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November 16, 2014

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Zheng has a historically nice ring to it

ZHENG is a good surname in Chinese as it is pronounced the same as the word for “principal.”

A deputy chief surnamed Zheng can be easily mistaken as a principal one when he or she was called after the surname plus title. And it was also a preferable choice for ancient Chinese, too, due to its musical pronunciation.

Today, there are an estimated 11 million people surnamed Zheng in China, ranking as the 21st most common surname. The number of Zhengs accounts for about 0.9 percent of the Chinese population and they are mostly scattered across Zhejiang, Fujian and Taiwan.

The Zheng family was a branch of the Ji descendents of the Yellow Emperor. It became an independent family name in today’s Shaanxi Province during the Western Zhou Dynasty (11thC –771 BC).

King Xuan granted his brother Ji You land of Jinglin in today’s Shaanxi Province, which was once known as the State of Zheng. And Ji You is more commonly known as Duke Huan of Zheng. To survive the cruel reign of King You of the Zhou Dynasty, he followed a wise man’s advice to move east. Unfortunately, he was killed before settling down.

His son, known as Duke Wu of Zheng, won the territory later for his contributions to the establishment of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. He set up a new State of Zheng there, where his family expanded quickly until the state was conquered in 375 BC by the State of Han.

The royal survivors were thus scattered in today’s Henan Province, and gave themselves the surname Zheng.

The story was recorded in “Shi Zu Lue,” or “The Book of Family Names,” which was written by Zheng Qiao. He was a historian in the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) and researched the history of his own surname along with 2,254 other surnames.

Some people were granted the surname Zheng for their achievement. Ma Sanbao was granted the name Zheng He by the emperor of the Ming Dynasty (1638-44) for his naval abilities.

From 1405 to 1433, Zheng He commanded more than 300 ships and led expeditions to India and Africa.




 

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