Resources

Prior recordings of our webinars

• Jan 15, 2020 What Your Parents Didn’t Tell You about Chinese New Year ^click
• March 2020 BACGG Digital Town Hall Meeting ^click
• May 20, 2020 Family and District Associations; Six Companies and Tongs: Explained ^click
• July 15, 2020 Chinese Night Clubs ^click
  We have posted the answers to the many questions ^site asked during Chinese Night Club webinar. Thanks to the hard work of Ron, Gail, and Jeannie with 2 hours of interviewing Calvin, Cynthia, and Coby, let alone the hours of collating the data.!
• Aug 29, 2020 Operation: WWII Chinese American G.I. ^site
  Link to view your elder’s name on the list of having received the CGM (Congressional Gold Medal) ^site

Remembrances of relatives who served our Armed Forces ^link

1. Doug Joe ^click
2. Ron Chan ^click
3. Leona Lau ^click
4. Susan Lee ^click
5. Janwyn Funamura ^click
6. Will Lee ^click
7. Justine Wong ^click

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All Things Chan (陳)

1. Chan Surname Special Interest Group (BACGG) ^click
2. Archive of Al Chinn’s now dark House of Chin (陳) ^click
3. Huang Village Chin (陳) Family Tree (Gene Chin) ^click

Pre-Pandemic Group Photos demonstrating how the group grew ^{click to view}

Beginning Genealogy Resource CD to purchase from Chinese Family History Group of Southern California  ^click

Research Tips

I. Handling and Studying Chinese Characters

1. How to Capture Chinese Digital Characters ^link by Tom Loui
2. New Edition: Hoisanva English Dictionary ^site by Gene Chin
3. MDGB Chinese Dictionary ^site dj 2020
   My favorite Chinese-English dictionary with simplified/traditional converter, pinyin/Yale/jyutping romanization, pronunciation, and more.
4. 100 Chinese Surname by Ron Young ^site dj 2020
   Beginners: a site to find your surname. [select][copy][paste]into your files. Fairly complete IMHO
5. List of Common Chinese Surnames ^wiki dj 2020
   Another site to find your surname, frequently referred to by Henry Tom ^link
6. Reading Chinese Gravestones by Doris Yau-Chong Jones Nov 2001 ^pdf dj 2020
   Nice treatise from Australia on interpreting tombstones. Remember, the dead don’t lie.

II. Media Management

1. Scanning Tips with Epson V600 ^click by Ron Chan
2. Colorize B&W Photos Free for a limited time ^click/ by Ron Chan
3. Photo Restoration – Scanning and Retouching site ^click by Ron Chan
4. VideoPad ^link dj 2020
   Full featured video editor. Free for 1 month. Older interface, similar to Microsoft Movie Maker . Beware as it seems like they install nagware on your computer. Mar 2021: they are very aggressive about you paying for updates. To prevent that, back up your program. Email me for details.
5. Irfanview ^link dj 2020
   Free full featured image manipulator
6. Audiacity ^link dj 2020
   Free full featured sound manipulator which VideoPad can also do with sound, but cost money.

III. Oral History

1. Transcribing Oral History ^click by Ron Chan
2. 10 Steps To Conducting Oral History Interviews ^click by Ron Chan

IV. Researching American Documents

1. How to Effectively Research the National Archives Portal site ^click by Marisa Louie-Lee
2. The A-Files (Alien Files) – Research and Access ^link Jeanie Low 2020
3. Resources to Learn about Angel Island Immigration and its Documents ^post by Grant Din
4. Beware of the Elixir of NARA ^click dj 2020
   This is my opinion meant for newbies when accessing their NARA files

V. Researching Chinese Documents (Zupu 族谱) and Tombstones

1. HELP FOR READING CHINESE GENEALOGIES by Tony King ^pdf dj 2020
   Tony King has done an excellent job explaining how to interpret your jiapu/zupu. Contact me if you need additional help with your Chinese family tree booklet, the ‘Holy Grail’ of Chinese genealogy ! See item 11 below to view Tony King YouTube video “Interpreting Chinese Genealogy Books”.
2. Tracing their roots: genealogical sources for Chinese immigrants to the United States by Sheau-yueh J. Chao ^pdf dj 2020‘
   Janey Chau wrote this academic treatise on the zupu/jiapu. She would be the expert on Chinese family tree documents this side of the International Date Line.
3. Chinese Lunar and Gregorian Calendar Converter by Philip Tan ^spreadsheet dj 2020
   Philip Tan wrote out the calculations and Chinese characters for converting the Chinese calendar with the Gregorian calendar in spreadsheet format.
4. The Village Database by Friends of Roots ^site dj 2020
   The reincarnation of the Village Database done by the San Francisco Friends of Roots.
5. Geography of Kwangtung Province for Hawaii Residents by Francis Woo ^pdf dj 2020
   Francis Woo has declared her document as an open source publication.
6. If you’ve traced your ancestors to Huang Di opinion ^site dj 2020
   The sentiment of Him Mark Lai, added to the genealogical principle of always sourcing your family tree.
7. Reading Chinese Gravestones by Doris Yau-Chong Jones Nov 2001 ^pdf dj 2020
   Nice treatise from Australia on interpreting tombstones. Remember, the dead don’t lie.
8. The purpose of the Zupu-Explanation on Chinese Genealogy Forum by user laohuaqiao ^site dj 2020
   This formerly active participant on the Chinese Genealogy Forum explained the purpose of the zupu.
9. The Clan and the City: Sustaining Cooperation in China and Europe ^pdf dj 2020
   Governance in China: How the Clan ruled villages in China compared to how guilds ruled villages in Europe. The reason Mao Zedong burned the zupus during the Cultural Revolution.
10. How I recently obtained my zupu 族谱 (jiapu) ^link dj Jan 2010
11. Tony King YouTube video. Click on the button below.

VI. Chinese Culture

1. What Ching Ming Means to Me ^click by Ron Chan
2. The Complicated Chinese Tree ^site dj 2020
   Cute YouTube video on Chinese family relationships
3. Having Face in Chinese Culture by china-mike ^site dj 2020
   This site has helped me understand the Chinese concept of ‘face’ as I compare with the American concept of face. I keep these lessons in the back of my mind as I converse with Mainland Chinese based genealogists.
4. Concept of Guangxi by china-mike ^site dj 2020
   Another necessary lesson when networking with Mainlanders.
5. The “Chinese Stomach”: Why Chinese Travelers Prefer Bad Chinese Food Over Any Other Food by David Chan ^site dj 2020
   I know understood why my parents always went to Chinese restaurants in other cities.

VII. Miscellaneous

1. A Genealogical To-Do List While You Keep Your social distancing ^click by Ron Chan
2. Free Chinese Online Genealogy Consultation ^click by Ron Chan
3. Celebration of the End of World War 2 ^YouTube CHSA ^site Sep 26, 2020

VIII. Members Online Genealogy Sites

1. Our Family Jiapu 家譜/家谱 ^site by dj2020
2. Welcome to the Lew Family Genealogy of Slen War Lee (新 和 里) and Oong War (東 和) ^site by Tom Loui
3. Welcome to Tonaidin.net! ^site by Grant Din

IX. Book Review by dj2020

The Lucky Ones: One Family and the Extraordinary Invention of Chinese America by Mae Ngai ISBN-10:0618651160
I highly recommend this book. Please refer to the other 33 reviews on Amazon ^site

• Parallels the life of my ancestors and elders, the middle class of Chinese Americans.
• An excellent representation of the social, physical, and emotional environment of the turn of the 20th USA.
  The text paints a picture of what my grandfathers had to endure in the early 1900’s.
• Familiarity with the SF-Berkeley and Portland, Oregon region makes Ngai’s descriptions more poignant
• Despite claiming knowledge of racism against Chinese, I was awed by the amount and virulence of the anti Chinese sentiment. Even though it is an underlying and recurring theme, Ngai’s style is subtle but effective.
• Narrative is easy to read, novella-like. One might question its authenticity until the reader reaches the footnote section. A 2nd generation E book did not display the footnotes appropriately.
• Because of the extensive footnote section, this book could be a college level textbook. Such status would quadruple the price
  dj 08/2020

X. Historical Links of Interest by dj2020
Frequently as I research my family history, I look for context in Chinese (American and world) histories to get an idea of what my ancestors had to live through.

A. China’s Contribution to WW1

• Chinese Labour Corps ^wiki
• The Surprisingly Important Role China Played in WWI ^site
• The forgotten army of the first world war – How Chinese labourers helped shape Europe ^site
• First world war’s forgotten Chinese Labour Corps to get recognition at last ^site
• 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War – Labour (China) ^site

B. China’s Infrastructure

• How to Downsize a Transport Network: The Chinese Wheelbarrow ^site
  This has always been a favorite essay. I am familiar American wheelbarrows. This opened my eyes to Chinese innovation in their transportation network.

C. Anthologies of Chinese History

• Synopsis of Chinese History and Culture by David K. Jordan Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, UCSD ^site
  Great multi-page site on Chinese culture, history, and language
• Chinese Characteristics by Arthur H. Smith ^site
  Over 150 years old, and an interesting read if you can look past the chauvinism of that period.

XI. Places to Visit both physically and virtually

• Click to see a list of Museums and Cultural Centers