SINGAPORE – When Mr Chung Kwang Tong dug deep into his ancestral roots in China, he started wondering if he was a Hainanese or Hokkien. While his grandparents came to Singapore from Hainan, his ancestors had originated from Fujian.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, he managed to connect with his ancestral hall in Hainan. When travel restrictions were lifted, he made a trip there and brought back copies of his zupu, or genealogy book.
From there, he traced his lineage back to Zhuang Sizong, a Song Dynasty official who served as an administrator of Hainan, but was originally from Putian in Fujian province.
Mr Chung, 39, said that when he approached the Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan with the information, he was told he has to follow the dialect indicated on his birth certificate, which is Hainanese, despite tracing his ancestral roots to Fujian, where the Hokkiens come from.
“But I’m a Singaporean for sure,” he said. “And each Singaporean’s story has unique values and experiences that collectively shape Singapore’s multicultural tapestry.”
The Taoist priest donated his genealogy book to the National Library Board (NLB), in response to a call from the Genealogy Society Singapore (GSS). Eight titles have been donated by GSS so far.
On Sept 21, NLB and GSS signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) at the National Library Building to jointly promote the interest in genealogy among Singaporeans by organising talks, workshops and exhibitions. GSS will also help enrich the genealogy collection of NLB with its donations.
Mr Ng Yew Kang, president of GSS, said zupus were written in the traditional form in classical or semi-classical language, which is dry reading even for people with good command of the Chinese language. As a result, many have been discarded over time.
“GSS is trying to minimise the loss of these valuable documents, and appeal to holders of such valuable documents to donate them to NLB through us.”
On behalf of GSS, Mr Ng contributed two genealogy publications donated from China. One came from the Khoo family in Zhangzhou city, in Fujian, which contains the family history of famous Singaporeans like the late businessman Khoo Teck Puat.
The other is from the Ng family in Tangpu village of Chaozhou city, in Guangdong.
Mr Ng said that GSS, which started in 2012, is in discussions with the Overseas Chinese Museum in Quanzhou city, Fujian, China, to bring in its family history collection of Singaporeans whose ancestors hailed from Quanzhou, to have them exhibited here.
Ms Alicia Yeo, director of NLB who signed the MOU with Mr Ng, said donated materials are organised and made accessible at the Lee Kong Chian Reference Library for public consultation.
“The National Library is the national repository of Singapore’s literary and heritage materials. We have the expertise to conserve, catalogue, and permanently preserve these valuable materials, which are accessible to scholars, researchers and the general public,” she said, adding that it plans to digitise its collections to make them easily accessible to Singaporeans and international researchers.
“For migrants from around the world, such as those from South-east Asia and China who have made Singapore home, genealogy books and other ancestry records help Singaporeans to trace their roots and develop a sense of belonging, which contribute to the collective Singapore narrative,” Ms Yeo said.
To help members of the public with their research, NLB created a Family History Resources webpage in its website.
Wanted: Genealogy books for the National Library
