Chinese graves at Melbourne General Cemetery
Discover their Chinese names and places of origin
How to read a headstone
Most are read right to left, top to bottom. With the main information, the name, in the central column. The last characters below the name are usually the word for grave or tomb.
Written as either –
| 墳墓 / 坟墓 | 之墓 |
| Fen Mo (trad./simp.) | Zi Mo |
Location of ancestral origin.
Common locations for the Melbourne graves are:
廣東 – Guangdong / Canton
台山 – Taishan / Toi San
新會 – Xinhui / Sun Wui
開平 – Kaiping / Hoi Ping
中山 – Zhongshan / Zhong San
Words denoting the location:
省 – Xing – Province
縣 – Yoon – County
區 – Keoi – District
市 – Si – City
鄉 – Hoeng – Town
村 – Chuen – Village
Dates of birth and death.
The characters to denote birth on headstones 生於 or 生于 Sarng Yu – born in (Yu – the second character in traditional and simplified forms)
The characters to denote death on headstones 終於 or 終于 Zhong Yu – in the end / finally (Yu – the second character in traditional and simplified forms)
The Chinese write locations and dates from “large to small”, that is, country, city/town, village; year, month, day.
年 – Neen – year
月 – Yuet – month
曰 – Yut – day
It can be complicated as dates can be referred to by Dynasty or from the Republic, as well as by the Chinese lunar calendar or western Gregorian calendar.
Numbers are usually written in Chinese numerals (1 to 10)
Normal 一 二 三 四 五 六 七 八 九 十
Financial 壹 貳 叁 肆 伍 陸 柒 捌 玖 拾
Financial numbers are used by businesses such as banks. The characters are difficult to alter/forge, unlike normal numbers.
There is also another set of numbers used by merchants.
The central column with the name information is organised so that you will be able to tell if the name is male or female.
Unless there is a special title, such as supreme or honourable person, the first character is usually the family name.
This is normally followed by the given names.
If the name is followed by the character 公 this denotes a male.
公 – Gung – meaning male / elder / honourable gentleman.
Some men have special names, courtesy name used by teachers and associates of the person, or a art or pen name such as an artist or writer. A special character (usually smaller and to the side) is added to denote the name.
字 – Zi – courtesy name.
號/号 – Ho – art name or nickname.
If the first character (family name) is followed by 門 this denotes the person is a woman and she has married into this family.
門 – Moon – meaning door, as in entered the family.
After this would be the woman’s maiden name and given names.
Sometimes, the maiden name is follow by 氏 (Si) which is the equivalent of née. Or her name is followed by 安人 (On Yun) for wife of.
Additional information could also be provided such as the clan or society to which the deceased belonged.
As many of the Chinese came from Southern China, from the Guangdong area, most were members of the See Yup, or four counties. So some headstones will provide reference to the county they belonged to.
四邑 – See Yup – Four counties
| 寧邑 Ning Yup | 台山 Taishan/Toi San county. 寧陽 Ning Yang is the old name for Toi San |
| 開邑 Hoi Yup | 開平 – Kaiping/Hoi Ping county |
| 恩邑 Yun Yup | 恩平 – Enping/Yun Ping county |
| 會邑 Wui Yup | 新會 – Xinhui/Sun Wui county |