thoughts on the history and heritage of Chinese Australia
You are currently browsing the monthly archive for August 2009.
Read about former journalist Lincoln Kaye’s efforts to find out about the Weaverville (CA) Louies:
http://anewscafe.com/author/lincoln-kaye/
He’s writing it in episodes, and so far there’s an interesting look at researching at NARA (US National Archives) and at the US consular unit in Hong Kong.
Like many immigrants, Chinese Americans sometimes conceal the details of their arrival – but the truth behind ‘paper sons’ can be among the most harmful and hurtful.
Lisa See writes poignantly in the Los Angeles Times of the ongoing impact of America’s anti-Chinese policies of the past: ‘Paper sons, hidden pasts’ (Los Angeles Times, 2 August 2009).
The Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection at the University of Texas, has a great collection of online maps of China, both current and historical.
One of the real treasures is the China – Topographic Maps [Scale 1:250,000] (China Series) U.S. Army Map Service, Series L500, dating from 1954. Using a map of the whole of China as a guide, you can click to bring up very detailed maps of particular regions. Place names are given in modified Wade-Giles with some Chinese characters (and it’s kinda fun spotting familiar places – a detail map of Macau, for instance, points past the Portas do Cerco to ‘Chi-Ta 5 km’, which would be Jida, now a bustling and ever-growing part of Zhuhai city).
The Chung Shan map (NF-49/8 on the big plan, and warning, it’s a big file: 6.4mb), shows the western part of the Pearl River Delta, from Kaiping in the west to the border with Hong Kong in the east, from Panyu in the north to Macau in the south. You can see the level of detail provided on the map below.
The maps that are likely to be useful for those interested in Chinese Australian history are the following:
The other very cool thing about these maps is that they correspond to the map references in the Chinese Villages Database. So, for instance, the villages database gives the map reference ‘GQ 4394′ for Shek Kay Chun in Chung Shan (Shiqi in Zhongshan). This means you have to look for the area marked as GQ, find line no. 4 and go in 3/10 of the way to line no. 5, then find line 9 and go 4/10 of the way to line no. 0. A somewhat daggy illustration of how to do this is below (click on the image to get the full-size version). There you can see, circled in blue is Shekki.
Via aus-archivists (16 July 2009):
Family history, since the advent of the Cook Bicentennial in Australia, has changed from the interest of a select few to become one of the most popular pastimes of Australians. Yet in spite of the dramatic increase in membership of and numbers family history societies, the changes in library and archive practices and collections to meet the demands of those wanting to research their family history, and the vast numbers of subscribers to commercial family history websites, little is known about the interests, research practices and make up of Australian genealogists.
A survey of Australian genealogists has been launched to examine these questions as part of a master’s research program at the University of New England. Entitled ‘Who Are the Genealogists of Australia’, the survey asks genealogists about their motivations for beginning their research and why they continue to conduct their research. It also asks about their research interests and how and where they conduct their research and why they make those choices. The survey will also investigate their plans for the product of their research. Finally, genealogists are asked about their demographic characteristics.
The survey can be found at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~ausgensurvey/.
It is open for participation from August 1st 2009 until 30th November 2009.
All queries about the survey can be directed to Leon Alekna at the University of New England: lalekna@une.edu.au.
![NF 49-4 KUANG-CHOU (CANTON) AND VICINITY [verso]](http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/ams/china/txu-oclc-10552568-nf49-4-back.jpg){kind=link}
![NF 49-8 MACAU AND VICINITY [verso]](http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/ams/china/txu-oclc-10552568-nf49-8-back.jpg){kind=link}
![NF 50-5 VICTORIA AND KOWLOON AND VICINITY [verso]](http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/ams/china/txu-oclc-10552568-nf50-5-back.jpg){kind=link}