Millions of families left China through Taishan, Kaiping, Xiamen and the villages of the south. If yours was one of them, somewhere there is a county, a clan hall, perhaps a name in a genealogy book — and a door your great-grandfather walked out of. We find it. Then we bring your children to stand in front of it.
A grandfather's papers, an old envelope, a village name spelled three different ways. Our researchers cross-reference county records, clan genealogies and emigration registers to locate the county, the village — and where possible, the clan hall and your family's line in the genealogy book.
You receive a written dossier of what we found — and what we couldn't. If the village cannot be traced, we tell you plainly before you book a single flight. No family should travel on a maybe.
Begin in Hong Kong or Guangzhou — the piers, the old shipping halls, the last streets your family saw before the ocean. The story starts where theirs paused.
Walk in with a local elder who has smoothed the way. The clan hall with your surname over the door. The genealogy book, opened to your family's generation. Sometimes: tea with cousins nobody knew they had. We keep this day slow, private, and yours.
The watchtower mansions of Kaiping — built with remittances from Gold Mountain and Nanyang. Your family's story, written in architecture across a whole county.
In a village kitchen, learn the dishes the family has been half-remembering for two generations — and take the recipes home written in two languages.
A calligraphy master teaches the children to write their own surname — the character that crossed the ocean and came back. Framed, it goes home with you.
A farewell dinner, and a gift: the printed family dossier and a short film of the village day. The next generation will not have to search.
Every family's map is different — the county, the season, who's coming. Research begins at $600 and is credited toward your journey. Tell us what you know, even if it's only a name.
Begin With What You Know