You can enter Chinese places into Family Tree. The following tips will help ensure the place is recorded and standardized accurately.
Be as precise as possible.
Include provincial, prefectural, county, township, and basic level names if you know them or can find them. If you do not know the full place name, enter as much as you can. For example:
| Roman | Chinese |
| Taizicheng, Sitaizui, Chongli, Zhangjiakou, Hebei, China | 中國河北省張家口市崇禮區四臺嘴鄉太子城村 |
| Guizhou | 贵州省 |
| Xinjie, Midu, Dali Bai, Yunnan | 雲南省大理白族自治州彌渡縣新街鎮 |
| Nanping, New Taipei City, Taiwan | 臺灣新北市南平 |
Enter the name in the typical order for the language you are using.
In Chinese and languages that list the country name first, type the country first. Then enter provincial, prefectural, county, township, and basic level names.
中國山西省忻州市定襄縣晉昌鎮
In English and other languages that list the country name last, enter basic, township, county, prefecture, and provincial names first. Enter the country name last.
Jinchang, Dingxiang, Xinzhou, Shanxi, China
Select a standardized place.
To help distinguish between places with similar names and names that have changed over time, FamilySearch maintains a database of standardized places.
As you enter a place into Family Tree, the standardized places that match appear in a drop-down list beneath the field.
Family Tree stores both the place as you enter it and a standardized version of that name. The standardized place helps ensure that the place is displayed correctly and searched correctly in Family Tree.
The database of place standards is growing continuously, but it is not yet complete for China. If the standard place that you need is not available, try one of these tips:
- Add more information to the place you typed, such as a prefecture or country name. Then select the higher level jurisdiction as the standard. Choose the country name as the standard if that is all you know.
- If you cannot find a historical place name, change it to the modern one. For example, change 北平 to 北京. The FamilySearch place standards database currently contains more modern Chinese place-names than historical ones.
- If all else fails, scroll to the bottom of the list, and select None of the above. Then go to FamilySearch Places to suggest that we add it.
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