rH~AS, Til-Sovf'(f':;

Major GenealogicalRecord Sources in

TaiwanThe Genealogical Department ofThe Church of Jesus Christof Latter-day SaintsSeries J, No.2 (Revised 1976)

MICROFORMS - LEVEL ..

PrefaceThis paper is not intended to detail the various

historical records of Taiwan, but to supply, asaccurately as possible, a general overview of themajor genealogical records of Taiwan and guide ofuseful source materials to meet the needs of alleducational levels,With sincere appreciation, we acknowledge the

assistance of Wang Shih-ch'Ing, Tam-kang College,

1

and Arthur P, Wolf, Stanford University, in thecompilation of this paper. Their suggestions andknowledge of source materials in Taiwan haveproven invaluable. These scholars are in no wayresponsible for errors that may be found in thispaper. Such errors should be brought to theattention of the Priesthood Genealogy Division ofthe Genealogical Department.

Historical SummarySpecialists in Chinese history generally consider

Taiwan to have been a frontier or fringe area of theChinese Mainland; the island was largelyundeveloped until the nineteenth century. Due to itssmall size and brief recorded history, Taiwan ismentioned in only a few scattered references priorto the seventeenth century. The Chinese themselvesknew little about Taiwan before the eighth century.With the gradual shift southward of Chinese

commercial and population centers, however,crossings from mainland China to Taiwan becamemore frequent. By the thirteenth century smallsettlements were being made along the westerncoastal plain of Taiwan and in the smaller, nearbyPenghu Islands. Nonetheless, the islands wereoccupied by relatively few settlers from China whencompared to the non-Chinese aborigines, who eventoday generally occupy the island's mountainousregions. These native tribes, incidentally, have nowritten records, but many have kept oralgenealogies for centuries.The Chinese Ming Government (A.D. 1368-1644)

neglected Taiwan due to its preoccupation withcontinued crises along the mainland's northernfrontier. As a result, various lawless elements fromjapan and China used Taiwan as a base, both fortrade and pirate activities. In order to protectthemselves from banditry, the settlers already inTaiwan. who were generally engaged in fishing,trading with the natives and seasonal farming,clustered in the Tainan, Lukang, and Tanshui areas.The first large migrations of Chinese began in the

1620's at a time when southern China was sufferingfrom Iamlne and Taiwan was being taken over bythe Dutch. The Dutch registered and taxed thenative and Chinese populations for several decades,but only fragments of the Dutch records remaintoday.After 1644 a wave of refugees from the Ming-

Ch'ing wars came to Taiwan. This was followed byanother surge in the 1650's, when Cheng Ch'eng-kung established himself along the Fukien coastand the Manchu government increased its efforts todrive him out. Cheng Ch'eng-kung expelled theDutch from Taiwan in 1661 and established a Mingloyalist regime on the island. Migrations fromFukien and Kwangtung provinces increased in spiteof Ch'ing regulations forbidding any kind ofmovement between Taiwan and the coastalprovinces of the mainland.Ch'ing rule was established in Taiwan in 1683,

and more waves of migrants followed as restrictionswere relaxed. The Ch'ing conquest of Taiwan also

2

marked the introduction and gradual expansion ofthe traditional Chinese administrative system, butonly fragments of these records exist. A few Ch'ingdynasty land records in the form of deeds and billsof sale can be found today in some museums andcollections.During the eighteenth century, there were many

transient farmers, usually single males, who stayedin Taiwan for the growing season and then returnedto their homes on the mainland. Beginning withCh'mg rule, many began to make permanent homesin Taiwan, but even those who lived their wholelives on the island still continued to be buried intheir ancestral homes in Fukien. Those who madepermanent homes in Taiwan began to bringgenealogies from their ancestral homes, and in thisway established new families and lineages inTaiwan. Many genealogies begin with the firstancestor to move to Taiwan but have littleinformation for earlier ancestors on the mainland.Taiwan was under the administration of Fukien

province until 1892, when it was made a separateprovince. Taiwan was a separate province for onlythree years. Following the Sino-japanese War of1895, it was ceded to japan. The japaneseoccupation produced most of the available recordsfor genealogical research other than the clangenealogies. During this period of time, thejapanese carried out the first island-wide censuses,land registrations, and household registrations.Household registrations were particularly thoroughsince the colonial police force used the regis teres tohelp control the Chinese on the island. One of themost important results of the japanese occupationwas the almost complete cessation of Chinesemigration from the Mainland and an influx ofseveral hundred thousand japanese to the island,the majority of which returned to japan after thewar.In 1945, after the defeat of japan, Taiwan

became a province of the Republic of China. Thereversion marked a mass exodus of Japanesenationals and the renewed influx of Chinese fromthe Mainland. The new government carried outanother census and modified the old japanesehousehold and land registration systems. The mostimportant consequence of the reversion was thechange of the official documentary language fromjapanese to Chinese. The last major movement ofpeople into Taiwan came with the fall of MainlandChina to the communists in 1949. At that timenearly two million mainland-born Chinese movedinto the province of Taiwan.

Major GenealogicalRecord Sources in TaiwanIn identifying ancestors, genealogical researchers

need the answers to four key questions regardingsources:1. What records exist that will aid in the identi-

fication process?2. What periods of time do the existing records

cover?3. What genealogical information appears in

those records?4. Are the records available for research?

3

The two tables which follow contain answers tothe above questions for the major genealogicalsources of Taiwan. These sources are listed.together with the time period covered. the type ofinformation given, and the availability of thesource.Table A indicates which sources are available for

research for each particular period of time. Table Bprovides more detailed information about therecords listed in table A.

Major Source Availability TABLE A

Type of Record

1. Census

Fl:Jt~

2. Temple Records

J!ij "" '§~ rue~3. Household Registration

F~~lle

4. Newspapers¥a,fj!;

5. Official Documents

~:Jt

6. Christian Church Records

t!<:~ lle~

7. Land Records

±:tIf!lle~

8. Ancestral Tablets

:f'l'± • :f'l'tL9. Family Documents

:lj(~

10. Tombstone InscriptionsJ,l;lJ1II..J,l;J'<.J,l;;;t;;i;

11. Local Histories:tilln$

12. Examination Rosters

~f4~· ~.J'<. 1'4 ElJ'<13. Clan Genealogies

*~.1l*~.~~

14. Miscellaneous

~J;ll

15. Oral Genealogiesl:J~:lj(~

960 (Sung)

4

1368 (Ming) 1895 [japanese1644 (Ch'ing) Occupation)

Type of Record

1. Census!

2. Temple Records

3. HouseholdRegistration

PeriodCovered

1945to

present

About1900to

present

About1896-19452[japaneseOccupation)

Type of Information Given

Vital statistics concerning each member ofthe household; similar to the informationfound on the household register

Lists of children provided for the templegods. usually including each child's name,birth date, and parents' names andaddress(esJ

Lists of people who have had theirancestral tablets placed in local templesand shrines, attended by the monks, nuns,or priests

Lists of people whose cremated remainsare in the pagoda attached to Buddhisttemples or monasteries

Active Registers (JJ! F J: Head of house-hold; previous head of household; currentaddress; previous address; permanentresidence: names of parents, spouse,children; dates and places of birth,marriage, divorce, death; order of birth,sex; adoptions; name of natural or adoptedparents; changes of name; date of adoptionor dissolution of adoption; date and reasonfor entry and/or removal from the register;relationship to head of household; divisionof the household; women with bound feet;ethnic origin

Temporary Registers (WI¥! FJ: Mostlyregisters for Japanese nationals living inTaiwan; includes same information asabove

Inactive Registers (!iR F): Same as above,but includes the reason for the registerbecoming inactive (death of the head of thehousehold, change of permanent address,etc.)

TABLED

Availability

Kept in each household

Local temples. Usuallykept by the large. moreimportant temples andshrines. Available torelatives

Located in Buddhistmonasteries andtutelary shrines, avail-able to relatives

Buddhist monasteries;available to relatives

Available to relativesonly in the ch'u (I!& l,shih ( ili ), chen ( ~), orhsiang (j1'j\) local regis-tration offices

1 Censuses bave been taken regularly since 1900,but the schedules are not open to the public.Additions to the census records kept in the homeare made when the event is registered at thehousebold registration office, or by police officialsduring the regular census.

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2 Registration began in most areas within a fewyears after the beginning of the Japanese Occu-pation, but the registers often include informationfrom the early 1800's. The entire population wasre-registered in 1946 upon the return of Taiwanto China.

Type of Record

3. HouseholdRegistration(Continued)

PeriodCovered

1946to

present(Republicof China)

Type of Infonnation Given Availability

Active Registers (m j=ij: Same as above, Same as abovewith additional information on educationallevel and occupation of head of household

Temporary Registers (ilfiE,A nj. Mostly,registers of families of Mainland origin;includes same information listed above

Inactive Registers ( !If- j=i): Same as above

4. Newspapers

5. Official Documents

6, ChristianChurch Records

7. Land Records

1895to

present

1895-1945

1644-1895

About1850to

present

Obituaries; birth, marriage, and deathnotices of influential families; other factsof genealogical importance

Compilation of Official Records of theUapanese) Governor-General of Taiwan(iiil!litm.·l!ifft ~)(J:l'r!Jl:lncludes resumesfor all civil officials serving during theJapanese occupation ( EI M IIi'f1\Y:'il I1!i!fit~). other facts of genealogicalimportance

Christenings or births: Date and place;name of child; parents' names andresidence(s)

Marriages: Names; date and place ofmarriage

Death and burials: Name; date and place ofdeath or burial; sometimes age at deathand name of spouse or parents

Memberships: Name; date of baptism;sometimes parents' names and names ofspouse and children

Title deeds (~cl'f. "J.:',j8): Names of peopleinvolved in the transaction; location andsize of property; date of sale or transfer;sometimes includes names of parents orrelatives

6

I

Newspaper offices; var-ious public and univer-sity libraries; CentralNational Library and itsbranches

Taiwan ProvincialHistorical ResearchCommission, Taichung,Taiwan

Local churches

Some owned by publicand university libraries,museums, andindividual families

Type of Record

9. Family Records(Continued]

PeriodCovered Type of Information Given

Marriage Contracts: Bride's and groom'snames, birth dates, and several generationsof ancestry for both

Availability

Same as above

Adoption and Heirship Agreements: Same as aboveIncludes name; adoptive and naturalparents' names; other facts of genealogicalimportance

Birth Records 1:'!:1l;f1l): Name: exact time Same as aboveof birth: other facts of genealogicalimportance

10. TombstoneInscriptions

11. Local Histories

12. ExaminationRosters?

~:f4~ • :ili1"'~ .:f4El~

About1600to

present

1368to

present"

1368-1900

Name; wife's name (often including givenname); date of burial; ancestral place oforigin; often children's and grandchildren'snames, birth and death dates; sometimesincludes the names of the living sons andgrandsons who set up the gravestone. withthe date; occasionally includes longerinscriptions describing migrations of theancestor with more extensive genealogicalinformation

Genealogy of local clans and families;biographies and biographical sketches; listsof "chaste widows"; famous women andtheir husbands: iists of the elderly:collections of tombstone inscriptions andepitaphs; rosters of local officials withbiographical sketches; civil and militaryexamination rosters; miscellaneous infor-mation on geography, place names, andlocal history

Surname and given names; place of origin;age; year of examination; degrees received;names of relatives and parents; officialpositions and titles; sometimes includesother important dates such as the date ofdeath; some with up to ten generations ofancestry

Local, private, andpublic cemeteries; somecollected in localhistories and literarycollections ( :Jt:li', )

Various public anduniversity libraries;some at the Churchgenealogical library

Various public anduniversity libraries;some at the Churchgenealogical library;many included in thelocal histories

6 Taiwan was not made a separate province until1889. As a result, much information relating toTaiwan is found in the local histories for Fukienprovince.

8

7 Includes civil and military examination rosters forseveral types of degrees. Some rosters from FukienProvince include information about Taiwandegree holders.

Type of Record

13. Clan Genealogiesand FamilyRegisters

14. MiscellaneousSources

PeriodCovered

Sung"Dynasty(960-1279)

topresent

1368to

present

Type of Information Given

Name (surname and given names); place ofancestral origin; place of residence;generation number; name of the lineage orbranch family; dates of birth, death, burial,and occasionally marriage; surname ofwife or wives; place of ancestral origin;names, birth order I and sex of children;spouses of children; official titles andranks; date and degree obtained from civilor military examinations: name changesand adoptions; biographies of prominentancestors; portraits; genealogical tables;pedigree charts; family history; clan rulesand regulations; movements andmigrations of the family or clan; locationof gravesite; maps and diagrams of familyburial grounds. ancestral halls, andancestral places of origin

Chronological Biographies (:¥ jjji): Name;names of parents and spouse; children'sand grandchildren's names; birth, death,and marriage dates; ancestry (up to tengenerations); titles and official positions;other facts of genealogical importance

Availability

Most privately owned;some in public anduniversity libraries;some a t the Churchgenealogical library

Various public anduniversity libraries;some at the Churchgenealogical library

Autobiographies, Diaries, Journals, and Same as aboveCorrespondence: Various facts ofgenealogical importance

15. Oral Genealogies? About1300to

present

Names; sometimes names of spouse andchildren; relationships; legends, stories,and traditions about certain ancestors

For aborigine groupsonly (varies with tribe,but probably availableto relatives or closefriends only); somecollected, transcribedand published by theAcademia Siniea forcertain villages

"Few clan genealogies were kept before the Sungdynasty, but many of those that were kept includeinformation from legendary periods, Mostgenealogies in Taiwan are for the period of theCh'ing dynasty (A.D, 1644-1912), but many includeinformation for the Ming period (A.D, 1368-1644),Few include accurate information for earlierperiods, Each record varies greatly in style,generational depth, and number of entries anddetail, but may be considered accurate beginningfrom the dates of its earlier preface, Many arecopies of older editions.

9

9 Some oral genealogies include up to twentygenerations of ancestry, although most deal onlywith the main lines of descent, Genealogicalinformation is especially important to chiefs andpriests, and as a result they may have moreextensive genealogies committed to memory thando some others. Emphasis on oral genealogiesvaries from tribe to tribe: some groups may haveexcellent genealogies, while others have none atall. Dates are usually not included in thegenealogies.

BibliographyAtlases, Gazetteers

Chang, Ch'i-yun 5Eijt ~~£Ili . Chung-hua min-kua ti-t'u chi '!"iHI';IIl!iI:t&IiI~ (Atlas of the Republic ofChina).Taipei: National War College IIl!iIIW l!tI '1E i!jt ,1959-1962 (5 volumes). (Chinese characters with romanizednames, indexes.)

Ch'en, Cheng-hsiang !tiEff . T'ai-wan ti-ming tz'u-tien il'l~:t&1'; ~!ill- (Gazetteer of Taiwan Place Names).Taipei: Fu-rnin Geographical Institute, 1960. (Characters and romanization.)

Chinese Directorate-General of Posts :'i6ml'i~¥ill&~fifj. Chung-hua yu-cheng yu-I'u '!'.¥ill&~1iI (Postal Atlasof China). Nanking, 1936. (Includes Chinese characters with romanized names, indexes.)

Department of the Interior, Office of Geography. Gazetteer No.5, Hong Kong, Macao, Sinkiang, Taiwan,and Tibet. (Official Standard Names [Romanized spellings only] approved by the U.S. Board of Geo-graphic Names, Washington, 1955.)

Bibliographies

Ch'ang, Pi-te, comp. §l1JJi:m . T'ai-wan kung-ts' ang tsu-p'u chieh-I'i #lIIl ~jl,~ imm i1I! (catalog of clangenealogies deposited in the public libraries of Taiwan). Taipei: National Central Library, 1969.

Kuo-li chung-yang t'u-shu kuan, comp. 1iII:\L'!'*liIiU1Hliii . T'ai-wan kung-ts' ang fang-chih lien-he mu-lu§illl~jl,:l:Jit;JIlIiitIH! . (Union Catalog of Local Histories Deposited in the Public Librories ofTaiwan). Taipei: Cheng-Chung Book Company, 1957.

Leslie, Donald. Cataloges of Chinese Local Gazetteers. Canberra: Australian National University, 1967.

National Diet Library, Reference Division 1!iII:\L §!] 4!i~.Mi ti;*~$. Union Catalog of Chinese LocalGazetteers in 14 Major Libraries and Research Institutes in Japan B*=E~~.Mi· l!tI'1Ei'Jii'Jiil: :'!'§!]:t&:l:Jit;l'fc.\it El ~ Toyko, 1968.

Toyogaku bunka senta renrakukyogikai JIU$""'Xillk-t '" :9 ->li\llljjJIJ~4!i. Chugoku chihoshi rengo mokuroku'!' 1Il!iI:t&:I:J it; >lit El '4 (Union Catalog of Chinese Local Histories in Japanese Libraries). Tokyo, 1964.

Calendars and Chronology

Ch'en, Yuan, ed. !t:ill£lli . Chung-hsi hui-shih rih-li ,!,ji!jI8lR: BM . (A Comparative Calendar of Chinese,Western, and Moslem Dates). Taipei: I-wen Publishing Co., 1972.

Cheng, Ho-sheng, ed. 1J!I\.~ £Ili . Chin-shih Chung-hsi shih-jih tui-chao piao :ilii!!:'!'illlR: Bttffl\31< (Chineseand Western Date Conversion Table). Taipei: Shang-we Publishing Co., 1972 (srd ed.],

Calligraphy and Paleography

Hsieh, Tsung-an, comp. ill! '* 'i:'C J\!ffl • Chung-kuo shu-fa ta-tzu-tien '!' liII'IiSt:::Ie+J!I> (Dictionary of ChineseCalligraphy). Taipei: Chung-harig Book Company, 1963.

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Clan Genealogies

Hu, Hsien-chin, The Common Descent Group in China and Its Functions. New York: Johnson ReprintCorporation, c1948.

Lang, Olga. Chinese Family and Society. New Haven, 1946.

Liu, Hui-chen Wang. The Troditional Chinese Clan Rules. New York: Association for Asian StudiesMonographs, No.7, 1959.

Lo, Hsiang-lin iii ill'*~ .A Study of Chinese Genealogies 't' ~ IiIUilf liiI'IEChinese Culture, 1971.

Hong Kong: Institute of

Makino, Tatsurni!jj(lff 1.ll!; • Kinsei Chiigoku sozoku Kenkyii ili"tlt't'I'§,M&liiI'IE (A Study of the Clan inModern China). Tokyo, 1949. (Text in [apanese.]

Makino, Tatsumi!jj(lff 'll1. Mei-shin zokufu kenkyu josetsu ~lt1.(ijllliil'IEffIDI. (A Preface to the Study ofChinese Genealogy in the Ming and Ch'ing Dynasties). Toho Gakuho, Vol. 6, 1936. (Text in Iapanese.]

Meskill, Johanna M. "The Chinese Genealogy as a Research Source," Family and Kinship in Chinese Societyby Maurice Freedman. Palo Alto, California: Stanford University Press, c1970.

Palmer, Spencer J., ed. Studies in Asian Genealogy. Provo: Brigham Young University Press, c1972.

P'an, Kuang-tan. "Chung-kuo chia-p'u hsueh lueh-shih" 't'~i§(ill!"j-lPl!\~ (A Brief History of ChineseGenealogical Studies). Tung-fang tsa-chih jILIJ.~ ,Vol. 26, No.1 (1933).

Sheng, Ch'ing-yi "T'ai-wan chia-p'u pien-tsuan chi yen-chiu" E1 i!!li§( ill!$iii\.z liiI'IE (A Study of theCompilation of Taiwanese Genealogies), T'ai-wan Wen-hsien E1i!!lXIIJk ,Vol. 14, No.3, (Sept. 1963).

Taga, Akigoro ~ ~ f.kli$ . An Analytic Study of Chinese Genealogical Books *ill!(7) liiI'IE . Tokyo:The Toyo Bunko, c1960. (Text in Japanese).

Wang, Shih::E ¥\ . "Pedigrees of Chinese Aristocratic Families in the Ch'ing Period," Hsueh-szu HalfMonthly, Vol. 3, Numbers 1 and 2.

Yang, Tien-hsun, *l\\ Ji!!t]Oil . "On Chinese Genealogies" 't' ~ i§( illfim iFmi ,Mops and Books Quarterly.Vol. 7, Numbers 1 and 2.

Family Names

Ch'en, [en-te, ed. IlJl( t: 1:S $iii\ . Huang-ti ch'ien-chia hsing JI< fflT i§( (d . Taipei, ca 1971.

P'eng, Keui-fang, ed. J'Btt:'JHIii . Wu-pai nien ch'ien shih i-chia lis"FiJtr:lll:-i§( . Taipei: Li-mingWen-hua fu-wu chung-hsin ~ ~ X 1tAl'-~ 't' ,e".

General References

Nunn, G. Raymond. Asia: A Selected and Annotated Guide to Reference Works. Cambridge: M.LT. Press,c1971.

Teng, Ssu-yu and Biggerstaff, Knight. An Annotated. Biblio ro h a Selected Chinese Reference Works.Cambridge: Harvard-University Press, 1971. (Harvar -Yenching Institute Studies, II.)

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Place Names, Historical Geographies

Abe, Akiyoshi, comp, 't21f'r ~a j,Iij . T'oi-won ti-ming yen-chiu "'M:ti!!:tIiJl'9E (A Study of Taiwan PlaceNames). Taipei: 1938. (Text in Japanese.)

Playfair, G. M. H. The Cities and Towns of China: A Geographical Dictionary. Taipei: Ch'eng Wen PublishingCo., 1971. (Reprint of the 2nd edition, 1910.) (Includes characters and romanization.)

Sadao, Aoyama, comp, W' LlJ :<£,/$. Shina rekidai chimei saran st.lJ'l\~1l::ti!!:t~~ (Guide to ChineseHistorical Place Names). Tokyo: Daian Bookstore, 1967 (photocopy). (Also called Tu-shih fang-yuchi-yao so-yin chih-na li-tai ti-ming yao-lan ~. 9'. jj~ It~ ~ ~ 51 st.lJ'l\ Ili" 1l::tt!l :t~~ ).

Tsang, Li-ho and others ~1liIJ~.:\'¥ . Chun -kuo ku-chin ti-min ta tz'u-tien rplliJ i'i4-:ti!!:t.* MJi!! [Dic-tionary of Ancient and Modern C inese P ace Names. Taipei: Commercial Press, 1960. (Reprintedition.)

Romanization Dictionaries

Fenn, Courtenay H. The Five Thousand Dictionary. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 11thprinting, 1971. (5,000 characters with standard Wade-Giles romanization.)

Mathews, R. H. Mathews' Chinese-English Dictionary. (Revised American Edition.) Cambridge: HarvardUniversity Press, 1969.

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Other Resources: Taiwan

Taiwan Map http://geology.com/world/taiwan-satellite-image.shtml

Taiwan Genealogy Forum http://genforum.genealogy.com/taiwan/

Chinese Genealogical Resources http://fuzzo.com/genealogy/Asia/chinagen.htm

Cyndi’s List – Asia & the Pacific http://www.cyndislist.com/asia.htm

National Central Library of Taiwan http://www.ncl.edu.tw/mp.asp?mp=2

National Archives Administration, Republic of China (Taiwan) http://www.archives.gov.tw/english/Default.aspx