Chinese Genealogy
莫道天涯遠、悠悠萬縷絲

This site is devoted to the genealogy of Chinese families from an area of Guangdong, China (中國廣東)commonly known as Siyi (四邑) or four counties. The counties are Xinhui (新會), Taishan (台山), Kaiping (開平), and Enping (恩平). The families in this area have much in common besides geographic location. The great majority trace their origin to China's central plain. Each faamily may have different reasons for leaving the Central Plains and migrated southward. The most common would be fleding the turmoil caused by an invading nomad tribe, internal uprising or natural disaster. This southward journey happened in multiple stages and over hundreds of years. Each major unrest or disaster drove them further south until they finally settled in their current locations. In many cases this final settlement took place five to six hundred years ago.

Due to crowded living condition and lack of agrarian land the migration, however, continued. At first a small number headed to the South Pacific. Since the 1850's an increasing large number had crossed the Pacific and Indian Oceans in search of work. This is not a true migration in that they seldom settled in their new locations due to cultural and political reasons. This, however, began to change in the latter half of the 20th century as the Western nations amended their immigration policies primarily because of the overseas Chinese's contributions to the war effort during World War II. This coupled with events in China made many decided to have their families joined them and settled in the foreign land.

A place of great significant during this southward migration is Zhujixiang, Nanxiong (南雄珠璣巷). A vast majority of the families in the Pearl River Delta area trace their roots to there. One can say it is Pearl River Delta genealogy's equivalent to the Americans'Mayflower and Plymouth Rock.

The surnames we are actively researching are: Chan, Chow, Der, Kwan, Lee, Mak, Wong, and Zhao (陳周謝關李麥黃趙). So far we only have time to compile some of the information on the Chow (周), Der (謝), Lee (李), and Zhao (趙).

Changes and additions:

Within the past year there were four weddings within the clans. With this many weddings you would think we were super busy. Must confess that I'm having some problem in updating the family tree. The trouble lies in the fact that CorelDraw under Windows XP with foreign language is not accepting Chinese characters. May need to install an older version of Chinese Windows in one of the spare machines for this purpose. Will consult the experts on this.

Finally got around to do an addition to the Zhou family history. According to official records the well-known painter Zhao Mengfu (趙孟頫) is related the Zhao of Fausik (浮石). His talent is such that no painter from the Yuan dynasty could measured up to him.

Blogging has become very popular. It seems the subjects covered is as diverse as the number of bloggers blogging. Came across an art blog where the blogger blogs on Chinese art and artists in addition to the well-known Western artist.

Many thanks to Kevin Lee Sip Kim of Sabah, Malaysia for sending in information on the Lee Kinship Association Sabah.

For those visitors who would like to share their genealogy research experience please visit our forum.

We really need help in translating the mountain of Fushi genealogy records that Katherine has. Please email me. Thanks in advance!

Would like to thank ProBoard for hosting our forum. It is an open board which means it is not restricted to members only. All visitors are more than welcome to post. Drop by and share your thoughts, experiences and observations with us. Most important of all tell us what you think of this site and how we can improve (always room for improvements). Happy posting!

Would like to remind our visitors that Simon Lee is looking to establish contacts with his uncles, aunts and cousins in Malaysia. And with Chune's help the listing of locations of Lee Associations has gone international.

Thank you for coming and we hope you enjoy your visit!
Kevin Lee
Dec 4, 2007