ACCORDING to Miriam-Webster dictionary, “genealogy” is the study of family history and the tracing of lineages and descents from ancestors.
This practice of keeping the family tree alive, visible and accessible was highlighted by Threader SriJayanasa Jemelawai (@alanraz84) who remarked that the Chinese were especially adept at it.
Using family names, kin can trace their roots back to the original settlements even though it may have been centuries ago.
This information can even be gleaned from ancient or old tombstones that carry vital info in its inscriptions on the origin of ancestors in China.
It was further lamented that most modern Malays only knew their grandparents’ names but not beyond that.
There is a lack of interest in finding out and preserving that lineage. It was also noted that the trend these days would be to sell the ancestral plots once the elders have left their mortal coil.
When this happen, future generations would forget where they came from and will no longer tend to their ancestors’ graves.
This practice of preserving one’s lineage through proper record keeping was proudly highlighted by a local Chinese who claimed that her family tree was in the 25/26th generation and written records about the family could be traced back almost 780 years!
A similarly-proud Chinese resident provided some useful info on the signboards adorning local Chinese homes.
However, he cheekily added that signs with four characters 恭喜发财 were the traditional festive greeting of “Gong Xi Fa Cai” and not some fancy family title.
This dedication to preserving historical info was also reflected in the China government’s attempt at preserving ancient administrations’ records.
This thoroughness and wealth of information was why academics researching ancient Nusantara kingdoms such as Ancient Kedah, Jambi, Srivijaya and Srihangsari would regularly refer to ancient Chinese texts and records.
A local Chinese who made the trek back to his grandfather’s village was wowed by the sheer size of the ancestor hall which was founded in the 17th century.
“Older than the US” was his amazed observation. The poster responded that with a thousand-year history, it was no surprise that the ancestor hall was older than the American state.
The poster was also amazed to find that Chinese middle names also played a part in helping trace kin.
According to a local Chinese, middle names were used during World War II to help families trace relatives that had parents killed or were separated by the conflict.
To illustrate the point, the commenter shared an anecdote of two strangers on a bus who found out they were related due to their common middle names.
The poster was further educated on the Chinese characters adorning the pillars found within ancestral shrine that a commenter visited in China.
It was postulated that each shrine had four stone pillars with 10 characters, each representing one generation of the clan.
Describing the words as a stanza of poetry, one commenter added the proviso that this shrine was his family’s and he was unsure if this practice was followed in other ancestral shrines.
It was lamented that this practice has not been followed by the Malays apart from royalty and the mercantile classes.
Ancestral records of ordinary Malays were harder to come by and if they did exist, are often limited to just a few generations.
The poster concurred that it was usually the palace, VIPs and religious figures who would keep family records.
It is incredibly refreshing to see the Chinese practice of preserving their lineage, heritage and traditions spoken of in such positive and glowing terms.
It does seem that at this time anything to do with Chinese culture is almost always use as political fodder to paint the community in a negative light.
Thus, to see Chinese traditions being praised and worthy of being followed is indeed very refreshing.
This is what celebrating diversity is all about. Long may it continue and let this be our nation’s calling card.
Main image credit: LTL Language School
