Where does a family really come from? It’s a question that compels me more and more each year. There is a simple answer in my own case: my family come from China. Rather than leave it at that, I want to uncover the specific and most distant details of my heritage- the different lands, communities we originate from and the events that shape us.

But a variety of predominantly rural origins, a history of violent revolution and change, natural disasters, and unfamiliar territory create considerable barriers for this examination into the past. After all, I was born, raised, and educated completely in America. I speak only a bit of Chinese and cannot read or write anything besides numbers. So I must enlist help. And I am extraordinarily fortunate to have it, through countless friends and family who call China their home.

Through travel, interviews, searching and investigating, my overarching goal is to record for the just sake of preservation and write untold stories that capture a spirit of another time and place. Here, I organize a part of my “project” through pictures and posts on China (and sometimes other things).