Yuan (surname)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with Yuan (surname 元).
Yuan
Teochew)
Viên (Vietnamese)
Won (Korean)
Language(s)Chinese
Origin
MeaningName of a noble family of the ancient state of Chen
Region of originChina

Yuan (

Viên (Vietnamese).[3] Pronunciation differs widely from region to region.[4]

According to tradition, the surname originated from a noble family of the ancient state of

Southern dynasties
, with the Yuan clan of Chen.

Historically, the name has been fast growing amongst Han Chinese, and has also been taken up by various non-Chinese ethnic groups. The surname is now held by more than 6.5 million people worldwide, and makes up 0.54% of the population of mainland China. Although growth has tapered off in the past six centuries, the Yuan name is still relatively widespread throughout China, as well as among overseas Chinese, with heaviest per capita concentrations in the Yangtze Delta region of central coastal China.

Because the Yangtze Delta region has historically exhibited high clan consciousness,[

PRC government
.

It is the 59th name on the Hundred Family Surnames poem.[citation needed]

Origin of the surname

Traditional sources trace the surname to

clan. Through its connection with the ruling family of Chen, the Yuan house could also claim ancestry from the great legendary Emperor Shun.[7] Descendants of Yuan house are mentioned by name in the Zuo Zhuan as holding high office in the state of Chen[8][9] until it was extinguished by Chu
in 479 BC.

An alternate, much less widely accepted theory, suggests that the surname Yuan is derived from

Xuanyuan (軒轅 or 玄袁), the clan name of the Yellow Emperor. After his death, the Yellow Emperor's estates came to be called Yuanyi (袁邑), and his descendants took their place of birth as a surname.[9]

Prior to the

Emperor Gao of Han. His family was forced by banditry to move to Anling, in the area of modern Xi'an, some 500 km west of their ancestral homeland.[10]

The surname Yuan could be written in at least five different ways in early

Qian fu lun (潛夫論: "Comments of a Recluse") suggests that the character was derived from either 1) the character ai (哀), meaning "sorrow, grief"; or 2) a combination of the characters gong (公: "lord") and gu (谷: "grain").[12]

Early Yuan clans

Until the end of the Han dynasty, the heartland of the Yuan house was still in the area of the ancient state of Chen. Around the 1st century, three Yuan clans rose to sufficient national importance to be mentioned in the dynastic histories. All were located in close proximity of each other, on the tributaries of the Huai River. One maintained its estates at Fuyue (扶樂), in Chen (陳); another was based at Ruyang (汝陽) in Ru'nan (汝南); and a third of lesser importance was associated with Yingchuan (潁川). All three clans produced members of a land-owning gentry which began to participate increasingly in local and national government, although only the first two are known of in any detail.

The Ru'nan Yuan

stele honouring Yuan An
, erected in 117.

The most well-known group were undoubtedly the Yuan clan of Runan. According to local genealogies, the Ru'nan Yuan estates were in the vicinity of the modern township of Yuanlao (袁老), bordering the Fen River (汾水) in the south. There are still some 20,000 Yuan in the area and around a third of the population of Yuanlao there still bears the name Yuan.[13]

The Yuan clan of Ru'nan became known among the gentry for its learning in the

Minister over the Masses and playing an important role in policy decisions at the Han court until his death in 92.[14]

One of his sons took the highest military post and two of his grandsons both reached the rank of "

coup d'etat against Liang Ji in 169. The reputation and power of the Ru'nan Yuan was maintained with a network of clients and associates, and through intermarriage with other powerful lineages. At the time of Emperor Ling of Han's death in 189, the clan was undisputed as the most influential in the empire. Most of its leading members lived at the capital Luoyang and some of its sons, such as Yuan Shao
(袁紹), were born there.

Yuan Shao and his half-brother Yuan Shu (袁術) played leading roles in the massacre of the eunuchs in September 189 and in the succeeding years both became regional warlords.[15] Yuan Shu declared himself emperor in 197, basing his claim to the throne on descent from Emperor Shun, and died shortly afterwards. Yuan Shao dominated much of north China until he was decisively defeated by Cao Cao at the Battle of Guandu in 200. Following his death in 202, the cohesion of Ru'nan Yuan and its followers as a national power collapsed.

The Yuan of Chen

The other Yuan clan of importance were based in the county of Fuyue, Chen Commandery (part of what is now Taikang county). Like the Ru'nan Yuan, they produced generations of high officials. One of the first whose background can be verified is Yuan Huan (袁渙), who served Cao Cao and later his son Cao Pi in the civil bureaucracy.[16] Yuan Huan does not seem to have been connected to the Ru'nan Yuan and his career was not affected by their downfall. Of his three sons who lived to adulthood, all were granted official positions under the Nine-rank system.

The Chen Yuan were among the northern aristocratic clans that retreated south as north China was overrun by the

Eastern Jin at Jiankang in 317, he did so with the support of powerful members of these great families. The Chen Yuan brought with them dependants and armed retainers, and they were eventually able to carve out large estates for themselves in the peripheral frontier districts. One branch of the clan settled in Yichun
, in east-central China. Eventually it grew to such size that the prefecture was renamed Yuanzhou (袁州) in the early 7th century.

During the Eastern Jin and the

Emperor Wu of Qi. The Chen Yuan had strong traditions of scholarly accomplishment rather than military leadership. It produced a number of notable scholars such as the historian Yuan Hong (袁宏) and the poet Yuan Shansong (袁山松).[18]
Among the four great émigré clans, the Yuan were notable for never making a bid for military power.

A branch of the Chen Yuan moved north around 420 and settled in Luoyang, later serving the Northern Wei. Upon the conquest of the Chen dynasty by Sui in 589, members of the southern ruling elite, such as Yuan Xian (袁憲), were moved to the capital Chang'an where they continued to serve in government.[19] A number of Tang dynasty noblemen trace their ancestry directly to the Chen Yuan.

Spread of the surname

administrative division boundaries
are shown.

In general, the spread of the Yuan surname has followed the migration of Han Chinese throughout mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia. The general trend over the past 1500 years has been a shift from north to south and southeast.

The main branches of the Yuan clan after the

Pengcheng and Yichun.[21]

Larger scale migrations south occurred during the middle and late

Fenghua and Yinxian), Jiangxi (Nanchang) and Fujian (Fu'an). The name was already widespread in the 12th century, being concentrated in what is now Sichuan, Zhejiang and Shanxi.[22]

Around the beginning of the

Yangtze River valley made Jiangxi, Jiangsu and Zhejiang the three most populous provinces for the Yuan name.[23] The southern coastal provinces of Fujian and Guangdong also experienced significant increases.[24]

By the Qing dynasty, Yuan had penetrated to the frontier lands of Yunnan in the southwest, Guangxi in the south, Liaoning in the northeast and Taiwan in the southeast.[24] Many in Guangdong and Fujian migrated south to Southeast Asia, especially Singapore and Indonesia.[24]

Up until the 15th century, growth in the Yuan name consistently outstripped that of the general population, but this rate has fallen below average over the past six centuries. This period has seen a resurgence of the Yuan name in northern provinces, so much so that

Fenghua District, Zhejiang, takes part of its name from the Yuan family. In northeast China, Heilongjiang is home to concentrations in the southeast of the province as well as a lengthy strip along the Russian border. Generally speaking, the name is relatively absent in the farthest geographical extremes of China, namely southern Yunnan, Guangxi, and the island province of Hainan.[24]

In Taiwan, the surname is ranked 94th by population. Most who hold the name were relatively recent emigres who arrived during the 19th century or at the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949. They are concentrated in Taipei, Hsinchu, Nantou, Chiayi and Tainan.[26]

Adoption by non-Han peoples

During the 2nd century, the Yuan surname was taken by one of the three tribal groupings of the Bandun Man, who inhabited what is now Chongqing and Sichuan. This group later migrated north to the Wei River valley, and gradually were absorbed by Han Chinese.

After

Emperor Xiaowen of the nomadic Xianbei moved his capital to Luoyang in 494, his clan of Tuoba
changed their surname to Yuan (元) to assimilate with the Chinese population. In later centuries, this surname declined and was sometimes subsumed by the more common form of Yuan (袁).

The character of "yuan" (袁) has also been associated with the Gaoju people of

Kiyad (called "Qiyan" 乞顏 or "Qiyin" 乞引 in Chinese), was a corruption of "Qiyuan".[27]
Those among the Mongols who retained the Qiyuan surname may have simplified it to "Yuan" after settling in China.

During the early 17th century, during the

Koreans and Tibetans. There are major Yuan clans among the Yao in Long'an county, Guangxi and in Funing
, Yunnan.

The Yuan surname is a relatively minor one in

Gangwon-do
.

Genealogies

Almost all available information on the early origins of the surname come from noble

Xin Tang Shu.[29]

From the time of Ouyang Xiu onwards, the practice of genealogy compilation devolved down to

jinshi degree holders in the Song dynasty, claimed that their ancestor Yuan Yuan (袁元) was a 31st generation descendant of Yuan An.[30] It was not uncommon for clans to build memorial halls, sometimes titled "Ru'nan", "Woxue" (卧雪: "Sleeping in [time of] snow") or "Shouzheng" (守正: "upholding justice"), in honour of Yuan An. Such attempts to trace the origin of clans to a famous individual have interest as a sociological
phenomenon rather than for its historical accuracy.

Clan-based activities and genealogies were attacked during the Cultural Revolution, when various movements inspired by the Chinese government attempted to eradicate symbols of the old society. They were relatively successful, so much so that many genealogies have been lost. Most surviving Yuan genealogies on the mainland are now out of private hands.

Some one hundred Yuan clan genealogies are known to be held in government archives or in public libraries in Beijing, Shanghai and Ningbo. A provincial breakdown of the geographic distribution of these genealogies in order of number: Zhejiang (23); Jiangsu (22); Hunan (17); Jiangxi (9); Shandong (9); Sichuan (5); Henan (4); Anhui (3); unknown (7).[31] A few genealogies may also be held in university archives in Japan and the United States. No doubt many more fragments are scattered in villages and townships across China.

Clan organisation

From around the

social welfare and enforced customary law
. Regionally prominent clans often allied together based on a common (and sometimes spurious) ancestor, known as the "first ancestor who moved" (始遷祖).

Renewed interest since the late 1980s by

ancestral home of all Yuan under Heaven". The group, led by Yuen Mo, a representative of Hong Kong to the National People's Congress, held talks with provincial and local officials with regard to the development of food processing projects in the area.[34]

In recent years, genealogy compilation and clan organisation has seen a resurgence, together with a renewed interest in

ancestor worship ceremony which was much publicised in the local media.[36]
This return to clan consciousness has been limited, however, by increased geographic and social mobility in China.

Prominent personages

Pre-modern

Modern

modern history. His descendants are known to live in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Japan, Canada, Singapore and Malaysia
.

See also

References

  1. ^ "新京报 – 好新闻，无止境".
  2. ^ Chinese surnames pronounced "yuán" which still exist include: 袁, 元, 圆, 源, 原, and 垣; surnames that can be transliterated as "yuan" regardless of the tone include: 渊, 遠, 苑, 院, and 冤. Of these, only the first (the subject of this article) is ranked in the top 100 of Chinese surnames in terms of population. In modern times, the others have declined to less than 0.10% of the total Chinese population. For a discussion of surname extinction, see Galton–Watson process.
  3. Revised Romanization
    .
  4. Meixian: [jan˩]; Guangzhou: [jyn˨˩]; Xiamen: [uan˨˦]; Chaozhou: [ueŋ˥]; Fuzhou: [uɔŋ˥˨]; Shanghai: [yø˩˧]. See Dylan W. H. Sung, The Dialects of China (Internet Archive)
    . Retrieved 19 July 2008.
  5. ^ See Ouyang Xiu, Xin Tang shu (新唐書: "New Book of Tang") (Beijing: Zhonghua shu ju, 1975) at 3164. According to the genealogy in Xin Tang shu, Yuan Taotu was a descendant of Duke Hu, the founder of the state of Chen.
  6. ^ a b Ouyang Xiu, note 4 at 3164
  7. ^ See Fan Ye, Hou Han shu (後漢書: "Book of Later Han")(Beijing: Zhonghua shu ju, 1965) at 2391, 2439.
  8. ^ Zuo Qiuming (Yang Bojun ed.), Chunqiu Zuozhuan (Beijing: Zhonghua shu ju, 1981) names Yuan Qiao (袁僑) and Yuan Po (袁頗) as holding high positions in the state of Chen: 襄公三年: 陳公使袁僑 (Diplomat Yuan Qiao of Chen), 哀公十一年: 轅頗為司徒 (Yuan Po as Situ).
  9. ^ a b Tang Xueyou (1994) 袁姓改汤氏 ("Yuans change their surname to Tang"). Retrieved 15 November 2005. Also mentions "袁涛涂，其子袁选，其孙袁颇、袁侨均为陈国上卿", directly translate to "Yuan Taotu's son Yuan Xuan, grand sons Yuan Po and Yuan Qiao were all high officials in the State of Chen".
  10. ^ Sima Qian, Shi ji (史記: "Historical records") (Beijing: Zhonghua shu ju, 1959) at 2737.
  11. ^ Archaic renderings of the Yuan name include: 轅; 榬; 溒; 援; 爰. According to Ouyang Xiu, the now standardised character for name (袁) became prevalent around the end of the Qin dynasty (2nd century BC), by a family which had come to reside in the region around Luoyang in central-north China.
  12. Qian fu lun
    (潜夫論: "Comments of a Recluse") (Shanghai: Shanghai Guji chuban she, 1978).
  13. ^ Tianjialoucun Yuan shi jiapu (田家樓村袁氏家譜: "Genealogy of the Yuan clan of Tianjialoucun"), quoted in Shangshui xian zhi (商水縣誌: "Shangshui county gazette") (Zhengzhou: He'nan Renmin chubanshe, 1990).
  14. Eastern Han
    society"), (1998) 1 Xuchang shizhuan xuebao (许昌师专学报) 73–76.
  15. Sanguo zhi (三國志: "Records of the Three Kingdoms
    ") (Beijing: Zhonghua shu ju, 1959) at 188–210.
  16. ^ Chen Shou, note 14 at 333–336.
  17. ^ Ouyang Xiu, note 4 at 5677–5678.
  18. ^ See Fang Xuanling (et al.), Jin shu (晉書: "Book of Jin") (Beijing: Zhonghua shu ju, 1974) at 2166–2171.
  19. ^ Xu Yuqing (2005) 陈郡袁氏的历史地位和作用 ("The position and historical position of the Yuan clan of Chen commandery"). Retrieved 15 November 2005.
  20. ^ Fan Ye, note 6 at 1141.
  21. ^ Ouyang Xiu, note 4 at 3166.
  22. ^ Yuan Yida and Zhang Cheng, Zhongguo xingshi (中国姓氏: "Chinese surnames") (Shanghai: Huadong Shifan Daxue, 2002) at 195.
  23. ^ Yuan Yida, note 21 at 196–197.
  24. ^ a b c d e f Yuan Yida, note 21 at 197
  25. Baoshan, who conferred the Presidential Seal upon Sun Yat-sen
    "). Retrieved 16 November 2005.
  26. ^ Yuan Ziyou, 迁徙分布 (Internet Archive) ("Migration and distribution") Retrieved 19 July 2008.
  27. ^ Suri Badalaha (1998) 蒙古族族源新考 ("New study of the origins of the Mongols"). Retrieved 16 November 2005.
  28. ^ KOSIS (2000 South Korean census results by surname and clan). Retrieved 27 March 2006.
  29. ^ Ouyang Xiu, note 4 at 3164–3168.
  30. Fenghua
    Municipal Government.
  31. ^ Yuan Ziyou, 家谱修缮参考资料目录 (Internet Archive) ("List of genealogy compilation resources"). Retrieved 19 July 2008.
  32. ^ See Yuan Tsai (Yuan Cai), Family and property in Sung China: Yüan Ts'ai's Precepts for social life, translated, with annotations and introduction by Patricia Buckley Ebrey (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1984).
  33. ^ Yang Ge, 袁崇焕故里弘扬英雄精神 ("Propagating a heroic spirit in the hometown of Yuan Chonghuan"), Southern Daily, 13 September 2004. Retrieved 16 November 2005.
  34. ^ Liang Wensheng, 香港广东袁氏知名人士到汝南寻根 ("Prominent Yuan of Hong Kong and Guangdong in search of roots in Ru'nan"), Zhumadian Daily, 29 October 2004. Retrieved 16 November 2005.
  35. ^ 天下袁氏归汝南 ("Yuan of the world return to Ru'nan"), 2003. Retrieved 16 November 2005.
  36. ^ Jiang Heng, 宁波西门袁氏一族岁月悠悠 ("Carefree times for the Yuan clan of Ximen, Ningbo") Ningbo China Net 29 April 2005. Retrieved 17 November 2005.

External links

  • 袁氏家谱 Collections of clan materials from around China, some previously not in the public domain. (Chinese)
  • 宁波西袁 The Yuan clan of Ximen, Ningbo, which boasts a membership of 14,000. (Chinese)
  • 日照袁氏, by Yuan Xiping. An essay on the origins and development of the Yuan clan of Rizhao, Shandong. (Chinese)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Yuan_(surname)&oldid=1199703805"