Canadian Genealogy · Family history stories

Reflections: My life as a Chinese Canadian genealogist

There has never been a better time to get into Chinese genealogy. More and better records are being digitized, found, and released as privacy laws and resources permit. I'm excited to see what the future holds and I can't wait to teach more people how to find their own families. The fact that I, a non-Chinese speaker, can do what I do is testament to titanic changes in genealogy. As well, the story of Chinese settlement in Canada has all the hallmarks of a great novel: enormous sacrifices against overwhelming odds, generations of time, and oceans of distance. All it needs now is us to find and interpret the hidden stories and tell them to our kids.

Canadian Genealogy · Family history stories

The holiday read: “Finding Mr. Wong” by Susan Crean

In Finding Mr. Wong, Susan Crean (b. 1945; Toronto, Ontario, Canada) weaves together the histories of two significant men in her life: her grandfather Adam Gordon Campbell Crean, a second-generation Irishman from County Roscommon; and Gordon's cook-cum-consigliere (see below), Wong Dong Wong (黃宗旺) (pinyin: Huang Zong Wang) (1895-1970), a first-generation Chinese from Taishan County. Their… Continue reading The holiday read: “Finding Mr. Wong” by Susan Crean

Canadian Genealogy · Chinese Culture · Chinese Genealogy · Family history stories · Genealogy How Tos

Connecting, capturing, conversing, creating, and learning: celebrating Asian History Month in genealogy

It's Asian History Month and Asian genealogy has never been hotter. In this post I celebrate connecting to elders, gathering stories, courses I've taken, and courses that are coming.

Chinese Culture · Chinese Genealogy · Genealogy How Tos

Travels in China – the Overseas Chinese

One of the more startling revelations from the trip was learning about the Overseas Chinese - that's us. We folk of Chinese origin, we whose ancestors migrated from Sze Yup/Wuyi, China from about 1850-1949, we who are Chinese-something, be it Chinese Canadian, Chinese Hawaiian, Chinese Malay, Chinese South African, Chinese Thai, Chinese Singaporean and about 100… Continue reading Travels in China – the Overseas Chinese