Chinese Research Helps

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China   Finding Your Chinese Genealogy 家谱 on Familysearch.org

Using English find your family's Jiapu 家谱 by following the procedure below.

 * 1) Click on Search
 * 2) Click on Record
 * 3) Research by location - Click on map of Asia
 * 4) Click on China
 * 5) China indexed Historical records appears - Scroll to bottom for Chinese  Image Only Records
 * 6) Click on Chinese Collection of Genealogies, 1239-2014
 * 7) Click on Browse through 13.2 million images
 * 8) Family name list of Chinese surnames appears, find your surname and click on it.
 * 9) Country click China
 * 10) Choose the correct province
 * 11) Choose the correct county
 * 12) Select the appropriate genealogy for study

Using Chinese find your family's Jiapu 家谱 in Familysearch.org by following the procedure below.

 * 1) Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on English, choose 中文.
 * 2) Return to the top of the page and Click on 搜尋，then 紀錄.
 * 3) Select 中國, 族譜收藏 1239-2014年2015年5月13日 by clicking on the blue 瀏覽影像
 * 4) Under Family Name select your family surname 性.
 * 5) Under Country select China 中國
 * 6) Under Province 省 select your province
 * 7) Under County 县 select your county
 * 8) Select the appropriate genealogy for study

Using the FamilySearch Catalog method to find a Chinese genealogy.

 * 1) Click on Search 搜尋
 * 2) Click on Catalog 目錄
 * 3) Under Search By: 搜尋依據  Click on Surnames 姓氏,
 * 4) Place your cursor in the Surname 姓氏 field.
 * 5) Change the language to Chinese by clicking EN in the lower right corner and selecting CH Chinese (Simplified, PRC).
 * 6) Type your surname in pinyin. Select the correct character for your name.
 * 7) Place your cursor in the Place 地點 field
 * 8) Type your province in pinyin. Make sure that the correct characters show in the green standardization bar
 * 9) Click on Search 搜尋 at the bottom.
 * 10) If catalog entries appear, click on them to see where the entry is located. If a small camera is present the document can be opened, if a film or book it can be located in the library or requested/ordered.

Learning to read Chinese Genealogies 家谱
家谱

What you can expect to find in a Chinese genealogy (家谱）
What's in a Jiapu

Traditional Chinese
Many records are in Traditional Chinese regardless of where the record was created. Simplified Chinese was only introduced in the mid 20th Century. today traditional Chinese characters are only used in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and expatriate areas in other countries.

Simplified Chinese
Simplified Chinese appears on modern records since the mid 20th Century. That was when the Chinese government (Peoples Republic of China) made it official. It is the most common form used there today although there are still many who know traditional Chinese. Simplified Chinese is not as widely used in expatriate areas, or areas like Hong Kong or Macau. Outside of the immediate area of China itself, it is only officially used in Malaysia.