榕樹凹村
Yung Shue Au Village
2. Taiyuantong WAN Clan Genealogy
On first page of the Genealogy, it expressly stated that our first generation ancestor was born with a surname JI (姬). As such, it may be worthwhile to look further into the chronicles of the JI (姬) family:
Pursuant to the “ written by Yiyun XU (西周史 - 許倬雲著ISBN-13: 978-7108037336), ZHOU Wen (周文王) was born with the surname JI (姬), and was the tribal chief of the ZHOU people in the late SHANG Dynasty of China (from circa 1600 to 1046BC). Tribal chief ZHOU Wen was born in 1152BC (that is, 3171 years ago) and was one of the great tribal chiefs in Chinese history. When he was in office, he recruited many talented people to assist him to lead his people. He was highly praised and well respected by his people during his 50-year reign. The ZHOU tribe thus prospered. During his reign, he had written a book called “Zhouyi” (周易) or it is better known today as the “Book of Changes” which is one of the oldest documents in China. It had been honored by Confucianism as the first of the ancient Classics. The “Book of Changes” used a set of symbols to describe the state of simplicity, change, and difficulty. It represented the philosophy and cosmology of Chinese classical culture. Its central idea was to interpret the intrinsic characteristics and the laws of natural operations, and to interpret the alternation of Yin and Yang in the description of all things in nature. The “Book of Changes” was initially used for divination and weather forecast. However, its influence had later expanded to all aspects of Chinese philosophy, religion, politics, economics, medicine, astronomy, arithmetic, literature, music, art, military and martial arts. This great work was introduced to the West in the beginning of 17th century.
King ZHOU Wu (周武王), the son of ZHOU Wen, also borne the surname JI (姬). He was the founder and the first King of the Western ZHOU Dynasty after he and his ZHOU people defeated SHANG Dynasty in the battle of Muye (The Battle of Muye 牧野之戰, 1046BC). The ZHOU’s victory led to the SHANG being replaced and subsequently justified the doctrine of the Mandate of Heaven). King ZHOU Wu ruled from 1046BC to 1043BC.
King ZHOU Cheng (周成王), who also borne the surname JI (姬), inherited the throne from his father King ZHOU Wu and became the second king of the Western ZHOU Dynasty. King ZHOU Cheng ruled from 1042BC to 1021BC for a period of 22 years.
Shu Yu (叔虞) was the third son of King ZHOU Wu and the blood brother of King ZHOU Cheng. They were born with the same mother named JIANG (Ziya JIANG’s daughter, later became the first queen of ZHOU Dynasty, and also gave birth to King ZHOU Cheng and Shu Yu).
When King ZHOU Cheng was small, he promised his younger brother Shu Yu a fief (a gift of land for life) at a game. He told his brother Shu Yu that when he inherited the throne from their father, he would bestow a fiefdom on Shu Yu. Following the death of King ZHOU Wu, ZHOU Cheng inherited the throne. In 1033BC, their uncle ZHOU Gong (周公) conquered the TONG State (唐國). King ZHOU Cheng eventually fulfilled his promise by bestowing the TONG State on his brother Shu Yu. Shu Yu was thus known as Shu Yu TONG (唐叔虞), meaning Shu Yu of TONG State.
Location of TONG State: Click Here
In Chapter 7 of the book edited by Li WANG (王力 - 中國古代文化常識), it pointed out that the surname and feudal system of the ZHOU Dynasty only applied to the nobility where the civilians were born without a surname. ZHOU’s royal families and the feudal states such as LU (魯)、JIN (晉) (Shu Yu TONG's son changed the feudal state name from TONG (唐) to JIN (晉) after succession to his father, which later became one of the five powers during the Spring and Autumn period, a period in Chinese history dating from approximately 771 to 476BC). ZHENG (鄭), WEI (衛), YU (虞), YI (虢), WU (吳), YAN (燕) were also bearing the surname JI (姬) . It was not until Emperor HAN Wu (漢武帝), Che LIU, 156BC – 87BC) that the civilians were allowed to have a surname in general.
It was said that the surname WAN, originated when Shu Yu TONG’s 17th generation grandson named Xi Zhi (?—574BC), who inherited the fiefdom in WAN County, changed his surname from JI to WAN and called himself Ji WAN (here Ji means THIRD as he was the third son of the family). It might be interestingly to note that the Genealogies of most WAN clans in southern China honoured him as their first generation ancestor.