How to Find Your Ancestral Village in Chaoshan

Short answer: Start with what the family still has — a surname in Chinese characters, an ancestor's name, a village name in any spelling, old letters (qiaopi), photos or gravestones. Each clue narrows the map; local verification does the rest.

The clues, ranked by value

1. Village name in Chinese characters — from documents, letters or gravestones. Gold.

2. Ancestor's full name with generational character — many Chaoshan lineages name by generation poem; a genealogy can place a name instantly.

3. Qiaopi letters — remittance letters often carry full sender addresses.

4. Dialect recordings — Chaoshan dialect varies by county; a recording can locate a family within tens of kilometers.

5. Romanized spellings — "Teng Hua", "Swatow", "Teochew" era spellings need expert conversion, but they convert.

The process

Collect everything → organize into a clue sheet → research against genealogies and village records → verify on the ground with village elders and clan halls → then, and only then, plan the journey home.

What we do (and don't)

We organize, research, verify locally and design the homecoming. We never promise a discovery we cannot make — some trails end, and we will tell you honestly when they do.