What is the origin and history of the surname Yang?

The surname Yang is said to have originated from Yang State (now Hongdong County, Shanxi Province) during the Spring and Autumn Period. It was the national surname of the Sui Dynasty and Southern Wu Dynasty. It is a typical multi-ethnic surname with multiple origins. Changed surnames from Ji and ethnic minorities, etc. Yang Boqiao was the ancestor of the surname. The history is as follows:

The birthplace of the Yang surname is in present-day Shanxi Province. In the Spring and Autumn Period, Yang was destroyed by the Jin Dynasty, and the Yang surname developed and multiplied westward. It first moved to Shaanxi, and then moved to the Huo County area in the upper reaches of Fenshui River in Shanxi Province, and then multiplied to Henan.

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the Yang clan moved into the Jianghan area (today’s Qianjiang area of ??Hubei Province). Later, as the power of the Chu State continued to strengthen, they moved southeast to Jiangxi. At the same time, more Yang clan members moved from Shanxi to Jiangsu and Anhui, and were scattered in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

During the Qin and Han Dynasties, some people with the Yang surname moved to Hanoi, and some moved to Feng Yi (now Dali, Shaanxi), and they were widely distributed in northern China. It was at this time that people surnamed Yang entered Sichuan, mostly from Hubei and Shaanxi.

Population Distribution

In contemporary times, the total population with the surname Yang has exceeded 40 million, making it one of the six major surnames in the country, accounting for approximately 3.1% of the country's population. The distribution across the country is mainly concentrated in Sichuan, Henan, and Yunnan provinces, accounting for about 30% of the total population with the surname Yang; secondly, it is distributed in Shandong, Hubei, Hunan, Guizhou, and Hebei, with another 30% concentrated in these five provinces. Sichuan is the province with the largest number of Yang surnames today.

There are two Yang surname gathering areas in the country: Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and Hunan, and Henan, Hebei and Shandong. Among the people, distributed in Yunnan and Guizhou, most of Sichuan, southern Chongqing, western Hunan, and northern Guangxi, the proportion of Yang surname in the local population is generally more than 4.5, some as high as 13, accounting for 13.6 of the land area, and about 23% of the population lives there. Population with the surname Yang.