Home » Sunday » Now and Then
Zhao a top surname with rich, 3,000-year history
Print Edition
“zhao” ranks at the top of Chinese family names, not because it has the most users, but because of one very prominent family who used the name — the emperor family in Song Dynasty (AD 960-1279) when “the Book of Family Names” was written.
There are an estimated 26 million people surnamed Zhao in China, ranking the name eighth in terms of population. The number of Zhaos accounts for about 1.92 percent of the Chinese population, mostly scattered along the Yellow River and northeast regions.
The family of Zhao is derived from the family of “Ying,” forming more than 4,000 years ago.
It became an independent family name during the Western Zhou Dynasty (11th century BC – 771 BC).
Because he helped the leader Da Yu tame a flood in ancient times, a man named Bo Yi was granted the surname Ying — the same as the surname of the emperor of the Qin Dynasty (221 BC-206 BC). Zao Fu, a descendant of Bo Yi, made another great contribution to his country in the Zhou Dynasty and started the history of the family surnamed Zhao.
As an excellent cart driver who served King Mu, Zao Fu drove the king to Kunlun Mountain, where the king met the queen mother of the West and hesitated to return. News came that there were rebellions in the country, which needed the king back soon. Zao Fu drove the king at an astonishing speed of 1,000 “li” (equal to 500 kilometers) a day according to the legend, so that the king managed to beat the rebellion in time.
In gratitude for Zao Fu’s contribution, the king granted him a city named Zhao in today’s Shanxi Province. The family and descendants of Zao Fu surnamed themselves as “Zhao” ever since.
A branch of Zhao went to the State of Jin in the Spring and Autumn Period (770-467BC), and later became high officials in the state. Together with other two high-ranking families Han and Wei, Zhao split the State of Jin and established three independent kingdoms at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, namely Zhao, Wei and Han.
After the Kingdom of Zhao was conquered by the Kingdom of Qin in 2 BC, many royal families and ordinary people of the subjugated kingdom surnamed themselves after their homeland.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
