re: Should I start here?.. please help...

["Dylan W.H. Sung" <mabr12@dial.pipex.com>]

Hi Babel,

>From the areas you have told us about Amoy and Xiamen, it is quite
possible that you are related to the Min speaking Fujianese. Min is one
of the major languages of China, like Hakka, Mandarin etc... Min has
many dialects such as Fuzhou, ChaoZhou, Xiamen etc...

Chinese people when speaking Chinese, have their surname (family name)
first, then their given names (forenames).

There were two main periods in which there were Song emperors,

* 420-479 AD, whose founder was Liu2 Yu4, hence surname LIU.
* 960-1279 AD, whose founder was Zhao4 Kuang1Yin4 :. ZHAO

In ChaoZhou dialect, (a Min dialect), these are Lao5 and Dion6
respectfully. The -n means a nasalisation of the last vowel (o) in Dio,
so it could be that. I don't know enough of the language to be any more
specific.

Given the similarity of the initial D in your given surname, and the
ChaoZhou pronunciation, it would seem, this surname you have been given
is correct. You may have Min ancestry also!

Cheers,
Dylan.





     To: <fhakka@asiawind.com>
     Subject: Should I start here?.. please help...
     From: "Babel Carlota" <babelc@earthlink.net>
     Date: Thu, 25 Nov 1999 00:27:40 -0500

Ok.  I know someone here I have emailed this... but I got to spread it
till I get a good response by
everyone.

I have this unusual situation about my heritage.   I was told by my
father that I was not Filipino but rather
Chinese and that his family had been in philippines for over 3
generations close to a hundred years.
Now My problem is he told me this.. .when I gradparents already died!!!
So I can not ask anyone (not
even him he is lost and the same with his siblings) about my chinese
heritage.  So far I know that My
chinese last name is Tiu, my 'people' came from Amoy, China now Xiamen.

Well this is what I got from my sources:

Internet: I was told taht the last name was Diao(mandarin).

College: I was told by a Chinese Language and History teacher that the
internet people were wrong and
that my last name was infact the first last name in the chinese last
name list.. he said it was the surname
at the emperor at teh time of the Song Dynasty.  He said the last name I
have is very common in Taiwan
and obcourse in Philippines.

What else can I do here folks?  I really want to get rid of my 'adopted
last name' and use my real last
name.. but before I do, i need to know more about it...

Thank You so much,
Babel Carlota
(Babel meaning heaven's gate cool huh?)