For 67-year-old Yuan Runtu from Xishui county in Guizhou province, searching for his family history is as much fun as it is his duty.

“Family history and genealogy are considered of great importance in Chinese tradition,” said Yuan, who has spent the best part of three years researching the Yuan family name.

Searching for family roots has become fashionable nowadays, even among many people, says Yuan. “Even many young generations tend to know more people sharing the same family name and learn about family’s legends in the ancient times.”

The family stories collected by Yuan over the three year period have been compiled into a book named Southwestern Yuan’s Family. The book contains 1,505 pages and 1.36 million characters, and weighs over 3.5 kilograms.

The idea to compile the book was sparked when Yuan became dissatisfied with the existing material documenting his family name. He had, for many years, a yellow booklet stored in his home, which recorded the long story of the Yuan’s family of the Qing Dynasty (1831－1861). Dissatisfied with the incomplete information, Yuan became determined to search for more stories of their ancestors and perfect the family genealogy.

Through great efforts, the history of his family gradually emerged. Yuan Shiming was a key figure in the family, who was assigned by the Southern Song Dynasty (112 -1279) from Jiangxi province to crackdown the rebellion in the southwestern area of Guizhou. From then on, his offspring was scattered far and wide across the county and settled there.

Statistics show that Xishui has over 60,000 people from the Yuan family, accounting for 8 percent of the county’s total population of people bearing the name.

Genealogy is not Yuan’s final goal of searching for family roots. More efforts have been made to boost the prestige of the Yuan family. In 2008, funds were collected on a voluntary basis to rebuild the family’s ancestral halls, which were destroyed by a snowstorm. Special funds were also collected to help education and commonwealth undertakings. A WeChat group has been set up to help family members establish closer relationships with each other.

“People in the Yuan family are united closer than even before, which comforts me a lot,” said Yuan.

Sounthwestern Yuan’s Family was compiled by Yuan Runtu and his teammates. [Photo/gog.cn]