Historical origins of the Tian family

The Tian family comes from the surname Gui, and its ancestor is Gongzi Wan, the son of Chen Tuo, the Duke of Chen Li in the early Spring and Autumn Period.

In the early Spring and Autumn Period, after the death of Duke Huan Bao, the king of Chen State, Duke Huan Bao's younger brother Gongzi Tuo launched a coup and killed his nephew the prince to avoid proclaiming himself king of the country. He was Duke Li of Chen. In the second year of Chen Ligong's reign, Chen Wan was born. It happened that Zhou Taishi passed by Chen, and Duke Chen Li sent Zhou Yi to examine it, and he got the hexagram: "This is to observe the light of the country and use it to the king. Is there a country in Chen's generation? Not here, in a foreign country? Not in this body, in His descendants. If they are in a foreign country, they must have the surname Jiang. After Taiyue, there are no two great things. How can this be prosperous? The first master is Yue, the second master is Lin, and the second master is Chujiu. In August 706 BC, the three people resented Duke Li for killing their father and brother, so they asked people from Cai to trick Duke Li and kill him. After Chen Ligong was killed, the young master Lin and others supported him and became the king, who was Chen Ligong. However, Duke Li died in only May, and his son Lin Jili became Duke Chen Zhuang. Zhuang Gong Linli died in the seventh year, and his younger brother Chujiu Li became Chen Xuangong.

After his father was deposed and killed, Gongzi Wan still lived in Chen State and became the official minister of Chen State. Moreover, he has a good relationship with Chen Xuangong's prince Yu Kou. In the twenty-first year of Chen Xuangong's reign, Chen Xuangong killed the prince Yu Kou. The young master was afraid that he would be implicated, so he fled to the state of Qi. In the state of Qi, Duke Huan of Qi wanted to make his son Quan a minister, but he refused and only accepted the post of Gong Zheng. Since Chen and Tian had the same pronunciation in ancient times, Chen Wan also meant Tian Wan. Gongcheng became the ancestor of the Tian family of Qi State, and by the end of the Warring States Period, the Tian family of Qi State was still called the Chen family. For the Tian family in Qi Guo, the Tian family and the Chen family are interchangeable.

When the Tian family of Qi State was passed down to Chen Huanzi Wuyu, the Tian family became powerful in Qi State and became one of the Qing clans that controlled the power of Qi State. In the struggle for power among the Qi officials, the Tian family successively eliminated the Guo family, the Gao family, and the Luan family of the Qi state, and then eliminated the Bao family and the Kan family of the Qing family, and dominated the political arena of Qi state. During the Warring States Period, Tian He, the leader of the Tian family, finally received the title of King Zhou and became a prince, basically replacing Jiang in Qi. During the period of King Wei of Qi, the last king of the Lu family of Qi, Qi Kanggong Lu Dai, died. Because he had no children, all his territory was merged into Tian Qi.

Tian Qi became powerful under King Qi Wei and King Qi Xuan, and reached its peak under King Qi Min, once destroying the Song Dynasty. However, the five kingdoms of Yan, Wei, Qin, Han, and Zhao subsequently attacked Qi, and King Min of Qi was killed by the Chu general Nao Chi. At that time, only Ju and Jimo were left in Qi, and the country was basically destroyed. Later, Tian Dan used Jimo as his base, defeated the Yan army, and quickly restored Qi. Prince Fazhang, the son of King Min of Qi, succeeded to the throne and became King Xiang of Qi. However, Qi State has never returned to its previous strong state since then. In 221 BC, Qin generals Wang Ben and Meng Tian attacked Qi, but Qi King Tian Jian surrendered without a fight.

The most prosperous period of the Tian family ended with the demise of Tian Qi. However, the Tian family also spawned other surnames.

1. The Sun family, whose outstanding representatives are Sun Wu, the author of "Sun Tzu's Art of War" and Sun Bin, the author of "Sun Bin's Art of War". Sun Wu's grandfather, Tian Shu, was granted the title of Sun (today's Le'an, Shandong) for his meritorious service in attacking Ju State, and took Sun as his surname.

2. Wang family: This expenditure comes from Tian An, the grandson of King Tian Jian of Qi. Tian An was named King of Jibei during the Qin and Han Dynasties. But he was soon defeated by Tian Rong of the same clan. Tian An's grandson began to take the surname Wang. This family became the most powerful family at the end of the Western Han Dynasty, and the representative of this family, Wang Mang, once destroyed the Han Dynasty and established a new dynasty.

3. Fifth: In the early Han Dynasty, Liu Bang, the emperor of the Han Dynasty, ordered the former nobles of the six countries to immigrate to Guanzhong in order to enrich Guanzhong and combat the tyranny of the former nobles of the six countries. Of course, the fields of Qi State were also among the immigrants. They agreed to use the order of removal as family surnames, which were first, second, third, fourth, fifth, etc. Other surnames gradually disappeared, but only the fifth surname still exists today.

4. Che family: also the fields of Qi State. During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Chengtian Qianqiu, the mausoleum of Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty, gained the trust of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty because he wrote to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to file a lawsuit against the prince. Because Tian Qianqiu was old and often took a small car when going to court, he was called "Prime Minister Che". Therefore, Tian Qianqiu was also called the Che family after that.

5. Chen surname: The Tian surname and the Chen surname of Qi State are originally used interchangeably. For example, Chen Sibei is recorded as Tian Sibei in some documents, and Tian Wan is also written as Tian Wan. During the Warring States Period, the Tian family was written as the Chen family, but not vice versa. Because only after Tian Wan can Chen Tian interoperate, other Chen families cannot.