Historical Roots of the  Tong & Yan Clans
By William Kiejan Tong
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.

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    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!

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.

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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://servercc.oakton.edu/~billtong/chinaclass