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This is a country portal project, which is intended as a resource for users from a particular country. It may contain advice on how best to use Geni within your country, such as profile naming conventions, translation instructions, where to find genealogy resources, and more. You may join the project to contribute, or follow it if you only want to receive notifications of new discussions. Note that profiles cannot be added to country portal projects.
This project is a general purpose Portal for Chinese users (in the Mainland). See also separate Portals for Taiwan and Hong Kong. If you need help with your genealogy, start a discussion within this project. For English-speakers, some basics can be found at House of Chinn, and at the online forum at Siyi Chinese genealogy.
If you (are a Westerner who) have ancestors who worked and lived in China between 1850s to 1940s, check out the resources at
- https://www.chinafamilies.net maintained by University of Bristol
[IMPORTANT] Chinese Names on Geni
If you enter the Chinese characters of the name under Chinese (traditional) or Chinese (simplified) tabs, Geni will automatically put surname before first name according to the East Asian name order. Also the "birth surname" field, intended for the maiden name in the Western world, has been repurposed here to record a Chinese person's place of origin (sometimes translated as ancestral home, natal place, etc.), and it will be placed before the full name in square bracket. It shall NOT be used for a woman's maiden name. For more details on Geni's system for Chinese names, please see Geni Guide to Chinese Names project.
For instructions on how to use Geni, refer to the Geni Help Portal
Genealogy Resources
The most accessible resource is FamilySearch's collection of scanned images of genealogy records. For that, you would need to know, in addition to how the surname is written in Chinese, the origin of ancestry at the county (縣 xian) level. A big part of that collection seems to be from Columbia University's East Asian Library.
Many genealogy records from the National Library of China are being digitized, and can be accessed at http://ouroots.nlc.gov.cn/ which also contains information from other libraries. A ten-volume catalogue, entitled 《中國家譜總目》 and published in 2009, is also a valuable resource, available in major research university libraries. Chinese-reading skill is needed, so if anyone needs to find a particular genealogy, post a discussion and I would be glad to look it up (though I won't be able to visit the library that has a copy, but that's a start.)
There have been large projects to publish rare copies of genealogies (as facsimile reprint), and only major research libraries could afford these.
- 《閩台族譜彙刊》 Fujian and Taiwan; 50 volumes
- 《思綏草堂藏稀見名人家譜彙刊》 rare genealogies of "famed persons", from a private collector; projected 200 volumes, released 31+31+32 volumes
- 《北京圖書館藏家譜叢刊》民族卷 non-Han Chinese (i.e. Manchus, Mongolians, etc) 100 volumes. It must have been part of a bigger project. (digital scans available)
- 《北京圖書館藏珍本年譜叢刊》 chronologies of "famed persons" (not genealogies per se), 200 volumes (digital scans available)
Taiwan has been sorting and digitizing biographical information in their vast collection of archival documents inherited from the Qing imperial court and Republican government. It's particularly detailed in official assignments, but perhaps less useful for ancestry and family relations. Of course you would need the names in traditional Chinese characters to do the search.
- 人名權威資料查詢 mostly Ming and Qing periods
- 中華民國政府官職資料庫 Republican era (1912-1949, and afterwards in Taiwan)
For earlier periods, excavated materials could be used as primary source: Tombstone inscriptions for Tang and before, and bronze inscriptions for Zhou are especially valuable. In addition to research reports, there are compilations and catalogues of rubbing-copies or photographs
- 北京圖書館藏墓誌拓片
- 故宮博物院藏歷代墓誌彙編
A brief introduction to Chinese Surnames
The Chinese have by far the longest-running tradition of surnames, many of which can be traced back to the Warring States period (5th to 3rd century BCE, the last phase of the Zhou 周 dynasty) if not earlier. At that time there were in fact two distinct types of surnames: xing 姓 and shi 氏. The royal family of Zhou dynasty, whose xing was Ji 姬, had been ruling "all under heaven", if only nominally, since the 10th century BCE. In each generation only one son, by "law" the first born of the primary wife (as opposed to concubines), would become the next king, and the others would be enfeoffed in various dukedoms which were practically independent States. Their descendants would further differentiate, and in some cases (as in the States of Lu 魯 and Zheng 鄭), certain branches would be powerful enough in "state" affairs to identify themselves, in addition to being a Ji 姬, by the name (usually the courtesy name 字) of the progenitor of their branch. Thus was born the second surname shi 氏, and they would prefix it to their own given names. (In contrast, the first surname xing 姓 was never used in conjunction with given names, in much the same way that European monarchs technically do not have surnames attached to their names.)
Much like what happened in Europe (much much later), both the xing 姓 and shi 氏 surnames initially were reserved for nobility, and gradually over the course of the Warring States period, more people came to adopt a 氏 surname for themselves, typically after the name or occupation of a certain ancestor. Given that the names of almost all the states at the time are major surnames today, it is very likely that many people simply took the name of the state they found themselves in as their surname, with no real connection with the noble family. For instance, one of the most popular surnames is 陳 (variously transliterated as Chen, Chan, Tan, Chinn, etc.), and according to family tradition, all the lineages from different parts of China all purport to trace back to the ruling house of the State of Chen, who themselves probably never used 陳 as part of their name. (Likewise the Zhou kings never used 周 as their 氏 surname.) It would indeed be very unlikely that vast majority of Chinese today are all descended patrilineally from the noble families of a handful states as claimed by their genealogies (and none from commoners), and ultimately from the person of the Yellow Emperor 黃帝.
In fact, modern DNA studies are beginning to reveal that all the major Chinese surnames are the same assortment of different Y-chromosome haplogroups. Contrary to popular belief, one is no more likely to share the same Y-chromosome with someone of the same surname (outside their family or village) than with a random person on the street. Of course obscure surnames are a different story, and there's much to be done in this new area of research.
Most popular surnames in China
- Li (Lee) 李, royal family of Tang dynasty
- Wang (Cant: Wong, Minnan: Ong) 王, meaning King or Prince
- Zhang (WG: Chang, Cant: Cheung, Minnan: Teo) 張 张,
- Liu (Cant: Lau) 刘
- Chen (Cant: Chan, Minnan: Tan, Chin) 陈 Zhou state
- Yang (Yeung) 杨
- Zhao (Chao) 赵 Zhou state
- Huang (Cant: Wong, Minnan: Oei) 黄
- Zhou (WG: Chou) 周 Zhou
- Wu (Cant: Ng) 吴 Zhou state
- Xu (WG: Hsu, Wu: Zee) 徐
- Sun 孙
- Hu 胡
- Zhu (Chu) 朱
- Gao (Kao) 高
- Lin (Lim, Lam) 林 Bigan 比干
- He (Ho) 何
- Guo (Kuo) 郭
- Ma 马
- Luo (Lau) 罗
- Liang 梁 Zhou state
- Song (Sung) 宋 Zhou state, Song dynasty
- Zheng (Cheng) 郑 Zhou state
- Xie (Hsieh) 谢
- Han 韩 Zhou state
- Tang 唐 Zhou state, Tang dynasty
- Feng (Fung) 冯
- Yu 于
- Dong (Tung) 董
- Xiao (Hsiao) 萧
- Cheng 程
- Chai 柴
- Yuan 袁
- Deng (Teng) 邓
- Xu (Hsu) 许 Zhou state
- Fu 傅
- Shen 沈
- Zeng 曾 Zengzi 曾子
- Peng 彭
- Lu 吕
- Su 苏
- Lu 卢
- Jiang (Chiang, Tsiang) 蒋 Zhou state
- Cai (Tsai, Chua) 蔡 Zhou state
- Jia (Kia) 贾
- Ding (Ting) 丁
- Wei 魏 Zhou state
- Xue (Hsueh) 薛
- Ye (Yeh) 叶
- Yan (Yen) 阎
- Yu 余
- Pan 潘
- Du (Tu) 杜
- Dai (Tai) 戴
- Xia 夏
- Zhong (Chung) 钟
- Wang 汪
- Tian (Tien) 田
- Ren (Jen) 任
- Jiang (Chiang) 姜
- Fan 范
- Fang (Fong) 方
- Shi (Shih) 石
- Yao 姚
- Tan 谭
- Liao 廖
- Zou (Tsou) 邹
- Xiong (Hsiung) 熊
- Jin (Chin) 金
- Lu 陆
- Hao 郝
- Kong (Kung) 孔 Confucius
- Bai (Pai) 白
- Cui (Tsui) 崔
- Kang康
- Mao 毛
- Qiu (Chiu) 邱
- Qin (Tsin) 秦 Zhou state
- Jiang (Chiang) 江
- Shi (Shih) 史
- Gu (Ku, Koo) 顾
- Hou 侯
- Shao 邵
- Meng 孟 Mencius
- Long (Lung) 龙
- Wan 万
- Duan (Tuan) 段
- Cao (Tsao) 曹
- Qian (Tsien) 钱 钱鏐
- Tang 汤
- Yi (I) 尹
- Li 黎
- Yi 易
- Chang 常
- Wu 武
- Qiao (Chiao) 乔
- He (Ho) 贺
- Lai 赖
- Gong (Kong) 龚
- Wen 文
Given Names
这个家谱项目是华人用户的总门户（Portal）。请参阅台湾和香港的使用指南。
新用户：欢迎加入Geni！网站的中文翻译是由用户提供的，不完善之处请见谅。[%E5%B0%8F%E6%8F%90%E7%A4%BA%EF%BC%9A%E6%90%9C%E7%B4%A2%E4%B8%AD%E6%96%87%E4%BA%BA%E5%90%8D%E7%9B%AE%E5%89%8D%E6%9C%89%E4%BA%9B%E9%97%AE%E9%A2%98%EF%BC%8C%E8%AF%B7%E7%94%A8Google%E6%88%96%E7%99%BE%E5%BA%A6%EF%BC%88%E8%BF%98%E5%8F%AF%E4%BB%A5%E9%81%BF%E5%BC%80paywall%EF%BC%89%EF%BC%8C%E6%90%9C%E7%B4%A2%E6%97%B6%E6%9C%80%E5%A5%BD%E5%8A%A0%E4%B8%8A site:geni.com。如果用站内搜索搜到某人，可以在名字上悬停鼠标，会出现一个基本信息的卡片，右击任一亲属，在新窗口打开，就可以点入您想要的人了。]
姓名
Geni最近推出专为华人设计的姓名系统，如果将网站的语言设为中文就一目了然（如下图），但只适用于输入到中文标签下的名字。
效果：【眉州眉山】蘇軾 (子瞻 東坡)
西方人的名字不受干扰，还是以first middle last, suffix的顺序。更详细的信息请参阅Geni华人名字指南项目。
1950年代之前的人名，请尽量用繁体字。使用中文(简体)的标签并无不可，但最好“名从主人”，用本人使用并认可的名字。
如果只知姓而不知名（如旧时大多数女性），先在“名讳”一栏键入一个空格，再保存即可。
如果输入籍贯，请到名字显示设置中选择婚前姓不加括号。
当添加亲属的时候，姓氏和籍贯可能会自动填入错误的栏目，要手动改。（系统是按西方姓名设置的。亦可取消suggest surnames。）
For instructions on how to use Geni, refer to the Geni Help Portal
家谱资源
最易获取的资源是美国犹他州摩门教会的网站 FamilySearch.com，数字扫描了国外图书馆收藏的大量族谱，尤以哥伦比亚大学为多。https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1787988
国家图书馆也在进行扫描工作 http://ouroots.nlc.gov.cn/ ，亦包括其他图书馆的信息。
2009年出版的十卷本《中國家譜總目》几乎囊括了所有国内外图书馆藏的族谱信息。各大图书馆均有实体书。上海图书馆数字化了所有信息，提供检索 http://search.library.sh.cn/jiapu/
历年出版的族谱影印本有
- 《閩台族譜彙刊》50册
- 《思綏草堂藏稀見名人家譜彙刊》，励双杰私藏并主编。计划共200册，已出31+31+32册。
- 《北京圖書館藏家譜叢刊 · 民族卷》，100册。(网上有扫描版)
- 《北京圖書館藏珍本年譜叢刊》200册，虽然不是族谱，但对族谱研究也有价值。(网上有扫描版)
Taiwan has been sorting and digitizing biographical information in their vast collection of archival documents inherited from the Qing imperial court and Republican government. It's particularly detailed in official assignments, but perhaps less useful for ancestry and family relations. Of course you would need the names in traditional Chinese characters to do the search.
- 人名權威資料查詢 mostly Ming and Qing periods
- 中華民國政府官職資料庫 Republican era (1912-1949, and afterwards in Taiwan)
For earlier periods, excavated materials could be used as primary source: Tombstone inscriptions for Tang and before, and bronze inscriptions for Zhou are especially valuable. In addition to research reports, there are compilations and catalogues of rubbing-copies or photographs
- 北京圖書館藏墓誌拓片
- 故宮博物院藏歷代墓誌彙編