Erratum and Apology: Correcting the Maternal Lineage of Fung Fu (馮扶) and the Identity Conflation of Kwan Yuet-ming (關月明)

Submitted by lausanching on
Title: Erratum and Apology: Correcting the Maternal Lineage of Fung Fu (馮扶) and the Identity Conflation of Kwan Yuet-ming (關月明)
Dear Gwulo Community,
I am writing to formally correct a significant genealogical error published in my previous historical accounts regarding the maternal lineage of the descendants of early Hong Kong educator and To Tsai Ui Tong (道濟會堂) elder, Fung Fu (馮扶, also known as Fung But-san / 馮拔臣).
In my earlier commentary—which drew upon Dr. Ip Sum-ming’s doctoral thesis, "Salvation from Above: The Christian Missions of the To Tsai Ui Tong"—I erroneously stated that Fung Fu’s wife was Kwan Yuet-ming (關月明, 1858–1913), the eldest daughter of the pioneer dentist Kwan Yuen-cheung (關元昌).
Following a rigorous cross-examination of primary archival data, church registries, and tombstone epigraphy brought to my attention by Ian Shen (a great-great-grandson of Kwan Yuen-cheung and keeper of the family’s historical records), this premise has been proven false. I sincerely apologize for propagating this mistake.
 
The Empirical Contradictions
The conflation can be definitively dismantled by two pieces of primary evidence:
  1. Tombstone Epigraphy: Fung Fu’s own family tomb inscription explicitly states that his wife was born on January 17, 1859, and passed away on September 2, 1933.
  2. Matrilocal Arrangement & Burial Records: Archival records confirm that Kwan Yuen-cheung’s eldest daughter, Kwan Yuet-ming, actually married Lau Hin-cheong (劉顯章, style name Sing-nam 星南) of Sun Wui in a matrilocal (入贅) arrangement. She never left her parents' home, died in August 1913, and rests at the Happy Valley Cemetery (Grave No. 7963).
The dates and marital structures completely clash, rendering the previous lineage impossible.
 
Historiographical Source of the Error
The confusion stems from a long-standing identity conflation within early Hong Kong Protestant historiography, where the names of Kwan Yuen-cheung (關元昌), Kwan Yun-fat (關潤發/關元發), Kwan Yuet-ming (關月明), and Kwan Yuet-kwai (關月桂) were frequently interchanged.
  • The Registry Oversight: In "Salvation from Above", Dr. Ip Sum-ming mistakenly linked Fung Fu’s wife and Kwan Yuet-ming to the exact same To Tsai Ui Tong baptismal number (178-1). Furthermore, the thesis bypassed traditional Chinese generation name structures, placing 關國開 (188-1) into the second generation of Kwan Yuen-cheung without further evaluation.
  • The Carl Smith Precedent: Even the venerable Carl Smith in Chinese Christians (2005, p. 230 n. 10) mistakenly recorded Kwan Yuet-kwai as Kwan Yuet-ming(關月明). While Smith correctly noted that Fung Fu's wife was the eldest daughter of Kwan Yun-fat, he erroneously identified Yun-fat as Yuen-cheung’s brother.
  • But, Carl Smith made errors too.
 
I am deeply grateful to Ian Shen for his meticulous corrections and for preserving the integrity of early Hong Kong genealogy. I offer my sincere apologies to the descendants of both houses and to fellow researchers for any confusion caused by my previous assertions. 
Best regards,
Lau San Ching
22 August, 2026