For the benefit of readers, "Toysan" is
the Cantonese pronunciation ("Taishan" in Mandarin) of the county/district in
southern Guangdong (Kwangtung) province in China, on the west side of the Pearl
River delta, across from the city of Guangzhou (Canton). The local dialect
is a variant of Cantonese, with a number of differences in pronuciations,
vocabulary, and tones. The Toysan dialect was brought overseas by Chinese
immigrants and established in many Chinatowns across North America, where it is
still spoken.
Northern Ancestors
The "Tang"
surname dates back more than 3,600 years, to the beginning of the Shang dynasty
in ancient China, circa 1600 B.C. - Tang Tze was the name of the first
king of the Shang Dynasty, whose army overthrew the Xia (Hsia) Dynasty. (It
is important to note that the royal dynasties in ancient China did not reflect
the family name; rather, the dynastic names were symbolic.) The
surname of the Shang dynasty rulers (1600 - 1046 B.C.) was "Tze"
(pronounced "Zuh" in Mandarin, "Dee" in Toysan dialect). Chou Tze,
the last emperor of Shang, also known historically as "Ta Wang"
(pronounced "Dah Wong" in Mandarin, or "Jow Wong" in Toysan
dialect), was infamous for his cruelty, and was overthrown by the people who
later established the Zhou (Chou) dynasty. Many surviving descendants of the
late emperor were persecuted and executed. An uncle of Ta Wang escaped to an
faraway place and founded a new surname, "Tang" (pronounced "Tahng" in
Mandarin, "Tong" in Cantonese, and "Hong" in Toysan dialect). All
Tongs are descended from this man.
Southern Descendants
Over the centuries,
the Chinese civilization spread outward from the Yellow River and Yangtze River
valleys. Guangdong (formerly spelled "Kwangtung") is a large province in
southern China. During ancient times, most Chinese lived north of this area, and
Guangdong was considered a hostile, forbidding, back country territory suitable
for exiling criminals and political prisoners (China's version of Siberia). The
aboriginal people who lived in Guangdong were later pushed further south into
Indochina by Chinese from the North. Small remnant populations of these
aboriginal peoples remained; they speak dialects unintelligible to speakers of
Mandarin or Cantonese. Today, about 50 million people live in Guangdong,
most of whom speak Cantonese. Cantonese has various dialects, including Toysan
("Hoy Sahn Wah"), which is spoken by over 1 million Chinese, including many
overseas Chinese. For many generations, the majority of overseas Chinese traced
their ancestry to the Pearl River Delta area, located at the southern end of
Guangdong province, which comprises Toysan County, near the city of
Canton.
Roots of the Tongs of Toysan
County
The Tongs in Guangdong province are traced back to a
Tang (known as "Tong Wei Gung") who migrated from northern China to
northern Guangdong over 600 years ago. The lineage of the Toysan County Tongs is
traced through Tong Wei Gung's third son, known as "Tong Hung Gung"; the
direct descendants of Tong Hung Gung were his second son, "Tong Din
Gung", and his grandson, Tong Mang Sing, who moved south to what is
now Toysan County, and eventually had five sons. Tong Mang Sing's third son
migrated and settled in what is now the New Territories ("Sun Wai"), a
county bordering Toysan, while the other four brothers settled in Toysan and
other parts of the province. The Tongs of Toysan County can trace their ancestry
to these latter brothers (the second, fourth and fifth son; the first son left
no descendants).
Tongs & Yans Are
Related
The origin of the Yan (also spelled
"Yun" and "Yen"; and "Gin" or "Jin" as pronounced in
the Toysan dialect) surname in Guangdong is traced back to a Tong who adopted
the pseudonym while fleeing the Mongol armies during the war-torn years of the
latter Yuan Dynasty, over six centuries ago. So, the Tongs and the Yans are
distant kin. One famous member of the clan, Martin Yan, master chef and
host of the PBS television show "Yan Can Cook," was born near Canton, and owns a chain of
successful restaurants in the United States.
Family Genealogy
Books
Most Chinese on the mainland have a book of the
family genealogy, which traces the father's side of the family. Reciting the
names of ten of your direct ancestors was an old historic tradition in China.
Many Chinese families that left their homelands did not bring the family
genealogy book with them; after many years, some have been able to obtain copies
during recent visits to the mainland. Those who could read and write Chinese
then had the opportunity to update the family tree and pass on the knowledge of
their roots to the next generation. There are many more Tongs (Tangs) living
today in northern China and Taiwan. It is important to remember that the
English-translated spelling of a Chinese name is not always consistent; what
really counts in how the name is written in Chinese. If you meet a person with
the last name Tong, Hong, Tang, Yan, Yun, Yen, Gin, or Jin, always
remember to compare how your respective last names are written in Chinese. If
his or her name is the same, chances are, you have met a distant cousin, because
there are only about 100 common surnames for all Chinese.
Cinema
Available at some Chinese video
stores, there is videotape version (with English and Chinese subtitles) of a
famous Mandarin Chinese movie made in 1964, entitled "Last Woman of Shang." Ta Chi (now spelled "Da Ji,"
pronounced "Hwun Gay" in the Toysan dialect) is the title character, the
concubine of the last Shang emperor, (King Zhou) known as Ta Wang. Ta Chi was
the daughter of Duke Su Hu, who was killed by Ta Wang during a raid on this
small realm. Ta Chi was made Empress of China, but she plotted revenge on the
Emperor for the murder of her father. She corrupted him and the people revolted
and overthrew the Shang.
For More Information
To research your own
roots, ask your parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, and/or older cousins to
tell you stories about their childhood in the old country; use a tape recorder,
video camcorder, or note pad. Inquire about any existing written information
such as the old genealogy book from China. Try to write down and later organize
the information. If your parents or grandparents can read and write Chinese, ask
if they can write down and pronounce a list of names of your direct ancestors.
You may need to phonetically translate the names - not an easy thing to do with
the Roman alphabet!
Recommended for
anyone with an interest in understanding Chinese as well as American
culture
An
excellent source book for understanding the contrasts between Chinese and
American cultures is
"Americans & Chinese: Passage
to Differences"
by
Francis L.K. Hsu
(1981,
University of Hawaii Press)
is a classic reference text, available at many public and college
libraries.
Click here to read excerpts from the text used for teaching purposes
The paperback version is still in print, and you can order it for about $15.00 or by clicking on the links below
Barnes & Noble.com
or
Amazon.com
Editorial Reviews
from Amazon.com
Book Description
From the Backcover: "When the first edition of Professor Hsu's book was published in 1953, it became a celebrated book, highly valued among scholars across many fields in the humanities and social sciences.... The publication of the third edition of this book, almost thirty years after its first appearance, certainly says a great deal about its value.... Reading this classic allows the readers to see real people, and how people relate to people, in two culturally contrasting societies. This book will serve a useful purpose for those who have little understanding of the cultural history and psychological orientations of the people of China and the United States." --The Journal of Psychoanalytic Anthropology
About the Author-->
The late Francis L.K. Hsu (1909-1999) was a professor emeritus of anthropology and a past director of the Center for Cultural Studies in Education at the University of San Francisco. For many years he was chairman of the Department of Anthropology at Northwestern University, and in 1977-1978 he served as president of the American Anthropological Association.
Visit my other web sites:
Whirlwind Tour of China: 10 Cities in 20 Days
at
http://chinatour.envy.nu/The Chinese & American Experience: A Bridge Between Two Cultures
at
http://www.oakton.edu/~billtong/chinaclass