I know that Ancestry is one of the best companies for taking a DNA test to find out about your ancestors. However, I have come across various posts online which say that Ancestry isn’t great for East Asians. I want to know the truth, before sending a sample to them.
How Is Ancestry.Com For East Asian Dna Tests And Tracing One’s Heritage? Are Birth Records Available? Is The Mitochondrial Record As Complete For The Asian Continent?
I understand your concern, as you need to spend your money to conduct the test. After all, it makes no sense in sending your DNA sample, if you don’t get the necessary results. I can give you an example of personal experience, along with all the information I have collected over several years.
Unlike you, I decided to send my DNA test sample to 23andMe, as I was curious about the company’s services. As I am an East Asian myself, the test results were quite accurate. For example, they told me that I am primarily Chinese, with a few Southeast Asian traits. Also, I have an extremely small percentage of European genes, mainly from Northern Europe.
I would like to point out that this test is accurate, but it doesn’t have a lot of information. However, I have read several articles which state that 23andMe’s database is growing significantly every year. As time goes on, I assume the company will have a tremendous database, giving you deeper insight into your heritage.
One thing you should know that there is a huge variation when it comes to the possibility of finding genealogical records for various countries. For example, if you were to look at Phillippines, the majority of the population used to be Roman Catholics. As churches were responsible for baptizing their population, they have access to large volumes of records. However, the sad part is that other records may not be available, due to insects, floods, and fire.
It is a different story if you want to find out about Chinese ancestry. It is a common practice for families in China to keep records on their male lineage. For example, the Kungs family can trace their ancestors all the way to the time of Confucius. However, they don’t have the same records available to females.
If your family is a part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, then it becomes quite easy to track down your ancestors, thanks to their extensive genealogical records. Ask the archivist or librarian, who will help you find the right records of your ancestors. However, you may have to pay a small fee, for using some of their microfilms.
Also, another thing to note is that if your ancestors immigrated to the US, you are bound to find records. The reason is that the government wanted to track the inflow of people from the Asian continent. Due to this reason, there is a high chance of finding information about your relatives, helping you fill any gaps in your family tree.