As a child, Chinese New Year was a time to receive red envelopes (红包) and eat sticky rice cake (年糕) or nian gao. It is quite easy to be a child during Chinese New Year. However, what about the adults? Whatever customs we picked up, if any, from our parents, one day, each of us will have to decide what customs and traditions we pass on to our sons and daughters.

How appropriate it was then for the San Francisco Chronicle to cover a program called In Search of Roots, run by the Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco. The program is open to Chinese Americans from 16–25 years of age with families originating in the counties of the Pearl River Delta region in Guangdong province. The program offers interns an opportunity research their ancestry and complete a pilgrimage to Guangdong to visit their ancestral village.

The Chronicle also featured a companion video to the article. And, of course, you can find program highlights on YouTube as well.

In Search of Roots 2004 Trailer:

From Guangzhou TV (in Cantonese):

Considering all the resources that Chinese Americans have today, I hope that 2–3 generations down the line, our descendants will have more materials to trace their lineage if they choose to do so. So, if you are spending time with family during this Chinese New Year, please take some time to note down or record their stories.