When ancestors took their surnames, there were many ways. Some people will take their own country names and surnames, such as the Qin, Qi, Chu, Han, Zhao, Wei, Yan, Chen, Cai and other countries during the Spring and Autumn And Warring States period, which one has not developed a huge surname ethnic group today? For example, in the matrilineal clan period, people respected their mother, so many ancient surnames were next to female characters (姬, Jiang, Yao, etc.).
As we all know, China has a five-thousand-year-old historical civilization, and in this process there have been many sub-national integrations, so the origin of many Han surnames is also related to foreign ethnic groups, such as the "An" surname that we want to introduce today. Speaking of ann surname, can you come up with any historical celebrities? I believe that the vast majority of people will think of An Lushan at the first time, but in fact, An Lushan was born in the Western Regions of Kangguo, originally surnamed Kang, because his mother remarried to the An family, he took the surname of An.
The An surname has also produced other celebrities, such as an aggrieved An Jinzang. During the period of Wu Zetian, An Jinzang served the crown prince Li Dan, and some people falsely accused Li Dan of plotting rebellion, and in order to protect Li Dan, An Jinzang actually stabbed the abdomen to show that the prince did not rebel, and Wu Zetian was also touched by him. This An Jinzang was an Anguo Hu of Central Asia in the Tang Dynasty, and coincidentally, a major origin of the An surname came from the Central Asian Anguo during the Han Dynasty.
This is an ancient history that belongs to the surname An. Historically, it was a slave empire in the Iranian region of West Asia, juxtaposed with the Han Dynasty, Rome, and the Kushan Empire, which shows the strength of the Sabbath Empire during its strong period. And the location of the Sabbath Empire is very special, how can it be a special law? We all know that Chinese silk was once highly sought after in the Roman Empire, right?
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent The trade route to the Western Regions opened by Zhang Qian, the Marquis of Bowang, was called the Silk Road, and the Sabbath Empire happened to be located in the middle of the two countries, and the Romans still knew about silk through rest. With this geographical advantage, the Sabbath merchants made a huge difference in profits from selling silk. At the same time, the Sabbath people also longed for the wealth of the Han Dynasty, and some of the Sabbath merchants came to the Han Dynasty.
One of the most famous sabbaticals was the prince of the Sabbath Empire. Unwilling to be king, An Qing ceded the throne to his uncle Vologasis IV, became a monk himself, and set out to travel to the Han Dynasty in 147 AD. An Qing's influence was not small, so there were many sabbath attendants, people, and ministers who came with him, and these people gradually integrated into local life after coming to China.
They learned to speak Chinese, write Chinese characters, and take the Ampattian surname, or An for short, in honor of their homeland. The name of the prince "AnQing" was changed after he came to China, he went to the countryside to follow the customs, and also studied Chinese gave himself the epithet "Shigao". Most of the Sabbath merchants who came to China settled in the northwestern Gansu region, and over time, the descendants of the Sabbath people gradually spread north and south of the great river.
The surname An ranks 79th among the old hundred family surnames, and is considered a large surname among foreign surnames. Today, the population of an has already exceeded 1.7 million. So, if you have a friend with this surname, his ancestor may not be a Huaxia, but an Iranian from more than 1800 years ago. Some people with the surname An have white skin and obvious facial features, which is also a trace left by the ancestors!