Thursday, October 29, 2009

Jia Pu

Jia Pu - Chinese Genealogical Record - An Introduction: "In the history of the Chinese people, there are three important elements that are significant. They are China's history, the local gazette and a clan's genealogy. Amongst these three elements, genealogy has the longest history and is the most influential.

Jia Pu (translated as genealogy record), also known as Zu Pu, is a record of a clan's history and lineage. It documents the origins of the surname, the migration patterns of the clan, the family lineage, the ancestral biography, the story of the locality, etc.

The origin of Jia Pu spans many eras and has been found as early as the Shang Dynasty (1523-1028BC). The family trees of the clans then were written on turtle shells, cow bones and bronze. Prior to the invention of writing, Chinese genealogical information was recorded by tying knots on ropes. Objects such as miniature arrows, shoes, cradle, bronze coins, kneecaps of goats and pigs were tied to the knots to show the number of generations, number of members (male and female), etc. in a family. This information was also verbally passed on to the later generations. Such were the earliest forms of Chinese genealogical record."

and who are using 家谱网 - 穿越时空的家族聚会

Jiapu.com, launched in 2008, hosts more than 3000 Jiapu – Chinese family histories bound in volumes – the earliest being from the 6th century BC and the most recent from the 1940s. The collection has been made available through an exclusive long-term partnership with the Shanghai Library, which holds the largest collection of Chinese family history records in the world. The site is in local language

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

My great-randmother is of Chinese descent. That makes me 1/16 Chinese. Their family came from the Southern Fujian province in China. They carry the surname Limcolioc which was believed to be the name of the ancestor who came to the Philippines. Originally their surname is Lim. Just wondering how I can go on wiht my research to find their family Jia Pu. Any tips from you is appreciated. Tyvm.

gilbert
manila, philippines

4:13 am  
Blogger Hugh W said...

sorry I am not an expert

I am told that chinese clan genealogy only records the male line, and when women marry non-chinese they are regarded as single still.

If christian there may be mission records

2:35 pm  

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