Problems about my ancestry coming from China.
I was wondering where my ancestors came from, which my dad told me they came from. The problem arises when:
(1) They are romanizations, which is problematic for me since I do not know what their chinese names are
(2) They are different dialect from Mandarin: Which their name is based on Hokkien dialect coming from Southern Min.
What should I do?
Answers
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Hello, @Ymmanuel Peter CruzNgo.
This site has a research group devoted specifically to Chinese family history, here:
I suggest you join that and re-post your question there (unfortunately posts can't be moved).
2 -
I can have some empathy with your problems. Someone close to me can speak Cantonese and can read / write the "old style" characters, but really struggles with the now predominantly used Mandarin and the "simplified" character set.
When it comes to translating to English / "romanisation" then things get further complicated, as you suggest! This person's sister is a globe-trotter as when she receives her letters - written in Chinese and reporting where she has visited - it can take a long while to work out how the countries' names translate to English!
As far as FamilySearch records are concerned, you not only have the problems you describe, but (last time I checked) found that many collections are related to Christian churches, so not very useful if your family were Buddhists! However, there are naturally further difficulties in viewing / obtaining records from China. A while ago, I tried to order some Hong Kong certificates and that was difficult enough!
Hopefully, you might get further help by using the link Mandy has provided.
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