FAMILIES around China traditionally maintained family books or family trees, tracing genealogy, listing male members' achievements and setting out family rules. Nowadays wealthy Chinese are reconstructing those albums. Yao Minji turns the page.

Every Chinese surnamed Kong, though not those who changed it to Kong, is a descendant of Confucius (Kongfuzi, Kong the master) (BC 551-479).

This extraordinary statement is true, according to historians, because all Kongs in the world are contained in one huge family book (jia pu), which has been carried on, repaired and updated for more than 2,000 years. Thus, their genealogy can be traced back to the great sage whose philosophy of practical moral values shaped China.

Kong is an extremely rare case, and most people today are not sure who their ancestors are and where they came from.

Only four great families of scholars and philosophers -- Kong, Meng, Zeng and Yan - possess a complete family book. Thus, everyone bearing that surname can say they are descendants of Confucius, Meng Ke, Zeng Can and Yan Hui.

Though keeping such family books or genealogies was once a tradition of well-off, middle class and poorer families, most books have been lost over the years, especially during wars and conflicts in the early 20th century and the "cultural revolution" (1966-76). At that time, feudal traditions of Old China, including family books, ancestor worship and family temples, were considered pernicious and obstacles to building a New China. Books and temples were destroyed. Worship was denounced.

Some people secretly hid their family books, which are now very rare and highly sought after by those in the same clan.

Tracing family roots

A wealthy entrepreneur surnamed Qi in Hunan Province has hired four experts and spent more than one million yuan (US$158,349) in the past four years to trace his family roots, reconstruct the genealogy, compile a new family book and gather all the lost relatives into the clan.

"I've made a bit of money, thanks to the great opportunities in China in the past 20 years. And this feels like my time to repay the family, but first of all, I need to find the family, the big family clan in the traditional sense, so that I know where to contribute," Qi tells Shanghai Daily in a telephone interview.

The 52-year-old businessman heard from older relatives that their family books were burned during the "cultural revolution," including the book containing his father's name. But knowing his father's name and birthplace and spending considerable time and money, Qi was finally able to find a copy of family books (they run into volumes) that were hidden by a family member. He bought it for 200,000 yuan.

Businessman Qi then started looking for descendants of everyone in the book, using their names and last recorded addresses. He traveled widely around the country to locate distant relatives.

Qi has set up a scholarship fund to help his clan, financing higher education for poor young people who cannot afford it. He also established a fund to help poor relatives start family businesses, as in the old days when big family clans engaged family tutors to teach all children and supported relatives in need.

"Those are really good traditions that have been lost, regretfully, and since I now have the capacity, I want to revive them," Qi tells Shanghai Daily. "After all, it is Chinese tradition to respect the ancestors and value the family."

Qi is one among many trying to trace their roots and carry on with family books and traditions. Sometimes they even rebuild family temples.

In Zhejiang Province and the region south of the Yangtze River many families, even poor ones, had family books.

The genealogy trend heated up around 2000, as China developed and people started to really enjoy the fruits of the market economy. Traditionally, when someone succeeded (in an important examination, in a government post or other areas), he (they were all men), would be taken to the family temple to offer his achievements to the ancestors. At the same time, his accomplishments would be recorded in his biography in the family book.

Today, those who have become wealthy find there are neither family temples nor family books to memorialize and record their hard-won success. Many of them decide to revive tradition.

"Increasingly more people are interested in their family roots and trying to re-connect their family books. This is a very good thing because honoring family values is among the greatest virtues of Chinese people and one we seem to be losing nowadays," Chen Jianhua, researcher and associate director of the Historical Documentation Center at Shanghai Library, tells Shanghai Daily.

"But quite a few people also try to fake it and fabricate a family tree, linking them to a famous historic figure in an effort to demonstrate status," Chen said, adding that frauds are usually quite easy to spot because of gaps and lapses.

Shanghai Library has various kinds of family books belong to 22,000 families. These include versions of the major genealogy or family book, portions of books, separate books for listing births and deaths, lists of family rules of behavior. It's the largest such Chinese collection in the world, representing almost half of those still in existence worldwide.

They are written on paper, like large, regular books, and most households had a copy. Some families had special copies for ceremonies to pray to ancestors, and some of these were bound in luxurious, decorated covers.

Each family designated people to keep the books updated. They kept separate birth and death registries and every 30 years, around a generation, these family members were added to the main family, as well as their achievements.

"In the old times, family rules were sometimes even stricter than the law and considered by the family to represent a higher law. When someone made a mistake, he would most probably be punished first within the family, before even being taken to government officials or police. Family rules were highly valued and supposed to ensure that families would monitor and discipline themselves," Chen adds.

Rules are often written on the first pages of family books, listing the dos and don'ts for all family members, as well as detailed punishment such as whipping, expulsion from the family or removal of one's future grave from the family graveyard or family temple.

Family rules

One family in Shanghai declined to be interviewed or quoted for this article because it was clearly stated in the family rules that members should keep a low profile and avoid attention - unless they rise to become senior government officials. In that case, they are listed in the family book as great officials bringing honor to the family and ancestors.

The same family, however, graciously agreed to show their book, which contains 100 rules in 10 categories. These include the obvious rules, such as filial piety and loyalty to the nation, but there are also more unusual categories, rules and obligations. One category concerns praying to ancestors and clearly states that the first in line in the family, usually the eldest male, bears the responsibility of maintaining all ancestral shrines for prayer as well as temples (repairing tile roofs, painting, landscaping and so on) and cemeteries.

Another category specifies what kind of friends and associates one should cultivate to prevent descendents from falling into bad or irresponsible company, leading them astray and possibly into bad behavior. It lists entertainers, gangsters and businessmen/merchants (at one time merchants and the mercantile class had very low status) - even if these people are wealthy. Those on the approved list include scholars, old family friends of equal social status and government officials - even if intellectuals and old friends are poor. One must not discriminate against someone only because he is not doing well at the moment, the rule states.

The first few pages reflect a traditional pattern, which differs slightly from family to family. But some general rules apply and many are not flattering to women, reflecting their low status in traditional society. Modern family books accord higher or equal status to women.

But traditionally, those children borne by legal wives and concubines and those who were adopted are all designated and ranked differently, indicating their order of significance and influence.

Every male name in a family book is followed by a biography, including dates of birth and death, as well as major accomplishments.

In many books, women don't even bear a name, but are only shown as wives or daughters. Of course, they have no biography because there could be no major achievements. Only the so-called "virtuous women," may have a place and a biography. They are usually widows who did not remarry or women who committed suicide after their husbands died.

Deciphering and reconstructing family books is extremely difficult, time-consuming and costly.

First, the original family books or copies must be located. Some books or partial books may have been saved. Libraries around China are a good place to start, particularly the Shanghai Library.

If books are difficult to find, then a search begins. People inquire through their networks or hire people to trace their genealogy.

If the old books are found, there are other challenges. Many are written in ancient texts difficult for people to understand today. Many recent books were written in traditional Chinese characters.

The writing may be faded or illegible and the books may be damaged or in poor condition.

"I spent the entire first year just trying to understand the original books, which came in 20 volumes with nearly 2,000 pages," 80-year-old retired engineer Wang Shouqing from Suzhou, says. He started eight years ago.

"But I have to do it, because my generation is the last one recorded in the book. If I don't do it, the next generation won't even know where to start."

The last entries in Wang's family books were made in 1937, at the beginning of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1937-45), followed by China's civil war. The country was in chaos and battles were fought throughout the country. Wang was five years old at the time, in 1937, and he can still remember some names in the book, people he knew through his parents. Based on his memories and the last recorded addresses in the old books, Wang began his search for relatives.

Over the past eight years, he has located more than 2,000 family members all over the world, including some wealthy businessmen and famous scientists who donated generously to further his project.

The family temple, traditionally used for gatherings and family affairs, has also been lost, but Wang started organizing family gatherings in 2005. Last year, more than 100 people attended.

Now Wang has finally finished the project as an e-book. The e-book is already available and Wang plans to publish a printed edition next year.

"I've made some changes from the old style, such as including all females and treating them equally with the men," Wang recalls. "This was not an easy decision because many people opposed it at first, saying that naming women and giving them biographies violates the traditional family pattern. Tradition is tradition, but we should only carry on the good ones and abandon those that don't conform with modern values."

Qi and Wang are fortunate because they have reconstructed their family trees.

Others are not so lucky, such as Shanghai businessman Jiang Wei, who cannot find original books, copies or even part of a book. So he has decided to compile his own version beginning in the present day.

"It would have been nice to trace the roots and know how my family moved to Shanghai, but since I can't do that, it's also good to start from today, recording the current members, their offspring and so on. It helps keep us together," Jiang says. "After all, the most important purpose of family books is to respect ancestors and bring current family members together. So at least we can do that."