Yunhuan Lou and Qiuanjulu Mansion in Zili Diaolou Village, Tangkou Township, Kaiping — watchtower houses built with overseas remittances

The Lei (雷) Surname: From Ancient Fangshan to the Wuyi Diaspora

The Lei (雷) Surname: From Ancient Fangshan to the Wuyi Diaspora Roughly 3.7 million people in the world today answer to the surname Lei (雷) — a name that means "thunder" and, in the oldest stories, carries the weight of it. It is not among China's largest surnames; by population it sits somewhere around the…

August 18, 20260Comments

BySteven

Chinese Surnames Surname Archive

The Yuan (袁) Surname: From the State of Chen to the Wuyi Diaspora

The Yuan (袁) Surname: From the State of Chen to the Wuyi Diaspora The Name Before the Place Most Chinese surnames are named for a place. A king granted a fief; the family took the fief's name; the name outlived the fief. The surname Yuan (袁姓, Yuán xìng) did not begin this way. It began…

August 14, 20260Comments

BySteven

Interior of a Taishan ancestral hall with spirit tablets, incense, and ceremonial offerings

Chinese Surnames Surname Archive

The Pan (潘) Surname: From the State of Pan to the Wuyi Diaspora

The Pan (潘) Surname: From the State of Pan to the Wuyi Diaspora The Pan surname traces to two royal lineages of ancient China. The first descends from the ruling house of the State of Pan (潘国, Pānguó), a small vassal polity of the Zhou period whose princes shared the blood of the Zhou kings;…

August 13, 20260Comments

BySteven

Chinese Genealogy How-To Guides

How to Read a Chinese Zupu: The 10 Parts, Explained Simply

How to Read a Chinese Zupu: A Diaspora Descendant's Guide The Book That Was Written for You Every few years, someone inherits a book they cannot read. Thread-bound, paper soft with age, characters printed vertically in a classical Chinese no one in the family studied. It is a zupu (族谱 zúpǔ) — a clan genealogy,…

August 12, 20260Comments

BySteven

Chinese Surnames Surname Archive

The Zeng (曾) Surname: From Confucian Lineage to the Wuyi Diaspora

The Zeng (曾) Surname: From Confucian Lineage to the Wuyi Diaspora A Sage's Name: The Kingdom That Became the Surname The Zeng (曾, Zēng) surname carries a Confucian pedigree no other Wuyi surname can claim: its first ancestor is 曾子 (Zēngzǐ, Zengzi), the disciple Confucius made the model of filial piety and later canonized as…

August 7, 20260Comments

BySteven

Kaiping diaolou in Zili Village, fortified watchtowers built with overseas remittance money, combining Chinese and European architectural styles

Genealogy Roots Trip

From Surname to Ancestral Village: A Roots Trip Blueprint for Wuyi Descendants

For over 150 years, the Wuyi region (五邑, Wǔyì) of southern Guangdong — the five counties of Taishan, Kaiping, Xinhui, Enping, and Heshan — has sent more overseas Chinese across the Pacific than any other place on earth. Today their descendants number in the millions, scattered across North America, Southeast Asia, Australia, and Latin America.…

June 19, 20260Comments

BySteven

A Kaiping diaolou watchtower rising above village rooftops, a UNESCO World Heritage structure built with overseas remittance money bearing surname signatures

Chinese Genealogy Roots Travel Surname History Wuyi Diaspora

Your Surname is Your Compass: How to Trace Your Wuyi Roots Starting With Just a Family Name

The Surname You Already Hold Your surname is not merely a name inherited from your ancestors. It is a compass — a pointer to a specific village, a specific migration history, a specific set of documentary holdings, and a specific overseas settlement pattern. If you know your surname, and perhaps just one fragment — “Taishan”…

June 11, 20260Comments

BySteven

The Fall of the Song Dynasty:...

Chinese in Canada Before the...

Yamen 1279: The Battle That E...

Haiyan Overseas Chinese Farm:...

What Is Qiaopi? A Beginner&#8...

Tag: zupu

The Fall of the Song Dynasty:...

Chinese in Canada Before the...

Yamen 1279: The Battle That E...

Haiyan Overseas Chinese Farm:...

What Is Qiaopi? A Beginner&#8...

The Lei (雷) Surname: From Ancient Fangshan to the Wuyi Diaspora

The Yuan (袁) Surname: From the State of Chen to the Wuyi Diaspora

The Pan (潘) Surname: From the State of Pan to the Wuyi Diaspora

How to Read a Chinese Zupu: The 10 Parts, Explained Simply

The Zeng (曾) Surname: From Confucian Lineage to the Wuyi Diaspora

From Surname to Ancestral Village: A Roots Trip Blueprint for Wuyi Descendants

Your Surname is Your Compass: How to Trace Your Wuyi Roots Starting With Just a Family Name

The Fall of the Song Dynasty:...

Chinese in Canada Before the...

Yamen 1279: The Battle That E...

Haiyan Overseas Chinese Farm:...

What Is Qiaopi? A Beginner&#8...

Join the Roots Of China newsletter