Chen from Yancheng is not from Suzhou.

?

-Reading the genealogy of Chen Family in Binhai (part).

It has always been said that the northern counties of Yancheng were originally desert

Chen from Yancheng is not from Suzhou.

?

-Reading the genealogy of Chen Family in Binhai (part).

It has always been said that the northern counties of Yancheng were originally deserted, and the residents here were forced to migrate from Nagato, Suzhou during the "Hongwu drive away" in the Ming Dynasty, so most of the locals claimed their ancestral home in Suzhou. I have always been skeptical about this statement, because this large-scale immigration incident is not clearly recorded in the official history, and it seems to come from folklore. Of course, there are countless historical events, and historians must make choices when recording. It is also possible to omit or even distort historical records because of ideological needs at that time. The official history may not be completely credible, and the legend may be close to the truth. What I doubt is not whether the "Hongwu drive away" incident really happened, but whether the counties under the sea are empty. If the local residents are locals, what percentage of the foreign population is there? What are the "ancestral homes" of local contemporary residents in Suzhou, and what is their place of origin?

This question has existed in my heart for a long time, but it has not been traced back to the source and has not been solved. Recently, by chance, I reprinted the genealogy for my family, but found a trace of the past. I'm not really interested in folk revised genealogies-many of them are actually genealogies. First, genealogy is the product of patriarchal clan system, full of unequal concepts, especially with strong gender discrimination. Looking at the genealogy will make you feel that there is only one gender in the world, and all social relations are established between men and women, just the medium of various male relations. This is incompatible with the modern society that calls for equality between men and women and equality for all. Secondly, the revision of folk genealogy is generally led by family elders, local garbo, rich gentry, rural studies and so on. True Confucian scholars rarely participate (except Confucius genealogy). Limited by the cultural level of genealogists, there are many errors in folk genealogies, and even many typos, such as "respect" for "gold", "loyalty" for "loyalty" and "pseudo" for "laurel". , basically ignored the unclear place, with geographical and time limitations. Therefore, the pursuit of genealogy value is not very high, and the credibility of actual research is also insufficient. But low value doesn't mean no value. We can often find traces close to the truth from the genealogy, especially the preface, which mostly comes from the previous genealogy and can reveal some news.

Looking through Chen's (partial) genealogy in Binhai this time, I found that several couplets were printed, one of which "reading seals and learning classics" caught my attention, and the rest were general eulogies, which had no textual research significance. We need to talk about Kong Zhang first. Kong Zhang, whose real name is Chen Lin and whose real name is Kong Zhang, is one of the seven sons of Jian 'an. Chen is a writer with a strong writing style. He once wrote a campaign against Cao Cao, Writing for Yu Zhou of Yuan Shao. In the article, he recounted all kinds of crimes of Cao Cao, and scolded Cao Cao's ancestors for three generations. At the end of the article, it says: "As a law!" Three words came to an abrupt end. When the article was sent to Cao Cao, Cao Cao was suffering from head wind and was ill in bed. After reading the article, he can't argue. He was surprised to sweat, and the wind on his head suddenly recovered.

Although Chen Lin is famous, his allusions are not known to ordinary people in later generations. This pair of couplets appearing in genealogy is even more difficult for ordinary rural schools to draw up. The only explanation is that this pair of couplets copied a previous genealogy, and the previous one inherited the previous one. It can be speculated that the quasi-couplets may not be far from the Chen Lin era. Historically, Chen Lin was a native of Guangling Sheyang. There are two versions of his ancestral home, one is in Sheyang Lake Town, Baoying County, Yangzhou City, and the other is in Dazong Lake, Yandu District, Yancheng City. The two places are about 40 kilometers apart and belong to Guangling County at the end of Han Dynasty. To sum up, it can be inferred that Chen Lin's family, who lives near the ancient Sheyang Lake (now Dazong Lake), is the ancestor of Chen in Yancheng! In the past two thousand years, with the eastward movement of the coastline, the Chen family has gradually expanded from Sheyang Lake to the north bank of the Yangtze River and the coast of the Yellow Sea, forming a large pattern that is spread all over Yangzhou, Taizhou and Yancheng today. Therefore, if the Chen family in Yancheng wants to find today's ancestors, it is the right way to go to the Dazong Lake, and never rely on Suzhou Nagato again, otherwise it will be reversed!

Admittedly, the above is only an inference, but I believe this inference is close to the fact. As for how the Chen family expanded its territory in the Yellow Sea in the past two thousand years, it needs detailed textual research by interested and capable Chen descendants to be clear.