Our History
Discover the rich history of the Lew Hing Family and connect with your roots.
The Han Dynasty: Origins of Our Family Name
Lew, or, as it is more commonly transliterated in history, Liu, is the surname of the first emperor of the Han Dyasty, 劉 邦 (Liu Bang). Outside of being a surname, the Chinese character 劉 means to kill or destroy. It is also known as a type of battle axe.
In Mandarin, 劉 is pronounced liú, which is where its typical English transliteration is from. 劉 is also pronounced liú in Hoisan-wa, the Taishan dialect that our ancestor Lew Hing spoke. In Cantonese, 劉 is pronounced lau4.
According to extensive research done by our family historians, 劉 興 (Lew Hing) was born in the 184th generation of Emperor 劉 邦's family line. Which means, if you know how many generations away from 劉 興 you are, you can place yourself in that line as well!
Some may enjoy being related to the Han Dynasty. Some may not. Similarly, some may have mixed feelings about the era brought about by our more recent ancestor, Lew Hing. All dynasties and eras have their beauty and their pains, their successes and their mistakes, their goodness and their cruelty. Yet, through it all, we can marvel at the tenacity of life and what it takes to be born.
We, each of us, are a miracle made by the smallest and largest of our ancestors' choices and circumstances. What a wonder and a privilege it is to be able to trace our family back so far, name by name, generation by generation, life by life.
* To learn more about the history of the Liu name and peoples, read one of our family historians, Elizabeth Lew's book: The House of Liu: A Han Dynasty Geneology, A 5,000-Year Heritage, The Journey to America.
Imagine looking back thousands of years, over 6,000 miles of ocean, from the shores of Turtle Island to the shores of the Middle Kingdom, and seeing our ancestors. If we had a spyglass that could reach them, and they us, what would either of us wish to say? That's a story for another day.
Now, let's join a tenacious twelve year old child of the 19th century as he voyages away from his Liu clan ancestral village, crossing the ocean to build a home away from home, and forever link the two.
劉興: From 廣東 of
中國 to 舊金山
Lew Hing: From the Broad East (Guangdong Province) of the Middle Kingdom (China) to the Ancient Golden Mountain (San Francisco)
City of Peking Steamship, 1867
Pacific Mail Steamship Company
*images are hyperlinked to their sources*
Lew Beginnings
a fanciful telling
Once upon a year of the 馬 (horse), a few centuries ago, on a May 26th, 1858, in the 8th year of the reign of Emperor 咸豐 (Xiánfēng) of the 清 (Qīng) Dynasty, in a village called 新 園 (New Garden), a child was born. He was the third son in his family. They named him 劉 興 .
劉 (Liú) for the child's clan, descended from warriors and emperors, a surname of destruction. 興 (Hing) for his future, hoping that he would flourish, prosper and rise as the character suggested.
The child would grow up to live his name to the full.
巷 尾 (Alley's End) Village, 2021
image from page 4 of Roland Hui's Chinaman Tycoon:
Most of the following knowledge of 劉 興's life is gleaned from Roland Hui's Chinaman Tycoon:
The Life and Times of Lew Hing (1858 - 1934) . Some sentences are very closely paraphrased.
Thank you Roland for all your work in gathering our family's history!
里坳 (Li'Ao Village)
The child's ancestral village was 巷 尾 (Alley's End). It neighbors the village he was born in, and is a part of the 14 villages that make up Li'Ao Village.
Li'Ao Village is an old settlement of the Liu Clan in the town of Dajiang, Xinning district (now Taishan), Guangdong Province. In 2021, Li'Ao had a population of approximately 1,500 people.
Many of the Liu Clan's descendants left the village in the late 1800's because of severe food shortages caused by infertile soil.
According to family legend, 劉 興 's father, Liu Naichong, had travelled across the ocean to the Ancient Golden Mountain* in search of gold and a brighter future for his family in the 1850's. Liu Naichong experienced hardships in the Ancient Golden Mountain (Yelamu*) that led him to return home to Li'Ao Village swiftly, but the experience did not discourage him from holding dreams of gold for his children.
*Ancient Golden Mountain: translation of one of the older Chinese names for San Francisco, 舊金山
*Yelamu: the indigenous name of San Francisco county, as well as the name of the original peoples of San Francisco, proper, as ascribed by the Ramaytush Ohlone People.
香港 (Hong Kong) Education
Turtle Island*, or the "Flower Flag Country"*, was set in the child 劉 興's eyes very early on. When his family moved to 廣州 (Canton) - the capital of Guangdong province - in search of more stability than Li'Ao Village could offer, 劉 興's father sent him to the British Colony of Hong Kong to study English and Chinese. This would prepare him for his journey into the world beyond the Middle Kingdom*.
劉 興's older brother (name unknown) went to Turtle Island ahead of the rest of the family and started a small dry goods business alongside his Liu clansmen in the Ancient Golden Mountain (Yelamu). The business (Hing Kee) achieved some success, enough to risk calling 劉 興 over from across the seas so that he could learn from and support the venture. At this point the child had been studying in Hong Kong for a few years, and he was around 12 years old.
Hong Kong port, 1854
* Turtle Island: the Indigenous name for what 劉 興 knew as America/the U.S.
*Flower Flag Country: in 中國, the U.S. flag was thought to look like a flower.
*The Middle Kingdom: translation of 中國, the indigenous name of what the western world knows as China.
The Ancient Golden Mountain (Yelamu)
What happens next to our intrepid, entrepreneurial, adventurous child? How does he go from working in his older brother's business to starting his own family, fathering 13 children, and gaining the title of Chinaman Tycoon?
What legacy and impact has he left in the world, from the Bay Area, Mexicali and Europe to all of his descendants sprinkled across Turtle Island?
What beauty and life did he bring? Were there any harms he perpetuated?
What can we learn from this child and his future, and what ways can we, as his descendants, connect to one another and to our roots?
San Francisco, 1864
What do we make of our beginnings, as a family, and what new beginnings can we create together?
This concludes the fanciful telling of the child 劉 興 (Lew Hing).
Below is a family telling, hosted amongst a gathering of the child's descendants, following him throughout his time on Turtle Island.
Lew Beginnings
An exploration of the Life and Times of Lew Hing, as told by Lew Hing family member, Bruce Quan.
*Video includes English subtitles. Click the settings button, bottom right between the "YouTube" logo and "cc", to choose the playback speed and quality of the video.
The video above shows Lew Hing descendant Bruce Quan giving the Lew Hing family a tour of the "Chinaman Tycoon: The Life and Times of Lew Hing" exhibit in the SF Main Library. He tells the stories of the artifacts and photos, walking us through Lew Hing's life from display to display. In the next video, below, Bruce tells the stories of the artifacts displayed inside the San Francisco History Center's reading room. The San Francisco History Center and Bruce worked together to arrange the entire exhibit.
A big thank you to Bruce and the San Francisco History Center for all of your work curating the displays!
One notable artifact that was displayed in the reading room was a vase presented to Lew Hing by the Qing Dynasty for his mutual aid efforts to take care of the Chinese community after the Bay Area 1906 earthquake. Lew Hing immediately mobilized his workers to set up a relief camp on the vacant land around his cannery, providing shelter, food, and other necessities for thousands of people. It wasn't until 2,006, a century later, that his efforts were recognized by media and the City of Oakland.
Asian Art Museum Chief Curator Robert Mintz, introduced in the video above, verifies that the vase came from the Yongzheng period, 1722-1735. It was made in the imperial kiln.
Accompanying Article to the Exhibit
The article to the right has a general overview of Lew Hing's life, decade by decade, and it was meant to be read alongside the "Chinaman Tycoon: the Life and Times of Lew Hing" exhibit. The photographs and documents from the exhibit are always available for hands on viewing at the San Francisco Historical Center, on the 6th floor of the SF Main Library. Ask for the Quan and Lew collection. Peruse our gallery page to look at some of the family photos from the Quan and Lew collection, and watch the video below to see the photos that were included in the exhibit.
Lew Hing Artifacts - zooming in
This video is a close up of the artifacts displayed in the Chinaman Tycoon exhibit on 1/2/2025. The first 10 minutes are a brief description and walk through of the exhibit with Lew Hing descendent Ed Marquez. The last 20 minutes are up close footage of the display cases, with music playing in the background. Enjoy!
Photos of some of the artifacts in the exhibit, displayed below.
Want to learn more?
To dive further into Lew Hing's story and our family history, read Bruce Quan's Bitter Roots: Five Generations of a Chinese Family in America and Roland Hui's Chinaman Tycoon: The Life and Times of Lew Hing (1858 - 1934). Roland's work is considered the most thorough, academically rigorous scouring of our family history. He also published a wonderful article on Lew Hing, on worldjournal.com. Click here to read. Our news page has a google translated version of the article, in English.
The Best Way To Learn
Ultimately, the best way to learn about our roots is to learn about one another, hearing each others' stories and passing them on with love and care and honesty from generation to generation. May we always treasure our beginnings and celebrate the many to come as we move into the future both as individuals and as a family.
Get in Touch
Interested in learning more about your Lew Hing Family roots and/or building community?