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Kings, emperors, Romans and emigrants to Japan
THE descendant of the first emperor of Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC) who united China became to a major branch of the Qin family in China — but the name was already a noble lineage long before, while other Qin came from Roman settlers.
There are an estimated 3.2 million people surnamed Qin in China, ranking the name 74th in terms of population. The number of Qin accounts for about 0.26 percent of the Chinese population, mostly in Henan Province and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region today.
Ying Zheng, the first emperor of Qin Dynasty, is an important source of the people surnamed Qin in China. Ying united China by defeating all the other six powers in the Warring State Period (475-221 BC), and strengthened border defences with the construction of the Great Wall in the north.
However, the Qin Dynasty still didn’t last long, not due to invaders, but the tyranny of its emperors. It was overthrown by insurrectionary forces only 15 years after its establishment in today’s Tianshui, Gansu Province.
Many of the family changed their surnames into Qin after their dynasty name and there are few people today still surnamed Ying.
But the family of Ying is not the earliest origin for the Qin name in China. There are records of people surnamed Qin more than 4000 years ago. An account of legendary tribe leader Emperor Shun includes seven friends, including one named Qin Buxu.
And a descendant of King Wen of the Zhou Dynasty, surnamed Ji (c1046–256 BC) was granted a title and land in the Qin State — not the same state ruled by the Yings — in today’s Fan County of Henan Province. The family changed its surnames into Qin, and their line became the other main source of today’s Qin.
The descendants of the Yings and the offspring of the Jis are generally two big branches of the Qins in China.
Immigrants from Europe also created a branch of Qin. They were Romans who reached China along the Silk Road and Maritime Silk Road from the Han Dynasty (206 BC–AD220 AD) and settled down.
As the Roman Empire was once called “Da Qin” in China, some offsprings of the Romans called themselves Qin, as they gradually assimilated with the local population.
The Qin also have a Japanese branch. According to the “Nihon Shoki,” The Chronicles of Japan, a descendant of the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty surnamed Qin sailed to Japan and settled there in the 3rd century during the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 25-220). Over time, the family merged with local people, localizing their surnames, with many taking the name Haneda.
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