Home » Sunday » Now and Then
Tracing the origins of the Lǚ family
Print Edition
THEIR’S might not have been the most common family name in China, but one of the oldest: The Lǚ family derived from one of the oldest surnames in China, and counts wise descendants among its ranks.
With an estimated population of 5.7 million in China, the number of Lǚ accounts for about 0.46 percent of the Chinese population.
There are three major sources for the families of Lǚ in China.
The earliest branch derived from the Jiang family, descendants of the Yan Emperor more than 5,000 years ago. The family of Jiang later developed into four different branches, with one of them granted the kingdom of Lǚ in today’s Nanyang City of Henan Province during the Xia Dynasty (2100-1600 BC). Many family members surnamed themselves both Jiang and Lǚ at the time.
The brilliant adviser Lǚ Shang who helped King Wen and King Wu of Zhou overthrow Shang Dynasty (1600-1100 BC) is one of them. He was more widely-known by the name Jiang Ziya, and for the proverb “Jiang Tai-gong fishes with a hookless and baitless line, waiting for those willing to bite.”
The Lǚ Kingdom was then conquered by the Chu during the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC). More descendants surnamed themselves Lǚ to commemorate the mother kingdom.
A second source came from a Wei family during King Wen of Zhou, who was granted the kingdom of Wei. Yet one of the descendants was later granted the land of the Lǚ in today’s Huo County of Shanxi Province during the Spring and Autumn Period, and renamed themselves Lǚ.
There was later another Lǚ Kingdom in today’s Xincai County of Henan Province.
Minorities like the Xianbei, Man, Li, Tu, Mongols, Tujia and Chaoxian (Korean) also joined the Lǚ.
Originally from today’s Henan Province, the Lǚ family expanded to Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces during the Northern and Southern Dynasties (AD 420-589). They migrated southward to Fujian and Guangdong provinces in Song Dynasty (1368-1644), and were found in Taiwan in Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).
A notable Lǚ is Lǚ Buwei, a discerning merchant in the Warring States Period (476-221 BC) who became chancellor of the Qin Kingdom.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
