Why is there no emperor named Zhang in history?

The five major surnames in China, Li Wang, Zhang Liu Chen, account for more than 30% of the country's population, far more than other surnames. The reason why there are so many people with these five major surnames is that the royal surname is an important factor, which can multiply the population of the same surname very quickly. The surname Wang has produced Wang Mang, the surname Li has created the Tang Dynasty, the surname Liu has created the Han Dynasty, and the surname Chen has also produced the Chen Kingdom of the Southern Dynasty. However, the surname Wang has not produced an emperor, and Zhang Bangchang and Zhang Xianzhong cannot be counted. In this case, why are there so many people with the surname Wang?

1. Migration and dispersal

In the pre-Qin period, most population activities were dominated by clan groups, and family-style activities appeared in the late Warring States period. The Zhang surname family first moved in "Yincheng Qingyang", which is now the area of ??Puyang, Henan and Qinghe, Hebei. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the Jin State was the main area where the Zhang surname developed. People of the Zhang family lived in the Jin State for generations. After the Jin Dynasty was divided into three families, the Zhang family was scattered in the three Jin Dynasties, but mainly in South Korea. From the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Warring States Period, people with the surname Zhang mainly lived in Shaanxi, Shanxi, Hebei, Henan, Shandong and other places.

In the early Qin Dynasty, the Zhang surname began to enter Sichuan, but most of them were descendants of the nobles of the Three Jin Dynasties. In the struggle between Chu and Han for hegemony, most Zhang surnames supported Liu Bang. Therefore, after the establishment of the Han Dynasty, many Zhang surnames were granted marquisships and titles, such as Liu Hou Zhang Liang. During the Han Dynasty, people with the surname Zhang quickly spread throughout the north; during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, due to wars in the north, people with the surname Zhang began to move south; during the Tang and Song dynasties, people with the surname Zhang began to immigrate to Huguang and Yunnan-Guizhou areas. Despite this, most people with the surname Zhang are concentrated in the north.

2. Population proportion

During the Song Dynasty, the number of people with the surname Zhang was approximately 4.9 million, accounting for approximately 6.3% of the national population. It was the third largest surname in the Song Dynasty. At that time, it was mainly concentrated in Shandong and Henan provinces, accounting for about 30%; during the Ming Dynasty, the population of Zhang surname was about 5.6 million, accounting for about 6% of the national population, mainly concentrated in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi, accounting for about 40%; Today, the population with the surname Zhang is about 85 million, accounting for 6.8% of the country's population. They are mainly concentrated in Henan, Shandong and Hebei provinces, accounting for about 30%.

It can be seen from this that the population of Zhang surname is quite stable and has always been at the forefront of all dynasties. This also leads to the fact that although Zhang has never had an emperor and is not an imperial surname, the population has always been at the forefront. . How did that come about?

1. Although there was no emperor named Zhang, there were many famous families in ancient times, such as the Qinghe Zhang family, Fanyang Zhang family, Taiyuan Zhang family, etc., which also gave birth to many celebrities. The "Dictionary of Chinese Names" includes 1,741 celebrities of all ages with the surname Zhang, accounting for 3.8% of the total number, ranking third among the surnames.

2. There have been many surname changes in the past dynasties, and Zhang is one of the most ideal surnames. War often occurred in history, resulting in the displacement of people and the separation of wives and children. This would lead to two situations: one is the loss of genealogy, and the other is the increase in orphans. Orphans are the main people who change their surnames, and Zhang is the first choice target. As for continuing the genealogy, people cannot verify it and often list celebrities as their ancestors. This also leads to the fact that in today's genealogy, there must be celebrities among the ancestors.