hup's side. But my Great Great Grandfather Wong Bik San was supposed to be the inventor of the U-I oil and am trying to track down his line.

Thank you,

[laohuaqiao]

Guangdong San, Lam Hoi Yuen, Fuk San Jun

In Mandarin, it's Guangdong sheng （province) 廣東省, Nanhai xian (county) 南海縣 , Foshan zhen(town) 佛山鎮. This was prior to 1950, when Foshan was the main town in Nanhai county. Foshan has since grown to city status while Nanhai has been reconfigured and is a district in Foshan. It'll be curious to find out how much of the old Foshan, buildings and streets, still remains.