Under reconstruction as at 6.3.2022: Specially designed videos will replace these HOW TO....instructions.They will be first be published in Facebook group Chinese Aboriginals: find out more about your ancestors
My adventurous search with other family members for the history of great grandfather Yip Hoy and his wife Ah How:
If you are not used to using search engines for large data bases, here's step by step instruction:
Unfortunately the name you know your ancestor by may not be the name they were officially recorded as.
When officials recorded the name of the Chinaman entering Australia, they asked the question "What is your name"? This question was linterpreted by the immigrant as "What are you called"? So he answered "Ah ....." which is the name they were known by to other Chinese. It was their given name. So what the offcial recorded was not a surname or clan name but a friendly way of saying the given name. The surname has become lost to future generations of their ancestors.
If you are searching for an ancestor with a only the name beginning with "Ah" your search will be impossible. There are hundreds if not thousands of people with the same given name.
