Welcome to the English Corner of the LONG'S HOMESTEAD website. As introduction, we prepared this FAQ. This introduction was written in English and then Google translated into Chinese then modified so the Chinese “writing” might be poor.

欢迎来到龙氏家园网站的英语角落。作为介绍，我们准备了这个常见问答。这是介绍用英文写的，然后谷歌翻译成中文再修改所以翻译可能很差。

 

Q: Who are you and what is this English Corner?

A: I am an overseas LONG Chinese born near Guangzhou and moved overseas to many countries. Over the years I have tried to find out more about the LONG family name history and our family tree but found it quite difficult. In the early days, there was no internet. Then, even with internet, it was hard to type Chinese characters in an English PC via keyboard. In addition, there were not that many websites and even if you could reach one, characters might be displayed as ?????? due to code page difference.

The good news is, the LONG’S HOMESTEAD has just completed a major revamp and contents are quite robust. And, with smart phones and tablets, Chinese input can be done via finger writing instead of keyboard. This is why I volunteer to help overseas Chinese to navigate through this LONG’S HOMESTEAD website.

Just as a disclaimer, I am not a scholar in genealogy nor do I know a lot about the LONG genealogy. However, I have learned a lot in the last few year and I am happy to share my personal discovery path with you as you probably will be going down the same path.

问：你是谁和这个英语角落是什么？

答：我是龙姓华僑，在中国出生。后来從广州移居海外多个国家。多年来，我一直试图找出更多关于龙姓的历史和我的家谱，但发现相当困难。早年还没有互联网连接。后来，即使有网络，也很难通过键盘在英语电脑输入中文。另外，即使你到了一个中文网站，由于代码问题，中文字可能显示为??????。
 
好消息是，龙氏家园已经完成了一项重大升级，以及内容现在是相当丰富。并且，随着智能手机和平板电脑，中文输入可以通过手指书写，而不是键盘完成。这就是为什么我志愿帮助华僑来这里寻根。

但是，先来一个声明，我不是家谱学者也不知道很多龙族的历史。不过，我学到了很多，也高兴与大家分享。因为你可能会走相似的路径。


Q: What is the purpose of this English corner?

A: The purpose of this English corner is not to translate the entire contents of this CNLONGS website which would be an impossible task. The purpose of this English Corner is like an information counter at a shopping center for people who do not read/write Chinese. I am just like the pretty girls sitting behind the information counters – can point you in the right direction but technical or difficult questions would have to be referred to other experts in and out of the website. If there is any way you can read Chinese, perhaps with assistance from a Chinese friend, it would be much better if you go directly into the Chinese portion of this site.
 
问：这是什么英语角落的目的是什么？

答：这个英语角落不是整个CNLONGS网站的英译版，那是一个不可能完成的任务。这个英语角落的目的，就像是一个购物中心的咨询柜枱。我就像那些漂亮女孩坐在咨询柜台后面 - 可以指你到正确的方向，但技术或困难的问题，就只能靠网站的其他专家。如果你能读中文，也许找个懂中文的中国朋友帮助，直接进入龙氏家园网站的中文部分会好得多。

Q: What do we anticipate as the FAQs coming to this English Corner?

A: We think the common interest could be:

What is the origin of the LONG family name? This is richly documented in this website. LONG as a family name, is one of the better documented family name when it comes to genealogy?

Questions like my grandfather came from a certain part of China, any genealogy records available? A great part of that depends on whether that was a village or in the city. If it is in the village, and if you are really lucky, you might have a better chance of finding the genealogy book – basically, each time a boy is born, the name is added to the book. But then, not every village maintains one. A lot of that also tied to whether there is a clan hall where people congregate and records are being maintained.

Do you know so and so in certain part of China or even overseas? We can try to post but unless both sides happen to be looking and looking at this site, there is slim chance that you can find the connection.

Another one is how to connect LONG people in the same city overseas? This one can be done via posting by city.

问：我们预期来这个英语角落的常见问题是甚么？
答：我想常见问题会是：
龙姓的由来？这在网站內有丰富的记载。龙姓是比较记录详细姓氏之一。
像我的祖父从问题中国的某一部分来了，可以找到族谱吗？这个大部分取决于是否是一个村庄或城市。如果是在村里，如果你真的很幸运，你可能会找到族谱 - 基本上，每一个男孩出生时，名字被添加到这本谱上。不过，并不是每一个村庄都有。很多还依赖于是否有祠堂，那是人们聚集，也是保持记录的地方。
你是否知道某某在中国的某个部分，甚至海外？我们可以尝试发布，但除非双方碰巧寻找并期待在这个网站，还有就是你可以找到连接渺茫。
另一个是乍样去找海外同一城市的龙姓族人．我们可以嘗试用城市名的贴来试试。


Q: How can I register as a user on this website?
A: Last time I checked, you need to have a Chinese (+86) mobile phone number to register? Depending on the interest level, I can make suggestion to web master on making the change.

问：我怎样才能注册成为本网站上的用户？
答：照我所知，你要有一个中国（+86）手机号码来注册。如果很多人有兴趣的话，我可以向网站管理员建议。


Q: What is the origin of the LONG family name?
 
A: This is richly documented and because some of that goes back over two thousand years, if not more, some of it could be legends. If you are interested, have a Chinese friend lead you through some of the articles in this website http://www.cnlongs.com/list.php?id=139
 
LONG is the Englsh spelling of DRAGON in China. In Hong Kong, e.g., it is spelled as LUNG. In Singapore, it is spelled as LOONG. Just to be aware of it.

问：什么是龙家名字的由来？

答：龙姓来源有丰富的记录。有些还可以追溯到几千多年。当然也有些可能是传说。如果你有兴趣，找一个中国朋友带你到本网站的文章http://www.cnlongs.com/list.php?id=139

龙在中国的英又拼写是LONG。在香港是LUNG。在新加坡是LOONG。


Q: How to trace your family tree?

A: Each person is different so I am going to use my own example as a case study. In the beginning, I thought rooting tracing is very easy, just go to a website, everyone put in their name, father, mother and children - then, everything will be connected together. How wrong was I! LONG is a smaller family name, about 80th+ among Chinese surname ranking. It has about 3 million people. Even if 3,000 people go into the website to populate, that is only 0.1% and that is not much of a tree. This is not to mention our ancestor generations need to be included.
 
I was lucky because an elder from the same village in suburban Poon Yue near Guangzhou has copy of a genealogy book of the village. I was not that interested until I found my father’s name in the book. He was generation 28 (GEN28)! From whom? The book traces back about 800 years to GEN1, LONG Jin Tian (Near Sky if it help you to remember).

Who is LONG Near Sky? He was the Southern SONG dynastry Provincial Governor of Nan Xiong which is a key mountain range top between the Central Plain of China and Guangdong, the southern China. In 1205, LONG Near Sky, with the emperor’s approval, built rafts and drift down to Poon Yue together with 97 families (different surnames). That was about 74 years before LU XiuFu, a famous Southern SONG officer, took the 8 year old last emperor of Southern SONG jumped into the ocean when surrounded by the Mongolian navy. His GEN7 moved a couple of miles to Zi Bu Li (old nick name was Swallow Village if it helps you to remember) and that is the village my father belongs to. And, the village has only about 50 houses – 600 years and 21 generations from GEN7 to GEN28 all kept to this village. From there, some (like me), migrated to Hong Kong, USA, Singapore, etc.

I am doing a more elaborate write up because this is a good case study of how Chinese migrate from the Central Plain to the southern coastal provinces and from there, some migrate away to become overseas Chinese. This also explains a lot of the LONGs in southern China are related.

问：怎样寻根？
 
答：每个人都是不同的，所以我会用我自己的例子作为案例參考。一开始，我还以为寻根是很容易的，只要到一个寻根网站（国外很多)，大家都打進他们的名字，父亲，母亲和孩子 - 然后，一切都将被连接在一起。我是大错特错！龙是一个较小的姓氏，在中国百家姓氏排名80多。姓龙的大约有300万人。即使3000人进入网站来，这只是0.1％，不是一棵树，只是几片叶子。何况还要输進我们祖先世代的资料。

我很幸运，因为新加坡有位长辈有广州番禹小塘紫埠里(旧名叫燕子埗)的村谱。我最初不感兴趣，直到我在书中找到了我父亲的名字。他是28代(GEN28)! 这本书上追800年到GEN1，龙近天。

谁是近天公？他是南宋時南雄刺史。南雄是中原跟广东分格嶺上之重要一关。那時蒙古金兵日渐压境，遂在1205得到朝庭的批准，造筏然后和97个家庭（不同姓氏）一起漂流百多公里到番禺。那時约是陆秀夫背着南宋8岁的末代皇帝跳海之前约74年。他的第七代移到几公里外的紫埠里，这就是我父亲的鄕下。 从第7代到28代都在这个小村子里。从那里，有些(我也是)迁移到香港，美国，新加坡等。

为什么写这么详细？因为这是一个典型从中国中原迁移到广东的路缐。在广东的龙姓，很多都是同族的。有些再并从广东，迁移海外成为华僑。


Q: Can you trace your family tree further back?

A: The LONG family name is one of the better documented genealogy so consider ourselves lucky. From LONG Near Sky, you can trace another 40 generations to LONG Bai Gao. His was the Governor/Mayor of a part of Hunan. His tomb stone is still there. It is a historic site and is being rebuilt.

问：你可以往上再追索吗？

答：龙姓是有很好族谱记录之一姓，所以我们很幸运。从近天公，你可以再上追40代到龙伯高。他是零陵的太守。他的墓碑仍然在永州。这是一个历史文物，并正在重建。


Q: What else did you do in root tracing as a case study?

A: I did a photo documentation of my immediate 4 generations as part of the family tree book I printed. This book contains 3 main sections: first section is history of the LONG family name which I took from websites similar to LONG'S HOMESTEAD; second portion is the family photos (2 pages of the best photos of your life for each person); and the last section was the genealogy book from the village. This was all done without leaving my home – even the printing part which I emailed PDF file to Guangzhou and the printing company posted to me when done.  In other words, making a family history book is not that difficult.


问：你的寻根案例还有什么可以分享？

答：我印了一本家谱。这本书包含3个主要部分：第一部分是龙姓来源及歴史(来源自网上，就像现在的龙氏家园);第二部分是家人的照片（每成员有2页用来印个人最好的照片）;最后一部分是村谱。造这本书，我是足不出戶的单在网上造。然后通过电子邮件发送PDF文件到广州的印刷公司。印完了他们直接寄给我。换句话说法，造谱家不是很难。

NOTE: I can be contacted at [email protected] or whatsapp/WeChat +65-9178-8888