【经济学人】思念祖先：寻祖的中国人多了 [英国媒体]

Ancestral longings

思念祖先

As China rushes forward, more people seek their roots

随着中国飞速发展，寻祖的中国人多了

A tech billionaire’s quest exposes gaps in Chinese genealogies

科技富豪寻祖暴露出中国族谱的空白



WHEN Richard Liu asked for help in tracing his family history, thousands of people offered suggestions. Little wonder: Mr Liu, the founder of JD.com, a popular online mall, is worth about $10bn. There are more than 65m people in China who share his surname—some would love to connect their family branches to his bountiful tree. But constructing an accurate lineage could be tough, not only because of the huge number of Lius. In a country that in recent decades has seen the biggest movement of people in history away from their ancestral homes, genealogical records are patchy.

刘强东为寻祖向社会寻求帮助，数千人给出建议。这也难怪：刘先生是大受欢迎的京东电商创始人，身价约100亿美元。中国有超过6500万人与他同姓，有些人很想将自己的家族分支与他的大家族扯上关系。然而，建立一个准确的族谱可能很难，不只是因为刘姓的人太多。过去几十年里，中国经历了有史以来最大规模的人口流动，人们离开了祖籍，族谱记录变得支零破碎。

Veneration of ancestors is part of Chinese culture. Traditionally this required the scrupulous updating of genealogies by family elders. These were recorded in books known as zupu that listed members of each generation—though typically only the men. Zupu were often kept in ancestral shrines (such as the one pictured, dedicated to a clan surnamed Li in the southern city of Guangzhou). But war and migration in the past two centuries have complicated matters. Under Mao, the Communist Party tried to stamp out ancestor worship. Many zupu were destroyed. Mr Liu was born in Jiangsu, an eastern province, and can trace his heritage back to a branch of the Liu family in the central province of Hunan. There the trail goes cold because the relevant zupu is missing, say local media.

祭祖是中国文化的一部分。按照传统，家族里的长辈需要仔细记录族谱的最新情况。这些信息被记录在族谱里，列出每一代家族成员，但一般只记录男性成员。族谱一般摆放在祠堂里（图中是南方广州市的李氏祠堂）。但在过去的200年里，战争和移民使事情变得复杂。

In the West, people trying to trace their lineage often consult websites that provide data from sources such as census records and church registers. Such sites enable users to link their trees with others. But in China there is little in the way of official historical records that contain genealogical data and are open to commercial databases. Local gazettes often provided information about members of prominent families, but were silent about the masses.

在西方国家，人们通过网站来搜索族谱，数据来源是人口普查记录和教堂登记簿等。在这些网站上，用户可以将自己与他人的族谱相互关联。但是在中国，人们很少有机会接触到包含族谱信息的官方历史纪录，也很少向商业数据库开放。地方报刊时常提供显赫家族成员的信息，而对平民百姓的家族信息只字不提。

Yet not all is lost. Over the past couple of decades, clan associations have re-established themselves and worked to compile records again. Zupu that were hidden in Mao’s day, or taken abroad, have helped to fill in gaps. Some family elders have “put their collective memory down on paper”, says Huihan Lie, founder of My China Roots, a genealogy service. The paucity of surnames in China—almost 85% of people share just 100 family names—is not necessarily an obstacle. Given names can also provide clues. They are usually made up of two characters, with the first one sometimes chosen from a generational sequence of names ordained by the recipient’s clan. Mr Liu knows the sequence for eight generations in his family.

然而，并不是所有的信息都无迹可寻。数十年来，重建的宗亲会重新编修族谱信息。在毛的统治时代，族谱被藏起来或运往国外，有助于填补族谱空白。“中华家脉”族谱服务机构创始人李伟汉说：有些家族长辈“将集体记忆笔录下来”。中国姓氏少未必是寻祖的障碍，85%的中国人仅共用100个姓氏。名字也包含着信息，一般由两个汉字组成，有时第一个字选自家族的辈分排序，刘先生知道自己家族八代的辈分排序。

Websites are helping to make the search easier. My China Roots recently received private funding to build an online zupu database, starting with records from southern provinces where they are often more complete. Eventually the plan is to include Hunan, where Mr Liu’s search is focused. With luck, searching for ancestors will someday be as easy as online shopping.

网站正在帮助人们更容易寻祖。“中华家脉”最近收到私人资金，用于建立网络族谱数据库，并且先从南方省份开始，因为南方的族谱记录一般更为完整。该计划最终将涵盖湖南，即刘先生寻祖锁定的地区。幸运的话，总有一天寻祖会像网购一样容易。