Genealogy
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Genealogy sites:
Genealogy
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Genealogy sites:
Chinese Genealogy Books
These books are usually in hand written calligraphy containing the Chinese names “ haos “ ( 號 ) of male members of a family / clan in lineage ( family tree ) charts.
“ zupu (s) “ ( 族 譜 ) refer to a clan - people with the same surname, whereas, “ jiapu (s) “( 家 譜 ) refer to a particular family of that clan. Beyond lineage charts, both these Chinese genealogy books contain family and/or clan histories, the generational poem, migration histories, and personal histories of distinguished members of the family or clan. Many contain pictures / photographs of notable people, places, and some with village maps. Overall, they include the collective knowledge of this family / clan.
Every couple of generations, Chinese, in China or abroad, would collectively pool money to revise the family/clan genealogy book. So, it is not surprising to see these books include the photos and biographies of the people who paid for the update of the genealogy book.
The derivation of zupus / jiapu - Zupus / jiapus, over hundreds or even a thousand or more years, have been updated, revised, and re-copied. Probably, the only sources for compiling the lineage and names of family/ clan members are previous copies of zupus / jiapus. Consequently, most current zupus / jiapus are copies and/or consolidations of previous zupus / jiapus – to which, updates of recent information are added. As most current zupus / jiapus are: copies of previous ones; that are probably older than 75 years – i.e., extend beyond the statute of limitations for copyright law, I doubt the applicability of copyright to such information and I have not yet seen a copyrighted zupu / jiapu, however, there may be some out there.
I have several Tom zupus where it is difficult to determine between the original and the copy - the only determining factor would be the date associated with the book when it was written or published. It should be noted that what appears in Chinese genealogy books are not without flaws – the information can be inaccurate or just plain wrong. Thus, verification of such information is prudent and because of the prevalent practice of copying previous versions – misinformation can be perpetuated and carried forward. I bought two copies of a Tom zupu, which turned out to be photocopies of a printed copy that I obtained later. Another difference between them was the first two pages of the photocopies were pages that were in handwritten calligraphy, unlike the printed cover / introductory page of the printed version. The practice of copying is readily apparent when you begin to compare different copies of zupus.
Multiple zupus / jiapus of the same family/clans exist and they differ because various branches in the family/clan lineage were updated and populated with the latest generational information – usually paid for by members of that specific family/clan lineage. Consequently, if a particular family / clan association were to compile the latest zupu – it would certainly involve the collection and consolidation of however many zupus and jiapus that could be found. Actually, multiple zupus / jiapus are useful in verifying and confirming information between them. In one Tom zupu, there was an annotation for an individual indicating he had moved to another village – this fact confirmed his identity and his ancestral village. They also include notations regarding the clan to which a person’s wife belong to, the number of children, and other facts of interest.
Untold numbers of zupus / jiapus were deliberately destroyed during the mid 1960s in China during the Cultural Revolution by the Red Guards. Fortunately, some copies survived because they were hidden and there were copies overseas. Unfortunately, the Tom clan ancestral hall, containing inscribed ancestral tablets and clan records, and located in a place known as “White Water”, Taishan county, Guangdong province ( 廣 東 台 山 白 水 ) was destroyed. For many years, it was a well known landmark “White Water Temple” (白 水 廟 ). The key to finding one’s genealogy lineage is to have the haos of a couple of your ancestors and locate them in the lineage charts of an existing zupu / jiapu – then you will have identified your position in your family lineage that may reveal your ancestral lineage for the previous 20 or 30 generations.
An excellent primer on Chinese genealogy and a “how to” Chinese genealogy book is: You are Royalty: A Guide to Your Chinese Ancestor by A. R. Chinn, 2002, ISBN 0-9730344-0-8, twoupman@yahoo.com