Gong Family Tree and Ancestral History

Click on the image to see a larger version of the first page of the Gong family tree in Guangdong.

Click to see the entire document

Pictured on the left is the first page of 36 generations of Gongs included in a book from our ancestral village, Lok Cherng, in Fah Yuen, Guangdong, China. It was compiled, most likely from ancestral tablets or records, by Kong H. Go. Fah Yuen is now part of the Huadu district, located about twenty miles north of Guangzhou (formerly Canton). Fifth cousin Michael (on the Owyang side) helped us trace our family roots up the tree from grandfather Gong Bow Gwun (known as Hew Din in the U.S.) and his children all the way to the first Gong to settle in Guangdong, Gong Yatlung (in Mandarin, Jiang Yilong). You can click here to see all of the 36 generations of our ancestors in a pdf file. Just follow the green lines.

Steve, a friend and possible distant Owyang cousin, helped translate the text for the first generation man, whose name was Gong Yatlung - see the top box at left.  It says that Gong Yatlung was born in 837 A.D., during the Tang dynasty (reign of emperor Wen Zong). He married a Lowe (Liu) woman and they had three sons. Originally, Gong Yatlung lived in Jianxi province, Jian prefecture, but because of disorder, he walked across the Meiling mountains (the border area between Jianxi and Guangdong provinces) and settled in Guangdong province, Nanxiong prefecture, Baochang County, Shashui village.

According to the translation, Gong Yatlung later settled in a location 40 li (about 15 miles) north of Guangzhou, along a stream, and that place became the Gong village. Gong Yatlung lived for 99 years.

The book of Gongs also lists about 151 generations before Gong Yatlung, to about 2200 BC, or the Xia Dynasty! This list takes up about 20 pages.

Note: place names and dynasty names are in Mandarin (Pinyin). Family names are in Cantonese with Mandarin equivalents in parentheses.