6. Migration of WAN Clan​

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Curtly speaking, the migration of the WAN clan was as follows:

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Some of the WAN families originated from Henan province had moved to Qilian Mountain in Gansu province during the early Western ZHOU Dynasty and merged into the ancient Kangju State (康居國). (Kangju was located in Uzbekistan, one of the thirty-six countries in the Western Regions of ancient China. Please refer to Wikipedia for details).

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For those WAN families that failed to cross the Pamir Mountains they stayed in southern Xinjiang and formed a state called Wan Su State (today it is called Wan Su county).

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In the early Western HAN Dynasty, Guy WAN’s grandson Ho WAN moved to Tai Yuan Yi County (now Shanxi province) which was in the southeast of Yixian County.  Subsequently, Tai Yuan became the center for WAN Clan.

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In the fourth year of Yuankang (66BC, 2,085 years ago), the emperor ordered Fu WAN (温福), grandson of Ho WAN, to return to his hometown (Henan province).  As a result, his descendants gradually spread to Qinghe (清河), Zaoqiang (棗強) of Hebei province.  Some of them also moved to Dongping (東平), Gaotong (高唐), Linqing (臨清), Wucheng (武城) and other counties in Shandong province.

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During the Chaos of Yongjia, also known as “The Disaster of Yongjia” (永嘉之乱) referred to events that occurred in the year 311 i.e. 1,708 years ago, Wu Hu (五胡亂華) forces captured Luoyang (洛陽), the JIN capital.  After this victory, Wu Hu forces committed a massacre in the city, killing the JIN crown prince, a host of ministers, and over 30,000 civilians.  They also burned down the palaces and dug up JIN mausoleums.  This was seen as the event that led to the fall of the unified JIN dynasty and later its re-establishment as the Eastern JIN dynasty, as well as the loss of northern China to non-Chinese forces).  WAN royal families moved southwards.  A Taiyuan WAN family named Qian WAN (温嶠) moved to a town called Hongcheng (now called Nanchang, the capital of Jiangxi Province) and his descendants stayed in the area thereafter.

 

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At the end of the TANG Dynasty, Jiulang WAN (温九郎), a descendant of Qian WAN (温嶠) moved to south Fujian province to avoid Huang Chao Uprising (黃巢之亂). (please refer to Huang Chao in Wikipedia for details)

 

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A 140th generation WAN family named Shangjian WAN (温尚簡) moved from Luoyang (洛陽) of Henan Province to Zào jiǎo shuǐ by Shicheng of Jiangxi province (江西石城皂角水).  His great-grandson, Nangao WAN (温南皋), moved from Shicheng to Ninghua by Shibi of Fujian province (福建寧化石壁).  Jin WAN, also known as Tongbao WAN (温瑾，名叫銅寶), a descendant of the second son of Nangao WAN, settled in various places in Fujian, Guangdong and Jiangxi provinces.  Nowadays, WAN clans in these three provinces all treated Tongbao WAN (温銅寶) as their common ancestor.

 

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At that time, Houzong WAN (温厚宗), the governor of Qian Zhou moved to and settled in Fujian province where his descendants could now be found in places like Qīngliú (清流), Zhǎng tīng (長汀), Shíchéng (石城) and Lóngyán (龍岩) respectively.

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During the SONG Dynasty (960-1279AD), Yuanqiu WAN (温元秋), the descendant of Houzong WAN (温厚宗), moved with his eldest son Dedai WAN (温德帶) and second son Dekun WAN (温德坤to Xingning by Meizhou of Guangdong province (廣東梅州興寧).  His third son Deming WAN (温德明) moved to Xingguao of Jiangxi province (江西的興國).  Deliang WAN (温德良), the fourth son of Yuanqiu WAN (温元秋), moved to Shanghang and Liancheng of Fujian province (福建的上杭、連城).

 

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At the end of the SONG Dynasty, descendants of Jiulang WAN (温九郎) moved to the East of Guangdong province.  Liulanggong (六郎公) migrated to Meixian District of Meizhou City (梅州市梅縣區) and Liulang WAN (温六郎) thus became the ancestor of WAN Clan in Songyuan Township (松源鄉).  Further, Guihe WAN (温貴和) was the ancestor of WAN Clan in Wuhua (五華) and Liangbin WAN (温良彬) was the ancestor of WAN Clan in Xiaoyong Township by Meixian District, Meizhou City (梅州市梅縣區小用鄉).

 

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At the beginning of the MING Dynasty (1368-1644AD), WAN Clan was one of many clans who had been ordered by the emperor to gather at Hongdong’s large banyan tree (It was located in the Banyan tree Park which was on the west side of Jia Village, about 2km northwest of Hongdong County, Shanxi Province).  (History book said that, after established the MING Dynasty, Emperor Yuanzhang ZHU (朱元璋) ordered some of the people in Shanxi province to move to Central China to resolve the problem of sparse population in the area for resuming productive farming.  In history, it is known as "Hongdong Big Banyan Tree Migration"「洪洞大槐樹移民」).  As a result, many WAN families had been forced to migrate to various provinces like Henan, Hebei, Shandong and Jiangsu.

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During the Jiajing (嘉靖) years in the QING dynasty (1644-1912AD), Niansan WAN (念三郎) moved from Ninghua (寧化) of Fujian province to Lianjiang (廉江) of Guangdong province.

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By the end of the QING Dynasty, WAN Clan spreaded all over China and some had crossed the strait to Taiwan.

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Today, men or women who bear the surname WAN are all over China, particularly in Guangdong province where the WAN people accounts for 29% of all WANs in China.  WAN Clan population accounts for 0.14% of the total Chinese Han population.

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In addition, and from various WAN genealogies, move of WAN Clan to Guangdong province began from the SONG Dynasty.  There were five main routes:

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Arrived Nanxiong from Jiangxi province.  First resided in Zhuzhu Lane, and then moved to various places.

 

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Arrived Meixian from Fujian province.  Initially resided at Jinpanbao, Songyuanbao and Shikeng.

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Arrived Chaozhou from Jiangxi province and settled in Haifeng.

 

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Arrived Zhangzhou from Fujian province and settled in Wengyuan Moling.

 

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Arrived Xingning from Fujian province and settled in Xixiang Yueqiaobao.

 

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Upon the arrival of the ancestors of WAN Clan in Guangdong province, descendants of various WAN ancestors had been flourishing in a big way.  According to incomplete statistics, in more than 90% of the counties (cities) in Guangdong province, the number of people who bear the surname WAN are now over 500,000.  Counties which have more than 10,000 WAN people are Wuhua (五華), Zijin (紫金), Shunde (順德), Xinyi (信宜), Meixian (梅縣), Lianjiang (廉江), Xingning (興寧), Puning (普寧), Jiexi (揭西), Lufeng (陸豐), Qingxin (清新), Zengcheng (增城), Heshan (鶴山) and Xinfeng (新豐).  Even more WAN people can be found in counties or cities like Wuhua (五華), Shuangliufang, Meixian (梅縣), Heshan (鶴山), Xinhui (新會), Xinxing (新興), Shunde (順德), Deqing (德慶), Xinyi (信宜).