Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
To the uninitiated, here's a summary from Wikipedia:
Quote:
In Chinese culture, an ancestral home (Chinese: 籍貫, 祖籍 or 老家; pinyin: jÃguà n, zǔjà or lǎojiā) is the place of origin of one's extended family. It may or may not be the place where one is born.
A subjective concept, a person's ancestral home could be birthplace of any of his/her patriline ancestors. An ancestral home can refer to the first locality where a surname came to be established or prominent. Commonly, a person usually defines his/her hometown as what his/her father considers to be his ancestral home.
The Chinese emphasis on a person's ancestral home is a legacy of its history as an agrarian society, where a family would often be tied to its land for generations. In Chinese culture, the importance of family and regional identity are such that a person's ancestral home or birthplace plays an important social role in personal identity. Discussion of personal or ancestral origins is typical when two people meet for the first time. In recent years, the root-seeking (尋根 xúngēn) movement has led to greater interest in ancestral hometowns, especially among overseas Chinese.
Am a 4th-generation Chinese Malaysian. Am a Teochew on my paternal side and Hakka on my maternal side. My paternal great grandfather came to the then-Malaya from Beishan Village in Puning (a Teochew/Chaozhou-speaking community), Guangdong Province:
I have a young girl from Singapore who helps me with typing manuscripts. She is third generation and she know all about her ancestral home in Fujian. She speaks the local dialect as well as fluent Mandarin and perfect English and some Malay I think. Over the years I have found that almost all the overseas Chinese I have know are far more in touch with their ancestral home than the rest of us who are immigrants.
Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian and Hainan are really exotic places to someone from northern part of China.
Their culture is very different.
I gather it has something to do with the North-South cultural divide. For me though, I think the differences ain't that many or significant. I find the non-Han cultures of the western and north-central provinces to be particularly exotic.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tom9
I have a young girl from Singapore who helps me with typing manuscripts. She is third generation and she know all about her ancestral home in Fujian. She speaks the local dialect as well as fluent Mandarin and perfect English and some Malay I think. Over the years I have found that almost all the overseas Chinese I have know are far more in touch with their ancestral home than the rest of us who are immigrants.
seems to be a common theme amongst mainland SEAsian countries
most chinese in the Philippines have origins in Fujian province
Yup my dad is from Manila and he's mixed ancestry. The Chinese side is from Fujian.. his ancestors made bells for catholic churches throughout the archipelago and Formosa. I've seen pictures of giant bells with the family name on the side.
Third generation Chinese Indonesian, moved to the US at an early age (two), partially to avoid riots and partially just because my parents thought it would be beneficial for my future due to more opportunities and a generally "easier life."
My father's side and my maternal grandfather speak Hokkien, but they have ethnic/racial roots in Northern China.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
