Historical Landmarks History and Culture

Yamen 1279: The Battle That Ended the Song Dynasty

Yamen 1279: The Battle That Ended the Song Dynasty The End of a Dynasty For three hundred years the Song dynasty (宋朝, Sòng cháo) had been the most advanced state of its age — the world's largest cities, the invention of movable type and gunpowder, a civil service that prized learning over birth. And when…

2 days ago0Comments

BySteven

Chinese Surnames Surname Archive

The Yuan (袁) Surname: From the State of Chen to the Wuyi Diaspora

The Yuan (袁) Surname: From the State of Chen to the Wuyi Diaspora The Name Before the Place Most Chinese surnames are named for a place. A king granted a fief; the family took the fief's name; the name outlived the fief. The surname Yuan (袁姓, Yuán xìng) did not begin this way. It began…

2 days ago0Comments

BySteven

Interior of a Taishan ancestral hall with spirit tablets, incense, and ceremonial offerings

Chinese Surnames Surname Archive

The Pan (潘) Surname: From the State of Pan to the Wuyi Diaspora

The Pan (潘) Surname: From the State of Pan to the Wuyi Diaspora The Pan surname traces to two royal lineages of ancient China. The first descends from the ruling house of the State of Pan (潘国, Pānguó), a small vassal polity of the Zhou period whose princes shared the blood of the Zhou kings;…

3 days ago0Comments

BySteven

Chinese Surnames Surname Archive

The Zeng (曾) Surname: From Confucian Lineage to the Wuyi Diaspora

The Zeng (曾) Surname: From Confucian Lineage to the Wuyi Diaspora A Sage's Name: The Kingdom That Became the Surname The Zeng (曾, Zēng) surname carries a Confucian pedigree no other Wuyi surname can claim: its first ancestor is 曾子 (Zēngzǐ, Zengzi), the disciple Confucius made the model of filial piety and later canonized as…

August 7, 20260Comments

BySteven

Facade of the Wanggang Li ancestral hall in Baiyun, Guangzhou — a protected heritage building among the Li clan's standing ancestral monuments

Chinese Surnames Surname Archive

The Li (黎) Surname: From the Ancient State of Li to the Wuyi Diaspora

The Li (黎) Surname: From the Ancient State of Li to the Wuyi Diaspora The Siyi region of Guangdong sent over two million people overseas between 1840 and 1940 — and among the surnames carried in that great crossing was 黎 (Li), a name whose written form had already endured for over two thousand years,…

August 6, 20260Comments

BySteven

Village houses and fields of a Taishan qiaoxiang village, representative of the Wuyi emigrant countryside

Chinese Surnames Surname Archive

The Tan (谭) Surname: From an Ancient State of Shandong to the Wuyi Diaspora

The Tan (谭) Surname: From an Ancient State of Shandong to the Wuyi Diaspora In the winter of 684 BCE, an army of the State of Qi marched against its small neighbor and erased it from the map. The State of Tan (谭国, Tán Guó) — a minor polity in today's Zhangqiu, Shandong, whose old…

August 3, 20260Comments

BySteven

Yunhuan Lou and Qiuanjulu Mansion in Zili Diaolou Village, Tangkou Township, Kaiping — the destination at the end of the last-mile road.

Chinese Surnames Surname Archive

The Cai (蔡) Surname: From Zhou Dynasty State to the Wuyi Diaspora

In 1046 BCE, King Wu of Zhou overthrew the Shang dynasty and began distributing territory to his brothers and allies. His fifth brother, Ji Du (姬度), received a fief in what is now Shangcai County (上蔡县), Henan Province. The state was called Cai (蔡国). For the next 600 years, through 25 rulers, the State of…

July 31, 20260Comments

BySteven

The watchtower mansions of Zili Diaolou Village in Tangkou, Kaiping, the UNESCO-listed architecture built with overseas Chinese remittances

Diaspora Stories Migration History

From Haikou Port to the World: 200 Years of Wuyi Diaspora

Between 1840 and 1940, over two million people departed from a handful of stone jetties along the Tan River. They were leaving Wuyi (五邑, wǔyì — the five counties of Taishan, Kaiping, Xinhui, Enping, and Heshan), a stretch of rocky, typhoon-prone coastline on Guangdong’s southwestern edge, bound for gold fields in California, tin mines in…

July 28, 20260Comments

BySteven

Chinese Surnames Surname Archive

The Guo (郭) Surname: From Zhou Dynasty Nobility to the Wuyi Diaspora

The Guo (郭) Surname: From Zhou Dynasty Nobility to the Wuyi Diaspora The Guo (郭) surname carries one of the longest continuously documented lineages in Chinese history — three thousand years from the Zhou dynasty’s founding brothers to the diaspora communities of the Wuyi (四邑) region (trace your own surname origins with our Surname Compass).…

July 28, 20260Comments

BySteven

Practical Guide Roots Travel

Wuyi Roots Trip Accommodation Guide: Where to Stay in Kaiping and Taishan

Wuyi Roots Trip Accommodation Guide: Where to Stay in Kaiping and Taishan Over four million people of Wuyi (五邑, Wǔyì — the Five Counties) descent live outside China. Every year, thousands of them plan the journey back — a trip that may have been decades in the emotional making, passed down through family stories like…

July 27, 20260Comments

BySteven

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Tag: Diaspora

What Is Qiaopi? A Beginner&#8...

Haiyan Overseas Chinese Farm:...

The Meijia Courtyard of Duanf...

The Women Who Left: Chinese F...

Hong Kong’s Hidden Depa...

Yamen 1279: The Battle That Ended the Song Dynasty

The Yuan (袁) Surname: From the State of Chen to the Wuyi Diaspora

The Pan (潘) Surname: From the State of Pan to the Wuyi Diaspora

The Zeng (曾) Surname: From Confucian Lineage to the Wuyi Diaspora

The Li (黎) Surname: From the Ancient State of Li to the Wuyi Diaspora

The Tan (谭) Surname: From an Ancient State of Shandong to the Wuyi Diaspora

The Cai (蔡) Surname: From Zhou Dynasty State to the Wuyi Diaspora

From Haikou Port to the World: 200 Years of Wuyi Diaspora

The Guo (郭) Surname: From Zhou Dynasty Nobility to the Wuyi Diaspora

Wuyi Roots Trip Accommodation Guide: Where to Stay in Kaiping and Taishan

What Is Qiaopi? A Beginner&#8...

Haiyan Overseas Chinese Farm:...

The Meijia Courtyard of Duanf...

The Women Who Left: Chinese F...

Hong Kong’s Hidden Depa...

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