National Library of China Launches Genealogy Portal

From China Daily (via Asia One):

Users can search the site, which is based on NLC’s trove of ancient books, for information about 500 surnames in different locations, including genealogical documents and charts, lists of well-known people in history and relationships with other families in the same place. The latest records that can be found were written during the Republic period (1911-1949). People can browse the full content of some genealogies if the manuscripts are available at the NLC and have been digitalized.

Registered users can also create their own family trees by filling in a template. They can contact other users with the same surnames, both at home and abroad, via the website’s interior e-mail system.

“Family is the basic unit of a nation. The history of each family consists of the fundamental elements of a nation’s historical picture,” said Xie Dongrong, vice-director of the NLC Ancient Books Library, who is tasked with the website project.

He said an increasing number of readers have come to his library’s genealogy reading room over the past few years, most of them elderly. He explained that part of the reason behind the launch of the website was to attract younger generations familiar with the digital world.

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Launched in 2008, Jiapu.com is arguably the largest online resource for Chinese family histories. It provides subscribers with an extensive collection of digital historical records, based on cooperation between Shanghai Library, Hunan Library and Shanxi Academy of Social Sciences.

Direct to the Genealogy Portal (Chinese Only)

Machine Translation of Portal: Homepage ||| About Chinese Root Network ||| Wikipedia Info Page

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Hat Tip and Thanks: @nnub_slq

Filed under: Libraries, National Libraries, Patrons and Users