Monday, July 20, 2015

Tamsui Cheng

This is a map of 10 of the 11 Li's (里) of TongAn Prefecture (同安縣), namely, 長興, 同禾, 民安, 從順, 翔鳳, 感化, 歸德, 仁德, 安仁, and 積善. Missing from it is the 11th, 嘉禾里, i.e. Xiamen Island (廈門島).

Throughout Chinese history, names of places are often changed to conform to new civil administrative systems imposed by new rulers/conquerors. This is a geographical identity cleansing on an unimaginable scale.

Xiamen Island was known as 嘉禾嶼 during the Song Dynasty and 中左所 during the Ming Dynasty. It had long been part of the TongAn Prefecture. The 11 Li's of the Song Dynasty became 44 Du's (都) in Yuan Dynasty, and in Ming, further consolidated to 37 Du's.

The ancestors of the Tamsui-Cheng (淡水鄭)came from 嘉禾里.