One
China is a multi-ethnic country, and the total number of Chinese surnames today is no less than 3,000. However, the origin and transformation of the surname is like a vast historical volume, which is both magnificent and colorful. The descendants of all the surnames in China are deeply proud of the outstanding achievements of the ancestors in their surnames and their dedication to the culture of the motherland, and they all regard their surnames as treasures and love them deeply. At the same time, no matter who it is, they are eager to find the origin of each surname.
According to historical records, when the ancient Chinese peoples were in a matriarchal society, they "knew that there was a mother, but they did not know that they had a father" ("White Tiger Tongyi"). At that time, the surname was centered on the matrilineal line, and its children only knew who their mother was and did not know who was their father. Even the Three Emperors and Five Emperors, ancient texts only contain their mothers, but no records of their fathers. Therefore, the ancient surname is also mostly next to "female". Surnames such as "Yao", "Ji", "姒", "Jiang", "妫", "嬉" and so on are found in ancient texts. The "Explanation of Words" explains "surname" as: "Surname, born of man." The ancient god Our Lady felt the heavens and gave birth to a son, so she was called the Son of Heaven, born from a woman. To this day, the word "surname" is still composed of the words "female" and "sheng", retaining the traces of matriarchy.
With the development of production and life, the patriarchal system gradually replaced the matrilineal system, people have a new understanding of the unrestricted promiscuity of direct parents, found that the intercourse of the same bloodline is not conducive to the reproduction of offspring, put forward the evolutionary principle of "men and women with the same surname, their birth is not fertile", "the same surname does not marry, evil does not breed also", so that the clans of different bloodlines gradually form their own family system, and the surname is also divided into several branches. The Son of Heaven takes the country as his surname; the Wang clan takes the surname of "giving the surname", "fiefdom", and "official position"; and the commoner takes the surname of "place of residence", "rank" and "skill".
Two
For thousands of years, with the change of history, the population has multiplied and developed into more than 3,000 different surnames of the Chinese nation so far. In the past, people used to say "Zhang Wang Liu Li Chen, half of the world's people." It is said that these surnames are the most populous in our country. However, now, the surname Li is the number one surname in China today, and the last two national censuses have ranked first among the hundred family names. Among the Han surnames in the country, there are 13.22 million people surnamed Li, accounting for 7.94% of the Han population; in the world, if the number of People surnamed Li stands in a row, it can circle the earth for a week and a half.
Lee's Totem
When it comes to the origin of the Surname Li, there are nine theories in its ancient records:
The first theory is that he is from the surname of Yin and is a descendant of the Gaoyang clan of emperor Huan. During the Yao Dynasty, Gao Tao held the position of Dali (the official in charge of the prison), and his son Boyi was given the surname of Ying, and his descendants inherited the position of Dali for three generations, and his descendants, according to the custom of the time, took the official as the clan and called it Li. There are two ways to change Theory to Lee. One theory is that "Muzi" saved his life into the surname Li. During the Shang Dynasty, Li Zheng, a descendant of Gao Tao, was an official in the dynasty, and was executed for offending the King of Shang, and his wife Qi Heshi fled to Chen Guoku County with his son Li Lizhen, and in order to avoid being pursued and killed by the King of Shang, Li Zhen's mother and son begged all the way in anonymity. Because of the hunger of eating plums, he was able to live, and because he did not dare to be reasonable, he changed his surname to Li. The ancestor of the surname is Li Lizhen, the sixteenth grandson of Li Zhen, Li Qian, the character Jingyi, also known as Yuan Guo and Qiye. Ren Zhou Yushi Dafu,妣益寿氏,生子耳(i.e., Laozi). This statement was first proposed by Li Yanshou of the Tang Dynasty.
Another theory is that according to the "Surname Examination", there was no Li clan before the Zhou Dynasty, and since there was a Laozi surname Li, the name Er, who was a descendant of Li Zhen, because the ancestors were the li officials in the previous generation, and the ancient pronunciation of the words li and li was also used as the li clan. Obviously, the Li clan began with Li Er's surname.
The second theory: refers to Li as a surname. The "History of Justice" quotes the "Xuanmiao Inner Chapter" Yun: "Mother Li was pregnant for eighty-one years, and she was born under the Li tree. "This theory is based on Lao Tzu as the ancestor of the surname Li. There is still folklore in Luyi today, Li Mu was pregnant for 81 years, gave birth under the Plum tree, Li Er was already a white-haired old man when he was born, Li Mu shouted: "My old son", hence the name "Lao Tzu", Lao Tzu pointed to the Li tree with his finger as soon as he was born, and recognized himself as Li surname.
The third theory: from his clan to change the surname. During the Three Kingdoms period, after Zhuge Liangping mourned and imprisoned, he gave the local ethnic minorities zhao, zhang, yang, li and other surnames. The Xianbei clan has a compound surname of Ling Li (叱李氏), which was changed to a single surname of Li (李氏) after sinicization. It is for the Li clan of Luoyang.
The fourth theory: from his surname changed to Li. According to relevant information, the founding fathers of the Tang Dynasty had the generals Xu (Xu, An, Du, Guo, Ma, Xianyu, etc., who were given the surname of Li for meritorious service from the Tang dynasty.
Fifth theory: Plum tree totem said. To this day, examples of clan totems as surnames can still be found in individual ethnic minorities in our country. Such as the wild cat clan, the water bird clan and the tiger clan among the Kemu people in Yunnan. "History of Dongyi Yuanliu": "The Li clan was given the surname Ofe because of the official of Dali, and later surnamed Li because it was difficult for Li to avoid Muzi for food. Because it eats wild plums, it is cultivated by the Li clan as a domestic plum tree, and the plum tree is used as a sacred tree, that is, a totem tree. Therefore, the descendants of the Li clan often planted Li as a symbol next to the house, and this habit is still preserved. For example, Li Bai's family had a peach and plum garden, and the Tang Dynasty Imperial Palace Garden planted more plum trees. ”
The sixth theory: derived from the tiger totem theory. This view holds that the Lee totem is not a plum tree, but a tiger. The totem of the Chen-Chu region where Lao Tzu Li Er was born is a tiger, and "Li Er" is the Chu language "tiger". Gong Weiying's "Outline of Primitive Worship" said: Li Er is also a Chu language, that is, a tiger. Lao Tzu's homeland, Chen, was destroyed by Chu, so he had to be a Chu person. Chen belongs to the Huai River Valley, and is calling the tiger "Li Er". Lao Tzu's also name is Li Er, and here's why. Li Er should be the common name of Chen Chu folk for tigers. According to modern Chendi folklore, Lao Tzu was born in the year of Gengyin and belonged to the tiger. At that time, the dialect around Kuxian county called the tiger "Tanuki", so the neighbors jokingly called Lao Tzu "Tanuki", which gradually evolved into "Li Er".
The seventh theory: derived from the old surname said. This statement mainly stems from the examination of Laozi's surname, which holds that Laozi is not surnamed Li but surnamed Lao, and the Surname Li originates from lao surname. The paleographer Tang Lan believes that the claim that LaoZi's surname is Li Ming'er is not true, and Guo Moruo, Ma Sulun, Chen Duxiu and others agree with Tang Lanzhi. Gao Heng further examined that at that time, those who were called Zizi, such as Confucius, Zengzi, Mozi, Mencius, Zhuangzi, Huizi and others, all cited their surnames, and those who were unique to Laozi were called "LaoZi" instead of "Li Nie"; they were called "Lao Tzu" instead of "Plum", so "it is clear that Lao Tzu's original surname was Lao Yi." ”
The eighth theory: the surname of an ethnic minority. A common surname of the Yanbian Korean people is the surname Of Li.
The ninth theory: it was changed by the Northern Wei Dynasty Northern Fu surname. During the Northern Wei Dynasty, there were Daibeifu surnames Li and Gao Hu, and after Emperor Xiaowen entered the Central Plains, they were changed to a single surname Li. See Book of Wei Shuguan, Tongzhi. Clan Sketch.)
Three
A considerable proportion of the world's population surnamed Li is known as the "Longxi people", longxi is the birthplace of the Li clan, and the ancestral home of the Li clan in Longxi is in present-day Lintao County, Gansu Province. The famous historical and cultural city of Lintao in the west, known as Didao after the Warring States, is the food and food of the descendants of Fuxi, the ancestor of humanities. The Zhou Dynasty was called Longxiyi. Since Duke Xiangong of Qin (384 BC) destroyed the Xirong tribe Di and Huan, and established the two counties of Di Dao and Huan Dao, which was the beginning of the establishment of Lintao County. From the twenty-seventh year of King Qin Zhao's reign (280 BC), the county administration of Longxi Commandery was in Di Dao. The western end of the Warring States Qin Great Wall began at the Thirty Mile Pier in present-day Lintao County. From the Warring States to the Qin and Han Dynasties for nearly five hundred years, Di Dao has always been the political, military, economic and cultural center of Longxi County, covering a vast area of today's central Gansu, southern Ningxia, and eastern Qinghai. That is to say, at that time, Longxi was under the jurisdiction of Longxi County, which was ruled by Di Dao. According to the New Book of Tang dynasty lineage table, Lao Tzu's great-grandson was named Li Tan, and Li Tan's son was named Li Chong. Li Chong, who "built a northern Di Dao to seek the Western Qiang" and "was enfeoffed with the title of Southern Zhengjia Suchang (Di Dao)", served as the sheriff of Longxi Commandery during the Qin Dynasty, stationed in the county of Zhidi Dao (present-day Lintao). Li Chong is the ancestor of the Li clan Longxifang, who is praised by later generations. In this way, from Lao Tzu's westward journey to Lintao, to Lao Tzu's ninth grandson Li Chong, there began to be "Longxi Fang" Li Shi, that is, "Longxi Li Clan".
The seventy-eighth ancestor of the Li clan has two ancestors: one is Lun. The third emperor of the Reign of the Patriarch of The Ancestors, during the period of the coexistence of the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms, can be described as a fire at the city gate, which affected the pond fish. The various separatist regimes attacked each other, and the Li people's residences were uncertain, and so far, the history of the three distant ancestors below the Duke of Lun is untested, and only contains the fifth grandson of the Duke of Lun, the Duke of Wendu (that is, the eighty-fourth ancestor), and the official of the Western Liang Dynasty is Anding Taishou. From the Sui Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, the distant ancestor Yuan Shengong (that is, the eighty-ninth ancestor) took the world with Gaozu Li Yuan and gave him military merits to luoyang, and was the eighth grandson of Duke Wendu. Yuan Shen Gong passed down the sixth generation, there was Sun Zhen Sheng Gong (that is, the ninety-fourth ancestor) character good instrument, Tang Dezong, the anti-thief Zhu this rebellion, led the crowd to encircle the Capital Division, Sheng Gong from Wugong County led the division Qin Wang, after eight fierce battles finally defeated the thief party, in order to restore Chang'an. For his merits, he was made the King of Xiping County.
In the fourth year of Zhenyuan, he was enthroned as the five temples of Shenggong, and in September of the fifth year, he was given the figure Lingyan Pavilion, and zhenyuan yanyu (793 AD) was born on the fourth day of the first month of August, Shou Sixty-seven, and was given to Taishi, who was buried in Gaoling County (Shaanxi) on December 16. With the Zhang clan, gifted to Lady Xiao Guo, the first pawn, followed by the Zheng Guo Lady Du Shi Qi Yan.
Duke Sheng had fifteen sons, twelve sons who held military power, and several of his sons were quite famous: Li Yuan, Li Xian, Li Yu, and Li Ting. In the third year of Zhenyuan, emperor deprived Li Sheng of his military powers, and his twelve sons were scattered throughout the country, so Li Xian was transferred to Hongzhou in Jiangnan Province. In order to meet them in the future, their descendants all use the king of Xiping County as the symbol of their family tree, and all use "Xipingtang" as their hall name.
Although the ancestor of the Xipingtang Li clan was the Duke of Xian, his descendants enshrined his father, Wang Shenggong of Xiping Commandery, as the first ancestor. Another son of the Seventy-eighth Emperor Zu Yonggong was Rou, and the next ten grandsons were Yuan, that is, Tang Gaozu. Therefore, the "Xipingtang" Li clan belongs to the "Longxi Fang", but it is not the Li royal family of the Tang Dynasty.
Four
According to the "Genealogy of the Li Clan" compiled by the old family of Shagang Town, Jiangling County, the li surname of this branch was derived from Nanchang (also known as Yuzhang) from Nanchang, Jiangxi (also known as Yuzhang) by the "Zizheng" Duke (I do not know that this duke is the grandson of the "Xipingtang" I Zu Shenggong). The so-called Yuzhang Commandery, that is, present-day Jiangxi Province, is also the concept of Yuzhang in a broad sense. In a narrow sense, Yuzhang refers to the area around present-day Nanchang) moved to Chengdu, Sichuan, and during the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song (1100-1125 AD), he joined the army of Jingzhou and then settled in Dahuatai, Shiyan Embankment, which is now the west of Bailu Lake in Shagang, Jiangling. More than a few years to move fangle temple, in the shiyan embankment north to move the ancestors lost the examination, did not still bury the former residence, the so-called big flower tomb is also, Fang Le people refer to as the zhe (zhe) tree bay tomb. His son "Youfu" Ren Huangzhou was buried next to the Zizheng Gong, and has been five acres and six minutes and four percent of the land.
The article is transferred from Art @ Life Netizens, and the purpose of forwarding this article is to let more people understand the inheritance of Li's culture, so as to inherit the past and open up the future, pass it on from generation to generation, and pass it on to future generations. Deletion of intrusion links.