Hello everyone.
I’m currently a canadian resident, but I have been adopted from Taiwan.
I would like to know more about my origin and my country of birth.
My taiwanese name is Chi-Yu Cheng and my place of birth was Maoli Hsien.
Also I don’t look like the typical Han, I wonder if my birthplace can say something about my ethnicity.
Also, does Chiu-Yu means something?
Thank you very much, this is very important to me.
Most of Miaoli County is a stronghold of Hakka speakers. Hakka is a subgroup of Han though. There’s not a very large aboriginal presence there (1.9% according to Wiki) but there’s been a lot of intermarriage over the years which can show.
Without the Chinese characters for your name, it wouldn’t be possible to know the meaning.
Like tempo said, being from Miaoli, there’s a much better average chance that you are from the Hakka ethnic group http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakka,
If you don’t look Han, you may have aboriginal genes, either Saisat http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saisiat or Atayal en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atayal_people
Good luck with your quest
Hey snowymat, I don’t have any answers for you, but I just wanted to wish you the best of luck. There are a lot of knowledgeable people on here, so hopefully they can help you find out a bit more about your origins.
[color=#004000]***Mod’s note:
Photos of identification documents containing personal information was removed from this post
-TGM 03/06/2014
------[/color]
Thank you for your quick answers.
I can’t find my taiwanese name, since I can’t read the characters.
Thank you again.
I think I don’t look Han because I have double eyes lid and my eyes aren’t very slanted. Also my nose is not as flat as some of my “han looking” friends.
But maybe I’m wrong, I’m not very familiar with asians people ethnic look
Taiwanese birth certificates don’t show a child’s name. Seems weird but that’s the way it is. Your mother’s address at the time is in Yuanli Township in Miaoli. You were born at a hospital on Minquan Road in Xindian in New Taipei City, which would be the Tung Jen Hospital.
With the info on your birth certificate it should be possible to track your birth mother down should you wish to do so - her name and ID number are on there. The space for “father’s name” has been stamped “LEFT BLANK”. As Tempo Gain says the child’s name is not normally put on the birth certificate (the name is usually chosen after the certificate is issued).
Wow.
Good luck man!
You could be Hakka or mixed Hakka aboriginal. That is very common in Miaoli. My wife also has darker features and double eye lids and is not stereotypical Taiwanese/Chinese looking and she is also from Miaoli . However you could also be Taiwanese or aboriginal heritage. Most people here are of mixed ancestry.
Anyway…the info is all there for you to follow up if you so wish.
I sent you a private message with a full translation. Go check it out.
Kudos, Hokwongwei!
I’m not a hundred percent positive of this, but I think it’s possible that the Shān (山) in the address should be Chū (出). The reason I think this is that I wasn’t able to get anything on Google Maps until I replaced 山 with 出. (I also removed Province, (Shěng,省) from the address when I Googled, and I put the whole thing in quotes, but I don’t think the quotes matter.) When I did so, I got a number 48 in street view. Moving to the left one building, I got a number 4.
The address is from 1993, and the buildings, streets, etc., may have changed since then, or I could be off, even 'way off, for some other reason. So as I said, I’m not a hundred percent positive, and I’m not even sure the address matters.
I should add that for what little I did, I had lots of help from a Taiwanese person. In fact, the Taiwanese person pretty much did the work for me.
Those were the same conclusions I reached, Charlie Jack. There seems not to be any roads named Shanshui (山水) in that tiny village, so I reckon it’s Chushui (出水) as well. But as you said, it’s been 21 years and the zoning could have changed. The only way to be sure would probably be a phone call to the Yuanli Township Office.
It’s not hard to imagine 出水 being mistranscribed as 山水, as the latter is a much more likely street name.
Please allow me to play the devil’s advocate. Or the devil herself. OP I understand your need and I fully respect that, but can you please either just use the PM function or sth. else so that your mother’s name and address are not in the public domain. Just for her privacy. I understand fully that a local from Yuanli township is hardly a regular on the flob but still. Please imagine if the roles were reversed and your mom’s name and address were published in Canada or America in English for a free translation by an Asian? I know you need help, and you got it. I am happy for you. Truly. But do remove your birth certificate. 
Edit: I am surprised old hands here at the flob let this slide. I mean, Tash talks about her glib, idiotic ex’s indiscretions covered in the NEWS and there is so much righteousness bs, and here this fellow is exposing a woman who had to give up her child for God knows what reasons and no one bats an eyelid. Couldn’t he have gotten a pro to translate his document for a 100 Canadian dollars? Double standards? Is it because the woman is TW so it is okay? What if she married an expat?
And a woman will be exposed readily but a man? Oh we want to protect his reputation. And if he is white…
I’m pretty sure it’s because there is no issue to deal with.
I’m pretty sure it’s because there is no issue to deal with.[/quote]
Divea’s got it it right: we don’t know whether there is an “issue” or what is behind the story, and it is better to be considerate to all concerned and also to keep in mind the potential for getting into legal trouble (even if that appears slim)…
If there were a way to make things more private without the OP getting lost (he is a young fellow and a newcomer, and this is a big board; I suspect that some people find the board confusing and intimidating, at least at first), then that would be nice.
Since Hokwongwei has already translated and sent the OP a PM, I dont see there is a need for it to remain. I flagged the post and Im sure it will be removed as soon as a mod who has access to this forum notices it.
The yoiung gentleman has all he needs to find his mother, the hopsital he was born in and even the place his mother lived. I do not know, however finding about his biological mothers current whereabouts would not be too hard either. The next would be that he actually came looking for his place of birth, his Taiwanese family or the hospital he was born in.
He posted the whole thing online, so he had it all along.