Descendants of Guo Ziyi in Huazhou District
Author Yan Guangqin
The famous Tang Dynasty general Guo Ziyi had 8 sons and dozens of grandchildren, so that Guo Ziyi could not all be known. Its descendants multiplied, the branches flourished, and the descendants were numerous. Due to various political, economic and social reasons, some of Guo Ziyi's descendants stayed in their hometown of Zheng County, Huazhou (now Huazhou District, Weinan, Shaanxi), and some migrated to other places, and after more than a thousand years of development and changes, they formed a huge Guo clan at home and abroad.
Statue of Guo Ziyi in Huazhou Park photographed by Li Yong
The descendants of Guo Ziyi, who stayed in the hometown of Huazhou, lived in the homeland where the great ancestors were nurtured, adhered to the legacy of the ancestors, and fought ceaselessly for the country, society and hometown, and a number of outstanding figures also emerged.
The four grandchildren of Guo Baoyu during the Mongol Khanate (after 1271, the Yuan Dynasty), who were descendants of Guo Ziyi in Zheng County, Huazhou, were all famous generals of a generation of famous people. Guo Baoyu, originally a military attaché of the Jin Dynasty, was given the title of Duke of Fenyang County. Genghis Khan returned to Mongolia in the sixth year (1211) and followed Genghis Khan in his conquests of the Jin Dynasty, the Western Regions, and the Western Xia, and made many military achievements. Guo Baoyu's eldest son, Guo Dehai, had traveled to Russia from the general Garnet Bai and participated in the war to destroy the Jin Dynasty. Guo Baoyu's second son, Guo Deshan, served as a member of the Mongol army. Guo Dehai's son, Guo Kan, accompanied the Mongol emperor Hulegu on his western expedition to attack present-day Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia in Western Asia. As a descendant of Guo Ziyi in the hometown of Huazhou, Guo Baoyu inherited Guo Ziyi's style of being a great general who had made meritorious achievements throughout his life and had his rightful place among the military generals of successive Chinese dynasties.
Huazhou Guo Ziyi Arch Building photographed by Li Yong
During the Ming Dynasty, the descendants of Guo Ziyi in Huazhou formed a famous and prestigious family that played an important role in the local area, especially the Guo family was the most prominent.
Guo Zhizhi (郭性之), a native of Ganquanli, Huazhou (around present-day Sanmen Lane, the county seat), was a jinshi in the second year of the Wanli Dynasty (1574) of Emperor Mingshenzong, and an official to the left envoy of Henan Province, and was the highest administrator of Henan Province. He is honest in government and concerned about the sufferings of the people. Guo's eldest son, Guo Zongzhou, was a well-known poet who wrote "Gao Xianzhai Poetry Grass"; the second son, Guo Zongyi, a scholar who studied the hundred families of the sons, wrote books such as "Four Ritual Examinations"; the third son, Guo Zongzhen, who was a man of the thirty-first year of the Wanli Calendar (1603), served as a member of ZhiXian County, Zhizhou, and Wailang, a member of the Punishment Department; the fourth son, Guo Zongchang, a famous scholar in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, was good at identifying Jinshi calligraphy and paintings, and made outstanding contributions to Jinshi science. Several of Guo's nephews were also officials and eunuchs. Guo's family had a great influence at that time.
During the Qing Dynasty, the more prominent descendant of Guo Ziyi in Huazhou was the Guo Deyuan family. Guo Deyuan was a native of Xiguanli (in present-day Xiguan, a city area) who began his military career in the thirty-third year of Qianlong (1768). In the fifty-third year of Qianlong (1788), Gorkha (present-day Nepal) invaded Tibet, and Guo Deyuan accompanied the army to conquest and repelled the invasion, and was awarded the title of Qianzong for his merits, and later promoted to garrison. Guo Deyuan's son Guo Maojing, the eldest grandson Guo Dapeng, the second grandson Guo Dading, and the great-grandson Guo Jitang were all military attaches of the Qing Army, which can be said to have inherited Guo Ziyi's general Martial Style and became a military family.
In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Huazhou Guo clan had a total of 12 lifters, 3 jinshi, and more talents.
So far, Guo Ziyi's descendants are widely distributed throughout the county, in addition to Guo Ziyi's hometown in Xima Village, Huazhou District, the main residence of the Guo family is Zhao Village in Lotus Temple Town, Zili, Chengnan and Gaoya in Xinglin Town, Gan Village in Xiamiao Town, Erhe Village, Waist Village, persimmon Village and other places in Gaotang Town.
The early Xima Village mouth from Guo Ziyi's hometown
Xima Village is located in the town of Lotus Temple in the east of the city, which is the hometown and birthplace of Guo Ziyi. To this day, most of the people in the village are still surnamed Guo, there are more than 80 households, more than 300 people, is the descendant of Guo Ziyi's sixth son Guo Huan. Before the Cultural Revolution, the Guo family had a president (i.e., a patriarch), usually held by an elder of high moral standing. The president preserves the family genealogy and the shrine axis. The genealogy is kept so secret that ordinary people cannot see it. In the 1940s, the Guo clan relatives in Pucheng, Shaanxi Province, came here to look for roots, and they were allowed to copy the genealogy, which took one person 7 days to copy. Unfortunately, this genealogy was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. The god shaft is a 3-meter-long and 2-meter-wide white silk with portraits of Guo Ziyi and the ancestors of the following generations. Every year on the first day of the first lunar month, the men of the Guo family, young and old, burn incense and kowtow in front of the hanging shrine. This axis of god was also destroyed during the Cultural Revolution.
The Guo clan of Zili Village in Xinglin Town is also a descendant of Guo Ziyi, whose ancestral roots are in Xima Village, and later two brothers moved from Xima Village to live in the area of Sanmen Lane in the present-day urban area. During the Ming Dynasty, another Guo clan moved from Sanmen Lane to the three villages of Zili, Chengnan and Duanxiang (also known as Yangduan Lane) in the present-day Xinglin Town. Zili is Nagato, Seongnam is the second gate, and Duanxiang is the third gate. These three villages are located in the south relative to Xima Village, so the Guo clan here is called Nanhu, and the Guo clan of Xima Village is Beihu. Before the 1950s, the Guo clan of Zili Village used to go to the Dongguan Guo Ziyi Ancestral Hall a few days before the Qingming Festival every year to worship their ancestors. Their direct ancestor was Guo Shengzhi, the ming dynasty's zuobu envoy to Henan mentioned above. Guo's tomb is in the present-day Lotus Temple Town Tanyukou, known as "Guo Jia Louzi", the original archway, stone stele, stone horse, stone sheep and so on. The Guo clan of Zili Village came here during the Qingming Festival to worship and sweep the graves of their ancestors until the destruction of Guo's tomb during the Cultural Revolution. There are more than 20 families and more than 90 people in the descendants of Guo Ziyi in Zili Village.
Xinglin Zili Village Photographed by Song Chaofeng
The descendants of Guo Ziyi of Zhao Village in Lotus Temple Town originally also had a family tree, called "Guo Men Shizhi", which was lost in the 1960s.
Guo Of Gaoya Village, Xinglin Town, after Guo Zhongwen, the eldest son of Guo Zhao, the second son of Guo Zhao. Guo Zhongwen's branch may have moved from the area of present-day Lotus Temple to the area of present-day Huazhou Town yapo Village or Xinglin Town around Nanwangbao (the two villages are not far apart) in the early years. It is said that Guo Zhongwen's tomb was once in the east of Nanwang Fort in the south of Yapo Village. After the Guo clan here, another branch moved to Gaoya Village to settle down, which is the origin of the Guo clan in Gaoya Village. Mr. Guo Zhenwu, one of the Guo clan in Gaoya Village, came to Taiwan after 1949 and is a scholar with a wealth of books. He devoted himself to the study of Confucianism, and published more than 20 monographs such as "Confucius Female Disciple Examination", "Zhu Zi Dao's Discernment of Hearts and Minds", "University Interpretation", "Confucian Numerology", "Zhu Zi Philosophy", "Guo Zhenwu Anthology" and so on. Guo Zhenwu is charitable and enthusiastic about social welfare undertakings, donating millions of New Taiwan dollars in various donations. The landmark building in Huazhou District, Guo Ziyi Arch, was rebuilt with donations from Mr. Guo Zhenwu.
In addition to the above villages, There are also many descendants of Guo Ziyi in Xiamiao Town, Gaotangyuan District and other places in Huazhou District. According to incomplete statistics, the total number is about two or three thousand.
Original source: Author's contribution
Original author: Yan Guangqin
Compilation and editing: Huazhou Literature and History Collection