The best resource in the world for your chinese families are the Immigration files at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Probably 85% of all chinese immigrants came through San Francisco and most immigration records are housed intact, along with original documents, for all chinese immigrants, including women and children, from 1882 to about 1946, when the chinese exclusion act was repealed. There are still records after 1946, but they become spotty and harder to access as the presumption is people coming in to the US after 1946 may still be living. The same records will be housed at any major port of entry and their corresponding NARA location. For example, Seattle, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Canada areas are all housed at Seattle NARA. Anything from Santa Barbara south to San Diego-ish is housed at Laguna Niguel's NARA. Records are kept also for "paper children" of immigrants, especially if they got caught. What is neat about these, is that when the paper child was found out, INS documented the BIOLOGICAL family of the paper child, as well as the paper family. And I mean DOCUMENTED, including birth dates and places, relationships, etc etc etc. Absolutely wonderful records. Kathy