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Jiang families united by rich history
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JIANG, as one of the oldest family names in China as well as one of the best documented. It has also served as the origin of many Chinese surnames afterwards.
There are an estimated 4.6 million people surnamed Jiang in China, ranking it 50th in terms of usage.
Jiang is a very ancient Chinese surname, descending from the legendary Yan Emperor more than 4,000 years ago. Since the Yan Emperor lived along a river named Jiang Shui in today’s Qishan County of Shaanxi Province, he chose Jiang as his family name.
There are other individuals and families who changed their surname to Jiang throughout history. They include Huan Tingchang, a high official in the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907), who took the surname Jiang with the emperor’s approval. A great number of Qiang ethnic people also adopted Jiang as their surnames as it shares similarities with the character Qiang. The Jiangjia, a prominent ethnic Manchu family in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), also shortened their surname to Jiang. There are also Jiang people in Dong, Yao, Yi, Mongolian, Tujia, Bao’an, Bai, Korean and Russian ethnic groups in China.
According to textual research, there are at least 102 Chinese surnames derived from the family of Jiang.
That includes common surnames like Lv, Xu. Xie, Qi, Gao, Lei, Yi and Ji, as well as some rare names like Chong, Xie, Tan, Chunyu, Dongguo, Gaotang, Ziya, Yongmen, Shentu and Gongniu.
The family Jiang originated from Shaanxi, Henan and Shandong provinces, but had spread to Jiangsu and Sichuan provinces by the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220). Tianshui in Gansu Province became an important base for the Jiangs by the Tang Dynasty. Southward migrations of the family were recorded as early as the Jin Dynasty (265 BC-AD 420).
Family notables include Jiang Ziya, an advisor to King Wen of Zhou; Jiang Xiaobao, or the Duke Huan of Qi Kingdom, known as a member of the five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn period.
Brotherly love is prized in traditional Chinese culture. Three brothers surnamed Jiang were models of this virtue. The phrase “Jianggong Dabei,” which meaning “the Jiangs in one large quilt,” suggests the brothers loved each other so much that they slept together under a huge quilt even after marriage.
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