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In China, usually you could tell a person’s age by reading the names. However, the exception would be if the family’s ancestors were literate thus made a geneal
by yftsui 6y ago
In China, usually you could tell a person’s age by reading the names. However, the exception would be if the family’s ancestors were literate thus made a genealogy book, where the book will tell you which character could be used for the first character of a given name for the next few hundred years of the descendants; plus the descendants was able to protect a from the political movements in 1960s. My family’s genealogical book was mandated to be destroyed in the 1960s, hence I won’t able to tell my grandchildren which character was selected for his kids as my grandparents wasn’t able to recall the remaining.
The article could be way more interesting if it cross referenced names of Taiwan vs Mainland China. Names of newborns in China after 2000s are heavily influenced by TV shows, novels by Chiung Yao etc. (from Taiwan), due to parents love watching those TV shows, and a lot of them cannot remember the remaining of the genealogy book. Names heavily used by people born in Taiwan in 1980s, gains popularity in 2000s - 2010s in Mainland China.
- andromeduck 6y agoHad no idea they tried getting rid of it in the 60s, but that I guess explains why I was told it was hidden when I asked to see it. In my family I think the second character is a generational name, from a poem or something selected way long ago and the third character is chosen by the recorder from a pool recycled for evey generation. Also fun, as a 1.5g banana without too many connections back home, my parents also worry a bit about how I'll get my kids entered should that ever come to pass after they are gone.
- k_sze 6y agoI would suggest getting in touch with a local chapter of your clan association (宗親會). To those who are not Chinese: yes, “clan association” is a thing among the Chinese, especially among clans who are likely to have expats - e.g. clans from coastal provinces like Shanghai, Guangdong, Fujian. My Shi clan has chapters in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Philippines, and probably at least a few major cities on the West Coast of the US.
- andromeduck 6y agoI'm a Deng, and don't think we have that though it's been suggested that I have the dubious honor of having been inscribed in the same book as mr Xiaoping. Whether that's actually true or not IDK but there's also the double irony of my parents almost having been killed in 89 but for a last minute decision to stay with the local movement. For a triple dose, one of them is a Trump/Bannon/Guo paleocon now, the other a mildy liberal pro XJP nationalist - and then there's me, the Hayeck/Nozick/Cato reading classical Liberal. Real fun.
- xwolfi 6y agoRejoice there is better now ! I was educated as an atheist democrat liberal in the French Republic and decided to migrate to China and make children there ! It goes both ways, there's bound to be an increased inbound migration to China from other philosophies and it's not obvious we won't end up contaminating them a bit too !
- k_sze 6y agoDeng is a pretty big family name with many clans. Does your father or grand father still know the name of their Hall (堂號)? Alternatively, if you know a fragment of the poem, you can DuckDuckGo it and see.
- z2 6y agoWith some luck, people have been posting books that they find online in a rather scattershot manner on forums and blogs, usually surname and location. What is digitized may not represent the majority, but I was able to find a match on my grandmother's family poem by searching for her character, her father's, and her grandfather's.
- k_sze 6y ago> My family’s genealogical book was mandated to be destroyed in the 1960s, hence I won’t able to tell my grandchildren which character was selected for his kids as my grandparents wasn’t able to recall the remaining. That sucks to hear. Don’t lose hope though. Does your family still remember which exact clan you belong to? There might have been expat members or ones who fled to Taiwan/HK/Macau and have a copy of the book.