Han Sheng: The Historical Basis of THE DNA Investigation of the Cao Cao Family

At the end of 2009, the academic event that attracted the most attention from domestic academic circles and the public was undoubtedly the discovery of Cao Cao's tomb in Anyang City, Henan Province, and three bones were unearthed, of which the male remains were determined to be 60 years old, and the other two were female remains, which were middle-aged and young women. The archaeological team in Henan Province deduced that the male corpse was Cao Cao. As soon as the news was published, it immediately set off an uproar in the domestic public opinion circles, and there were many doubters, causing controversy over the authenticity of Cao Cao's tomb, and an academic issue was pushed to the cusp of public opinion.

On January 19, 2010, China Social Science Daily set up a special planning column for four pages, inviting archaeologists and historians to try to determine the Anyang tomb as Cao Cao's tomb based on the cultural relics excavated from Cao Cao's tomb. This group of articles reflects the current situation of excavation and research on Cao Cao's tomb in the archaeological community, and provides the main evidence that can be displayed. However, the inference of archaeologists did not quell the menacing voices questioning the authenticity of Cao Cao's tomb. Especially after the media disclosed that the local government was preparing to develop Cao Cao's tomb into a highly economically efficient tourism project, academic issues evolved into social issues and became public topics. As far as the current situation is concerned, the evidence excavated by archaeology is not enough to confirm that the male corpse in the tomb is Cao Cao. Do we have any other scientific means?

On January 26, 2010, the Department of History of Fudan University and the Key Laboratory of Modern Anthropology of the Ministry of Education jointly announced that they would use the advanced scientific means of human gene survey of Fudan University to investigate and analyze Cao's gene, thereby providing scientific evidence for the study of the authenticity of Cao Cao's tomb.

As soon as the news was announced, it immediately attracted widespread attention throughout the country. Because this research has pointed out scientific methods and ways for the authenticity of Cao Cao's tomb, and it will also provide a precedent for resolving many major historical controversies. Combining the depth of history and life sciences to jointly study the history of the Chinese nation is the first attempt in China, and it will provide useful reference for the interdisciplinary research of Chinese liberal arts and natural sciences, and give birth to new disciplines, the significance of which has far exceeded the survey subjects themselves.

Because it is a new attempt, many enthusiasts have also boldly expressed their doubts and suggestions for this plan. As far as history is concerned, there are mainly several problems: First, the problem of Cao Cao's lineage. That is, Cao Cao's grandfather Cao Teng was a eunuch of the Eastern Han Dynasty, so the origin of his adopted son Cao Song is unknown. Second, at that time, there were historical records that Cao Song was from the Xiahou clan, so whether Cao Cao should belong to the Xiahou clan in terms of blood. Third, did Cao Cao pass on the authentic lineage from the third generation? Fourth, when the Western Jin Dynasty usurped the throne, the Cao clan was subjected to clan condemnation, so Cao Cao should have no descendants to survive in the world. Fifth, there are also speculations that Cao Cao's Empress Bian and her son Cao Zhang were Xianbei. Sixth, the identification of the existing Cao clan genealogy, as well as the cao clan's surname change, surname impersonation and forgery of the genealogy. These questions indicate that the historical study of the lineage of the Cao Wei imperial family needs to be strengthened. In addition, some people doubt that Cao Cao once built 72 tombs, so the tomb of Anyang may be only one of them, not worth believing. On this issue, Professor Wu Jinhua of Fudan University published "What the Hell Is Cao Cao's "Seventy-Two Doubtful Tombs"", which was negated through examination, pointing out that the theory of "Doubtful Tombs" was indiscriminately coveted in the Northern Song Dynasty and flourished in the Southern Song Dynasty, and was later written into the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and widely circulated in order to spread false rumors. 72 The Tomb of Doubts reflects that after Cao Cao was scandalized by posterity, many legends have been mistaken for historical facts.

Any scientific study and its conclusions must be able to withstand questioning and testing in all aspects, and the voices from all sides, whether it is the opinions of experts or the questions that have been denounced as "laymen", must be carefully listened to, and their rational factors should be absorbed in order to improve the research plan. This article will sort out and answer several basic questions on the feasibility of this research and its significance, based on listening to many opinions, in order to deepen the research.

1. Did Sima Shi usurp Wei and carry out clan retribution against the Cao clan?

For the investigation of the authenticity of Cao Cao's tomb, we will encounter two aspects of history and life science, and we will first discuss the problem of history. First of all, many people have proposed that when Sima Shi usurped Wei, he once carried out a massacre of the Cao Wei imperial family, so it was basically impossible for Cao Cao's descendants to survive in the world.

As we all know, Sima Yi seized power through the Gaopingling coup. In the first month of the first year of Jiaping (249), the ruling general Cao Shuang supported the Wei emperor Cao Fang out of the capital and went to GaopingLing to pay homage to Emperor Ming, and Sima Yi, who remained in Luoyang, took the opportunity to launch a coup d'état, and the incompetent Cao Shuang surrendered. Sima Yi deposed Cao Fang and established a new emperor who took control of Cao Wei's power. Subsequently, Sima Yi reneged on his word and killed the Cao Shuang brothers and their henchmen Ding Mi, Deng Biao, He Yan, Bi Rail, Li Sheng, and Huan Fan.

Cao Shuang was Cao Cao's grandnephew. After the coup d'état at Gaopingling, it was The Cao Shuang clan that Sima Yi had exterminated, not Cao Cao's direct descendants or the entire Cao clan, which first needed to be confirmed.

Cao Shuang's father, Cao Zhen, was originally surnamed Qin. When Cao Cao raised an army, Cao Zhen's father recruited township soldiers in response to Cao Cao and was killed by Zhou County. Cao Cao adopted Cao Zhen and let him live with his son Cao Pi. Later, Cao Zhen followed Cao Cao to pacify the world, made many military achievements, and held a high position of authority. When Emperor Cao Pi of Wei was dying, he ordered him to assist Emperor Ming with Chen Qun and Sima Yi. After Cao Zhen's death, Cao Shuang inherited his father's business, and Emperor Ming paid for the future affairs, making him and Sima Yi the chancellor of Gu Ming.

It can be seen from this that Cao Zhen had distinguished himself and held a special position in the Cao Wei regime. Because of this, sima Yi, after killing Cao Shuang, soon found Cao Zhen's grandson Cao Xi as his heir and made him the Marquis of Xinchangting, so that Cao Zhen's clan would not cut off the incense. Sima Yi did this, apparently out of political considerations. Although he controlled the center of power through a coup d'état, this regime was established by Cao Cao, and the ministers were all subordinates of Cao Shi, and Sima Yi had to strive to win them to his own in order to gradually seize Cao's world, and the Western Jin Usurpation of Wei followed such a path. Therefore, Sima Yi could not do too much to the Cao clan, lest the civil and military officials be chilled and lose their moral and political support.

This can be proved again by the political struggle that followed. After the coup d'état at Gaopingling, Wang Jun( the Prince of Taiwei) and Shi Linghu of Yanzhou plotted to establish Wang Biao of Chu as emperor against Sima Yi. After plotting to leak, Wang Jun committed suicide, and Sima Yi cursed his three tribes, and beheaded Yu Dang and Wang Biao of Chu. This was an event in which the Cao Wei imperial family was involved in a political struggle to regain power, and Sima Yi could have taken the opportunity to massacre the Cao clan, but he did not do so. The Book of Jin and the Chronicle of Emperor Xuan records that Sima Yi only "recorded that the princes of Wei were placed in Yi, and ordered to be supervised by a division and not allowed to pass the customs.". After that, the Wei imperial family was concentrated in Yecheng, under residential surveillance, and nothing more.

Understanding this truth, it is not difficult to understand that Sima Yi's father and son always maintained courtesy to the Cao clan in the process of usurping Wei, but only forced their opponents to cooperate with their own political drama of Zen concessions, giving the newly established Western Jin dynasty a legal cloak and setting an example of filial piety to rule the country. Therefore, when Sima Yan finally usurped Wei Lijin, according to the Records of Emperor Wu of Jin, his disposition of the Cao royal family was "Emperor Wei as the King of Chen Liu, Yi Wanhu, and living in the Palace of Yi; all the kings of the Wei clan were county marquises", and ordered that "King Chen Liu carried the Tianzi Banner, prepared the five-hour deputy car, carried Wei Zhengshuo, the suburbs of heaven and earth, and the system of ceremonial music was like Wei Lao, and the book was not called a subject.". According to this, Sima Yan only moved the Cao Wei emperor to Yicheng and did not kill. Qi Wang Fang and Chen Liu Wang, who had been deposed by Sima Shi, were saved in both the Western Jin Dynasty, with Qi Wang Fang living to the tenth year of Taishi (274) at the age of forty-three, and Chen Liu wang fang living to the first year of Tai'an (302), at the age of fifty-eight.

Looking at the entire process of Wei in the Western Jin Dynasty, only Cao Shuang was suppressed. As mentioned above, Cao Shuang changed his surname from Qin to Cao. The "Wei Luo", which recorded this incident, was written earlier than the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", and was written by the historians of the Jin Dynasty, and is the basic historical book for the study of the history of the Three Kingdoms today, and its theory has its own basis. Obviously, Sima Yi's heavy hand was not suppressed by the Cao clan. According to the following examination of Cao's political position in the Western Jin Dynasty, it should be said that it still belongs to one of the branches of the bureaucratic class of the Western Jin Dynasty.

2. Does the Cao clan have descendants?

The prerequisite for human genetic identification of the Cao clan is that the Cao clan must have descendants. Concerned people have proposed that cao cao's branch has no authentic descendants in the third generation, and the third generation of Cao Fang of the Wei emperor's lineage is not even clear about his lineage, let alone the descendants of cao.

This doubt stems from a lack of understanding of the descendants of the Cao clan and even the history of the Three Kingdoms. According to the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms and the Biography of Prince Wu Wenshi, among Cao Cao's concubines, in addition to the original Lady Ding,000 children, there were twenty-five males, which are summarized as follows:

Empress Bian gave birth to Cao Pi (later)

Cao Zhang —Cao Kai – Cao Fang (according to legend, Cao Kaizi, became emperor, and was later deposed as the King of Qi)

Cao Zhi – Cao Zhi (last son, Emperor Wu of Jin appointed Leping Taishou (樂平太守), a regular attendant on horseback)

Cao Xiong - Cao Bing

Lady Liu gave birth to Cao Ang - Cao Wan (succeeded) - Cao Lian

Cao Shuo - Cao Qian - Cao Yan - Cao Chen (succession)

Lady Huan gave birth to Cao Chong - Cao Chun (succeeded)

Cao Zhao------------------------------------------------------

Cao Yu – Cao Yu (made emperor, JinXing, deposed as King Liu of Chen)

Lady Du gave birth to Cao Lin - Cao Wei

Cao Gong - Cao Fu

Lady Qin gave birth to Cao Qin — Cao Zan (inherited) and Cao Yi (succeeded) — Cao Heng

Cao Jun - Cao Ao

Lady Yin was born Cao Zhi ( Cao Min ( succeeded ) – Cao Kun

Wang Zhaoyi sheng Cao Gan——(Heirless)

Sun Ji sheng cao shang (no queen)

Cao Biao – Cao Jia (The brothers were once exempted from being Shuren.) Cao Jia served as Dr. Guozi in Jin Dynasty, Taishou of Dongguan)

Cao Qin (no queen)

Li Jisheng Cao Cheng (no queen)

Cao Zhen - Cao Fan (succession), Cao Xun (succession)

Cao Jing (no queen)

Zhou Jisheng Cao Jun - Cao Kang - Cao Chen

Liu Jisheng Cao Thorn (no queen)

Song Jisheng Cao Hui - Cao Qi

Zhao Jisheng Cao Mao (many sons, but heir unknown)

According to the above, the fourth generation of Cao Cao is still recorded, and the descendants also see officials in the Western Jin Dynasty, so the so-called third generation of Cao Cao has not seen the true descendants of the saying, do not attack themselves, this is one. Cao Cao's sons were all kings, multiple wives and concubines, and many heirs, and in genealogy, only the heirs were seen, not only single sons, such as Cao Zhao and Cao Lin, who had multiple sons who had inherited his house, that is, the second case. The situation of the heirs of Emperor Cao Pi of Wei is also clearly documented, and is summarized as follows:

Emperor Wen of Wei's cao pi concubines nine people, breeding nine boys:

Empress Zhen gave birth to Cao Yi (Emperor Ming, empress dowager)

Li Guisheng Cao Xie - Cao Xun (childless, guo division)

Pan Shuyuan born Cao Rui - Cao Zan (succession)

Zhu Shuyuan Sheng Cao Jian (childless, guo division)

Qiu Zhaoyi was born Cao Lin ( Cao Qi ) ( another son , Cao Qi , was made emperor and killed , and was called Duke Of Guixiang )

Xu Jisheng Cao Li - Cao Ti (succession)

Su Jisheng Cao Yong - Cao Wen (succeeded)

Zhang Jisheng Cao Gong (childless, guo division)

Song Ji sheng cao yu (childless, guo division)

Judging only from the situation of the Cao Wei imperial family inheriting the heirs, its clan continued to last until the Western Jin Dynasty. Cao Zhi's son Cao Zhi (曹志), known as Cao Zhi (曹志), was a scholarly official of the Jin Dynasty and a scholarly official, and his collection of essays can be found in the Sui Shu Jing Zhi .com. Scattered riders often served as advisors to the emperor, in charge of the rules and regulations, and "often held prominent positions".

Cao Cao's nephew Cao Xiu, who was praised by Cao Cao as "My Family's Thousand Mile Juye", was highly valued by the three dynasties of Wu, Wen and Ming. His great-grandson Cao Yu (曹摅) was in charge of the capital in the Western Jin Dynasty and was in a key position. After the outbreak of the "Rebellion of the Eight Kings", Cao Yu remained in the center of power, and in the second year of Yongjia (308), he died in a battle to suppress the armed forces of the displaced people. Volume 90 of the Book of Jin was dedicated to his biography, and his collection of essays was three volumes, and one volume still existed in the Tang Dynasty, which was recorded in the Sui Shu Jing Zhi.

Cao Yu also had a brother named Cao Zhi (曹識), who served as a general of the Right Army in the Western Jin Dynasty. Wuhu entered the Central Plains, and the Cao clan also moved south with the rolling crowd and lived in Jiangdong. Cao Zhi's son Cao Bi (曹丕), who was an official in the Eastern Jin Dynasty to Guanglu Xun, was known as a scholar, and the book of Jin, volume 92, was also dedicated to him, and fifteen volumes of the collection of essays were circulated in the Western Jin Dynasty.

After the southward migration, the Cao family still maintained the status of King Chen Liu and multiplied, even after the fall of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the establishment of the Liu Song regime, it was not extinct, which can be proved in the historical records. The Book of Song records that in September of the fourth year (460) of the southern Dynasty Liu Song Daming, there was a Si Song: "The eldest brother of The King of Chenliu, Cao Qianji, died early, and after The Emperor Ji raided the seal, he gave birth to a son to succeed him. Now according to the custom, we should worship the son of the world, but I do not know whether I should take milling as the son of the world, and should I establish the second son? "Therefore, its lineage is:

Cao Qiansi - Cao Qianji - Cao Milling

Cao Qianji and Cao Qianji were brothers, the former died in July of the first year of the Yongchu Dynasty (420), the latter was the same person as Cao Qianxiu, who died in November of the sixth year of the Ming Dynasty (462), and his heir died in the first month of the first year of the Yuan Hui (473). In the Liu Song Dynasty, the lineage of the Cao clan of Chen Liu wang is clearly known, which is found in the Book of Song in The Book of Wu, Emperor Xiaowu, and Later Emperor Benji. Cao Milling also had a brother named Cao Kai, and Mending was still thriving. According to the above records, it can be known that the Chen Liu royal family is still treated with courtesy as a remnant of the old dynasty, and its succession to the throne still needs to be deliberated and decided by the imperial court.

The descendants of the Cao clan can enter the career path through local inspection and recommendation, and Cao Bi is an official through the way of county cha xiaolian. He once wrote a volume of the Cao Family Biography, which was published in the Sui Shu Jing Zhi. Cao Wei implemented the nine-pin Zhongzheng Quan selection system, and those who were born had to examine their family lineage, so the genealogy was grand, and the surname, Zhongzheng, and the relevant departments of the government all needed to hold the spectrum as the basis for shijin. The "Cao Family Biography" was handed down and was recorded in the "Book of Sui" compiled by the Tang Dynasty historian, and since then, the "Old Book of Tang" volume 46 "Jing shu zhishang", and even the "New Book of Tang" compiled by the Song dynasty Ouyang Xiu, volume 58 "Yiwen Zhi II", are still in the bibliography, and it can be seen that the Cao family has always been the object of selection by the government of successive dynasties.

However, due to various reasons, there were no influential big people in the Cao Wei Sect, resulting in a sluggish family and gradual decline. The example of it in the Sui Dynasty can be seen here. According to the "Epitaph of Ling Cao Jun of ChenCang County, Fufeng County, The Great Sui Dynasty", Cao Haining surrendered to northern Zhou at the end of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and Zhou Xing of the Sui Dynasty, and he successively served as Dingzhou An! The county orders of the county, zuo shangfang, and chen cang county, all their lives, were limited to serving as low-level officials, reflecting that the Cao family had been quite in decline, and it was difficult to revitalize the glory politically. Therefore, it is not surprising that the clans of his descendants are difficult to see in the historical records. However, from the above investigation, it can be seen that the descendants of the Cao clan are quite numerous and have been bring in the world, which can be affirmed, which is a strong historical basis for us today to look for the descendants of the Cao clan and then verify the identity of the tomb owner of the Cao clan in Anyang.

III. The Relationship between Cao Cao and the Xiahou Clan

Some people have suggested that Cao Cao's original surname was Xiahou, so it is difficult to compare his genes from the Cao family. In view of this, it is necessary to first infer the blood relationship between the Cao clan and the Xiahou clan from the perspective of historical research.

Cao Cao's grandfather, Cao Teng, was the head of eunuchs in the Eastern Han Dynasty and held a high position of power. Cao Cao's father, Cao Song, was his adopted son, so Cao Cao's true life has always been talked about. As early as the beginning of Cao Cao's rise, his opponent Yuan Shao scolded him in the text of Cao Cao's "father Song, beggar with him", which means that his origin is unknown, but it is not said that Cao Cao is from the Xiahou clan, indicating that cao Cao is from the Xiahou clan at this time. After that, rumors of Cao Cao's origins circulated among his political enemies, and the Eastern Wu people wrote a "Biography of Cao Cao", calling Cao Cao's father Cao Song "the son of Xiahou and the uncle of Xiahou." Taizu and The Brothers", said with a nose and eyes, as if they were seeing with their own eyes. The Jin dynasty Guo Yan's "World Language" also follows this saying, and the three become tigers. The book "The Biography of Cao Cao" can be clearly understood from the title of the book that the opponent demeans and defames Cao Cao. At the time of the Han and Wei dynasties, the family lineage was closely linked to the dispute between Qing and Qing, and the rising heroes of the late Eastern Han Dynasty competed to flaunt themselves as Qingliu, and Liu Biao, because he was elected as the leader of Qingliu, although he was only sparse, he was able to gather celebrities and stand majestically in the important place of Jingchu; Liu Beili was weak, but because of the name of the emperor," he finally became a major event. The impact of public opinion on the political situation is difficult to estimate. Cao Cao's grandfather belonged to the eunuch turbidity force that was attacked by public opinion, and had always been a sore spot for political enemies to attack him, and if coupled with the unknown origin, especially from a different surname, it became a laughing stock and despised. In fact, from Yuan Shao's discussion of Cao Shuwen to the "Biography of Cao Concealment" compiled by the Eastern Wu people, it can already be seen that Cao Cao's contemporaries have made up and evolved their legends about his life from virtual to real. After the Song Dynasty, as Cao Cao's image became lower and lower, the theory that he came from the Xiahou clan became more and more popular, and the words were conclusive, and the Hu San Provincial Notes of the Zizhi Tongjian also adopted this theory, but they could not put forward any evidence.

Knowing this background, we can then investigate Cao Cao's life from the perspective of history. First of all, in the Eastern Han Dynasty, eunuchs were not necessarily born poor, but the history lacks records of this, and it is difficult to see the whole picture, but it is not all without trace. The famous eunuch Cao Jie in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, the Book of later Han records that he was "a family official with two thousand stones", and was obviously the son of a high-ranking official. The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms and Emperor Wu of the Three Kingdoms does not doubt that Cao Cao's branch of the Cao clan originated from the Cao Shan family, and clearly records: "Emperor TaizuWu, Pei Guo Ren Ye, surname Cao, zi Mengde, Han Xiang Guo Shen hou. According to this record, the Cao family of Cao Teng's Peiguo County (沛国谯县, in present-day Bozhou City, Anhui Province) was also a surname. According to the "Book of Han and the Biography of Cao Ginseng", Cao Shan's original family was in Pei, and Xiao He and other Pei people jointly assisted Liu Bang to gain the world, and Pei Guo was the birthplace of the founding fathers of the Western Han Dynasty, living here, intermarrying with each other, and constituting a social network of family surnames, which must be highly valued.

During the hundreds of years of the Two Han Dynasties, the Cao Family was deeply rooted in Yu County. Sima Biao's "Book of Continuation of the Han Dynasty" records that Cao Teng's family was known in the township for being humble and respected, and the four brothers, the youngest of whom entered the palace as an official. According to the Northern Wei Dynasty Daoyuan's Notes on the Water Classics, Cao Teng's brothers and nephews were buried in Yu County, and there are tombstones. Among them, Cao Zhi is the father of Cao Ren, so the blood relationship between Cao Teng and Cao Ren is clearly visible. As for Cao Teng's adopted son Cao Song, the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms and Emperor Wu of the Three Kingdoms states that "Mo Neng judged his birth to the end". This sentence has attracted many speculations from later generations, and only then did Cao Song have room for Cao Song to come from Xiahou's saying.

In fact, a careful examination of Chen Shou's writing of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms cannot simply make this association. A typical example is Cao Fang, the fourth emperor of Cao Wei, and the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms and the Chronicle of the Three Young Emperors also says: "The palace is a secretary, and no one knows its origin." According to this, some researchers have also concluded that Cao Fang is not a descendant of Cao Cao's authentic sect. However, a little reading of the historical records, the "Spring and Autumn of the Wei Dynasty" records that Cao Fang was the grandson of Cao Cao's second son Cao Zhang, and of course belonged to the Chuan Chuan. Emperor Wei Ming was childless, and his heirs must have come from Cao Cao's great-grandchildren, which can be doubted. From this, it can be seen that Chen Shou's so-called "no one knows its origin" and "the originator" of course includes succession, but it is only that it is impossible to know which room it came from. This is Chen Shou's cautious attitude as a good history. According to this brushwork, there is a similar record of Cao Song's life, that is, "Mo Neng judged his birth and end", of course, including succession, which is exactly the same as Cao Fang's situation.

Cao Teng held a high position of power and came from the old family of Yu County, and his adopted son inherited the official fiefdom, and he would never be casual. According to the basic principle of inheriting the ancestral lineage at that time, of course, it was inherited from the main sect and other houses. Unless there are special circumstances such as the end of the case, this problem generally does not require much ink. However, for the sake of prudence, here is a little investigation. First of all, the investigation of Cao Cao's family is the most convincing. The situation of Cao Cao's descendants has been listed above, and among Cao Cao's sons, there are six examples of inheriting the lineage, without exception, all of which are the sons of brothers. Among Cao Pi's sons, there are four examples of succession, all of which also come from the sons of brothers. As for the succession cases in the third and fourth generations of Cao Cao, they also come from this sect without exception. According to this, the Cao family has all inherited within the sect. Secondly, if the field of vision is magnified beyond the Cao clan, then there are many examples, and it is difficult to list them all, as evidenced by the situation of Empress Guo of Cao Pi, the Emperor of Wei. The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms records that Empress Guo's father, Guo Yong, died prematurely, "from her brother to Yonghou", that is, Guo Biao, who succeeded Empress Guo's cousin, as Guo Yong's heir, also from the benzong.

Therefore, judging from Cao Teng's old family origin and brotherly harmony, Cao Song must have come from this sect.

The starting point of the above analysis is to believe that the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" on Cao Cao's family history is true and logically deduced, is it so reliable? I don't think so, but there is a problem that needs attention, that is, the Cao family's expression of their family lineage is different.

According to the introduction of Wei Chen Jiang Ji, the "Cao Teng Inscription" that can be seen at that time said that the Cao family was from "Qi". This is consistent with wang Shen's record in the Book of Wei. That is, the son of Lu Zhong of the Yellow Emperor's lineage was named An, and was divided into the state of Yi by King Wu of Zhou, which is one of the origins of the Cao surname. Later, the state of Yi was destroyed by the State of Chu, and the descendants of the Cao clan scattered and fled to Peidi. If this is the case, Pei has two branches of the Cao surname, and Cao Teng and Cao Shen are not really related by blood, but later attached together.

When Cao manipulated the Family Biography, he changed his mind and claimed to be from the Zhou Dynasty after Cao Shu Zhenduo. Cao Zhi also followed this theory. Of course, this statement is self-whitewashing and elevating the family lineage. When emperor Wei Ming arrived, he followed Gao Tanglong's advice and changed his family lineage to emperor shun again. In just a few decades, the number of family lineages has changed, reflecting that Cao Teng's branch is probably not from a high-ranking surname like Cao Gan, but it is attached to it, but Chen Shou, the author of the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", is convinced, but thinks that Cao Song's origin is untestable. After the Xiahou family is also a hero of the Han Dynasty, the descendants do not need to assume the surname of Cao, so Cao Song will not come from the Xiahou family.

So, why is there a saying from the Xiahou clan? As already mentioned, this was a personal attack on Cao Cao's political opponents. Secondly, we should also pay attention to an important factor, that is, the Cao family and the Xiahou family are both old gates of The County, and the Xiahou family is from the Western Han Dynasty entrepreneur Xiahou Baby, and the "Book of Han Fan Li Teng's Biography of Fu Jin Zhou" records: "Xiahou Baby, Pei Ren also." "They both belong to the Liu Bang Founding Father Group, and have been living in their native county, intermarried for generations, and the relationship is extremely close. Cao Cao's daughter Princess Qinghe married Xiahou's son Xiahou, and it can be seen that this in-law relationship has been maintained. In the Western Han Dynasty, the Cao family and the Xiahou family were both entrepreneurial heroes, and under the Cao Wei regime, the Xiahou family was the pillar of the state, both public and private, both were pro-superior and pro-kin, so it was easy for others to speculate. However, as early as volume 26 of the Yimen Reading Book, the Qing Dynasty scholar He Zhuo pointed out that Cao Cao's family and the Xiahou family could not have the same blood relationship, otherwise the marriage between Princess Qinghe and Xiahou □ would have become a brother and sister marriage, and Cao Cao would not have done so.

From the history of careful analysis, all kinds of speculations that there is a blood relationship between Cao Cao and Xiahou are unfounded and cannot be established. However, in the spirit of prudence, when conducting DNA analysis of Cao's remains, we are still ready to collect a genetic sample of Xiahou's for analysis, make a scientific judgment on this issue, and solve the mystery of the millennium. As far as the current situation of Chinese surnames is concerned, the number of Xiahou clans is not large, and only one copy of the Xiahou clan genealogy found in the bibliography remains, and a new one is found, and the entire investigation scope is much smaller than that of Cao.

4. Investigation of Cao's genealogy and collection of genes

The historical recourse fully proves that Cao Cao has many descendants left in the world, and then proves that it is feasible to conduct human genetic investigation of Cao shi today.

So what is the distribution of Cao's today? The General Catalogue of Chinese Genealogies contains genealogical catalogues found in bibliographies worldwide, of which 275 are Cao's genealogies. The Shanghai Library is the library with the largest collection of genealogies in China, with 118 Cao family trees in the collection. Since the news of the excavation of Cao Cao's tomb was announced, a number of Cao family trees have appeared in several places in the country, among which there are also those who are clearly recorded as descendants of Cao Cao. Therefore, the investigation of the existing family tree is an important clue to understand the origin of the Cao clan and its distribution.

Most scholars who study genealogy know that the ancestral legends of family trees are not reliable, taking Cao Cao as an example, Cao Cao and his grandson Cao Xi are not uniform in their own ancestry, and the more they attach, the farther they will be. For today's investigation of the Cao Cao family, the starting point of the Cao family tree should be to choose the well-founded inheritance since Chen Shou, that is, the Cao clan that began in Pei County since the Han Dynasty. In view of the fact that the Cao Cao family and the Cao Shan family have long been confused, and almost all the genealogies produced by later generations describe the family lineage according to this, we have included cao shan and Cao Cao's descendants in the scope of the investigation.

As far as the current investigation is concerned, the age of the Cao family tree is after the Ming Dynasty, and even the family tree compiled by the present generation. Among them, most of them call themselves Cao Ginseng as ancestors. However, there is no complete and reliable record of the lineage from Cao Ginseng to the Ming Dynasty on the genealogy. Even as far as Cao Cao's branch is concerned, the inheritance relationship after the Southern Dynasty is not easy to be supported and proved from historical materials.

Our job is to compare the lineage contained in the family tree with the historical record, and to select the more reliable family trees, which contain the family trees that claim to be descendants of Cao Cao. Can these genealogies be judged to be true? The historical and documentary evidence is clearly insufficient. However, relying solely on the judgment of historical philology, it is easy to eliminate the family that is not well documented but may be a descendant of Cao Cao. For our research, spreading the surface of Cao's sampling wider and taking more samples can more fully reflect the situation of multiple Cao's since ancient times and obtain an overall grasp.

The principle of leniency in genealogy can greatly increase the cost of genetic investigation, but it can improve accuracy. In other words, rather than abandoning, the final reliability will be much higher. The key is that today's DNA identification technology is already very accurate for individual identification, and finally it can screen out the authenticity. That is to say, the identification of genes is also applied to the identification of genealogy, and while measuring the Y chromosome, it is also necessary to identify the situation of fake change of surname, so that interdisciplinary research can achieve greater results.

Genealogical surveys show that the Cao clan, which is related to Cao Shan or Cao Cao, is widely distributed in the Yangtze River Basin, such as Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Hunan, and this geographical distribution is consistent with the above historical research to see that the Cao clan of Chen Liu moved to Jiangnan after the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms. So, of course, these areas are the main areas where we do our gene collection. With the emergence of new Cao family trees and clues provided by volunteers, we also continued to expand the objects and regions of genetic collection as needed, as long as there are genealogically supported descendants of Cao Cao, we will conduct sampling and investigation.

By identifying the Y chromosome, we can obtain Cao's Y chromosome type. Among them, if there is an unrelated homologous family tree, and its Y chromosomes are also consistent, then the Y chromosome type of a certain Branch of the Cao surname can be confirmed. In this way, we can find the descendants of Cao Cao and determine the type of Y chromosome of the Cao Cao family.

V. Cao's Gene Survey and Interdisciplinary Research

The discovery of the Cao Wei Tomb in Anyang inadvertently gave history and molecular biology a rare opportunity for interdisciplinary collaborative research. As mentioned earlier, the determination of the identity of the tomb owner has entered a bottleneck in archaeology, and more powerful scientific evidence is needed to break through the current dilemma. At this point, dna identification in molecular biology is undoubtedly the most powerful approach at present.

DNA identification is not an easy task, and it requires a large database of human genes as the basic basis for judgment. In this regard, the Key Laboratory of Modern Anthropology of the Ministry of Education of Fudan University has joined forces with more than a dozen of the world's best molecular biology laboratories to investigate the origin and distribution of modern Homo erectus, collecting and analyzing 40 million human genes worldwide. Fudan University has carried out historical anthropology research for more than ten years, successfully analyzing hundreds of thousands of human genes in various parts of East Asia, forming the largest and richest human gene pool in China. On the basis of the genetic survey of the east Asian peoples conducted in the previous stage, further in-depth genetic surveys of ancient families are being carried out. The emergence of Cao's tomb in Anyang provided two important opportunities for Fudan University, first, it promoted the in-depth cooperative research of history and molecular biology, and established the first new discipline of historical anthropology with molecular biology as the main research tool in China. The second is to accelerate the transformation of human genetic surveys from ethnic to family-oriented. The DNA identification of Cao's tomb is a case of this major transformation, marking a new stage of human genetic investigation in China.

Some enthusiastic netizens suggested that a direct comparison between the remains of Cao Zhi excavated from the tomb of Cao Zhi in Shandong Province and the male remains excavated from the tomb of Cao Zhi in Anyang can not be concluded? In fact, DNA investigation is far from such a simple thing, because the DNA of ancient remains is constantly degrading with the passage of time, so it can only be formed through a comprehensive analysis of Cao's DNA in modern humans to form a yardstick for investigating the DNA of ancient remains. This is a very serious, strict and rigorous scientific work, we will do it in accordance with the norms of science, and will announce the progress in a timely manner to win the trust of the people and the trust of the academics.

In 2010

First published in The Modern Anthropological Newsletter, Volume IV