What are the aspects of surname investigation?

The Chinese had surnames before the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors (about five thousand years ago). According to legend, the earliest origin of surnames is related to the totem worship of primitive peoples. Clan tribes not only regard the totem as a god, prohibiting eating, killing, and offending, but also use it as the unified name of the clan. In primitive tribes, totems, clan names and ancestor names are often the same. Over time, the name of the totem has evolved into the unique symbol of all members of the same clan - the surname. There are many legends about the evolution of totems into surnames. According to research, the king of Yelang Kingdom is the Bamboo King, and his subjects take bamboo as their totem and have the surname Zhu. According to historical records, there were Hu Feo and She Ping in the Jin Dynasty, Gou Weiyang, Lang Mo, Lu Qi in the Han Dynasty, and Leopard Pi Gong and others in the Three Kingdoms. Through these weird names and surnames that have the same names as animals and plants, such as luo, tiger, ant, cow, sheep, bird, dragon, bamboo, Wu, tea, chrysanthemum, etc., we can vaguely see the indelible history of totem worship on the origin of surnames. imprint.

In addition to being closely related to totems, the formation of surnames is also inseparable from women. It was a matriarchal society at that time. We only knew that we had mothers, but we didn’t know that we had fathers. Therefore, the "surname" is composed of "female" and "生", which means that the earliest surname was the mother's surname. According to archaeological data, there are less than thirty surnames that can be clearly identified in the Western Zhou bronze inscriptions, but most of them start from the female side, such as: Jiang, Yao, Si, Ji, Wa, maid, pregnant, concubine, Good, win, etc. Not only are ancient surnames mostly related to the word "女", but even the word "surname" itself comes from the word "女". This is probably a characteristic product of the matrilineal clan system. Women occupy a dominant position in production and life, and group marriage is practiced. Brothers and sisters can marry. Under this system, children only know their mother but not their father. Therefore, there is a saying in mythology that "the saint has no father, and he is inspired by heaven." Many stories about "life". Many ancient surnames start with the female side, which shows the traces of our ancestors' experience in matrilineal clan communes.

During the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, people had both surnames and surnames. In the process of the development of ancient clans, the title "clan" was derived. Legend has it that when the Yellow Emperor ruled the world, there was already a "Xu Tu Ming clan". The Zhou Dynasty was the era when the number and frequency of surnames was greatest. In the early years of the Zhou Dynasty, in order to control the vast areas that had been conquered, feudal princes were enfeoffed on a large scale. The descendants of these vassal states took their surnames as their surnames. In addition, each vassal state also enfeoffed the ministers and officials in the country in the same way, and the descendants of the officials took the name of the country they were granted as surnames. Later, the sources of various forms of surnames continued to appear, and the number of surnames far exceeded the number of surnames. However, only nobles have surnames, while the poor and humble have names without surnames, and surnames become the unique symbol of nobility. As for aristocratic women, no matter how they are called, they must carry their surnames, which reflects the authority and rigor of the feudal patriarchal system in ancient China. During the Warring States Period, society underwent drastic changes, the old aristocracy declined, and some even became slaves. This shows that there is no need for the aristocratic clan to exist.

The "surname" comes from the name of the village where you live or the tribe to which you belong. "Shi" comes from the land granted by the monarch, the title given by the monarch, the official position held, or the title added after death based on merit. Therefore, nobles have surnames, given names, and surnames, and common people have surnames, given names, and surnames, but no surnames. Men and women with the same "surname" can intermarry, but men and women with the same "surname" cannot intermarry. Because the Chinese discovered this genetic rule very early: incest marriage is detrimental to future generations. The origin of surnames can be seen from historical records. "Guoyu·Jinyu" in the pre-Qin period records that "the Yellow Emperor was named after Ji Shui, and the Yan Emperor was named after Jiang Shui, so the Yellow Emperor was named Ji and the Yan Emperor was named Jiang." "Zhouyu" records that "I, Ji Min, come from Tianyu". This shows that the surname is a title representing a race with the same blood relationship. It is a rule of the marriage system of the Zhou Dynasty that people with the same surname are not allowed to intermarry. ·Jin Opera"). The ancients understood very early that inbreeding would produce bad offspring. In order to distinguish the similarities and differences between male and female surnames and decide whether to marry or not, it was very necessary to indicate the surname in the title of a woman. It can be seen that the function of surnames in ancient times was mainly to "differentiate types" and "differentiate marriages".

The system of different surnames was still used until the late Warring States Period. During the Qin Dynasty, the old aristocracy collapsed, the feudal patriarchal system of the Western Zhou Dynasty basically ended, and the old clan and surname systems were also wiped out. During the Western Han Dynasty, the difference between surnames and surnames was negligible. When Sima Qian wrote "Historical Records", he simply confused the surnames with one another. "The names of surnames have been mixed into one since Taishi Gong. In "Ben Ji", it was said that the first emperor of Qin had a surname of Zhao, and that of Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty, it was called a surname of Liu. "That's right." (Gu Yanwu's "Muzhilu") After that, Chinese surnames and surnames were combined into one, or surnames, or surnames. Common people also went from having no surnames to having surnames.

During the reign of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty (627), Gao Shilian, the Minister of Civil Affairs, recorded the "surnames" of the people and wrote it into a book "Chronicles of the Clan", which was promulgated to the world as a work for recommending virtuous people at that time. official, or the basis for arranging a marriage. The "Hundred Family Surnames" popular in China in the old days was written in the Northern Song Dynasty (960). It contains 408 single surnames, 30 compound surnames, and 438 single surnames. After development, it was said that there were 4,000 to 6,000 of them, but only about 1,000 were actually used.

There are "three major surnames" in various countries around the world.

The United Kingdom is: Smythe, Jones, Williams;

The United States is: Smith, Johnson, Carson;

France is: Martin, Bernard, Dupont;

The United States is: Smith, Johnson, Carson;

France is: Martin, Bernard, Dupont;

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Germany is: Schultz, Mueller, Shmidt;

The Soviet Union is: Ivanov, Vasiliev, Deternov;

And China: Zhang, Wang, Li, Zhao, four This is a big surname with a long history and wide distribution, and they are all surnames given by the emperor. According to the latest statistics, there are 100 million people with the surname Zhang alone. This is probably the largest surname in the world.

In 1977, historian Li Dongming published an article on "surnames" in "Oriental Magazine". The article pointed out:

The ten largest Chinese surnames are: Zhang, Wang, Li, Zhao, Chen, Yang, Wu, Liu, Huang, Zhou. These ten surnames account for 40% of the Chinese population, approximately 400 million people.

The ten most common surnames are: Xu, Zhu, Lin, Sun, Ma, Gao, Hu, Zheng, Guo and Xiao. Accounting for more than 10% of the Chinese population.

The third largest ten surnames are: Xie, He, Xu, Song, Shen, Luo, Han, Deng, Liang, and Ye. Accounting for 10% of the Chinese population.

The next 15 common surnames are: Fang, Cui, Cheng, Pan, Cao, Feng, Wang, Cai, Yuan, Lu, Tang, Qian, Du, Peng, and Lu. Together they account for 10% of the total population. In other words, among China's one billion people, 700 million people have these 45 surnames.

The other more than 300 million people have relatively rare surnames, such as Mao, Jiang, Bai, Wen, Guan, Liao, Miao, Chi, etc.

Many ethnic groups live together in rural areas across China, and often a village only has residents of one surname. Each clan name develops one area, reproduces one area, and monopolizes one area. There were several major waves of immigrants from the Central Plains during the Western Jin Dynasty, the early Tang Dynasty, the Five Dynasties and the Song and Yuan Dynasties. The ancestors of various ethnic groups gradually integrated into the Han nation. The annals of various governments, states, and counties describe this historical phenomenon in detail. For example, Qianlong's "Fuzhou Prefecture Chronicles" records: "In the second year of Yongjia (308), Zhongzhou Ban was shaken, and the eight ethnic groups who first entered Fujian were: Lin, Huang, Chen, Zheng, Zhan, Qiu, He, and Hu. In the Central Plains In the early Tang Dynasty, Chen Zheng and Chen Yuanguang, their father and son, also led the troops to guard Fujian and settled in Fujian. Huang Zhongzhao's "Tongzhi of Fujian" quoted from "Jian'an Zhi": "Since the chaos of the Five Dynasties, many scholar-bureaucrats, wealthy businessmen, and wealthy businessmen in the north of the Yangtze River have avoided chaos here, so Jianzhou prepared the customs of the five directions."

Since Since the Republic of China, there has been a wealth of survey materials on surname families, and evidence for tracing the origins of surnames has been found in various places. Taking Gantangbao in Fu'an County as an example, dozens of local residents come from more than 20 counties in the Central Plains. The Zheng family is from Qinghe County and Xingyang County; the Chen family is from Yingchuan County and Taiqiu County; the Zhou family is from Runan County; and the Xu family is from Runan County. The Qiu family is from Henan County; the Ding family is from Boling County; the Wang family is from Taiyuan County; the Fan family is from Gaoping County; the Miao family is from Donglu County; the Huang family is from Jiangxia County; and the Zeng family is from Tianshui County. Other surnames such as Su, Lan, Guo, Yang, Lian, Jiang, Weng, Xie, Xu, Xu, Zhan, and Wei also have their own ancestral prefectures. Since the Tang and Song Dynasties, they have "divided their families and property ownership, and guest surnames are not allowed to live together in their hometowns." (Ming Dynasty Wanli's "Fu'an County Chronicles" Volume 1 "Customs") Each surname is grouped together according to strict geographical limits. Residence.

Hakkas from East and South China immigrated from the north from the Western Jin Dynasty to the late Song Dynasty. Due to differences in language, customs and conflicts of interest, they often clashed with local residents after migration to compete for living space. This "dispute between host and guest" lasted until the Republic of China. Frequent contradictions and conflicts have caused the Hakka people to rely on and value family relationships based on blood and surnames. Therefore, the Hakka people have the strongest clan concept and family organization. There are hundreds of people living in Hakka earth buildings (whether they are round or square), all of whom have the same surname (clan), and all matters of the same clan (same surname) are helped by the same clan (same surname).

Each family attaches great importance to the origin of their surname and the glory of their ancestors. In addition to genealogical records, its externalized form is concentratedly reflected in the horizontal plaques on the family gates and the long couplets in ancestral halls. Some aristocratic families, in order to show that their ancestors were noble, often inscribed on their door plaques the words "Shang Shu Di", "Da Fu Di", "Jin Shi Di", "Five Dynasties Shangshu", "Yakui Tianxia", etc. The door plaques of general families are engraved with "Lu Guo Chuan Fang" (surname Yan), "Ying Shui Shize" (surname Chen), "Jiang Xia Yan Pai" (surname Huang), "Zhi Zhu Chuan Fang" (surname Ding), etc. The words are used to indicate the county's name and enable people to know the origin of their surname at a glance. The couplets inlaid on the door pillars of the family ancestral hall clearly express the family background of each surname. The couplet of the Chen Clan Ancestral Hall in Gantangbao, Fu'an is: "For decades, people have escaped chaos and lived abroad. Feng Yue was born in Guangdong. The admirers of Fan are willing to build Ken Hall. The Lige family has been prosperous and prosperous since the Jin Dynasty. After three hundred years of entrepreneurship and reunification, the Orioles migrated and spread. Happy to celebrate this day, the beautiful Tangjiang temple has been renovated. "The couplets in the Yan family's ancestral hall in "Taoyuan", Houtang Village, Wuxian Township, Tong'an County, describe the time and route of the surname's entry into Fujian: "Since the Tang Dynasty. Through the Song Dynasty, Yuan Dynasty, Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty, hairpins and tassels were passed down from generation to generation; after entering Fujian, they were virtuous (hua) and Yong (spring), Jin (men) and Tong (an), Gua Ping Yun Rong."

Across the country, it is extremely common for a single family to settle down and form a single village. It reflects the characteristics of clans that are bound by blood and geographical relationships, and also imprints the surname and clan on many place names and village names.

For example, Lifang, Chenfang, Caifang, Panwu, Xiaocuo, Xucuo, Wangzhuang, Yijiajia, etc. were all originally such villages. Xiaojiafang in Shaowu was originally called Jinquanli. It was renamed after a large number of people with the surname Xiao moved in during the Ming Dynasty. Xiefang was originally called Xiuxi. It was changed to Xiefang in the Southern Song Dynasty because Xie Yuanming, whose ancestral home was here during the Song Dynasty, became famous as an official and became a prominent family. Even in villages with mixed surnames, most of them are dominated by one surname and one clan.

Due to historical or family reasons, there are often some taboos and taboos between a single surname or between surnames. For example, in the old days, the play "Xue Rengui's Conquest of the East" in Gaopi, Changting County, Fujian Province was not performed because the play contained the plot of the traitor Zhang Shigui murdering Zhongliang, which was considered to be insulting to his fellow clan members. People named Li in this county do not display lanterns during the Lantern Festival because it is said that a crown prince named Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty was kicked to death by Xue Gang while watching lanterns during the Lantern Festival. Therefore, the surname Li considers displaying the Lantern Festival to be unlucky. People with the surname Lu in Kan City, Yongding, call the wind stove Duanzao, because "Lu" and "Lu" are homophonic. The locals call the pot lid "Zeng Sheng", and only people with the surname Zeng call it pot lid exclusively because "甑" and "Zeng" have the same pronunciation. Loach is also called yellow loach or lake loach. People named Huang in Aoyao and other places in Hukeng Township, Yongding do not call it yellow loach but call it lake loach. People named Hu in Zhongchuan and other places call it yellow loach. Cockroaches are cockroaches, commonly known as yellow thieves. People with the surname Huang in Fushi avoid calling them yellow thieves and instead call them cockroaches. The two surnames Lin and Weng in Changting were taboo on intermarriage. According to legend, the descendants of the two surnames brought their ancestors' ashes back to their hometowns at the same time. They met at an inn. The ashes of both parties were accidentally mixed together and they could not be separated. They had to take half back to their hometown for burial. From then on, in order to avoid the suspicion of marrying into the same clan, the two surnames did not marry each other. The Gaodong people in Guzhu Township do not intermarry with the people in Yanbei Village because the Gaodong people believe that their ancestor Jiang Dongfeng was killed by the Yanbei people, so there is an old grudge. This kind of taboo is also found in other parts of the country, and most of it has now been broken.

The emergence of surnames

At the end of primitive society, when the Yellow Emperor ruled the world, there was already a "Xuntu Mingshi" and surnames appeared. During the Xia and Shang dynasties, there were also a small number of "shis" produced. The Zhou Dynasty was the era when the number and frequency of surnames was greatest. In the early years of the Zhou Dynasty, in order to control the vast areas conquered, feudal princes were enfeoffed on a large scale. King Wu, Gongdan and Cheng of Zhou successively enfeoffed land to their brothers, relatives and heroes with different surnames, and established 71 feudal states, including 16 brothers of King Wu and 40 nobles with the same surname. The descendants of these vassal states took their surnames as their surnames. According to statistics, there are 48 surnames from the Zhou royal family with the same surname of Fengguo, and about 60 people with different surnames from Fengguo. In addition, each vassal state used the same method to enfeoff the ministers and officials in the country, that is, the descendants of the officials were named after the names of the fiefdoms they received, such as Tian, ??Bai, Bao, Fei, Fan, Qu, Zhongli, Handan wait. After layers of enfeoffment, surnames with the names of feudal states and towns sprung up like mushrooms after a rain. Therefore, the Zhou Dynasty was the most important period for the development of surnames in our country. Then, the sources of various forms of surnames continued to appear, and the number of surnames multiplied and multiplied more and more, and the number of surnames far exceeded the number of surnames. After the merging of surnames, from ancient times to the present, nine out of ten surnames used by Chinese people can be said to have evolved from the surnames derived from the surnames. It is worth mentioning that in ancient times, there were the Chao family, the Suiren family, the Fuxi family, the Shennong family (Emperor Yan), the Xuanyuan family (Huangdi), the Jintian family (Shaohao), the Gaoyang family (Zhuanxu), the Gaoxin family (Emperor Ku), and the Tao family. The Tang clan (Yao, also known as the Yi Qi clan), the Yu clan (Shun), and the Xia clan (Yu) are the honorific names given to ancestors in imagination and legends by later generations, which are different from "Xuntu is the clan".

The formation of surnames

The study of surnames has formed a discipline. It is closely related to census, linguistics, history, archaeology, etc., and plays an extremely important role in the modern scientific management of personnel. As a marginal subject, surname studies have received attention from all aspects.

Most of the surnames in modern European and American countries originate from the Middle Ages, and the earliest ones can be traced back to ancient Greece and the Roman Empire.

As early as more than 5,000 years ago, surnames had been formed in China, and they gradually developed and expanded, continuing from generation to generation.

Before the Qin Dynasty, surname and surname were two monosyllabic words with different meanings and different meanings. The ancient form of the surname is composed of "人" and "生", which means born from a person, and the surname is derived from birth. In the Qin Dynasty's "Cursing Chu Wen", the surname was first seen as a combination of the character "女" and the character "生". This glyph was eventually shaped by Xu Shen of the Han Dynasty and became a knowing character. The word "shi" appears as early as in oracle bone inscriptions. Zhu Junsheng, a philologist of the Qing Dynasty, explained in his famous book "Shuowen Tongxun Dingsheng" that the character "Shi" originally meant wood, which is the root of a plant, and is a pictographic character. Later, it was re-annotated as the surname's Shi, taking the root of wood meaning.

In the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, the social function of the surname was to represent the title of a race with the same blood relationship, while the surname was a branch derived from the surname. "Tongjian Waiji" says, "The surname refers to the place where the ancestors came from; the surname refers to the place where the descendants are divided." The surname originated earlier and was relatively stable after its formation; the surname originated later and is constantly changing. . "Guoyu·Zhouyu" records: "The person with the surname is born. This is the ancestor, and the people are related to each other. Although it is not as good as a hundred generations, the surname will not change. The clan belongs to the people, and enjoys the continuous connection of their descendants. If the side branches belong to different genuses, they are each called a surname." In short, the surname is the origin of the surname, and the surname comes from the surname. Before the Shang and Zhou dynasties, surnames were used to distinguish marriages, so there were theories of the same surname, different surnames, and common surnames. The surname is used to distinguish between high and low. The noble ones have surnames, while the poor and lowly have no surnames. People with the same surname but different surnames can get married; people with the same surname cannot get married.

During the Western Han Dynasty, the distinction between surnames and surnames was minimal.

When Sima Qian wrote "Historical Records", he simply confused the surnames into one and the same surname. Therefore, Gu Yanwu, a scholar of the Qing Dynasty, said in "Tian Zhi Lu": "The names of surnames have been mixed into one since Tai Shigong. In "Benji", it was said that the surname was Zhao in the first emperor of Qin Dynasty, and "Liu surname" was said in Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty. Yes. ”

The surname originated from primitive clan society. Several ethnic groups formed a primitive tribe, and each clan within the tribe existed independently. At the same time, there were close marriage ties between the clans. The surname emerged as a specific symbol to identify and distinguish the clans. The earliest surnames in China all contain the character "女", such as Ji, Jiang, Gui, Si, etc. It can be inferred that as early as the matrilineal clan period, surnames have been formed and are determined by the status of women in matriarchal society. Their role It is to facilitate intermarriage and identify the belongings of future generations. Marriage is prohibited within families with the same surname, but intermarriage is allowed between families with different surnames. The children belong to the mother's side and use the mother's surname as the surname.

The clan was first formed in the late primitive society. During the time of the Yellow Emperor, there was already the "Xuntu Mingshi". With the disintegration of the clan system and the formation of class society and national system, the habit of rewarding and granting land to the clan emerged. Then, the origin of the family name came into being, and the phenomenon of obtaining the family name in various forms appeared. At this point, the distinction between surnames and people's original meanings is actually not very clear.

The main reasons for the formation of surnames include the following categories:

1. Named by the name of the place of residence, location, and country. Such as Zhao, Ximen, Zheng, Su, etc.

2． The surnames are named after ancient surnames such as Ren, Feng, Zi, etc.

3． The surname is named after the ancestor's name or surname. Add Huangfu, Gao, Diao, Gong, Shi, etc.

4． The surname is based on the order of brothers. Such as Bo, Zhong, Shu, Ji, etc.

5. The surname is named after the official name. Such as Shi, Cang, Ku, Situ, Sikou, Taishi, etc.

6. Named by professional skills. Such as witchcraft, slaughter, excellence, divination, etc.

7． Taking the ancestor's posthumous name as his surname. Such as Dai, Zhao, etc.

8． In ancient times, ethnic minorities merged with the Han people and borrowed single characters from Chinese characters as surnames. For example, the Tuoba family was changed to the Yuan family, the Chilu family was changed to Zhu, the Guanerjia family was changed to Guan, and the Niu Hulu family was changed to Niu, etc.

9． Because of the surname given, it is taboo to change the surname. For example, King Hu of the Tang Dynasty gave the surname Li to ministers who had made great achievements, and the Zhu Ming Dynasty gave the surname Zhu. Emperor Wen of Han Dynasty named Liu Heng, and Fan Hengxing changed his name to Chang because of taboos. The ancestors of the emperors of the Jin Dynasty had Sima Shi, and all the masters in the world had missing surnames and changed them to Shuai.

10． He changed his surname to escape a vendetta. For example, the descendants of Duanmu Zigong changed their surname to Mu to avoid enmity, and Niuwa changed his surname to Lao to avoid enmity.

There are many forms of origin of surnames, and they are constantly developing. The same surname has different origins, or different surnames have the same origin, etc. The situation is very complicated. As the years went by, new surnames continued to appear. For example, when naming a child, the two single-syllable surnames of both men and women are combined into a compound surname, which adds a new member to the "family" of the surname.

The myth of the surname

The surname Ji originated from the Yellow Emperor. According to "Historical Records", the Yellow Emperor's original surname was Gongsun, and his first name was Xuanyuan, but because he "lived in Jishui for a long time", he changed his surname to Ji. Huangdi is the legendary greatest emperor in ancient China and the ancestor of the Chinese nation. More than 70 surnames among hundreds of Chinese surnames are directly or indirectly derived from the surname Ji. It is said that he had 25 sons, of whom 14 had surnames, including 12 surnames (some had the same surname, so 14 people had 12 surnames), and the surname Ji ranked first. Houji, the ancestor of the Zhou Dynasty, was the son of Huangdi's great-grandson Diku and inherited the surname Ji. There is also a mythical legend about Hou Ji taking Ji as his surname; Hou Ji's mother Jiang Yuan was the first concubine of Emperor Ku. One time she went out in the wild and saw the footsteps of his ministers. She was so happy that she stepped on them. After these footprints, the body moved as if pregnant, and soon a boy was born. This child became Hou Ji later. When Hou Ji grew up, he served as Yao's agricultural officer and taught the people how to farm. He was revered as "Shen Nong" by later generations and given the surname Ji, becoming the ancestor of the Zhou people.

Dayu's surname was Si, and his country name was Queen Xia. His surname was Si, and his father's name was Gun. He was the son of Emperor Zhuanxu, the grandson of the Yellow Emperor. At that time, Emperor Shun was in charge of the world, and the floods caused the people to be displaced. So Shun sent Gun to control the flood, but it took 9 years without success. Shun exiled Gun to Yushan, appointed Gun's son Yu to continue to control the flood, and sent Qi, the ancestor of Shang, and Houji, the ancestor of Zhou, to assist. Yu dredged Jiuhe and dug Ji, Luo, Huai, Si and other rivers. After more than 10 years, he traveled all over Jiuzhou and passed through his house three times without entering. He finally calmed down the floods and achieved success. Because of his great achievements, Shun granted him the title of Xia and passed the throne to him. His mother, Xiuji, was the daughter of the Xin family. She became pregnant after eating coix and gave birth to Yu. Therefore, after Yu established the Xia Kingdom, he took "Si" as his surname. Another theory is that Xiuji swallowed the divine pearl Yi Yi and gave birth to Yu, so he took the homonym of Yi as his surname Si. After the death of Dayu, the throne was passed to his son Qi. After more than 400 years, by the time of Xia Jie, he was overthrown by Shang Tang because of his tyranny and immorality. Some of Jie's descendants took the country's name of Xia as their surname.

The surname of the Yin Shang royal family is Zi, and its ancestor is Qi. Qi is the son of Jian Di, an ordinary woman from the ancient tribe. One day, Jian Di and two women were bathing in the river. They saw a black bird (a swallow) laying an egg by the river. He picked it up and ate it, and soon she became pregnant and gave birth to Qi. Qi later became Shun's minister and assisted Dayu in flood control. He was appointed Situ by Shun, in charge of the affairs of educating the people, and granted him commercial land. And because Qi's mother swallowed the son (ie egg) of a black bird and gave birth to him, she was given the surname "Zi". The legend about the origin of the surname Zi can be found in "Historical Records. Yin Benji".

The "Book of Songs" "The Bird of Destiny descended and gave birth to Shang" also tells this story.

Distribution of surnames

Many ancient cultures in the world have long since disappeared together with the races that created them, while Chinese surname culture has continued and developed for four to five thousand years. With. Surnames have always been the main external expression of traditional Chinese clan concepts. They record the formation of the Chinese nation in a special form of blood culture and have played a unique role in the assimilation of Chinese national culture and the unification of the country. effect. The long-standing surname culture and the traditional and unique Chinese genealogy have not only been developed in the social sciences, but also been valued and applied in the life sciences, and have formed an interdisciplinary research field with Chinese resource characteristics - Population genetics of Chinese surnames. In most cases, surnames are inherited from generation to generation, and surname population data are relatively easy to collect. Their historical span is also very long, making them very suitable for statistical research on large amounts of data. We can explore the genetic structure of the population, the genetic relationships between different groups, and population migration through the distribution of various surnames among different populations. The study of the distribution patterns of Chinese surnames and people with the same surname may become a new important way and scientific basis for exploring the origins of Chinese people and the evolution of paternal genetic material.

Chinese people generally inherit their father’s surname and pass it on to the next generation in a paternal way. A woman only retains her father's surname throughout her life and does not pass it on to the next generation. Therefore, the vast majority of surnames belong to a kind of "gene" that is gender-neutral and passed down through the father's line, which is equivalent to a special gene inherited from sex chromosomes. It can be assumed that both X sperm and Y sperm carry the "surname gene" and display the function of their surname in each generation. Only Y sperm has the ability to continuously pass on surname characteristics, while X sperm only displays the surname characteristic in the first generation. Of course, we have also noticed that the phenomenon of changing surnames has always been common among Chinese people. This includes marriage, taking the mother's surname, changing surnames when seeking refuge, and ethnic minorities using Han surnames, etc. Changing surnames among people is an unexpected and random event, often occurring during the migration process, but it is certain that the proportion of people who change their surnames among the total population is relatively low. And no matter what the circumstances are, the surname will still be passed down through the patrilineal line from the second generation onwards. This phenomenon of surname change can be considered as a mutation of the surname. The mutated surname still has the normal function of paternal transmission. The long history and relatively hidden transmission of Chinese surnames, as well as the surname changing phenomenon that is characteristic of Chinese society, not only increase the diversity of Chinese surnames, but also provide clues and opportunities for tracing the ancestors and ages of each surname; more importantly, What's more, in China's vast rural areas, there has always been the custom of living together with the same surname. In addition, the marriage radius is small and the marriage area is relatively fixed. People with the same surname can be considered to be the paternal genetic material of their same ancestors, and are isolated to a certain extent. Group, which has special significance in the modern era. This kind of group with the same surname is directly related to modern human evolution. It will provide valuable research models and clues in exploring the origin and evolution of the Chinese ethnic group.

The distribution of surnames in the Song Dynasty, Ming Dynasty and contemporary times reflects three important phenomena:

First, the transmission of Chinese surnames in history is continuous and hidden. Determined. It reveals that in the course of history, the traces of blood culture expressed by Chinese surnames and the evolution of life genetic material, especially paternal genetic material, have basically the same and harmonious performance.

Secondly, Chinese people have always had the custom of living in clusters with the same surname and joining clans to compile genealogies. Moreover, the radius of marriage is very small and the marriage area is relatively fixed, which forms the distribution of people with the same surname. The distribution of Chinese surnames actually mainly reflects the distribution pattern of people with the same surname. Chinese surnames or people with the same surname exist in two states: common surnames and minor surnames, or common surnames and uncommon surnames. The 100 common surnames that only account for less than 5% of the total surnames have concentrated more than 85% of the population, while the uncommon surnames that account for more than 95% of the total surnames represent less than 15% of the population. The distribution of the 100 common surnames is the main factor that reflects the genetic composition of the populations in various regions. They determine the scale of population migration in Chinese history and the degree of kinship between regional populations. The people with uncommon surnames are more representative of their regional characteristics and relatively high degree of isolation.

Third, the main direction of population migration reflects the flow direction of Chinese genetic genes. At the same time, it is once again confirmed from the perspective of population genetics that there have always been two genetically heterogeneous northern and southern groups of Han Chinese, and their geographical dividing line for 1,000 years should be in the Wuyi Mountains and Nanling areas. Therefore, the study of the distribution patterns of Chinese surnames and people with the same surname may become a new and important way to explore the origin of Chinese people, especially the evolution of paternal genetic material.