Fujian is the ancestral qiaoxiang (侨乡) of roughly 15.8 million overseas Chinese. Hokkien (Minnan) lineages run from Quanzhou's Jinjiang, Shishi, Nan'an, Hui'an and Anxi into Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia (Penang), the Philippines, Indonesia and southern Thailand; Hakka roots centre on Yongding, Shanghang, Wuping and Changting in Longyan; the Fuzhou-area counties of Changle, Fuqing, Lianjiang and Gutian sent generations to North America and Sarawak. Xiamen, Zhangzhou (Longhai, Zhao'an) and Tong'an round out the Minnan map.
A roots trip is built around three artefacts: the jiapu (族谱, clan genealogy), the ancestral village, and the clan's ancestral hall. Primary jiapu are usually held in the home village; secondary copies sit in the Fujian Provincial Library and, for deeper searches, the Shanghai Library's Chinese Genealogy Collection. Visit-worthy anchors include the Overseas Chinese Museum in Xiamen (founded by Tan Kah Kee), the Cai Family Ancient Residences in Nan'an Guanqiao, the Quanzhou Maritime Museum, the Fujian–Taiwan Kinship Museum, and the Jimei Complex. Mazu pilgrims should also plan a Meizhou Island day.
Logistically, the Fujian Provincial Overseas Chinese Affairs Office and its municipal qiaolian branches run origin-village matching for overseas visitors, and Fujian's 2025 "Root-Seeking Journey" (寻根之旅) programme has expanded summer camps for diaspora youth. Commercial genealogists (notably My China Roots) maintain Fujian village databases. Bring scanned jiapu pages, ancestors' Chinese names in characters, and any old county/village spellings in the original dialect — the more the county qiaolian can confirm before you arrive, the smoother the visit.