Source: Faces of America: "Ma Family History"
Faces of America on VITAL is made possible by The Cola Company.
Funding for Faces of America on PBS was provided by The Coca-Cola Company and Johnson & Johnson. Additional funding was provided by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, The Atlantic Philanthropies, and The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Additional support is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and PBS.
Download and ShareMa Family History Transcript (Document)
Gates: All of this is the Ma family history? How was this found?
Professor Wang: It was a miracle. It’s because people forgot about them.
Gates: Just luck!
Wang: Yes, it was luck. Nobody wanted these books. They all wanted to throw them away. When the family built a house, they buried the books in the wall. Years later, when they wanted to renovate they tore out all the walls and the books fell out!
Gates: Really, they were building a house and it came out of the wall?
Why did you keep it?
Ma Yo-De: These belonged to my ancestors. I’d feel guilty if I threw them away. But they were messy and dirty. I didn’t want keep them at home. So I put them here in the ancestral hall.
Gates: Ma Yo-De, you hid it in plain sight.
Professor Wang: You are a good friend of Yo-Yo’s. I’d like you to tell him that his father is in the genealogy. Look, there he is!
Yo-Yo Ma: Oh my goodness. That’s so sweet. He’s so earnest. Right? It’s really really very lovely.
Gates: So I delivered the message to you.
Yo-Yo Ma: Thank you sir.
Gates: Well, we took the genealogy to experts in paper restoration, and they made a copy for you bound in the traditional way.
Yo-Yo Ma: Oh my goodness! That’s so sweet. Oh my gosh, that’s unbelievable.
Gates: And we brought it back. This is volume one of your family genealogy.
Yo-Yo Ma: Wow Wow. OK! …Do you know what it says?
Gates: I do. This genealogy is a remarkable historical and social record. It goes back Yo Yo many, many generations, more than you’re going to believe. And it includes essays, lineage rules and moral guidelines for your family. Poems, short biographies of your ancestors, all sorts of information. And Yo, the man who began compiling this in the year 1723 was your fourth great uncle, Ji Cang. Yo-Yo Ma: Wow.
Gates: Ji Cang, by the way, is the man who named you. Ji-Cang picked the generational names for all of his descendents. Yo for your generation, Bing for your children’s generation, and so on. Ji Cang picked the names for 30 generations after you. And they’re all listed in this book.
Yo-Yo Ma: Yikes.
Gates: Were you aware? Of any of this?
Yo-Yo Ma: No, in fact I’ve always wondered who made the decision for which generation would have this character in it and whatever and how far it went. I think you just answered my question.
Gates: And there’s more volumes here.
Yo-Yo Ma: This goes on. Well its..its really… It is totally amazing. Thank you, thank you.
Gates: It’s our gift to you.
Loading Standards
Discussion Questions
Print Discussion Questions