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Wei, a name of high-ranking integrity
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IT is estimated that there are about 3.7 million people surnamed Wei in China, ranking it the 68th in terms of population. The number of Wei accounts to about 0.3 percent of the Chinese population.
There are generally three major sources of Wei as a family name. A major branch is derived from the Pengs as offspring of the legendary emperor Zhuanxu in primitive age. The family was granted the land of Shiwei in today’s Jiangsu Province, and thus carried Wei as their surname.
Another big source of Weis in China was descendants of the famous militarist Han Xin in Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220). When Han was killed in the name of treason, the Prime Minister Xiao secretly saved one of his sons and sent him to the uncivilized regions in today’s Guangdong Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. To hide identity, Han’s son took Wei, part of the character Han, as his surname ever since. Records proved that offspring of a man named Zi Wei from the royal family of Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 BC) also surnamed themselves as Wei.
There are also Weis in the ancient Shule Kingdom in today’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
Population of Weis had scattered in Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi and Hebei provinces in Han Dynasty. A number of Weis migrated southward to avoid wars in the Three Kingdom Periods, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. But most of the Weis stayed, and formed a prominent branch called “Jing Zhao Wei.” Famous poets Wei Yingwu and Wei Zhuang in Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907) were all from the “Jing Zhao Wei” branch.
Regardless of more Weis moving southward in the later history, a large number of Wei still dwelled in north China. The number of Weis in Henan and Guangxi take about 67 percent of all population of Weis in China.
The celebrities of the family includes Wei Siqian as an upright official in Tang Dynasty. He exposed high official Chu Suiliang’s law breaking which directly led to Chu’s being dismissed. When Chu was rehired, he revenged Wei and demoted him to a small county in today’s Gansu Province. Wei still took it in his duty to speak the truth loudly as an official. He regained high position eventually.
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