Posted on: General China Query Forum Reply Here: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/China/General/265 Surname: TONG ------------------------- I know this is a long shot, but still worth a little try. The surname TONG is relatively uncommon compared to other Chinese surname. My ancestors were all immigrants to Singapore as it was a migrant city in the past. My surname is Tong and I am of Hockchew dialect. Was your grandfather this dialect too? If there'a similarity, I could dig up a little more on my family history.

When we talk about English transliteration of Chinese names, we must first understand the fact that different Chinese dialects have a great impact on the way the names are transliterated. In Hong Kong where most people speak Cantonese, the transliteration is done on the basis of Cantonese sound. While in Singapore/Malaysia where there are a lot of Chinese who are of Fujian origin, the transliteration is based on the Hokenese (Fujianese) sound. One example of this difference is: Chan (Cantonese) and Tan (Hokianese) mean Chen in Mandarin. Now, Tong, if in Cantonese, should mean Tang in Mandarin. Because I don't know Hokianese, I don't know the Cantonese Tong's equivalence in Hokianese. Furthermore, because of the fact that there are four tones for a sound in Mandarin and nine tones for a sound in Cantonese, the English transliteration of a Chinese name does not really tell people the actual Chinese character which stands for that name. Karl ----- Original Message ----- From: "Cindy" <mai_shiranui@hotmail.com> To: <CHINA-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, October 03, 2000 6:21 PM Subject: [CHINA] A Long Shot > Posted on: General China Query Forum > Reply Here: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/China/General/265 > > Surname: TONG > ------------------------- > > I know this is a long shot, but still worth a little try. The surname TONG > is relatively uncommon compared to other Chinese surname. My ancestors > were all immigrants to Singapore as it was a migrant city in the past. > My surname is Tong and I am of Hockchew dialect. Was your grandfather this > dialect too? If there'a similarity, I could dig up a little more on my > family history. > >