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Syalom & Good Evening,
I am David, grandson of Drs. Agus Susatio (Thio Tjong Hing – 张宗形). Counting from our 1st ancestor, Kho Wan, I am the 7th generation descendant of the Kho family of Sokaraja, from my great-grandmother, Kho Swie Eng.
Along with my uncle, Oom Tan Koen Gie – 陈群义 from Holland, who is a Kho Swie Eng descendant as well and from my own initiative, we have tried & managed to find the exact location of our Kho family of Sokaraja’s precise ancestral village in China back in August this year.
According to the Bongpay (Chinese Tombstones in Bong Asinan) inscriptions available, our family hails from a named "YUJINGCUN - 玉井村", however further details are not specified in the tombstones, so it neither clear or accurate where the village is located or whether the village still survives after more than 200 years in modern day China since the departure of our first ancestor, Kho Wan. What is known for sure is that our ancestors did came from Fujian Province in China as we hail from the Hokkien clan group.
Initially, I have searched for one possible candidate for the village, I have searched for a village located in Fujian Province as well with the same exact name, Yujingcun 玉井村, which is located in Xianyou County, Putian Prefecture - 福建仙游县鲤城街道下辖村 （玉井村）. So, I thought this might be the village that our ancestor Kho Wan might have originated from, given of the similar naming and the location of the village located within Fujian Province, where I have initially posted up several sources and photos in regards to this specific village. However, I knew this might not be the truly exact village, as I said, many villages in China might have been lost to time or have their names changed centuries ago.
Then Oom Tan Koen Gie, who I knew was very interested in this project, stepped in and ask several peers of his, who have experiences in Chinese-Indonesian genealogy; Go Tiong Han & Ting Lie, to help us trace down the exact Yujingcun in Fujian. Shockingly, we discover that Oom Ting Lie has actually traced down the original village 10 years ago for Late Oom Steve Haryono, who was a Genealogist and also related to the Kho family, where in addition to tracing down the ancestral village, Oom Ting Lie has helped transcribed the tombstone inscriptions into the Hokkien dialect. (PDF, pictures & maps are attached into this project link). Mather of fact, when Oom Tan Koen Gie contacted Oom Ting Lie, he told us that ‘Yujingcun’ sounded familiar to him.
According to Ting Lie (2010), the village where our beloved ancestor Kho Wan hailed from is named SHIJINGCUN (Hokkien: Tjioo-tjie) - 石井村 NOT Yujingcun (Giok-tjie) - 玉井村, which is located in the City of Zhangzhou, Longwen District, Chaoyang Town - 漳州市龙文区朝阳镇石井村. For non-Chinese speakers or people not well-verse in Chinese culture, this might sound rather strange and confusing on why the village written in the tombstones differ than the original name of the village. Further explained, Oom Ting Lie enlighten us in an email he sent us, that the village name written in the Chinese tombstones (Yujing – 玉井) in Sokaraja is not wrong but was instead a clan name for the village, which was known only to the Kho family descendants and in reality, the village’s real and actual name is Shijing – 石井 (Ting Lie, 2010).
Furthermore, Oom Ting Lie (2010) added that there is an Ancestral Hall (Rumah Abu) of the Kho family located in this village, where descendants of the Kho family will gather, light up incense sticks (Hio) and pay respects to the ancestors in this Ancestral Hall. He also given us a picture he found of the ancestral village which in exterior looks so magnificent and very traditional!
It is such an honour and pride that we found the exact village that our ancestors hailed from, it is important that we, as the descendants, trace down our roots as they tell something unique for us to tell to our loved ones.
Our gratitude to Oom Tan Koen Gie, Oom Go Tiong Han & Oom Ting Lie for the assistant in finding an age-old mystery! Merry Christmas to all!
“Study the past, if you want to define the future.” – Confucius
Vincentius David W. Leung – 梁宙俊