On Wed, 18 Sep 2013 17:02:09 -0400, Nate Nagel
wrote:

On 09/18/2013 04:08 PM, Frank wrote:
On 9/17/2013 8:36 PM, Tony Hwang wrote:
Oren wrote:
On Tue, 17 Sep 2013 23:01:39 +0000 (UTC), Red Green
wrote:

Funny thing is when I tried my short Chinese writing, she did not
respond same way. Maybe sshe is 2nd generation Chinese here.


Chinese writing? I don't recall any Chinese writing. Did I read it and
not realize it was Chinese? Man, 60's were rougher than I thought.

Hmm, my news reader forbids me from in writing Chinese.

Hi,
It is easy. I grew up learning traditional Chinese characters from my
great grand father and grand father when I was a toddler and on. Now
Beijing(Mandarin) uses simplified characters which is often hard to
figure out. Hong Kong and Taiwan still use traditonal ones. ?(heaven),
?(earth), etc.
The name Wong could be one of many letters. like ?(king),
?(yellow),etc. depending whether Mandarin or Cantonese. My ancestor was
Chinese who landed on SE corner of Korean peninsula around early 13th
century. My family history book goes back to that time. I am 37th
generation every one in between is recorded. My kids who were born here
are on it too. They revise and publish the book every so often like 7 to
10 years. Now in multiple CD disc form.
He was an exiled general. So my family name is ?(yellow). Around 2005 I
had traveled main land China from Manchuria all the way down to S.
Vietnam where I spent 3 years during the war. I flew, took ferries,
trains, buses. Had great time.
I had hard time being unable to speak Chinese(VERY limited vocabulary)
but I could read and write to understand. They kept talking to me in
Chinese. When I wave Canuck passport they were puzzzled. I used to make
joke to them that I am an Eskimo. More puzzled look on the faces, LOL!
I hope to go back some day and ride a train to Tibet. May need some
oxygen bottles then.

I'm impressed that you can carry back your genealogy back so far. I
can't go back past my grand parents.

I can go a little farther than that, but not much. Once there's a boat
involved, it goes all hazy. Probably because those ancestors were poor,
I'm guessing.

back to about 1369 on my mother's side and 1534 on my dad's side -
both in what is now Switzerland.

Also wonder if Chinese will be the language of the future.

We thought that about Japanese back in the 80's and it didn't happen.
Also prompts the question, Mandarin or Cantonese?

nate