介绍:
Admit it people, searching for one's roots is a temptation that we just cannot resist. By penetrating into the past, we try to squeeze out the answers of some fundamental questions from our forefathers, such as who we are, where we came from, and where we could go.
But no matter how obsessive we might be, probably few among us could conduct their genealogical research so thoroughly like Frank Ching. In his book Ancestors, this Chinese-American author not only explores his family history all the way back to the 11th century, but also pulls off a feat on the investigation of Chinese culture and society.
So in today's Ink&Quill, let's follow Yu Yang to hear Ching's story and find out how a reporter achieved this truly bold and ambitious objective that could even discourage some professional genealogists.
******************************************************************
When you walk down the street in China, a country that traditionally places family at the very heart of its society, ask some random pedestrians about their ancestries. I bet a majority of them could share with you certain anecdotes about their forebears. But not everyone could remember their pedigree so vividly like this man:
This is Frank Ching, a Hong Kong-born commentator and veteran journalist. Taking a brick-thick, rather daunting-looking tome out of his bag, the man proudly presents to us his genealogy book.
Proud he should be. As the author of the well-received book, "Ancestors: The Story of China Told through the Lives of an Extraordinary Family", Ching delves into his family's history as far back as nine hundred years, which undoubtedly makes Alex Haley's Roots pale in comparison.
Yet according to the writer, growing up he knew almost nothing about his own family.
"I grew up in a, well, what I thought was a very strange situation. My parents were from Shanghai and because of the Japanese invasion, they went to Hong Kong and in Hong Kong, my sister and I were born. And then Japanese invaded Hong Kong and there was no point being there, so they returned to Shanghai. And then in 1946, the Civil War started. So my mother took us to Hong Kong again and my father joined us in 1949. My mother and father had great age difference. He was twenty eight years old than her and he had earlier set of children by earlier wife and they were about my mother's age. So they did not live together. They lived separately. When my parents and their children including me lived in Hong Kong, we were no longer in touch with his earlier set of children. "
His parents' marriage, which was overshadowed by the scandal of distant consanguinity, also forced the couple to burn their bridges with some of their extended family members. Therefore, a sense of alienation and isolation was constantly overcast Frank's childhood.
"I grew up in this, I think, artificial environment. And of course we spoke the Shanghai dialect at home and in Hong Kong, people spoke Cantonese. I didn't speak Cantonese at that time. So it was like living as a stranger in a foreign land and not having any of my relatives and not knowing who I was. Then we went to the States and we went separately. I was the last one to go. And because in the States, it was sort of the same situation. I really wanted to know my family's background. There was a yearning inside me to know more about my family, where I came from, and what happens."
However, it was not until 1973, that a 32 year old Ching, then a New York Times correspondent finally decided to return to his native land; a year after then American President Richard Nixon made a historical visit to China, a journey that would thaw bilateral ties between the two countries. While in Shanghai, he met his mother's elder brother and further learned a few things about his kinship.
Despite the brevity of his trip, Frank found the whole experience "exhilarating". In the prologue of his later work, Ancestors, he wrote that the trip "marked the culmination of years of longing and dreaming".
But a few years later, Frank's uncle, as his sole link to China, passed away. The young man's quest to "fill in the blanks" of his family seemed to die on the vine.
Yet in 1978, a dusty book given to him by his half-sister helped break the ice.
"Before they moved to Australia, I went to Taiwan to visit her and to say goodbye. After the dinner of one night, she went to the back of the apartment and came back with a plastic bag with a couple of books in them. She said: 'I had these long enough. It's time they went to a son. ' Inside, there were two books that I remember. One was this book that said Xi Shan Qi Shi Zong Pu. Looking at the Xi Shan Qin Shi Zong Pu, it was pretty meaningless to me,. But then there were some names and at the top of the names was Qin Guan."
Literally translated into "Ancestral Genealogy of the Qin Clan in Xishan", this yellow thread-bound book Frank Ching received is only one volume of his baronial family records. In ancient China, it was a common practice for families, especially eminent ones, to file a brief written history of the clan. Known as "Zu Pu"or "Jia Pu" in Chinese, these genealogical books document the births, deaths, marriages of each family member. Usually for the males, since they were regarded as the ones carrying on the family lineage, their records are more elaborate. On most occasions, females' names are not included.
But regardless of the absence of feminine parts of the family tree, Frank Ching still managed to track down his origin to the city of Wuxi in east China's Jiangsu Province. Right there, he not only visited Jichang Garden, a garden purchased by the family in the 16th century, but also discovered the grave of his first recorded ancestor Qin Guan, a celebrated poet who lived between the mid-11th century to early 12th century during the Song Dynasty.
A chain reaction thus took place. Throwing himself into the vast sea of genealogical documents, local chronicles, and archaic archives, Ching unearthed more about his ancestry. He decided to write a book about China by borrowing the tales of his forefathers as a vehicle. In 1983, the journalist left the Wall Street Journal to finish the book. Five years later, the first English Edition of Ancestors was published.
"It was really a lot of work. But it was a very rewarding work. I learn so much. I learn so much about China, about my family, and ultimately about myself. "
Mainly set in a chronicle manner, Ancestors picks out twenty-two major figures of the Qin clan. Joining a fun ride that travels back in time, readers start the journey with a bumpy political career of Qin Guan, who was the patriarch and founder of the family. Then we get Qin Hui,probably the most notorious traitor in ancient Chinese history, and Qin Yubo, an able officer who later became the city god of Shanghai. Then we are taken on a merry-go-round of sketches about a string of intellectuals, scholars and patriots. Later the journey draws the epilogue with the writer's own family, his father, an early architect of Chinese laws, his mother, and his half-brother, a young Red Army martyr who died during the war against the Japanese aggression.
Yet among all his kinsmen, Frank Ching believes that the most intriguing one was probably Qin Daoran, an 18th century ghost-writer of imperial diary who got involved with a fierce succession struggle during Emperor Kangxi's reign of the Qing Dynasty.
"I think clearly during the Kangxi's period, the family was at its height. Kangxi went to the garden six times and met with members of the family. He asked Qin Songling who was the head of the clan if someone could be the teacher for one of his sons. Songling sent his first boy Qin Daoran. Qin Daoran went to Beijing and became the teacher of the ninth prince. And because of that, after Yongzheng won the power struggle with his brothers and became emperor, he put all the brothers in prison and not only the brothers, but the people around the brothers, including the teachers. So Qin Daoran spent the entire period in prison. But in the end, he survived. He outlived Yongzheng. Yongzheng died and Qianlong became the emperor. I think the first time the metropolitan exam was held after Qianlong became the emperor, Daoran's son came the third in the nationwide exam. He wrote a letter to the emperor offering to give up everything if only his father would be free. So the emperor freed him and returned the garden to the family. The family's fortunes were revived. So I thought Daoran was a very interesting figure, because he saw the downfall of the family and also the revival. "
But Ancestors is not entirely biographical and genealogical. By exploring the breadth and depth of his ancestors' experiences, Frank Ching also hones in on the political, social and cultural aspects of the Chinese society. As many of his forebears distinguished themselves from the imperial examination system which was the only avenue to the state bureaucracy, their life stories were inevitably tainted with intrigues and political intricacies, which may make Machiavelli flinch away and some of the most elaborate-plotted political ruses in Game of Thrones look like child's play. Meanwhile, the author drags his readers whisper-close to a colourful set of ancient Chinese practices, such as the extreme of filial piety, the customs of marriage and funeral, as well as the trivia of gentry life.
Once published, Ancestors has received critical acclaims. The New York Times praised the book as that which "brings to life the last nine centuries of Chinese history and culture as almost no other work in the English language has done". While the Washington Post called it "a tour de force".
But for the author Frank Ching, the book means something more.
"Since Ancestors came out, I was rather surprised. Because I had written Ancestors for foreign readership, foreigners to learn about China, and then there were all these Chinese who approached me. They said their (last) name is Qin and they asked about my family genealogy. Is my father's name there? (How about) my grandfather's name? And then in 2003, I received a letter from Wuxi saying a committee has been formed to put out a new edition of family genealogy. I was really amazed. I mean the last edition was (compiled) in the Republican period in 1920s. That was the ninth edition. So it had been eighty years. Then people in Wuxi wrote to me and asked me to be their consultant and I said: 'Yes! I would be happy to be the consultant!'"
In 2016, a documentary series named The Story of China, which is partially inspired by the book Ancestors, was aired on the BBC.
In the film, broadcaster Michael Wood asks what shapes China into the country that we see today.
Frank Ching has his own answer.
"You mentioned the resilience of the people. I think it shows the continuity of Chinese society. I think there's a very strong force within Chinese society that wants to maintain the memory of what China was. At the same time, China is actually moving forward and changing. But it's important to remember what the country was, what' s like before, and how it's moving forward rather than saying: 'We don't want to know about the past'. "
大家还在听
