The Hu (胡) Surname: From the State of Hu to the Wuyi Diaspora
The State That Became a Name
The Hu surname (胡, Hú) was born in the year a state died. In 495 BC the armies of Chu marched on the small Gui-clan (归姓, Guī xìng) state of Hu (胡子国, Húzǐ Guó), near what…
A Fief That Became a Name
The Ye surname begins with a place that outlived its state. Twenty-five hundred years ago, on the floodplain of what is now Ye County, Henan (叶县, Yè Xiàn), lay the fief of Ye (叶邑, Yè Yì) — first recorded in the annals in 576 BCE. The small state it…
Cao Surname Wuyi Diaspora: Three Thousand Years from Zhou Dynasty State to Gold Mountain
In the eleventh century before the Common Era, King Wu of Zhou (周武王) conquered the Shang dynasty and divided his new realm among his brothers and loyal generals. One of those brothers was named Zhenduo (振铎). The king gave him a…