Post by NZBC on Dec 15, 2007 19:09:58 GMT 12
www.tanakamura.com/SB113831160010457474
In China, too, many are trying to recapture that sense of belonging. During the Cultural Revolution, family lineages were seen as vestiges of China's feudal past and Red Guards destroyed countless family records. "Many Chinese genealogies...are lost forever, and today many Chinese in China and overseas are not able to trace their family roots," says Erik Huang, a second-generation Brunei resident whose grandparents were born in China.
But as China's economic growth brings about a greater sense of national identity -- as well as the financial means for its own citizens to look into their past -- the number of books, magazines and Web sites dedicated to genealogy has risen sharply, according to Danny Chin, the Asia area manager for the Genealogical Society of Utah. "Chinese genealogy has become a major discipline in itself," he says.
Shanghai Library is working with Mr. Chin's organization to produce a world-wide catalog of Chinese genealogies by 2007. The library created the first reading room for Chinese genealogical research in 1996, and it attracts tens of thousands of visitors each year; its Chinese Genealogical Collection contains more than 110,000 genealogical books, covering 335 names from more than 20 provinces and cities.
In China, too, many are trying to recapture that sense of belonging. During the Cultural Revolution, family lineages were seen as vestiges of China's feudal past and Red Guards destroyed countless family records. "Many Chinese genealogies...are lost forever, and today many Chinese in China and overseas are not able to trace their family roots," says Erik Huang, a second-generation Brunei resident whose grandparents were born in China.
But as China's economic growth brings about a greater sense of national identity -- as well as the financial means for its own citizens to look into their past -- the number of books, magazines and Web sites dedicated to genealogy has risen sharply, according to Danny Chin, the Asia area manager for the Genealogical Society of Utah. "Chinese genealogy has become a major discipline in itself," he says.
Shanghai Library is working with Mr. Chin's organization to produce a world-wide catalog of Chinese genealogies by 2007. The library created the first reading room for Chinese genealogical research in 1996, and it attracts tens of thousands of visitors each year; its Chinese Genealogical Collection contains more than 110,000 genealogical books, covering 335 names from more than 20 provinces and cities.