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Getting to the roots of Zou ancestory
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THERE are an estimated 4.4 million people in China surnamed Zou, making it the 67th most popular surname in the country.
One branch of the Zous dates as far back as the 11th century BC, when Cao Xie, who was a descendant of Zhuan Xu and vassal of King Wu of Zhou, surnamed himself after his own kingdom, Zou (now Shandong province). At different points in history, some members of the Zi and Yao families altered their surnames to Zou to accord with their feudal estates as well.
Also among those surnamed Zou, some are descendants of Si Zou, or King Goujian of Yue (reigned 496–465 BC).
Another origin of Zou is the compound surname Zoutu, initially used and subsequently shortened by descendants of Chi You, who relocated to the region of Zoutu after they were defeated by the Yellow Emperor during the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors era.
The surname has also been seen among Man, Hui, Tujia and Miao minorities.
Up until pre-Qin times, the Zous mainly resided in Shandong Province. From the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC) onward, they migrated, first into Henan and Hubei provinces, then westward into Shaanxi, and southward into Hunan, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Anhui provinces. During the mass migrations in the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907), the majority of the Zou population moved further south. It was in the early Qing Dynasty (AD 1644-1912) that Zou as a surname finally set foot on the island of Taiwan.
Notable historic figures surnamed Zou include Zou Yang, a scholar in the Western Han Dynasty, Zou Ji, advisor to King Wei of Qi during the Warring States Period (475-221 BC), and Zou Yan, another native of the ancient state of Qi, best known as the leading exponent of the Yin and Yang School during the Hundred Schools of Thought era.
According to “The Records of the Grand Historian,” a seminal work compiled by historian Sima Qian in the 1st century BC, Zou Yan produced a body of work amounting to more than a hundred thousand characters. Unfortunately very few of his writings survive to this day, but it would not be an exaggeration to say that Zou Yan’s thoughts, on yin and yang (the two opposing principles in nature), wuxing (five elements in the universe) and fengshui shaped Chinese culture as we know it today.
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