The origin of Li surname and its historical enlightenment

Li is the most popular surname in China. According to the results of 20 10 census, the population of Li nationality is as high as 95 million. I believe there must be students surnamed Li in our class from the beginning of school, but it seems that we are often not familiar with the origin and history of our surnames, so today we are going to tell you about the development of Li's surname in the past 1000 years. In ancient times, there were about 60 emperors surnamed Li, among which the founding emperor of the Tang Dynasty, who was very familiar to everyone, was surnamed Li. However, the population surnamed Li broke out after the Ming Dynasty, and the total population increased by nearly 18 times, which was higher than the national population growth rate. Let's look at Li's story.

1, the origin of Li's surname

Seek the roots and ancestors, trace the roots. The origin of Li's surname has a long history, which can be traced back to ancient times more than 4000 years ago.

Zhuan Xu, one of the "Five Emperors", is the grandson of Huangdi, the ancestor of Chinese culture, and the tribal leader of the primitive clan of Dongyi, who lives in Diqiu, which is today's Puyang, Henan. In the Yao and Shun period, the tribes led by Emperor Zhuan Xu were divided into eight clans, among which Hao Tao, the leader of Tingzhang clan, held the post of Emperor Yao (ancient law). After his death, his son, Boyi, took up a new position, responsible for lighting fires and domesticating birds and animals, and later helped Dayu control water, so his surname was officially named "Li".

After Bo Yi in Shang Dynasty, the agent levy continued to be the official of Dali. Because of his integrity and strict law enforcement, he went against Shang Zhouwang's will. In a rage, Shang Zhouwang killed Li Zheng, and his wife, Qi He, and her young son, Loretta Lee (born in 1069 BC and died in 992 BC) quickly fled to Yishui (now Song County, Henan Province), hungry and cold.

Taking "Li" as the clan name is a primitive clan totem to commemorate his ancestors' official experience in history and flee to his hometown for business. Grateful to pick plums for survival, plum tree is the original clan totem, and then the clan emblem and name are formed. After the surname was formed, it was changed to "Li" and renamed "".

Therefore, he became the first person named Li in the legend.

Because Guanzi Fa says: "For Li", one of the four ancient saints is regarded as "the ancestor of Li's blood", and Zhuan Xu, one of the five ancient emperors, is regarded as "the ancestor of Li's blood".

Therefore, the theory that Li, GM and Li's surname originated from the nobles of the Yellow Emperor was circulated in ancient times, which lasted for more than 3,000 years.

2. Development of Li's surname

In the Spring and Autumn Period, there was a thinker named Li Er, Bai Yang and Lao Zi. He was born in Qurenli, Guxian County, Li Xiang in September of 604+04 BC. He is a descendant of Loretta Lee, and is known as "the sage of ancient times" because of his "extensive and profound skills". At the age of 23, he was the "historian" of the Zhou Dynasty, that is, the historian who managed the collection of books; At the age of 28, he returned to Chu as prime minister. At the age of 56, he resigned and retired to Qin, and the monograph Tao Te Ching became the ancestor of Taoism. According to legend, "Wen Sheng" Confucius once asked for Li for him, which benefited a lot (there is a couplet saying: "Zou Lu sage once asked for Li, and Tang Gaozong also asked for poetry").

Sima Qian recorded him clearly in Historical Records (see Laozi and Biography of Han Fei), so later generations called Li Er the first Li surname in the official history.

Later, Li Er's descendants moved to Gansu and settled in Longxi (Dongxiang to Zhao Lin). After the development and inheritance of the eight ancestors of Tan Gong, Chong Gong, Bo Kao Gong, Dare Gong, Zheng Gong, Yong Gong and Lun Gong, their political status, economic strength and cultural influence gradually improved, and twelve famous counties with the name of Longxi emerged. The ancestors were Li Mu, the second son of Qin Taifu, Dunqiu (Xun County, Henan Province, the ancestor was Li,) Bohai Sea (Bohai Bay area, Liaoning Province), Zhongshan (Zhengding, Hebei Province, the ancestor was the third son Ricky), Guanghan (Guangyuan, Sichuan Province, the ancestor was Li Shang, the father of Li Guang), Xiangcheng (Xuzhou, Henan Province) and Jiangxia.

Among them, Longxi Guild Hall in Longxi County (Li Huai in Didao Dongxiang is the ancestral home) has the most far-reaching influence. Up to now, there is Li's Ancestral Hall in Longxi, which is also known as "the medicine capital of China, Li's hometown".

Li Yuan comes from Li Yong Gong Fang in Longxi. Since the establishment of 6 18, the Tang Dynasty has experienced the 289-year development of Emperor 19, especially the "Zhenguan Rule" initiated by Li Shimin of Tang Taizong and the "Kaiyuan Shi Sheng" initiated by Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty, which became the heyday of Li Tang. At that time, Datang was regarded as the largest country in the world, and the surname Li was particularly popular.

In 907 AD, after Zhu Wen, the king of Liang Dynasty, destroyed the Tang Dynasty, the royal family in Li Tang almost disappeared without a trace. Li Ya, the grandson of Wu Wang Li Ke, took Li's genealogy to live and develop in Modao Village, Jianchang, Jiangxi Province, where the blood of Li's royal family is preserved, from which "Modao Li" came.

When "Modao Li" spread to Tailing Gong Li, he moved to Pingjiang (Pingjiang, Hunan) and settled in Pingjiang. As a result, Li in Pingjiang represented the main branch of the Li royal family and developed again. During the Chenghua period of the Ming Dynasty, Li's descendants built a large-scale Li ancestral hall in Cenchuan, Hunan Province, and gathered Li's surname here for thousands of years, saying that "the immortal roots are big and rely on Ye Guang."

It can be seen that in the thousand-year storm, the Li family has two classic ancestral halls in twelve counties (the Li Ancestral Hall in Longxi and the Li Ancestral Hall in Pingjiang, Hunan), which can be traced back to the source, and a few Li clansmen have inherited and developed for a long time.

3. The glory of Li's surname

Throughout Li's 3000-year long development process, there are ups and downs, immortal glory and glory.

Let's start with Li Er, a famous thinker in the Spring and Autumn Period, who is the "first person surnamed Li" recorded in the official history, not to mention the legendary and prominent backtracking from "Li" to "Li" in ancient times. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, this long period of time is not far away, from which we can see that Li is full of talents and celebrities come forth in large numbers.

Politically, more than 60 people took Li as the king, and successively established Dacheng (Ba Li was founded in Sichuan in 303 AD, known as "Cheng Han" in history, and was the first dynasty in Li Jianli), Xiliang (Li Yong), Houxiliang (), Tang (Li Yuan), Late Tang (,Southern Tang (. The famous monarchs are: Li Jue, king of Xiliang, Li Yuan, the founding emperor of Datang, Li Shimin, the first monarch in history, and Li Zicheng, king of Dashun. Famous civil military commanders include: Li Mu, the famous Warring States, Li Si, who helped Qin Shihuang unify the world, Li Guang, Li Deyu, Li Jing and Li Ji, Li Sheng, a famous minister in the Northern Song Dynasty, and Li Hu and Li Bi, generals in the Eight Pillars of the Western Wei Dynasty.

Culturally, Li Bing, who built Dujiangyan, and Li Chun, the first bridge expert in the history of world architecture; There are poets Li Bai and He; Li Yu, a poet through the ages, and Li Qingzhao, a poetess in the world; There is a writer Li, a living Buddha who helps the public; There are Li Guinian, the saint of music, Li Mingzhen, the saint of medicine, and Li Zhi, a thinker. ...

Li's talent can be described as stars, and Li's brilliance is too numerous to mention, so I won't go into details here.

4. The theory of "China's first surname"

Li started in Guxian County, Henan Province, and developed to the pre-Qin period, and his footprint extended to Shanxi, Hebei, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Hubei and other places.

Ba Li, who moved to Sichuan, took the tiger as a totem. In Shang Dynasty, it expanded to Banan District of Chongqing today, which was called Bazi Country, and later became a "Ban Mei native". During the Three Kingdoms period, Zhuge Liang "captured Meng Huo in six times" and put down the barbarians. Some ethnic minorities changed their surnames to Li, which is the origin of "Luoyang Li".

By the Qin and Han dynasties, the population of Li nationality had penetrated into Guangdong and Guangxi.

After the founding of the Tang Dynasty, Li became a national surname, and was also called "five surnames and seven expectations" with Longxi, Zhaojun Li, Boling, Qinghe Cui Shi, Fanyang Lushi, Taiyuan Wang and Xingyang Zheng, thus Li became a famous family (there are also ten big families: Pei County Liu, Lan, Qinghe Cui Shi, Hongnong Yang and Langya Wang). The Founding Fathers include Xu (the most famous is the Wagang Army Division in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, which was later renamed), An Shi, Du Shi, and other generals. 16, also awarded the title for meritorious service, are other countries and nationalities such as Shatuo, Uighur, Qidan and Gaoche, as well as foreigners such as Koreans and Jews.

In the Song Dynasty, some ethnic minorities, such as Tangut in Xixia and Jurchen in Jin Dynasty, chose Li as their first choice when Han people changed their surnames, with a population of about 5.6 million, accounting for 7 or 2% of the national population at that time, second only to it.

In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Mongolians, Manchus and aborigines joined Li's surname, and the population was still over 5 million, accounting for 5 or 5%, ranking third after Zhang's surname.

According to the records in Hundred Family Names compiled in the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, former Sun Zhaoli and Wu Zhou Zheng Wang ... hence, there is a popular saying that "Lee is everywhere and kings are everywhere".

According to the latest list of 100 surnames, there are more than 90 million people surnamed Li in Chinese mainland, accounting for 7% and 94% respectively. Together with overseas Chinese surnamed Li, by the end of 20 17, the data (incomplete statistics) reached1300,000, ranking first in the world. At the same time, Li's surname, Zhang's surname, Zhao's surname and Liu's surname are among the "top ten surnames" in China, and there is also the saying that "Liu is everywhere and Li Zhao is everywhere".

Even in South Korea, Vietnam, North Korea and other countries, Li's population is second only to Jin and Ruan, becoming the "second largest surname".

But both the big surname and the small surname are equally rooted in the world and in the forests of all ethnic groups, and they are calm and confident masters of the new era. "One surname in ancient and modern times, one family in a thousand years", living in the global village, should watch and help each other, look up at the stars, and embrace poetry and distance. The purpose of writing this essay is to trace back to the source, not forget the history, laugh at the improper generosity, or hang a leak, and hope readers and thousands of relatives will forgive me.

Is to remember.

Author brief introduction Li Dakui, male, Han nationality, born in 1970s, bachelor of law, Meitan, Guizhou, literature lover.