Why is the origin of the Min surname so common in South Korea but so few in China?

The surname Min is derived from the surname Ji. Descendants of the Yellow Emperor. After the Five Emperors, [Yao] ceded the world to [Shun]. [Shun] ordered [Qi] to be in charge of the grain in the world. [abandoned] is also called [Hou Ji]. He helped [Yu] manage the water and soil and taught the people to farm. He was named a prince for his merits and established his country on the Weishui River (near Wugong and Baoji, Shaanxi today). He is known in history as one of the "Five Wise Ministers in Ancient Times".

Five generations later, it was passed to Ji Gong Liu, and the country gradually became stronger. After another 12 generations, it was passed down to Ji Chang (King Wen of Zhou), and the country's power accounted for two-thirds of the world. In 1066 BC, Ji Chang's son Ji Fa (King Wu of Zhou) destroyed Shang. Founding of the country. The country's name is "Zhou".

Ji Fa’s younger brother Ji Dan (Zhou Gong) was the second most successful in destroying the Shang Dynasty (Jiang Ziya was the first), and was granted a fiefdom in the "Lu" country (Qufu, Shandong). The Duke of Zhou served as regent and assisted the government, and the position of king of his fiefdom of Lu was passed down to his eldest son Boqin. In 662 BC, Gongzi Qi, the son of Duke Zhuang of Lu, came to the throne. Two years later, he was killed by Meng Sunqing's father in his struggle for the throne. His posthumous name was "Min", which means to regret and feel sad. Qi's descendants took the "Min" in their posthumous title as their surname.

The surname Min comes from the Duke of Lu, and the Duke of Lu comes from the royal family of Zhou Dynasty. Going back further, Houji, the founder of Zhou Dynasty royal family, is one of the 12 surnames obtained by the 25 sons of Huangdi. A direct descendant of the surname Yi Ji.

The surname Min is widely distributed in China. Because of China’s vast territory, it is not very famous. South Korea is small and the surname Min is more numerous.

Extended information

The Min surname is a relatively typical Han surname, ranking 193rd on the current surname list, with a population of about 640,000. Accounting for about 0.04 of the country's total population. The surname Min is also a Korean surname.

In the ancient Zhou Dynasty, after the death of Duke Lu Zhuang of the Lu State, his son named "Qi" became the king. He was still very young at the time, and he was killed only two years later. Later, the royal family gave him an additional title, called Lu Mingong. Min means pity, pity, and heartache. Fortunately, Duke Min of Lu already had an only son. Later, his descendants took Min as their surname.

The surname Min comes from the Duke of Lu, and the Duke of Lu comes from the royal family of the Zhou Dynasty, because when the Zhou Dynasty was first established, a member of the Zhou royal family named Bo Qin was enfeoffed to Lu and established to the State of Lu. And going back further, the royal family of the Zhou Dynasty was an important branch of the Yellow Emperor. The ancestor of the Zhou Dynasty was called Hou Ji, and Hou Ji was the direct descendant of the Yellow Emperor. The Min surname later developed into a prominent family in Longxi County, and was known as Longxi Wang in the world. The surname Min is not among the top 100 surnames in both mainland China and Taiwan.

The Min family originated from Qufu, the capital of the Lu State - today's Jining, Shandong. During the Warring States Period, the Lu region was first destroyed by the Chu State and then occupied by the Qi State. The descendants of the Min family are scattered in Shandong. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, they gradually moved to today's Shaanxi, Hebei, Henan, Shanxi and other provinces due to reasons such as avoiding chaos, officialdom, and making a living. During the Spring and Autumn Period, Min Zima, a minister of the Zhou Dynasty, was granted a fiefdom in Longxi. During the two Han Dynasties, he became a prominent family in Longxi for more than 400 years. In the middle of the Eastern Han Dynasty, some descendants of the Min family in Longxi moved westward to Taiyuan, Shanxi, and became a prosperous family in Taiyuan County.

During the Guangwu Zhongxing of the Western Han Dynasty, Min Ye was granted the title of Marquis of Guannei due to his meritorious service, and his descendants settled in Xi'an, Shaanxi today. During the Three Kingdoms, Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties, one of the largest immigration movements in Chinese history began. Descendants of the Min family, like other Central Plains gentry, fled the chaos and entered the southern provinces of today's Anhui, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, and Hubei. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, it gradually spread in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. During the Northern Song Dynasty, Min Chengdao went to Korea as an envoy. Later he settled in Lixing, North Korea.

At the end of the Song Dynasty and the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, some people fled the chaos and entered what is now Guangdong. In the early Ming Dynasty, the Shanxi Min surname was one of the surnames of the people who migrated to Hongdong's large locust tree, and was relocated to present-day Gansu, Shandong, Henan, Ningxia, Beijing, Tianjin, Shaanxi and other places. In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, a branch of Sophora japonica from Luoyang, Henan Province migrated to the junction of Qingzhou and Linqu, Shandong Province (Qingzhou branch - Min Guangzhen added).

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, some Min people from the coastal areas crossed the Taiwan Strait and migrated to Taiwan Island. Some also crossed the ocean and migrated to Southeast Asia, Europe and the United States. From the Qing Dynasty to the present, the distribution area is wider. Today, the three northeastern provinces, Inner Mongolia, Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and other places have migrated. It can be said that the branches are spreading and there are seeds everywhere.

Baidu Encyclopedia - Min family tree

Baidu Encyclopedia - ?Min surname