Searching for my ancestral village

[startide]

I was told that my great-grandparents were originally from Guangdong and came from a place/village known as tze kim (romanised spelling may be wrong & I have never study any chinese before so I can't write it out). The 'kim' is gold in chinese unless there are other chinese characters that looks like it. Do anyone know where this place is (used to be) or does it still exist? Thanks

[Xiao Kui]

紫金【ZǐJīn】 Place name - Area code: 0762, Postcode: 517400 (广东省).

I think it's in Heyuan, Guangdong which has a home page in English that doesn't tell more abt Zijin, but just abt the Heyuan area in general. If you google Zijin and guangdong you'll get a lot of hits. The wikipedia article abt Heyuan says Zijin was the home of Sun Yat Sen's ancestors.

[studentyoung]

I was told that my great-grandparents were originally from Guangdong and came from a place/village known as tze kim (romanised spelling may be wrong & I have never study any chinese before so I can't write it out).

I guess this “tze kim” means “石歧(shi2 qi2)”, because the Cantonese pronunciation of Shiqi is rather close to “tze kim”. Shiqi is a district in Zhongshan City(中山市 zhong1 shan1 shi4), and it used to be called as "Shiqi Town". The place is still there, but I’m just not sure whether Shiqi is your ancestral village. Anyway, good luck!

Thanks!

[startide]

To the both of you, thank you. Xiao Kui chinese character has the 'kim' in there so I assumed he is more accurate in the location but studentyoung thanks anywhere. I do look forward to my post on this topic so that it can help me to narrow down my search.

[夜雨叮咚6]

I think it is 紫金， because you say "kim" means gold, that's the meaning of 金!

紫金is a gathering place of Hacka people. "tze kim" is exactly the sound of "紫金" in Hacka language. I don't think it is 石歧, because 歧 doesnt mean gold, and its sound is not near tze kim. why i know? because I'm Hakwa people, to be more detailed, i'm from 紫金！！ Maybe my hometown is your hometown too!

[startide]

Thank you for your information on zijin or as I have spelled it "tze kim". You and Xiao Kui are correct about the location as I have checked with a photograph of the tomb stone (a christian cross - I am a christian) of my great grand father and the chinese characters written there is the same as the one both you and Xiao Kui have written here. If you are hakka and from tze kim (I better use this speeling now, since you are hakka) then we are what all hakka will always say "chi ka ngin". How's that? By the way what is your username if written romanised? My surname is spelled as "Voon" but my dad's is spelled as "Vun", other version of the spelling in malaysia include "Woon". Hope to get more information from you about tze kim. Thanks

[夜雨叮咚6]

what's the meaning of " how's that"? Maybe you are asking me the meaning.

In hakka language, "chi ka ngin" is 自己人/自家人 in Manderin( don't know how to explain in English.Maybe you know Chinese) we are chi ka ngin!

I think your surname is 翁(In hakka, it pronouses vong/wong), i don't know exactly where is the main location of wong family, but in 九和 (jiu he, a town in zijin, my hometown) there is a village, most people there have the surname of wong. my surname is 龚 (gong)

[startide]

My surname is not what you have written in chinese character. It is the same as the surname of China premier. by the way is zijin a district which comprises smaller towns? From your post it seems that people of the same surname more of less stay within the same town/village, and if that being the case then there should be a particular place in zijin where all the Voon/Vun are then. Am I right? If so, then it would be easy for me to locate the place after so many generation.

[夜雨叮咚6]

oh! so your surname is 温(wen)? when i was in high school in zijin. I did know someone's surname the same as yours(still your surname in Malasia now?) If the surname is a popular one, it's difficult to find its origin. But if is a rare one, it will be easier. Just like my surname, only two places in zijin have this surname. Maybe the same is true of your surname.

[startide]

Yes, that's how my surname is written in chinese character. Very few people are using this surname and people always ask me if I am related to so and so if they know I have the same surname if another person. Where exactly is zijin and how far is it from say, Dongguan and whats the population like? I tried google map but it didn't show me much. I have send you a private message.

[feevrs]

Hi my surname is Voon (wen1) same as yours - and I am looking for my ancestral village too. Have you had any success to date?

Thanks!

[startide]

No much luck but still have not given up hope. Every deadend I get it means that I am closer to the correct trail. Good Luck to you