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Cao history spreads to prisons, trade
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AS one of the oldest surnames in China, the Caos have witnessed the rise and fall of dynasties and governments, as well as countless changes within their own lineage.
It is estimated there are about 7.3 million people surnamed Cao in China, making it 27th most-common family name in the country.
There are three major sources of the Cao family name — those who named themselves after official rank, after kingdoms and those who changed surnames for other reasons.
The Chinese character “Cao” is meant to depict a surrounded land, and was thus associated with prisons in ancient China. In fact, prison officials were called cao guan. A man who helped tribal leader Dayu tame the Yellow River about 4,000 years ago was granted the position as a reward. And his offspring have carried on the surname Cao ever since.
A descendant of the mythological emperor Zhuanxu named Cao Xie was granted the Zhu Kingdom in the early Zhou Dynasty (11th century-221 BC). The kingdom was conquered later during the Warring States Period (476-221 BC). Some surviving subjects renamed themselves Zhu, after the kingdom; while many others carried on the king’s surname, Cao.
There are also people surnamed Cao for other reasons. Cao Cao, the fierce and ambitious warlord from the Three Kingdoms era (AD 220-280), was actually a member of the Xiahou family. When his father became the adopted son of Cao Teng, he took the name of his benefactor. Members of several minority groups — including the Hun, Man, Mongols, Yao and Achang — also used Cao as their Chinese surname.
By Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), people named Cao had spread to all corners of China, with the largest populations found in today’s Sichuan, Hebei, Henan and Hubei provinces.
Besides Cao Cao, other Cao family luminaries include Cao Xueqin, author of “The Dream of Red Mansions.”
Also of note are the Caos of Shanxi Province during the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911). They were a rich and influential clan with business all over the country. Their interests involved banking, silk, cloth, medicine, fur, paint, wine, grain and foreign goods. The family was operating over 600 stores in China by 1861. At the height of their power, the Cao business empire had spread as far as Paris and London.
According to one old saying “the Cao’s have business wherever the sparrow flies.” However, the family’s business had withered by 1908 due to war and decadence.
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