On April 25th, the Faculty of Business invited Mr. Frank Ching, a renowned journalist, to deliver a lecture on “A Quest for Identity: Searching for ancestors from the Song Dynasty to the Republic of China”.
Mr. Frank Ching, a well known journalist and author, has spent many years in Hong Kong and the United States. He opened The Wall Street Journal’s bureau in Beijing in 1979 when the U.S. and China established diplomatic relations. Before that, he was with The New York Times in New York for 10 years. After Beijing, he wrote the book Ancestors: 900 Years in the Life of a Chinese Family (1988), in which he tells the story of his ancestors in the Qin family, beginning with the 11th-century Song dynasty poet Qin Guan. The book has since been translated into other languages and published in France, the Netherlands, China, and Taiwan. An updated version, taking the story forward, appeared in 2010.
Mr. Frank Ching shared his family history and his retrospective process with the students. He grew up in Hong Kong and studied in the United States. In 1979, the head office of the Wall Street Journal sent him to Beijing as a special correspondent. He was able to make contact with many relatives and friends. He also had the opportunity to get access to some historical information and obtain a precious genealogy of the Qin family. It gave the names and lineages of his ancestors dating back to the 33rd generation of his father's generation, a span of more than 900 years, back to the 11th-century, who were all descended from one man, named Qin Guan. Counting from Qin Guan, he is the 34th generation of his family on his father's side. After several setbacks, he and his sister finally discovered the tomb of Qin Guan. He came from Jiangsu Province, and possessed great literary talent. Tracking down his ancestor meant that, after many years of inquiry, his long-cherished wishes finally became true. Mr. Frank Ching sincerely thanked the Jiangsu Provincial Government, the Wuxi Municipal Government and the people there for their invaluable assistance.
The students who attended were very interested in Mr. Frank Ching's family history and how he had traced it back. They took the initiative in asking him questions, with some interested in how they could trace back their own families.