The surname Ray is a long-established surname and one of the surnames I have followed for many years. As early as 1993, I was invited by a publishing house to write a book called "Exploring the Origin of Surnames and the Art of Naming", which included a special introduction to the history and culture of the Lei surname. Later, this part of the content became an integral part of books such as "Contemporary Hundred Family Names" and "New Hundred Family Names Searching for Roots". In October 2017, I presided over the seminar on the ancient kingdom of Fangshan and the origin of the Lei surname, and delivered a keynote speech on "The Origin of the Lei surname and the historical thinking of the ancient country of Fangshan" at the conference, which continued to be inextricably linked with the Surname of Lei. It is only in the years of attention that one of the problems that has puzzled me is the origin of the Lei surname, because this problem is not only confusing due to the difference in the literature of different periods, but also many of the genealogies or the literature and speech of the relatives in the later period are often different, which makes people confused because of the divergent opinions. Therefore, how to sort out the historical context and provide a conclusion that is acceptable to most people, so that the long-standing controversial question of the origin of the Lei surname can have a more consistent answer as soon as possible, it does need to be resolved by experts in the form of a special book. This book, edited by Mr. Lei Yingsong, is a masterpiece dedicated to solving the above problems.
It can be seen from the content of the whole book that this book takes the problem of sorting out the origin of the Lei surname as the core, and also has related issues such as surname totem, county Wangtang number, name font size, immigration and migration, etc., and the study of surname sources is not limited to surname sources. In several chapters related to the surname source, the first thing to start from the study of the historical evolution of the word "Lei" is that the word "Lei" already exists in the oracle bones, and archaeological data also proves that the Loess Plateau in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties was inhabited by Lei people, and the local area is also one of the earlier areas where Lei people appeared. In terms of application, the word "Lei" was first used as a personal name and a name of Fang Guo, and later became a surname, and the so-called Lei surname totem is difficult to confirm. However, in the legend, the history of the origin of the Lei surname is even older, and the literature after the two Jin Dynasties has gradually appeared 11 kinds of theory that the Lei surname originates from nature worship, the worship of the thunder god, the name of the state, the Pangu clan, the myth of Pan yong, the Yellow Emperor's chen Lei Gong, the Xiling clan's ancestors, the sub-surname, the occupation as the surname, the Yellow Emperor's surname, the Yellow Emperor's surname, and the Yellow Emperor's surname, as well as 7 situations derived from historical facts, such as Xiqiang Lei, Xiaquan Lei, Nan Man Lei, Rong Di Lei, ethnic minorities changing lei, Han nationality changing lei, and self-starting surname. For these statements and situations, the book uses the most important chapters to examine, and then also studies the ancient place names such as Lei Ze, Lei Shou Shan, Xiling, Fang Shan, Feng Yi, Yu Zhang, etc. related to the source of the surname, which can be seen that almost all aspects of the origin of the Lei surname are involved. It can be seen from this that the origin of the Lei surname is indeed complex and diverse, involving a wide range of time and space levels, if it is impossible to do the literature and inscription archaeological data of different periods, family trees, research works, etc. patiently collect, sort out, summarize and classify, distinguish which are the priority reference basis or secondary reference basis, the final reference basis, and on this basis, uphold the objective attitude of seeking truth from facts, and analyze and study the content of the exploration in a reasonable and well-founded manner, it is obviously difficult to complete. This 200,000-word "Chinese Lei Surname Source Examination", in Mr. Yingsong's own words, was completed by him five changes in the syllabus, seven drafts, and six years, from the collection of information to the use of information, chapter layout, text expression and other links can be seen in his efforts. Therefore, the completion of this book has made new contributions not only to the study of Lei surname, but also to the entire Chinese surname, which is also the place where I, a cultural person who has paid attention to Lei surname for many years, admires the most.
In addition, from the main content of the book, it can be seen that the origin of the Lei surname discussed in this book is actually one of the main problems in the study of surname culture in China. In the study of surname culture in recent years, it is customary to regard the origin of surnames as a legend of surnames, and conducting research is actually a kind of root-tracing activity, or called cultural root-seeking or root-seeking. For this kind of root search, taking the origin of the Lei surname as an example, it is also looking for the bloodline of the Lei surname or the root of culture, the source of culture and the destination. After all, it is human nature to search for roots, and it is traditional virtue to trace the origin of the newspaper and respect the ancestors. Moreover, blood is thicker than water, and the blood flowing in the veins of every person surnamed Lei is blood passed down from generation to generation from ancestors. As the relay of ancestral blood and life, today's Lei people, like other Chinese, shoulder the sacred duty of carrying forward the ancestral kindness and passing on to future generations. Studying the origin of the Lei surname and searching for cultural roots can not only promote the identification of the root culture between clans and relatives, but also help to enhance cohesion and centripetal force. In particular, this cohesion is, to a certain extent, the internal driving force for the survival and development of the Lei surname, and an important difference from other surnames. As the famous British historian Toynbee put it: "As far as Chinese is concerned, for thousands of years, more than any other people in the world, hundreds of millions of people have been successful in uniting hundreds of millions of people from political culture, and they have shown this ability to unify politically and culturally, with unparalleled successful experience." "As a member of the big family of Chinese national surnames, lei surnames have identified with the origin of surnames for thousands of years. It is also on the basis of this identity that the Lei surname has formed a common psychological characteristic, which is then manifested as cultural cohesion, and the basis for the saying that "five hundred years ago was one" has always been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. This is like a poem written: "a thousand rivers belong to the sea, a thousand branches and leaves a root", this relationship between rivers and the sea, branches and roots, reflects the centripetal force, cohesion, Lei surname's identification with the origin of the surname is actually the relationship between the river and the sea, the branches and leaves and the roots. By tracing the origin of the lei surname to study and explore the history and culture, sorting out some problems related to the origin of the surname but not solved for a long time, not only helps to further believe in the same family of the same root and cognate complex, but also has a role that cannot be ignored for better understanding the foundation and development momentum of the formation of the Lei surname.
In short, judging from the electronic manuscriptS I have seen, this "Chinese Lei Surname Yuankao" written by Mr. Yingsong is indeed a rare work, and what it does is also a very meaningful thing. It is believed that its appearance will not only help promote the research on issues related to the Lei surname, but also help to further promote the excellent culture of the Lei surname and enhance cultural self-confidence. It is precisely for this reason that I am happy to write out the above ideas after reading, and I teach Mr. Yingsong and the readers to talk about congratulations.
Author: Wang Daliang
In Beijing in May 2021
(The author is a well-known expert in the study of surname and genealogy culture, and a professor at the China Youth University of Politics)