[Photo/Xinhua]

An instant connection

"The feeling of connectedness was almost instantaneous. I kept saying to myself: They walked along this muddy road, washed in this crystal-watered stream, and worshipped under the giant wooden beams of this long-abandoned village hall ... not yesterday, but 150 years ago," he said.

When he shared his story, Lie was inundated by requests for help from other overseas ethnic Chinese, who had never thought such a search would be realistic. Word spread, and eventually, it seemed logical to start a business.

My China Roots has now conducted 25 successful searches, 15 of them last year. "Imagination matters as much as perseverance, although what's lying at the end of that twisting tunnel of discovery has often come as a big surprise," he said.

Lie recalled an Australian client who asked him to gather information about his maternal great-grandfather, who left China in the late 19th century to try his luck overseas. Research in the ancestral village yielded two candidates with the right name who left at about the same time. "According to the county annals, one fled as a result of having killed another person, while the other was a village doctor. No specific reason was given for his departure, and there were no other records," he said. "At first, my client thought the 'criminal' must be his great-grandfather, because he'd heard that his great-grandfather had a violent streak.

"We managed to find the grave of the man's mother, with her death date inscribed on the stone. Here a problem arose: Judging by the dates, this woman's son couldn't possibly be my client's great-grandfather," Lie said. "The question was laid open again, but the discovery (that his great-grandfather wasn't a murderer) was a relief to my client."