Organized by Henry Tom
Interested in recovering your Chinese ancestry?
For many overseas Chinese, the ultimate connection to China is their family heritage and Chinese genealogy. Overseas Chinese, whose parents, and/or ancestors have emigrated from China, often find it difficult to make connections to their roots because their families shared little or had no detailed discussions about their past family history in China. The journey of Chinese genealogy, starting with archival research and culminating with a visit to one’s ancestral village in China, can provide the knowledge and understanding of how the experiences of their parents and ancestors influenced one’s own identity.
Village genealogy books (zupus or jiapus) with clan and lineages that can span thousands of years are essential to recovering one’s Chinese heritage and family lineages – the Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) destroyed almost all genealogy books in China except for those genealogy books in Guangdong province – only surviving due to the tenacity of the Cantonese people in Guangdong province to save them. The Cantonese are quite unique and truly blessed to have this precious Chinese source that helps to preserve their heritage.
1) most lineage information in China was only recorded within the village;
2) the village book contains the names of their father and ancestors and their family lineage, which documents and verifies the ancestry and relationships of the people from that village;
3) and the books with your family lineages can be linked with clan lineages that were compiled before the village lineage.
This April 2026 China Trip with tours and visits to ancestral villages provides a truly unique and rare experience – beginning with your own family research, attending Chinese genealogy workshops to understand the basic fundamentals and learn how to perform Chinese genealogy research – without having to be Chinese literate, with collaborative research in China and coming full circle with a visit to your ancestral village, from where parents and ancestors first started this epic journey. It is an opportunity not to be missed. Please consider going home to “qiáo xiāng” [ 僑鄉/侨乡] the hometown of overseas Chinese.
For questions, pricing & more details, please contact Henry Tom +1 480 980 8715 “Tomclan@Gmail.com”
CLICK HERE FOR Documents for the 2026 February Chinese Genealogy Workshop and the April China Trip
To get an idea of what you will see, do and accomplish on going to China to find your roots, see Ron Chan’s, “Chan China Roots Journal, 2018”, to get an idea how this trip can change your genealogy life. Download here.