Here are some of the Chinese genealogies — jiapus and zupus and clan surname books — that contain information about Chock Chin’s ancestors and the ancestors of the spouses that intermarried with the Zhuo/Chock clan. Our genealogist, Louise Skyles, uses them to fill in missing family information and research possible connections to our family tree when people want to know if they are also related to these clans.
NOTE: They are virtually unusable unless you can read Chinese, and understand how to interpret the formatting of information in these records.
Chock Chin’s Jiapu
Chock Chin’s Abridged Jiapu – English Translation
The most important record in our journey was the abridged edition of the family jiapu that Chock Chin brought with him to Hawaii. This was handed down to my father, the oldest son, and my mother had it translated into English in 1974.
The full version of our family’s Guan Tang Zhuo jiapu, from which this copy was made for my grandfather when he left home, was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution.
Chairman Mao believed that the people should break their ties to the old traditions, customs, religious beliefs and family affiliations, and replace them with a singular devotion to the new Chinese Communist Party.
As a result, the Little Red Army systematically visited the villages, destroyed the clan temples and shrines, defaced the cemetery markers, and burned all of the jiapu and zupu records. Witnesses in Guan Tang Village report that it took a full three days for the fire to consume all of these priceless records.
However, in many cases such as with my grandfather, earlier editions and abridged editions were safely stored outside of China, some records were secretly hidden for safekeeping, and in other ways parts of these records survived, although scattered and lost.
Since the 1970s efforts have been made to gather and restore these records, and some incredible stories are emerging about the great personal sacrifices and years of painstaking effort different individuals have given to collect, recompile, and restore what was lost in those fires. Watch this short video to learn how Zhuo Bing Quan rebuilt the lost Guan Tang Zhuo jiapu.
The modern attitudes of today’s Chinese government toward these jiapus and zupus has undergone a remarkable transformation since those dark years. Today, the government is funding the restoration of many of these village temples, including some for branches of my own family. Previously, these temples were maintained entirely by the donations of family members.
And Zhuo Bing Quan, who spent so many years tracking down missing pieces of the Guan Tang Zhuo family tree at his own expense, was provided with government funding this year (2021) enough to pay sixteen villagers to help him collect more information to add more generations to the tree.
Records Used to Build My Family Tree
At this point, many such genealogies are available from various repositories, including free sites like familysearch.org. However, not all records are available outside of China. The records below are particularly hard to find so I am providing them on this site.
- Nazhou Gu Zupu 1948
- Read the incredible story of how this zupu was created and safeguarded, and find out how we ended up with it. Download the four volumes.
- Nazhou Tan Zupu譚敦本堂族譜 1932
- Tang Zi Ying Jiapu
- Read about this jiapu, and learn how the Chock and the Tang clans are connected. Discover some of the famous Tangs who have helped change the course of history, and download the nine volumes.
- Shenqian Gu Zupu
- Read about this zupu, and download the four volumes.
- Yan Men She Shi Jiapu
- Eleven volume jiapu provides detailed She Clan pedigrees.
- Hua Xia Zhuo Surname Source
- See how this document can be used to bridge the gap when the village jiapu is not available.
- Hua Xia She Clan-A Big Family
- Information about all the different She branches in China, which has been based in Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangsu, Anhui, Jiangxi, and Henan.
About these kinds of records
Although the terms jiapu and zupu are sometimes used interchangeably by modern writers, there is a traditional distinction between them that can be useful to differentiate the scope of the records. As Louise explained:
Zongpu: A Zongpu is a clan record at the highest, broadest level. That is the record of a clan where all members share the same common ancestor. Clan members can come from many different locations and still be included in the Zongpu.
Zupu: A Zupu is the record of a specific, distinct branch of the clan. It is a subset of the Zongpu.
Jiapu: A Jiapu is the record of a smaller branch that has separated from one of the branches of the clan. Typically a new jiapu is begun when a family member moves his household to a new village and establishes a new branch of the family in that location. That person is referred to as the First Ancestor of that branch jiapu, and appears at the beginning of the pedigree. It is a subset of the Zupu for the main branch of the clan from which it separated.
In the resources listed above, Hua Xia Zhuo Surname Source, and HuaXia She Clan-A Big Family are both considered to be Zongpu records. Some Zongpu records, such as the Worldwide Gu Zongpu, contain very detailed pedigree chart for each province’s Gu clan, whereas others like the Hua Xia She Clan book are less extensive, offering brief stories about each branch’s early ancestors. Regardless of the level of detail, if they address the full clan in China with all its component branches, it is a Zongpu.
Looking for these records
If you are hunting for a jiapu, here are a few good places to start. Here is an excellent little 4-page document I got at RootsTech 2019 in Salt Lake City, Utah.
RT3543_Chinese_Genealogy_An_Introduction_to_Jiapu by Anthony King
OVERVIEW: Because of the Chinese tradition of ancestor veneration, the earliest discovered written records in China included genealogical information. The rich, historical tradition of preserving genealogies in China gives the potential exists for someone of Chinese ancestry to be able to trace their lineage for over100 generations, reaching back thousands of years. This presentation includes a brief history of Chinese genealogies, a look at the typical format and content of these records, search methodologies for finding Chinese genealogies (including searching for ancestral villages and exploring the Chinese genealogical collections of FamilySearch, the Shanghai Library, and other institutions), and instruction for reading the lineage and data tables portions these records.
NOTE: RootsTech is an incredible event held every year where you can get training, resources, and tools to aid you in researching and writing your family story. It was 100% virtual this year (2021) due to Covid and was attended online in record numbers across the globe. If you ever get the chance to attend live or online, I strongly urge you to do so. It is very inexpensive, and you will come away with unbelievable amounts of information that can accelerate your research and help you engage your whole family in this exciting hobby.
FamilySearch.org
The Shanghai Library’s General Index of Chinese Genealogies
This is a world union catalog of Chinese genealogies, produced by the Shanghai Library in collaboration with FamilySearch. Published in 2010, it is an important reference work to find Chinese genealogies and identify where you can access them. The 10-volume set, currently only available in book form, can be found at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and other libraries (use http://www.worldcat.org to search).
This work contains the following information:
- Bibliographic entries for 52,401 titles, 608 surnames, in 10 vols.
- Indexes arranged by surname and stroke count, title, ancestral place,
compiler, ancestral hall name, first ancestor, and famous people. - Annotations on ancestral place, important progenitors, migration history
- Holding institutions in China and other countries of each genealogy
China Library Websites