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Yuan (surname)
Encyclopedia
Yuan is a Chinese surname
ranked 37th in China
by population. In Standard Chinese
, the surname is transliterated
"Yuán" (pinyin
) or "Yüen2" (Wade-Giles
). Regional variants include "Yeu" (Shanghainese
), "Ion" (Nanchang
Gan), "Yuen" (Cantonese
), "Oan" (Min Nan
), "Won" (Korean
), and "Viên" (Vietnamese
). Pronunciation
differs widely from region to region.
According to tradition, the surname originated from a noble family of the ancient state of Chen
, in what is now eastern Henan
province. The written form of the character
took its current standardised form around the 1st century. During the Han Dynasty
, it was associated with the powerful Yuan clan
of Ru'nan and later during Jin
and 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, there exist a large number of Yuan genealogies
, most of which are now held in public institutions. Renewed interest in ancestry outside mainland China has been encouraged by the PRC government
.
, a 7th century BC Chen
nobleman, who was part of a collateral branch of the family of the marquis
ruling that state. He selected the second character in his grandfather's style name, Boyuan (伯爰), to be his own family name. Yuan Taotu was granted a feoff
in Yangxia (陽夏), in what is now Taikang county, Henan
. This estate is regarded as the ancestral home of the earliest Yuan clan
. Through its connection with the ruling family of Chen, the Yuan house could also claim ancestry from the semi-legendary Emperor Shun. Descendants of Yuan house are mentioned by name in the Zuo Zhuan
as holding high office in the state of Chen
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.
Prior to the unification of China
in 221 BC, the surname is only known to have been present in the historical domain of Chen. Some members of the Yuan clan are known to have moved to Zheng
and other neighbouring states. The process of emigration from the Yangxia heartland continued after unification. An example of this is the case of Yuan Ang
, a minister to 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.
The surname Yuan could be written in at least five different ways in early Han
times, and they were used interchangeably in pre-Han times. By the 1st century, the name had taken a largely standardised form (袁), which remains to the present day. An early dictionary, the Shuowen
, defines this character as "a long garment", but this archaic meaning had already fallen into disuse. The Han text 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").
, 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 most well-known group were undoubtedly the Yuan clan of Ru'nan (now Shangshui
, Henan
). 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.
The Yuan clan of Ru'nan became known among the gentry for its learning in the I Ching
, which was passed on between generations. The scholar Yuan Liang (袁良), the earliest Ru'nan Yuan known by name, was an aide to the heir apparent
, the future Emperor Ming of Han
. His grandson Yuan An
(袁安) made the family's fortunes, rising rapidly through the bureaucracy from 70 AD onwards, reaching the post of Minister over the Masses
and playing an important role in policy decisions at the Han court until his death in 92.
One of his sons took the highest military post and two of his grandsons both reached the rank of "Three Excellencies
". They did not, however, play any significant role in the executive
, and usually appeared instead as power brokers during critical events, such as the 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 cousin Yuan Shu
(袁術) played leading roles in the massacre of the eunuch
s in September 189 and in the succeeding years both became regional warlords. 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.
(袁渙), who served Cao Cao and later his son Cao Pi
in the civil bureaucracy. 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 Xiongnu
. According to the great 10th century genealogist Liu Fang: "Across the Yangzi River, the elite clans were known as 'émigré clans'; the Wang
(王), Xie (謝), Yuan, and Xiao (萧) were the greatest among them." When Sima Rui established an Eastern Jin
regime 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 Southern Dynasties
period, the Chen Yuan established extensive marriage alliances with the other major clans, especially the Xie, whose ancestral lands were in the same county. The clan also provided consort
s for the imperial family, including the empresses of Emperor Wen of Southern Song and 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). 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. A number of Tang Dynasty
noblemen trace their ancestry directly to the Chen Yuan.
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 Han Dynasty
were all in north China, most of them in population centres near the Yellow River
. In the 3rd century members of the Chen Yuan are known to have moved as far south as the Red River
delta in modern Vietnam
. Early migrations south established Yuan clans along the lower Yangtze River
, in Danyang
, Lujiang
, Wuxi
, Yangzhou
and Nanjing
. Records from the Tang Dynasty
name three major Yuan clans, in Ru'nan, Pengcheng and Yichun
.
Larger scale migrations south occurred during the middle and late Song Dynasty
, when north China was overrun by the Jurchens and later the Mongols
. Yuan clans appeared in what is now Zhejiang
(Hangzhou
, Ningbo
, 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
.
Around the beginning of the Ming Dynasty
in the late 14th century, population booms in the lower Yangzi valley
made Jiangxi, Jiangsu
and Zhejiang the three most populous provinces for the Yuan name. The southern coastal provinces of Fujian
and Guangdong
also experienced significant increases.
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. Many in Guangdong and Fujian migrated south to Southeast Asia, especially Singapore
and Indonesia
.
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 Sichuan
and Hebei
are now the most important in terms of absolute population. The Yuan name is most populous as a percentage of local populations in the Yangtze Delta
region, in northwestern Jiangxi and in the border region between Shaanxi
and Sichuan. As of 1994, for example, there were 97,400 Yuan in Shanghai
, ranked 30th by population - slightly higher than the national average. In northeast China, Heilongjiang
is home to concentrations in the southeast of the province as well as a lengthy strip along the Russia
n 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
.
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
.
, 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 Central Asia
, who claimed descent from the Xuanyuan clan of the Huang Di
. One of their nine clans was called Yuanhe (袁紇) or Yuanwei (袁韋), and one of their twelve major surnames was Qiyuan (乞袁). In 605, the Yuanhe defeated the Göktürks
and won leadership over a tribal confederation which came to be called the Huihe (回紇). There have been suggestions that the name of Genghis Khan
's tribe, Kiyad (called "Qiyan" 乞顏 or "Qiyin" 乞引 in Chinese
), was a corruption of "Qiyuan". 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 Qing
(Manchu) dynasty, the surname is also known to have been adopted by members of the Eight Banners
, including by a number of Manchu
bannermen in Shenyang
. Today, the surname appears among the Manchu, Mongols, Yao
, Yi
, Bai
, Korean
s 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 Korea
, where it is called Won (원). According to a 2000 census, there were 1,104 individuals bearing the name in South Korea
. They trace their ancestry to Won Roebo (袁賚輔) of Bian (安比縣). During the 20th century, the Won clan were centered in the north-central area of South Korea, in the province of Gangwon-do.
which were updated and maintained until the 10th century. Some of the aristocratic Yuan families of the Tang Dynasty
used these registers as a means of upholding their prestige and maintaining influence. These texts were also used as sources for the 5th century story collection Shishuo xinyu (世說新語: "New Tales of the World"). A Yuan clan genealogy from Jiangxi
is mentioned in Sui shu (隋书: "Book of Sui") and a Yuan clan temple inscription survives in the anthology of essayist and poet Han Yu
. Although no copies of early genealogies are extant today, fragments have been preserved by famed Chinese historian Ouyang Xiu
in the 11th century work Xin Tang Shu.
From the time of Ouyang Xiu onwards, the practice of genealogy compilation devolved down to gentry
families and became correspondingly more widespread. The clans of the Yangtze Delta and its hinterlands were most active in producing genealogies. Many of the Yuan clan genealogies associate their clans with the Ru'nan Yuan or the Chen Yuan, and in particular trace their ancestries to Yuan An
. Yuan Zhijun (袁志君), founder of the Yuan clan of Dongguan
and ancestor of the Ming dynasty general Yuan Chonghuan
(袁崇煥), for example, claimed to be a 38th generation descendant of Yuan An. A number of collateral branches in Xingning
, Meixian
and Huiyang also follow the Tongguan clan in the claim. Similarly, the clans of Xinchang
, Fenghua
and Yinxian, which produced many jinshi degree holders in the Song Dynasty
, claimed that their ancestor Yuan Yuan (袁元) was a 31st generation descendant of Yuan An. 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). 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.
, clans began organising themselves in mutual obligation relationships, often based around the compilation of genealogies. The role of clan elders was often that of moral or Confucian
instruction. The Yuan shi shi fan (袁氏世范: "Yuan clan hereditary rules"), by the Song Dynasty jinshi Yuan Cai
(袁采), was an early manual of ethical behaviour and was regarded by contemporaries as a classic of clan instruction. Toward the late imperial
period, these relationships strengthened to the extent that clans sometimes provided 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 overseas Chinese
in root-seeking has been largely encouraged by the government of mainland China
as a way of attracting foreign direct investment
. In 2001, for example, the Hong Kong Association of Yuen Clansmen (香港袁氏宗親會) donated HKD $1.2 million toward the construction of a Yuan Chonghuan
Memorial Park on the site of his Ming Dynasty
home. In 2004, a group of 68 Yuan clan businessmen from Shenzhen
and Hong Kong
were invited to Ru'nan county, so-called "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.
In recent years, genealogy compilation and clan organisation has seen a resurgence, together with a renewed interest in local history
. The 13th "Conference of the Descendants of Shun," held in Ru'nan in 1999, was attended by representatives of Yuan clans from as far afield as Hong Kong
and Thailand
. A number of local clans are also reorganising themselves and publishing updated versions of their genealogies. In May 2005, after updating their 1939 genealogy, the Yuan clan of Ximen, Ningbo
, held a large scale ancestor worship ceremony which was much publicised in the local media. This return to clan consciousness has been limited, however, by increased geographic and social mobility in China.
Chinese surname
Chinese family names have been historically used by Han Chinese and Sinicized Chinese ethnic groups in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and among overseas Chinese communities. In ancient times two types of surnames, family names and clan names , existed.The colloquial expressions laobaixing...
ranked 37th in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
by population. In Standard Chinese
Standard Chinese
Standard Chinese, or Modern Standard Chinese, also known as Mandarin or Putonghua, is the official language of the People's Republic of China and Republic of China , and is one of the four official languages of Singapore....
, the surname is transliterated
Transliteration
Transliteration is a subset of the science of hermeneutics. It is a form of translation, and is the practice of converting a text from one script into another...
"Yuán" (pinyin
Pinyin
Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...
) or "Yüen2" (Wade-Giles
Wade-Giles
Wade–Giles , sometimes abbreviated Wade, is a romanization system for the Mandarin Chinese language. It developed from a system produced by Thomas Wade during the mid-19th century , and was given completed form with Herbert Giles' Chinese–English dictionary of 1892.Wade–Giles was the most...
). Regional variants include "Yeu" (Shanghainese
Shanghainese
Shanghainese , or the Shanghai language , is a dialect of Wu Chinese spoken in the city of Shanghai and the surrounding region. It is classified as part of the Sino-Tibetan family of languages. Shanghainese, like other Wu dialects, is largely not mutually intelligible with other Chinese varieties...
), "Ion" (Nanchang
Nanchang dialect
Chang-Du dialect, sometimes called Nanchang dialect after its principal variety, is a dialect of the Gan language. It is named after Nanchang and Duchang, and is spoken in those areas as well as in Xinjian, Anyi, Yongxiu, De'an, Xingzi, Hukou, and bordering regions in Jiangxi province and in...
Gan), "Yuen" (Cantonese
Standard Cantonese
Cantonese, or Standard Cantonese, is a language that originated in the vicinity of Canton in southern China, and is often regarded as the prestige dialect of Yue Chinese....
), "Oan" (Min Nan
Min Nan
The Southern Min languages, or Min Nan , are a family of Chinese languages spoken in southern Fujian, eastern Guangdong, Hainan, Taiwan, and southern Zhejiang provinces of China, and by descendants of emigrants from these areas in diaspora....
), "Won" (Korean
Hangul
Hangul,Pronounced or ; Korean: 한글 Hangeul/Han'gŭl or 조선글 Chosŏn'gŭl/Joseongeul the Korean alphabet, is the native alphabet of the Korean language. It is a separate script from Hanja, the logographic Chinese characters which are also sometimes used to write Korean...
), and "Viên" (Vietnamese
Vietnamese language
Vietnamese is the national and official language of Vietnam. It is the mother tongue of 86% of Vietnam's population, and of about three million overseas Vietnamese. It is also spoken as a second language by many ethnic minorities of Vietnam...
). Pronunciation
Pronunciation
Pronunciation refers to the way a word or a language is spoken, or the manner in which someone utters a word. If one is said to have "correct pronunciation", then it refers to both within a particular dialect....
differs widely from region to region.
According to tradition, the surname originated from a noble family of the ancient state of Chen
Chen (state)
Chen was a minor Zhou Dynasty vassal state during the Spring and Autumn Period of Chinese History. It was a relatively minor state based on a single urban centre near what is now Huaiyang County in the plains of eastern Henan province...
, in what is now eastern Henan
Henan
Henan , is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the central part of the country. Its one-character abbreviation is "豫" , named after Yuzhou , a Han Dynasty state that included parts of Henan...
province. The written form of the character
Chinese character
Chinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese and Japanese , less frequently Korean , formerly Vietnamese , or other languages...
took its current standardised form around the 1st century. During the Han Dynasty
Han Dynasty
The Han Dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin Dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms . It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han. It was briefly interrupted by the Xin Dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang...
, it was associated with the powerful Yuan clan
Chinese clan
A Chinese clan is a patrilineal and patrilocal group of related Chinese people with a common surname sharing a common ancestor and, in many cases, an ancestral home.-Description:...
of Ru'nan and later during Jin
Jìn Dynasty (265-420)
The Jìn Dynasty , was a dynasty in Chinese history, lasting between the years 265 and 420 AD. There are two main divisions in the history of the Dynasty, the first being Western Jin and the second Eastern Jin...
and Southern Dynasties
Southern dynasties
The Southern dynasties comprise the Liu Song, Southern Qi, Liang Dynasty and Chen Dynasty, whose capital were at Jiankang , and Emperor Yuan of Liang, as well as the later Western Liang emperors , also set their...
, with the Yuan clan of Chen.
Historically, the name has been fast growing amongst Han Chinese
Han Chinese
Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the...
, 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
Mainland China
Mainland China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term that refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China . According to the Taipei-based Mainland Affairs Council, the term excludes the PRC Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and...
. 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
Overseas Chinese
Overseas Chinese are people of Chinese birth or descent who live outside the Greater China Area . People of partial Chinese ancestry living outside the Greater China Area may also consider themselves 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, there exist a large number of Yuan genealogies
Genealogy
Genealogy is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. Genealogists use oral traditions, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members...
, most of which are now held in public institutions. Renewed interest in ancestry outside mainland China has been encouraged by the PRC government
Politics of the People's Republic of China
The politics of the People's Republic of China take place in a framework of a single-party socialist republic. The leadership of the Communist Party is stated in the Constitution of the People's Republic of China...
.
Origin of the surname
Traditional sources trace the surname to Yuan TaotuYuan Taotu
Yuan Taotu 轅濤塗 was a nobleman and diplomat of the Spring and Autumn state of Chen. He is regarded as the ancestor of those surnamed Yuan ....
, a 7th century BC Chen
Chen (state)
Chen was a minor Zhou Dynasty vassal state during the Spring and Autumn Period of Chinese History. It was a relatively minor state based on a single urban centre near what is now Huaiyang County in the plains of eastern Henan province...
nobleman, who was part of a collateral branch of the family of the marquis
Marquis
Marquis is a French and Scottish title of nobility. The English equivalent is Marquess, while in German, it is Markgraf.It may also refer to:Persons:...
ruling that state. He selected the second character in his grandfather's style name, Boyuan (伯爰), to be his own family name. Yuan Taotu was granted a feoff
Feudalism
Feudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for ordering society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.Although derived from the...
in Yangxia (陽夏), in what is now Taikang county, Henan
Henan
Henan , is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the central part of the country. Its one-character abbreviation is "豫" , named after Yuzhou , a Han Dynasty state that included parts of Henan...
. This estate is regarded as the ancestral home of the earliest Yuan clan
Chinese clan
A Chinese clan is a patrilineal and patrilocal group of related Chinese people with a common surname sharing a common ancestor and, in many cases, an ancestral home.-Description:...
. Through its connection with the ruling family of Chen, the Yuan house could also claim ancestry from the semi-legendary Emperor Shun. Descendants of Yuan house are mentioned by name in the Zuo Zhuan
Zuo Zhuan
The Zuo Zhuan , sometimes translated as the Chronicle of Zuo or the Commentary of Zuo, is among the earliest Chinese works of narrative history and covers the period from 722 BCE to 468 BCE. It is one of the most important sources for understanding the history of the Spring and Autumn Period...
as holding high office in the state of Chen
Chen (state)
Chen was a minor Zhou Dynasty vassal state during the Spring and Autumn Period of Chinese History. It was a relatively minor state based on a single urban centre near what is now Huaiyang County in the plains of eastern Henan province...
until it was extinguished by Chu
Chu (state)
The State of Chu was a Zhou Dynasty vassal state in present-day central and southern China during the Spring and Autumn period and Warring States Period . Its ruling house had the surname Nai , and clan name Yan , later evolved to surname Mi , and clan name Xiong...
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
Yellow Emperor
The Yellow Emperor or Huangdi1 is a legendary Chinese sovereign and culture hero, included among the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. Tradition holds that he reigned from 2697–2597 or 2696–2598 BC...
. 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.
Prior to the unification of China
Qin Dynasty
The Qin Dynasty was the first imperial dynasty of China, lasting from 221 to 207 BC. The Qin state derived its name from its heartland of Qin, in modern-day Shaanxi. The strength of the Qin state was greatly increased by the legalist reforms of Shang Yang in the 4th century BC, during the Warring...
in 221 BC, the surname is only known to have been present in the historical domain of Chen. Some members of the Yuan clan are known to have moved to Zheng
Zheng (state)
Zheng （) was a vassal state in China during the Zhou Dynasty located in the centre of ancient China in modern day Henan Province on the North China Plain about east of the royal capital at Luoyang. It was the most powerful of the vassal states at the beginning of the Eastern Zhou...
and other neighbouring states. The process of emigration from the Yangxia heartland continued after unification. An example of this is the case of Yuan Ang
Yuan Ang
Yuan Ang was a Han Dynasty minister who served Emperor Wen and Emperor Jing. His biography appears in the Shi Ji, and a parallel one is in Han Shu...
, a minister to Emperor Gao of Han. His family was forced by banditry to move to Anling, in the area of modern Xi'an
Xi'an
Xi'an is the capital of the Shaanxi province, and a sub-provincial city in the People's Republic of China. One of the oldest cities in China, with more than 3,100 years of history, the city was known as Chang'an before the Ming Dynasty...
, some 500 km west of their ancestral homeland.
The surname Yuan could be written in at least five different ways in early Han
Han Dynasty
The Han Dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin Dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms . It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han. It was briefly interrupted by the Xin Dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang...
times, and they were used interchangeably in pre-Han times. By the 1st century, the name had taken a largely standardised form (袁), which remains to the present day. An early dictionary, the Shuowen
Shuowen Jiezi
The Shuōwén Jiězì was an early 2nd century CE Chinese dictionary from the Han Dynasty. Although not the first comprehensive Chinese character dictionary , it was still the first to analyze the structure of the characters and to give the rationale behind them , as well as the first to use the...
, defines this character as "a long garment", but this archaic meaning had already fallen into disuse. The Han text Qian fu lun
Qian fu lun
Qian fu lun is a political-metaphysical text by the Later Han philosopher Wang Fu. It contains criticisms of contemporary societies, especially the power of consort clans and the growing regionalism. Wang Fu strongly supports the Confucian model of good government and humanism.-Further reading:*...
(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").
Early Yuan clans
Until the end of the Han DynastyHan Dynasty
The Han Dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin Dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms . It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han. It was briefly interrupted by the Xin Dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang...
, 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
Twenty-Four Histories
The Twenty-Four Histories is a collection of Chinese historical books covering a period from 3000 BC to the Ming Dynasty in the 17th century. The whole set contains 3213 volumes and about 40 million words...
. All were located in close proximity of each other, on the tributaries of the Huai River
Huai River
The Huai River is a major river in China. The Huai River is located about mid-way between the Yellow River and Yangtze River, the two largest rivers in China, and like them runs from west to east...
. One maintained its estates at Fuyue (扶樂), in Chen (陳); another was based at Ruyang
Ruyang County
Ruyang County is a county in the Henan province of central China, under the jurisdiction of the city of Luoyang.Ruyang County has been the site of several major discoveries of fossilized dinosaur bones, including Huanghetitan ruyangensis, which was first described in 2007.-External links:****...
(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
Gentry
Gentry denotes "well-born and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past....
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
Shangshui
Shangshui County is a county of Henan, China. It is under the administration of Zhoukou city....
, Henan
Henan
Henan , is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the central part of the country. Its one-character abbreviation is "豫" , named after Yuzhou , a Han Dynasty state that included parts of Henan...
). According to local genealogies
Genealogy
Genealogy is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. Genealogists use oral traditions, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members...
, 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.
The Yuan clan of Ru'nan became known among the gentry for its learning in the I Ching
I Ching
The I Ching or "Yì Jīng" , also known as the Classic of Changes, Book of Changes and Zhouyi, is one of the oldest of the Chinese classic texts...
, which was passed on between generations. The scholar Yuan Liang (袁良), the earliest Ru'nan Yuan known by name, was an aide to the heir apparent
Heir apparent
An heir apparent or heiress apparent is a person who is first in line of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting, except by a change in the rules of succession....
, the future Emperor Ming of Han
Emperor Ming of Han
Emperor Ming of Han, , was second emperor of the Chinese Eastern Han Dynasty.He was the second son of Emperor Guangwu. It was during Emperor Ming's reign that Buddhism began to spread into China. One night, he is said to have dreamed of a golden man or golden men...
. His grandson Yuan An
Yuan An
Yuan An 袁安 was a prominent scholar, administrator and statesman at the Han Dynasty courts of Emperor Zhang and Emperor He...
(袁安) made the family's fortunes, rising rapidly through the bureaucracy from 70 AD onwards, reaching the post of Minister over the Masses
Minister over the Masses
Minister over the Masses was one of the three most important official posts during the Han Dynasty, called the Three Excellencies. The nominal salary attached was 20,000 dàn of grain. The position and title had existed since the Warring States, but was only standardised during the Qin Dynasty....
and playing an important role in policy decisions at the Han court until his death in 92.
One of his sons took the highest military post and two of his grandsons both reached the rank of "Three Excellencies
Three Excellencies
The Three Ducal Ministers , also translated as the Three Dukes, Three Excellencies, or the Three Lords, was the collective name for the three highest officials in ancient China...
". They did not, however, play any significant role in the executive
Executive (government)
Executive branch of Government is the part of government that has sole authority and responsibility for the daily administration of the state bureaucracy. The division of power into separate branches of government is central to the idea of the separation of powers.In many countries, the term...
, and usually appeared instead as power brokers during critical events, such as the coup d'etat
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
against Liang Ji
Liang Ji
Liang Ji , courtesy name Bozhuo , was a politician and military commander of Han Dynasty China. He dominated government in the 150s together with his sister, Empress Liang Na. After his sister's death, Liang Ji was overthrown in a coup d'etat by Emperor Huan, with the support of the eunuch...
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
Emperor Ling of Han
Emperor Ling of Han, trad. ch. 漢靈帝;, sim. ch. 汉灵帝, py. hàn líng dì, wg. Han Ling-ti, was an emperor of the Chinese Han Dynasty. He was a great-great-grandson of Emperor Zhang. The Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out during Emperor Ling's reign.Emperor Ling's reign saw yet another repetition of...
'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
Luoyang
Luoyang is a prefecture-level city in western Henan province of Central China. It borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the east, Pingdingshan to the southeast, Nanyang to the south, Sanmenxia to the west, Jiyuan to the north, and Jiaozuo to the northeast.Situated on the central plain of...
and some of its sons, such as Yuan Shao
Yuan Shao
Yuan Shao was a warlord during the late Han Dynasty period of Chinese history. He occupied the northern territories of China during the civil war that occurred towards the end of the Han Dynasty and the beginning of the Three Kingdoms era...
(袁紹), were born there.
Yuan Shao and his cousin Yuan Shu
Yuan Shu
Yuan Shu was a warlord during the late Han Dynasty era of Chinese history. He rose to prominence following the collapse of the imperial court in 189. He was said to be a younger cousin of the warlord Yuan Shao, but was actually Yuan Shao's younger half-brother...
(袁術) played leading roles in the massacre of the eunuch
Eunuch
A eunuch is a person born male most commonly castrated, typically early enough in his life for this change to have major hormonal consequences...
s in September 189 and in the succeeding years both became regional warlords. Yuan Shu declared himself emperor
Emperor of China
The Emperor of China refers to any sovereign of Imperial China reigning between the founding of Qin Dynasty of China, united by the King of Qin in 221 BCE, and the fall of Yuan Shikai's Empire of China in 1916. When referred to as the Son of Heaven , a title that predates the Qin unification, the...
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
Cao Cao
Cao Cao was a warlord and the penultimate chancellor of the Eastern Han Dynasty who rose to great power during the dynasty's final years. As one of the central figures of the Three Kingdoms period, he laid the foundations for what was to become the state of Cao Wei and was posthumously titled...
at the Battle of Guandu
Battle of Guandu
The Battle of Guandu was a military conflict between the warlords Cao Cao and Yuan Shao in 200 during the prelude to the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history. The battle, which concluded with victory for Cao Cao, was a turning point in the war between the two warlords...
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 HuanYuan Huan
Yuan Huan, style name Yaoqing , was an official during the Han Dynasty period of Chinese history. During the 190s, he served the warlords Liu Bei, Yuan Shu and Lü Bu. After the fall of Lü Bu in 198, Yuan joined Cao Cao as an advisor. He was involved in a number of policy decisions, including the...
(袁渙), who served Cao Cao and later his son Cao Pi
Cao Pi
Cao Pi , formally known as Emperor Wen of Wei, was the first emperor of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history. Born in Qiao County, Pei Commandery , he was the second son of the late Han Dynasty warlord Cao Cao.Cao Pi, like his father, was a poet...
in the civil bureaucracy. 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
Nine-rank system
The nine rank system , or much less commonly nine grade controller system, was a civil service nomination system during the Three Kingdoms and the Southern and Northern Dynasties in China...
.
The Chen Yuan were among the northern aristocratic clans that retreated south as north China was overrun by the Xiongnu
Xiongnu
The Xiongnu were ancient nomadic-based people that formed a state or confederation north of the agriculture-based empire of the Han Dynasty. Most of the information on the Xiongnu comes from Chinese sources...
. According to the great 10th century genealogist Liu Fang: "Across the Yangzi River, the elite clans were known as 'émigré clans'; the Wang
Wang (surname)
Wang is a Chinese family name and one of the most common surnames in the world. It is ranked 8th in the Hundred Family Surnames, and first in the People's Republic of China's National Citizen ID Information System . Wang is ranked as the most common surname in mainland China, with 92.88 million...
(王), Xie (謝), Yuan, and Xiao (萧) were the greatest among them." When Sima Rui established an Eastern Jin
Jìn Dynasty (265-420)
The Jìn Dynasty , was a dynasty in Chinese history, lasting between the years 265 and 420 AD. There are two main divisions in the history of the Dynasty, the first being Western Jin and the second Eastern Jin...
regime at Jiankang
Jiankang
Jiankang was the capital city of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and Southern Dynasties. Its walls are extant ruins in the modern municipal region of Nanjing.-History:...
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
Yichun, Jiangxi
Yichun is a mountainous prefecture-level city in the Chinese province of Jiangxi. Yichun literally means "pleasant spring". It is located in the northwest of the province along a river surrouneded by mountains. Its area is 18,669 km²; 50% forested, 35% mountainous. It has a total population...
, 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 Southern Dynasties
Southern dynasties
The Southern dynasties comprise the Liu Song, Southern Qi, Liang Dynasty and Chen Dynasty, whose capital were at Jiankang , and Emperor Yuan of Liang, as well as the later Western Liang emperors , also set their...
period, the Chen Yuan established extensive marriage alliances with the other major clans, especially the Xie, whose ancestral lands were in the same county. The clan also provided consort
Queen consort
A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king. A queen consort usually shares her husband's rank and holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles. Historically, queens consort do not share the king regnant's political and military powers. Most queens in history were queens consort...
s for the imperial family, including the empresses of Emperor Wen of Southern Song and 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
Yuan Hong
Yuan Hong , his courtesy name is Yanbo, was a scholar, historian and politician from the Eastern Jin. He was born in Zhoukou, Henan, and served as an advisor to generals Xie Shang and Huan Wen on a number of military campaigns...
(袁宏) and the poet Yuan Shansong
Yuan Shansong
Yuan Shansong , sometimes called Yuan Song , was an official of the Jin Dynasty. He was known as an accomplished poet, lyricist and also as an historian. Yuan also produced one of the first landscape essays, later to become a popular form in Chinese literature...
(袁山松). 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
Luoyang
Luoyang is a prefecture-level city in western Henan province of Central China. It borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the east, Pingdingshan to the southeast, Nanyang to the south, Sanmenxia to the west, Jiyuan to the north, and Jiaozuo to the northeast.Situated on the central plain of...
, later serving the Northern Wei
Northern Wei
The Northern Wei Dynasty , also known as the Tuoba Wei , Later Wei , or Yuan Wei , was a dynasty which ruled northern China from 386 to 534 . It has been described as "part of an era of political turbulence and intense social and cultural change"...
. Upon the conquest of the Chen Dynasty
Chen Dynasty
The Chen Dynasty , also known as the Southern Chen Dynasty, was the fourth and last of the Southern dynasties in China, eventually destroyed by the Sui Dynasty....
by Sui
Sui Dynasty
The Sui Dynasty was a powerful, but short-lived Imperial Chinese dynasty. Preceded by the Southern and Northern Dynasties, it ended nearly four centuries of division between rival regimes. It was followed by the Tang Dynasty....
in 589, members of the southern ruling elite, such as Yuan Xian (袁憲), were moved to the capital Chang'an
Chang'an
Chang'an is an ancient capital of more than ten dynasties in Chinese history, today known as Xi'an. Chang'an literally means "Perpetual Peace" in Classical Chinese. During the short-lived Xin Dynasty, the city was renamed "Constant Peace" ; yet after its fall in AD 23, the old name was restored...
where they continued to serve in government. A number of Tang Dynasty
Tang Dynasty
The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...
noblemen trace their ancestry directly to the Chen Yuan.
Spread of the surname
Han Chinese
Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the...
throughout mainland China
Mainland China
Mainland China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term that refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China . According to the Taipei-based Mainland Affairs Council, the term excludes the PRC Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and...
, Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
, Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
and Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
. 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 Han Dynasty
Han Dynasty
The Han Dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin Dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms . It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han. It was briefly interrupted by the Xin Dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang...
were all in north China, most of them in population centres near the Yellow River
Yellow River
The Yellow River or Huang He, formerly known as the Hwang Ho, is the second-longest river in China and the sixth-longest in the world at the estimated length of . Originating in the Bayan Har Mountains in Qinghai Province in western China, it flows through nine provinces of China and empties into...
. In the 3rd century members of the Chen Yuan are known to have moved as far south as the Red River
Red River (Vietnam)
The Red River , also known as the Sông Cái - Mother River , or Yuan River , is a river that flows from southwest China through northern Vietnam to the Gulf of Tonkin...
delta in modern Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
. Early migrations south established Yuan clans along the lower Yangtze River
Yangtze River
The Yangtze, Yangzi or Cháng Jiāng is the longest river in Asia, and the third-longest in the world. It flows for from the glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau in Qinghai eastward across southwest, central and eastern China before emptying into the East China Sea at Shanghai. It is also one of the...
, in Danyang
Danyang
Danyang is a county-level city administered by Zhenjiang in Jiangsu Province. It is famous for its spectacles industry and it has the Spectscles City.-Economy:...
, Lujiang
Lujiang
Lujiang may refer to:*Lujiang County , a county in Chaohu Municipality, Anhui*Lujiang River , a passage in Xiamen Harbour*Lujiang Station, station of Line 2 of the Guangzhou Metro, Guangdong, China...
, Wuxi
Wuxi
Wuxi is an old city in Jiangsu province, People's Republic of China. Split in half by Lake Tai, Wuxi borders Changzhou to the west and Suzhou to the east. The northern half looks across to Taizhou across the Yangtze River, while the southern half also borders the province of Zhejiang to the south...
, Yangzhou
Yangzhou
Yangzhou is a prefecture-level city in central Jiangsu Province, People's Republic of China. Sitting on the northern bank of the Yangtze River, it borders the provincial capital of Nanjing to the southwest, Huai'an to the north, Yancheng to the northeast, Taizhou to the east, and Zhenjiang across...
and Nanjing
Nanjing
' is the capital of Jiangsu province in China and has a prominent place in Chinese history and culture, having been the capital of China on several occasions...
. Records from the Tang Dynasty
Tang Dynasty
The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...
name three major Yuan clans, in Ru'nan, Pengcheng and Yichun
Yichun
Yichun can refer to two cities in China:*Yichun, Heilongjiang , city in Heilongjiang province*Yichun, Jiangxi , city in Jiangxi province*Yichun dialect, dialect of the Gan language, spoken in Yichun, Jiangxi...
.
Larger scale migrations south occurred during the middle and late Song Dynasty
Song Dynasty
The Song Dynasty was a ruling dynasty in China between 960 and 1279; it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese government to establish a...
, when north China was overrun by the Jurchens and later the Mongols
Mongols
Mongols ) are a Central-East Asian ethnic group that lives mainly in the countries of Mongolia, China, and Russia. In China, ethnic Mongols can be found mainly in the central north region of China such as Inner Mongolia...
. Yuan clans appeared in what is now Zhejiang
Zhejiang
Zhejiang is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. The word Zhejiang was the old name of the Qiantang River, which passes through Hangzhou, the provincial capital...
(Hangzhou
Hangzhou
Hangzhou , formerly transliterated as Hangchow, is the capital and largest city of Zhejiang Province in Eastern China. Governed as a sub-provincial city, and as of 2010, its entire administrative division or prefecture had a registered population of 8.7 million people...
, Ningbo
Ningbo
Ningbo is a seaport city of northeastern Zhejiang province, Eastern China. Holding sub-provincial administrative status, the municipality has a population of 7,605,700 inhabitants at the 2010 census whom 3,089,180 in the built up area made of 6 urban districts. It lies south of the Hangzhou Bay,...
, Fenghua
Fenghua
Fenghua is a county-level city in the north of Zhejiang province, China. It is under the jurisdiction of Ningbo prefecture-level city. The city and its administrative hinterlands has a population of over 480,000....
and Yinxian), Jiangxi
Jiangxi
' is a southern province in the People's Republic of China. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze River in the north into hillier areas in the south, it shares a border with Anhui to the north, Zhejiang to the northeast, Fujian to the east, Guangdong to the south, Hunan to the west, and Hubei to...
(Nanchang
Nanchang
Nanchang is the capital of Jiangxi Province in southeastern China. It is located in the north-central portion of the province. As it is bounded on the west by the Jiuling Mountains, and on the east by Poyang Lake, it is famous for its scenery, rich history and cultural sites...
) and Fujian
Fujian
' , formerly romanised as Fukien or Huguing or Foukien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...
(Fu'an
Fu'an
Fu'an or Fu An is a county-level city in the Ningde prefecture level city, in northeast Fujian province, PRC, some 150 km away from the provincial capital Fuzhou.-Economy:Fu'an is known for its tea production...
). The name was already widespread in the 12th century, being concentrated in what is now Sichuan
Sichuan
' , known formerly in the West by its postal map spellings of Szechwan or Szechuan is a province in Southwest China with its capital in Chengdu...
, Zhejiang
Zhejiang
Zhejiang is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. The word Zhejiang was the old name of the Qiantang River, which passes through Hangzhou, the provincial capital...
and Shanxi
Shanxi
' is a province in Northern China. Its one-character abbreviation is "晋" , after the state of Jin that existed here during the Spring and Autumn Period....
.
Around the beginning of the Ming Dynasty
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
in the late 14th century, population booms in the lower Yangzi valley
Yangtze River
The Yangtze, Yangzi or Cháng Jiāng is the longest river in Asia, and the third-longest in the world. It flows for from the glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau in Qinghai eastward across southwest, central and eastern China before emptying into the East China Sea at Shanghai. It is also one of the...
made Jiangxi, Jiangsu
Jiangsu
' is a province of the People's Republic of China, located along the east coast of the country. The name comes from jiang, short for the city of Jiangning , and su, for the city of Suzhou. The abbreviation for this province is "苏" , the second character of its name...
and Zhejiang the three most populous provinces for the Yuan name. The southern coastal provinces of Fujian
Fujian
' , formerly romanised as Fukien or Huguing or Foukien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...
and Guangdong
Guangdong
Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...
also experienced significant increases.
By the Qing Dynasty
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
, Yuan had penetrated to the frontier lands of Yunnan
Yunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...
in the southwest, Guangxi
Guangxi
Guangxi, formerly romanized Kwangsi, is a province of southern China along its border with Vietnam. In 1958, it became the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, a region with special privileges created specifically for the Zhuang people.Guangxi's location, in...
in the south, Liaoning
Liaoning
' is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the northeast of the country. Its one-character abbreviation is "辽" , a name taken from the Liao River that flows through the province. "Níng" means "peace"...
in the northeast and Taiwan in the southeast. Many in Guangdong and Fujian migrated south to Southeast Asia, especially Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
and Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
.
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 Sichuan
Sichuan
' , known formerly in the West by its postal map spellings of Szechwan or Szechuan is a province in Southwest China with its capital in Chengdu...
and Hebei
Hebei
' is a province of the People's Republic of China in the North China region. Its one-character abbreviation is "" , named after Ji Province, a Han Dynasty province that included what is now southern Hebei...
are now the most important in terms of absolute population. The Yuan name is most populous as a percentage of local populations in the Yangtze Delta
Yangtze River Delta
The Yangtze River Delta, Yangtze Delta or YRD, also called Yangzi, or Chang Jiang Delta, Rive Chang Delta Tai Lake Region or the Golden Triangle of the Yangtze, generally comprises the triangular-shaped territory of Wu-speaking Shanghai, southern Jiangsu province and northern Zhejiang province of...
region, in northwestern Jiangxi and in the border region between Shaanxi
Shaanxi
' is a province in the central part of Mainland China, and it includes portions of the Loess Plateau on the middle reaches of the Yellow River in addition to the Qinling Mountains across the southern part of this province...
and Sichuan. As of 1994, for example, there were 97,400 Yuan in Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
, ranked 30th by population - slightly higher than the national average. In northeast China, Heilongjiang
Heilongjiang
For the river known in Mandarin as Heilong Jiang, see Amur River' is a province of the People's Republic of China located in the northeastern part of the country. "Heilongjiang" literally means Black Dragon River, which is the Chinese name for the Amur. The one-character abbreviation is 黑...
is home to concentrations in the southeast of the province as well as a lengthy strip along the Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n border. Generally speaking, the name is relatively absent in the farthest geographical extremes of China, namely southern Yunnan
Yunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...
, Guangxi
Guangxi
Guangxi, formerly romanized Kwangsi, is a province of southern China along its border with Vietnam. In 1958, it became the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, a region with special privileges created specifically for the Zhuang people.Guangxi's location, in...
, and the island province of Hainan
Hainan
Hainan is the smallest province of the People's Republic of China . Although the province comprises some two hundred islands scattered among three archipelagos off the southern coast, of its land mass is Hainan Island , from which the province takes its name...
.
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
Chinese Civil War
The Chinese Civil War was a civil war fought between the Kuomintang , the governing party of the Republic of China, and the Communist Party of China , for the control of China which eventually led to China's division into two Chinas, Republic of China and People's Republic of...
in 1949. They are concentrated in Taipei
Taipei
Taipei City is the capital of the Republic of China and the central city of the largest metropolitan area of Taiwan. Situated at the northern tip of the island, Taipei is located on the Tamsui River, and is about 25 km southwest of Keelung, its port on the Pacific Ocean...
, Hsinchu
Hsinchu County
Hsinchu County is a county in north-western Taiwan. The population of the county is mainly Hakka; there is a Taiwanese aboriginal minority in the southeastern part of the county. Zhubei is the capital of Hsinchu, where the government office and county office is located...
, Nantou
Nantou County
Nantou County is the second largest county of Taiwan. It is also the only landlocked county in Taiwan. Its name derives from the Hoanya Taiwanese aboriginal word Ramtau. Nantou County is officially administered as a county of Taiwan....
, Chiayi
Chiayi County
Chiayi County is a county in southwestern Taiwan surrounding but not including Chiayi City. Its historical name in Taiwanese Hokkien derives from Tsirosen in the Formosan languages...
and Tainan
Tainan
Tainan City is a city in southern Taiwan. It is the fifth largest after New Taipei, Kaohsiung, Taichung, and Taipei. It was formerly a provincial city, and in 2010, the provincial city merged with the adjacent Tainan County to form a single special municipality. Tainan faces the Taiwan Strait in...
.
Adoption by non-Han peoples
During the 2nd century, the Yuan surname was taken by one of the three tribal groupings of the Bandun ManBandun Man
The Bandun Man were an ancient people living along the Jialing River valley, in the area of modern Langzhong in Sichuan, China. Their name, literally meaning "board shield barbarians", is derived from their fighting style of charging with shields to break the enemy line. They were also called the...
, who inhabited what is now Chongqing
Chongqing
Chongqing is a major city in Southwest China and one of the five national central cities of China. Administratively, it is one of the PRC's four direct-controlled municipalities , and the only such municipality in inland China.The municipality was created on 14 March 1997, succeeding the...
and Sichuan
Sichuan
' , known formerly in the West by its postal map spellings of Szechwan or Szechuan is a province in Southwest China with its capital in Chengdu...
. This group later migrated north to the Wei River
Wei River
The Wei River is a major river in west-central China's Gansu and Shaanxi provinces. It is the largest tributary of the Yellow River and very important in the early development of Chinese civilization....
valley, and gradually were absorbed by Han Chinese
Han Chinese
Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the...
.
After Emperor Xiaowen of the nomadic Xianbei
Xianbei
The Xianbei were a significant Mongolic nomadic people residing in Manchuria, Inner Mongolia and eastern Mongolia. The title “Khan” was first used among the Xianbei.-Origins:...
moved his capital to Luoyang
Luoyang
Luoyang is a prefecture-level city in western Henan province of Central China. It borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the east, Pingdingshan to the southeast, Nanyang to the south, Sanmenxia to the west, Jiyuan to the north, and Jiaozuo to the northeast.Situated on the central plain of...
in 494, his clan of Tuoba
Tuoba
Tuoba, or Tabgach, were a clan of Xianbei people of ancient China.-Xianbei Tuoba:Tuoba was a clan of the Xianbei people in the early centuries of the 1st millennium AD. They established the State of Dai from 310 to 376 AD, and the Northern Wei Dynasty from 386 to 536 AD...
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 Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
, who claimed descent from the Xuanyuan clan of the Huang Di
Yellow Emperor
The Yellow Emperor or Huangdi1 is a legendary Chinese sovereign and culture hero, included among the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. Tradition holds that he reigned from 2697–2597 or 2696–2598 BC...
. One of their nine clans was called Yuanhe (袁紇) or Yuanwei (袁韋), and one of their twelve major surnames was Qiyuan (乞袁). In 605, the Yuanhe defeated the Göktürks
Göktürks
The Göktürks or Kök Türks, were a nomadic confederation of peoples in medieval Inner Asia. Known in Chinese sources as 突厥 , the Göktürks under the leadership of Bumin Qaghan The Göktürks or Kök Türks, (Old Turkic: Türük or Kök Türük or Türük; Celestial Turks) were a nomadic confederation of...
and won leadership over a tribal confederation which came to be called the Huihe (回紇). There have been suggestions that the name of Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan , born Temujin and occasionally known by his temple name Taizu , was the founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death....
's tribe, Kiyad (called "Qiyan" 乞顏 or "Qiyin" 乞引 in Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
), was a corruption of "Qiyuan". 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 Qing
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
(Manchu) dynasty, the surname is also known to have been adopted by members of the Eight Banners
Eight Banners
The Eight Banners were administrative divisions into which all Manchu families were placed. They provided the basic framework for the Manchu military organization...
, including by a number of Manchu
Manchu
The Manchu people or Man are an ethnic minority of China who originated in Manchuria . During their rise in the 17th century, with the help of the Ming dynasty rebels , they came to power in China and founded the Qing Dynasty, which ruled China until the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, which...
bannermen in Shenyang
Shenyang
Shenyang , or Mukden , is the capital and largest city of Liaoning Province in Northeast China. Currently holding sub-provincial administrative status, the city was once known as Shengjing or Fengtianfu...
. Today, the surname appears among the Manchu, Mongols, Yao
Yao people
The Yao nationality is a government classification for various minorities in China. They form one of the 55 ethnic minority groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China, where they reside in the mountainous terrain of the southwest and south...
, Yi
Yi people
The Yi or Lolo people are an ethnic group in China, Vietnam, and Thailand. Numbering 8 million, they are the seventh largest of the 55 ethnic minority groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China...
, Bai
Bai
The Bai or Baip are one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. They numbered 1,858,063 as of 2000....
, Korean
Korean people
The Korean people are an ethnic group originating in the Korean peninsula and Manchuria. Koreans are one of the most ethnically and linguistically homogeneous groups in the world.-Names:...
s and Tibetans
Tibetan people
The Tibetan people are an ethnic group that is native to Tibet, which is mostly in the People's Republic of China. They number 5.4 million and are the 10th largest ethnic group in the country. Significant Tibetan minorities also live in India, Nepal, and Bhutan...
. There are major Yuan clans among the Yao in Long'an
Long'an County
Long'an County is a county of Guangxi, China. It is under the administration of Nanning city....
county, Guangxi and in Funing, Yunnan.
The Yuan surname is a relatively minor one in Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
, where it is called Won (원). According to a 2000 census, there were 1,104 individuals bearing the name in South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
. They trace their ancestry to Won Roebo (袁賚輔) of Bian (安比縣). During the 20th century, the Won clan were centered in the north-central area of South Korea, in the province of Gangwon-do.
Genealogies
Almost all available information on the early origins of the surname come from noble genealogiesGenealogy
Genealogy is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. Genealogists use oral traditions, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members...
which were updated and maintained until the 10th century. Some of the aristocratic Yuan families of the Tang Dynasty
Tang Dynasty
The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...
used these registers as a means of upholding their prestige and maintaining influence. These texts were also used as sources for the 5th century story collection Shishuo xinyu (世說新語: "New Tales of the World"). A Yuan clan genealogy from Jiangxi
Jiangxi
' is a southern province in the People's Republic of China. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze River in the north into hillier areas in the south, it shares a border with Anhui to the north, Zhejiang to the northeast, Fujian to the east, Guangdong to the south, Hunan to the west, and Hubei to...
is mentioned in Sui shu (隋书: "Book of Sui") and a Yuan clan temple inscription survives in the anthology of essayist and poet Han Yu
Han Yu
Han Yu , born in Nanyang, Henan, China, was a precursor of Neo-Confucianism as well as an essayist and poet, during the Tang dynasty. The Indiana Companion calls him "comparable in stature to Dante, Shakespeare or Goethe" for his influence on the Chinese literary tradition . He stood for strong...
. Although no copies of early genealogies are extant today, fragments have been preserved by famed Chinese historian Ouyang Xiu
Ouyang Xiu
Ouyang Xiu was a Chinese statesman, historian, essayist and poet of the Song Dynasty. He is also known by his courtesy name of Yongshu, and was also self nicknamed The Old Drunkard 醉翁, or Householder of the One of Six 六一居士 in his old age...
in the 11th century work Xin Tang Shu.
Gentry
Gentry denotes "well-born and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past....
families and became correspondingly more widespread. The clans of the Yangtze Delta and its hinterlands were most active in producing genealogies. Many of the Yuan clan genealogies associate their clans with the Ru'nan Yuan or the Chen Yuan, and in particular trace their ancestries to Yuan An
Yuan An
Yuan An 袁安 was a prominent scholar, administrator and statesman at the Han Dynasty courts of Emperor Zhang and Emperor He...
. Yuan Zhijun (袁志君), founder of the Yuan clan of Dongguan
Dongguan
Dongguan is a prefecture-level city in central Guangdong province, People's Republic of China.An important industrial city located in the Pearl River Delta, Dongguan borders the provincial capital of Guangzhou to the north, Huizhou to the northeast, Shenzhen to the south, and the Pearl River to...
and ancestor of the Ming dynasty general Yuan Chonghuan
Yuan Chonghuan
Yuan Chonghuan was a famed patriot and military commander of the Ming Dynasty who battled the Manchus in Liaoning. A commander of Cantonese origin, Yuan Chonghuan was known to have excelled in artillery warfare and successfully incorporated Western tactics with those of the East...
(袁崇煥), for example, claimed to be a 38th generation descendant of Yuan An. A number of collateral branches in Xingning
Xingning
Xingning is a county-level city, under the jurisdiction of Meizhou, in Guangdong province of the People's Republic of China.- History :Xingning county was established in 331 CE.Xingning was the capital of the 10th-century Southern Han Dynasty....
, Meixian
Meixian
Mei County is a county in the municipal region of Meizhou, in northeastern Guangdong province, the People's Republic of China.-Geography:Mei county almost completely surrounds Meizhou's urban districts Jiangnan and Jiangbei...
and Huiyang also follow the Tongguan clan in the claim. Similarly, the clans of Xinchang
Xinchang
Xinchang County is a county in central Zhejiang, administratively under the municipal government of Shaoxing.-Controversy:Xie Weixing, Shaoxing City vice-mayor, allegedly accepted bribes in exchange for approving a housing project when he held the post of party secretary of the Xinchang County...
, Fenghua
Fenghua
Fenghua is a county-level city in the north of Zhejiang province, China. It is under the jurisdiction of Ningbo prefecture-level city. The city and its administrative hinterlands has a population of over 480,000....
and Yinxian, which produced many jinshi degree holders in the Song Dynasty
Song Dynasty
The Song Dynasty was a ruling dynasty in China between 960 and 1279; it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese government to establish a...
, claimed that their ancestor Yuan Yuan (袁元) was a 31st generation descendant of Yuan An. 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
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
phenomenon rather than for its historical accuracy.
Clan-based activities and genealogies were attacked during the Cultural Revolution
Cultural Revolution
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...
, 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
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
, Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
and Ningbo
Ningbo
Ningbo is a seaport city of northeastern Zhejiang province, Eastern China. Holding sub-provincial administrative status, the municipality has a population of 7,605,700 inhabitants at the 2010 census whom 3,089,180 in the built up area made of 6 urban districts. It lies south of the Hangzhou Bay,...
. A provincial breakdown of the geographic distribution of these genealogies in order of number: Zhejiang
Zhejiang
Zhejiang is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. The word Zhejiang was the old name of the Qiantang River, which passes through Hangzhou, the provincial capital...
(23); Jiangsu
Jiangsu
' is a province of the People's Republic of China, located along the east coast of the country. The name comes from jiang, short for the city of Jiangning , and su, for the city of Suzhou. The abbreviation for this province is "苏" , the second character of its name...
(22); Hunan
Hunan
' is a province of South-Central China, located to the south of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting...
(17); Jiangxi
Jiangxi
' is a southern province in the People's Republic of China. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze River in the north into hillier areas in the south, it shares a border with Anhui to the north, Zhejiang to the northeast, Fujian to the east, Guangdong to the south, Hunan to the west, and Hubei to...
(9); Shandong
Shandong
' is a Province located on the eastern coast of the People's Republic of China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history from the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River and served as a pivotal cultural and religious site for Taoism, Chinese...
(9); Sichuan
Sichuan
' , known formerly in the West by its postal map spellings of Szechwan or Szechuan is a province in Southwest China with its capital in Chengdu...
(5); Henan
Henan
Henan , is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the central part of the country. Its one-character abbreviation is "豫" , named after Yuzhou , a Han Dynasty state that included parts of Henan...
(4); Anhui
Anhui
Anhui is a province in the People's Republic of China. Located in eastern China across the basins of the Yangtze River and the Huai River, it borders Jiangsu to the east, Zhejiang to the southeast, Jiangxi to the south, Hubei to the southwest, Henan to the northwest, and Shandong for a tiny...
(3); unknown (7). A few genealogies may also be held in university archives in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. No doubt many more fragments are scattered in villages and townships across China.
Clan organisation
From around the Song DynastySong Dynasty
The Song Dynasty was a ruling dynasty in China between 960 and 1279; it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese government to establish a...
, clans began organising themselves in mutual obligation relationships, often based around the compilation of genealogies. The role of clan elders was often that of moral or Confucian
Confucianism
Confucianism is a Chinese ethical and philosophical system developed from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius . Confucianism originated as an "ethical-sociopolitical teaching" during the Spring and Autumn Period, but later developed metaphysical and cosmological elements in the Han...
instruction. The Yuan shi shi fan (袁氏世范: "Yuan clan hereditary rules"), by the Song Dynasty jinshi Yuan Cai
Yuan Cai
Yuan Cai was a Song dynasty scholar and official, best known for penning the Yuan shi shi fan, a manual of advice addressed to family heads on the subject of how to handle their responsibilities....
(袁采), was an early manual of ethical behaviour and was regarded by contemporaries as a classic of clan instruction. Toward the late imperial
Late Imperial China
Late Imperial China refers to the period between the end of Mongol rule in 1368 and the establishment of the Republic of China in 1912 and includes the Ming and Qing Dynasties...
period, these relationships strengthened to the extent that clans sometimes provided 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 overseas Chinese
Overseas Chinese
Overseas Chinese are people of Chinese birth or descent who live outside the Greater China Area . People of partial Chinese ancestry living outside the Greater China Area may also consider themselves Overseas Chinese....
in root-seeking has been largely encouraged by the government of mainland China
Mainland China
Mainland China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term that refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China . According to the Taipei-based Mainland Affairs Council, the term excludes the PRC Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and...
as a way of attracting foreign direct investment
Foreign direct investment
Foreign direct investment or foreign investment refers to the net inflows of investment to acquire a lasting management interest in an enterprise operating in an economy other than that of the investor.. It is the sum of equity capital,other long-term capital, and short-term capital as shown in...
. In 2001, for example, the Hong Kong Association of Yuen Clansmen (香港袁氏宗親會) donated HKD $1.2 million toward the construction of a Yuan Chonghuan
Yuan Chonghuan
Yuan Chonghuan was a famed patriot and military commander of the Ming Dynasty who battled the Manchus in Liaoning. A commander of Cantonese origin, Yuan Chonghuan was known to have excelled in artillery warfare and successfully incorporated Western tactics with those of the East...
Memorial Park on the site of his Ming Dynasty
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
home. In 2004, a group of 68 Yuan clan businessmen from Shenzhen
Shenzhen
Shenzhen is a major city in the south of Southern China's Guangdong Province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong. The area became China's first—and one of the most successful—Special Economic Zones...
and Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
were invited to Ru'nan county, so-called "ancestral home of all Yuan under Heaven". The group, led by Yuen Mo
Yuen Mo
Yuen Mo GBS JP is a business leader in Hong Kong.He joined China Merchants, a shipping company, in 1964, and served in various positions such as Deputy General Manager of Hong Kong Ming Wah Shipping Co. Ltd., Deputy General Manager of China Merchants Steam Navigation Co...
, a representative of Hong Kong to the National People's Congress
National People's Congress
The National People's Congress , abbreviated NPC , is the highest state body and the only legislative house in the People's Republic of China. The National People's Congress is held in the Great Hall of the People, Beijing, capital of the People's Republic of China; with 2,987 members, it is the...
, held talks with provincial and local officials with regard to the development of food processing projects in the area.
In recent years, genealogy compilation and clan organisation has seen a resurgence, together with a renewed interest in local history
Local history
Local history is the study of history in a geographically local context and it often concentrates on the local community. It incorporates cultural and social aspects of history...
. The 13th "Conference of the Descendants of Shun," held in Ru'nan in 1999, was attended by representatives of Yuan clans from as far afield as Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
and Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
. A number of local clans are also reorganising themselves and publishing updated versions of their genealogies. In May 2005, after updating their 1939 genealogy, the Yuan clan of Ximen, Ningbo
Ningbo
Ningbo is a seaport city of northeastern Zhejiang province, Eastern China. Holding sub-provincial administrative status, the municipality has a population of 7,605,700 inhabitants at the 2010 census whom 3,089,180 in the built up area made of 6 urban districts. It lies south of the Hangzhou Bay,...
, held a large scale ancestor worship ceremony which was much publicised in the local media. This return to clan consciousness has been limited, however, by increased geographic and social mobility in China.
Pre-modern
- Yuan TaotuYuan TaotuYuan Taotu 轅濤塗 was a nobleman and diplomat of the Spring and Autumn state of Chen. He is regarded as the ancestor of those surnamed Yuan ....
(circa 7th century BC): nobleman and diplomat of ChenChen (state)Chen was a minor Zhou Dynasty vassal state during the Spring and Autumn Period of Chinese History. It was a relatively minor state based on a single urban centre near what is now Huaiyang County in the plains of eastern Henan province...
. - Yuan AngYuan AngYuan Ang was a Han Dynasty minister who served Emperor Wen and Emperor Jing. His biography appears in the Shi Ji, and a parallel one is in Han Shu...
(died 148 BC): high official of the Former Han, served at the court of Liu Bang. - Yuan AnYuan AnYuan An 袁安 was a prominent scholar, administrator and statesman at the Han Dynasty courts of Emperor Zhang and Emperor He...
(died 92): Later Han scholar and official at the court of Emperor He of HanEmperor He of HanEmperor He of Han, ch. 漢和帝, py. hàn hé dì, wg. Han Ho-ti, was an emperor of the Chinese Han Dynasty who ruled from 88 to 105. He was the 4th emperor of the Eastern Han dynasty....
; the leading figure of the Yuan clan of Ru'nan. - Yuan ShaoYuan ShaoYuan Shao was a warlord during the late Han Dynasty period of Chinese history. He occupied the northern territories of China during the civil war that occurred towards the end of the Han Dynasty and the beginning of the Three Kingdoms era...
(died 202): Politician of the Later Han Dynasty, later a warlord who dominated much of northern China in the 190s. - Yuan ShuYuan ShuYuan Shu was a warlord during the late Han Dynasty era of Chinese history. He rose to prominence following the collapse of the imperial court in 189. He was said to be a younger cousin of the warlord Yuan Shao, but was actually Yuan Shao's younger half-brother...
(died 199): Commanders of the imperial guards of the Later Han, later a warlordWarlordA warlord is a person with power who has both military and civil control over a subnational area due to armed forces loyal to the warlord and not to a central authority. The term can also mean one who espouses the ideal that war is necessary, and has the means and authority to engage in war...
and self-declared emperorEmperorAn emperor is a monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife or a woman who rules in her own right...
of the abortive Cheng Dynasty. - Yuan HuanYuan HuanYuan Huan, style name Yaoqing , was an official during the Han Dynasty period of Chinese history. During the 190s, he served the warlords Liu Bei, Yuan Shu and Lü Bu. After the fall of Lü Bu in 198, Yuan joined Cao Cao as an advisor. He was involved in a number of policy decisions, including the...
(died circa 219): civil servant serving under Cao CaoCao CaoCao Cao was a warlord and the penultimate chancellor of the Eastern Han Dynasty who rose to great power during the dynasty's final years. As one of the central figures of the Three Kingdoms period, he laid the foundations for what was to become the state of Cao Wei and was posthumously titled...
, one of the leading figures of the Yuan clan of Chen. - Yuan HongYuan HongYuan Hong , his courtesy name is Yanbo, was a scholar, historian and politician from the Eastern Jin. He was born in Zhoukou, Henan, and served as an advisor to generals Xie Shang and Huan Wen on a number of military campaigns...
(328 – 376): Jin DynastyJìn Dynasty (265-420)The Jìn Dynasty , was a dynasty in Chinese history, lasting between the years 265 and 420 AD. There are two main divisions in the history of the Dynasty, the first being Western Jin and the second Eastern Jin...
historian, scholar and official. - Yuan ShansongYuan ShansongYuan Shansong , sometimes called Yuan Song , was an official of the Jin Dynasty. He was known as an accomplished poet, lyricist and also as an historian. Yuan also produced one of the first landscape essays, later to become a popular form in Chinese literature...
(died 399): Jin Dynasty lyricist, historian and essayist. - Yuan CaiYuan CaiYuan Cai was a Song dynasty scholar and official, best known for penning the Yuan shi shi fan, a manual of advice addressed to family heads on the subject of how to handle their responsibilities....
(died circa 1195): Song dynastySong DynastyThe Song Dynasty was a ruling dynasty in China between 960 and 1279; it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese government to establish a...
official and scholar, author of a manual of advice on clan relations, the Yuan shi shi fan. - Yuan HongdaoYuan HongdaoYuan Hongdao was Chinese poet of the Ming Dynasty, and one of the Three Yuan Brothers. His life spanned nearly the whole of the Wanli period in Chinese history. Yuan was from Gong'an in Hukuang. His family had been military officials for generations. Yuan showed an interest in literature from...
(1568–1610): Ming dynastyMing DynastyThe Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
poet. - Yuan ChonghuanYuan ChonghuanYuan Chonghuan was a famed patriot and military commander of the Ming Dynasty who battled the Manchus in Liaoning. A commander of Cantonese origin, Yuan Chonghuan was known to have excelled in artillery warfare and successfully incorporated Western tactics with those of the East...
(1584–1630): Military commander of the Ming Dynasty in LiaoningLiaoning' is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the northeast of the country. Its one-character abbreviation is "辽" , a name taken from the Liao River that flows through the province. "Níng" means "peace"...
peninsula, later revered as a patriotPatriotismPatriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...
. - Yuan MeiYuan MeiYuan Mei was a well-known poet, scholar, artist, and gastronome of the Qing Dynasty.Yuan Mei was born in Qiantang , Zhejiang province, to a cultured family who had never before attained high office. He achieved the degree of jinshi in 1739 at the young age of 23, was immediately appointed to the...
(1716–1797): Qing dynastyQing DynastyThe Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
poet and scholar. - Yuan RenlinYuan RenlinYuan Renlin , styled Zhenqian , was a Qing dynasty linguist. He was from Sanyuan county, Shaanxi province, and lived in the early 18th century.Yuan is best known for his work Xu zi shuo , a 68–page study of grammatical particles...
(c. 18th century): LinguistLinguisticsLinguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
, noted for his study of grammatical particleGrammatical particleIn grammar, a particle is a function word that does not belong to any of the inflected grammatical word classes . It is a catch-all term for a heterogeneous set of words and terms that lack a precise lexical definition...
s.
Modern
- Yuan DehuiYuan DehuiYuan Dehui was a Chinese imperial interpreter. He is best known for translating sections of Emerich de Vattel's Le droit des gens ....
(c. 19th century) was an interpreterInterpretingLanguage interpretation is the facilitating of oral or sign-language communication, either simultaneously or consecutively, between users of different languages...
, best known for translating sections of Emerich de VattelEmerich de VattelEmer de Vattel was a Swiss philosopher, diplomat, and legal expert whose theories laid the foundation of modern international law and political philosophy. He was born in Couvet in Neuchatel, Switzerland in 1714 and died in 1767 of edema...
's Le droit des gens into ChineseChinese languageThe Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
. - Yuan ShikaiYuan ShikaiYuan Shikai was an important Chinese general and politician famous for his influence during the late Qing Dynasty, his role in the events leading up to the abdication of the last Qing Emperor of China, his autocratic rule as the second President of the Republic of China , and his short-lived...
(1859–1916): military commander of the late Qing DynastyQing DynastyThe Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
, President of the Republic of ChinaPresident of the Republic of ChinaThe President of the Republic of China is the head of state and commander-in-chief of the Republic of China . The Republic of China was founded on January 1, 1912, to govern all of China...
, later self-proclaimed emperor of ChinaEmperor of ChinaThe Emperor of China refers to any sovereign of Imperial China reigning between the founding of Qin Dynasty of China, united by the King of Qin in 221 BCE, and the fall of Yuan Shikai's Empire of China in 1916. When referred to as the Son of Heaven , a title that predates the Qin unification, the...
. - Yuan WencaiYuan WencaiYuan Wencai was a former bandit chieftain who operated in the mountainous area of Jinggangshan in Jiangxi province, China, from 1923, and then joined the communists, becoming a protege of Mao Zedong during their formative period in the Jiangxi Soviet...
(died 1930): bandit, CommunistCommunist Party of ChinaThe Communist Party of China , also known as the Chinese Communist Party , is the founding and ruling political party of the People's Republic of China...
commander. - Yuan MuzhiYuan MuzhiYuan Muzhi was an actor and director from the Republic of China and later of the People's Republic of China.- Career :...
(1909–1978): early left-wing actorActorAn actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
and directorFilm directorA film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
. - Yuan Luke Chia-LiuLuke Chia-Liu YuanLuke Chia-Liu Yuan was an Chinese American physicist and grandson of Yuan Shikai.Born in Anyang, Henan, Yuan attended Yenching University in Beijing and California Institute of Technology...
(1912–2003): physicist, grandson of Yuan Shikai, and husband of prominent physicist Chien-Shiung WuChien-Shiung WuChien-Shiung Wu was a Chinese-American physicist with expertise in the techniques of experimental physics and radioactivity. Wu worked on the Manhattan Project...
. - Yuan BaohuaYuan BaohuaYuan Baohua is a Chinese educator and academic in the field of management. From 1985 to 1991, he was President of Renmin University.-Biography:...
(born 1916): economic plannerEconomic planningEconomic planning refers to any directing or planning of economic activity outside the mechanisisms of the market, in an attempt to achieve specific economic or social outcomes. Planning is an economic mechanism for resource allocation and decision-making in contrast with the market mechanism...
, former President of Renmin University. - Yuan XuefenYuan XuefenYuan Xuefen was a noted performer in the Yueju opera genre of Chinese opera...
(born 1922): pioneer of the Shaoxing opera. - Yuan LongpingYuan LongpingYuan Longping is a Chinese agricultural scientist and educator, known for developing the first hybrid rice varieties in the 1970s. His "hybrid rice" has since been grown in dozens of countries in Africa, America, and Asia—providing a robust food source in high famine risk areas. He is called "The...
(born 1930): agronomistAgronomistAn agronomist is a scientist who specializes in agronomy, which is the science of utilizing plants for food, fuel, feed, and fiber. An agronomist is an expert in agricultural and allied sciences, with the exception veterinary sciences.Agronomists deal with interactions between plants, soils, and...
, known for developing the first hybrid riceRiceRice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
varieties in the 1970s. - Yuan Weishi (born 1931): philosopher and historian, known for criticising the accuracy of Chinese history textbooks.
- Yuan ZhongyiYuan ZhongyiYuan Zhongyi is a Chinese archaeologist. He is best known for his work in the excavation and preservation of the Terracotta Army in Xi'an, China.-References:...
(born 1932): archaeologist, curatorCuratorA curator is a manager or overseer. Traditionally, a curator or keeper of a cultural heritage institution is a content specialist responsible for an institution's collections and involved with the interpretation of heritage material...
of the Terracotta ArmyTerracotta ArmyThe Terracotta Army or the "Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses", is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China...
museum. - Yuan WeiminYuan WeiminYuan Weimin is a Chinese sports administrator and civil servant. He was the Executive President of the Beijing Organising Committee for the 2008 Summer Olympics.Yuan was introduced to the Volleyball Hall of Fame in 2007.-References:...
(born 1939): Chinese sports administrator and civil servant; Executive President of the Beijing Organising Committee for the XXIX Olympiad2008 Summer OlympicsThe 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
. - Yuan ShoufangYuan ShoufangYuan Shoufang , born March 1939, is a General and Director of the General Political Department of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.-References:...
(born 1939): GeneralGeneralA general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....
and Director of the General Political Department of the People's Liberation ArmyPeople's Liberation ArmyThe People's Liberation Army is the unified military organization of all land, sea, strategic missile and air forces of the People's Republic of China. The PLA was established on August 1, 1927 — celebrated annually as "PLA Day" — as the military arm of the Communist Party of China...
. - Yuen MoYuen MoYuen Mo GBS JP is a business leader in Hong Kong.He joined China Merchants, a shipping company, in 1964, and served in various positions such as Deputy General Manager of Hong Kong Ming Wah Shipping Co. Ltd., Deputy General Manager of China Merchants Steam Navigation Co...
(born 1941): Hong KongHong KongHong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
representative to the National People's CongressNational People's CongressThe National People's Congress , abbreviated NPC , is the highest state body and the only legislative house in the People's Republic of China. The National People's Congress is held in the Great Hall of the People, Beijing, capital of the People's Republic of China; with 2,987 members, it is the...
. - Yuen Woo-pingYuen Woo-pingYuen Woo-ping is a Chinese martial arts choreographer and film director, renowned as one of the most successful and influential figures in the world of Hong Kong action cinema. He is one of the inductees on the Avenue of Stars in Hong Kong...
(born 1945): martial arts choreographer and director. - Yuan YidaYuan YidaYuan Yida is a researcher from the Institute of Genetic and Developmental Biology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is a leading researcher on Chinese surnames in mainland China, and has been working on statistical studies of surname distribution in the People's Republic of China over the...
(born 1947): population geneticsPopulation geneticsPopulation genetics is the study of allele frequency distribution and change under the influence of the four main evolutionary processes: natural selection, genetic drift, mutation and gene flow. It also takes into account the factors of recombination, population subdivision and population...
researcher and authority on Chinese surnames. - Yuan GuirenYuan GuirenYuan Guiren is a Chinese academic and the current Minister of Education in the People's Republic of China.Yuan is a native of Guzhen County in Anhui. He is a Beijing Normal University alumni and a former president of the same institution. He is also currently a member of the 17th CPC Central...
(born 1950): academic, and Minister of Education in the PRC. - Yuen Henry (born 1948): high technology entrepreneur, founder of Gemstar International.
- Yuan HongbingYuan HongbingYuan Hongbing is an ethnic Mongolian jurist, novelist, and dissident from China.-Biography:Yuan was born in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia. He graduated from Beijing University with a masters degree in criminal procedure in 1986 and went on to head the School of Criminal Procedural law at Beijing...
(born 1953): former legal academic, now a dissidentDissidentA dissident, broadly defined, is a person who actively challenges an established doctrine, policy, or institution. When dissidents unite for a common cause they often effect a dissident movement....
seeking political asylum in AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. - Yuan BaojingYuan BaojingYuan Baojing was the president of the Jianhao Group and Beijing's wealthiest multi-millionaire. In March 2006, he and two accomplices were sentenced to death by a Liaoyang court for the October 2003 murder of Wang Xing, a hitman he had hired to kill a rival businessman in Sichuan, who had caused...
(1966–2006): investment tycoon, executedCapital punishmentCapital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
for murderMurderMurder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
in a high profile case. - Nancy Yuen Miu FunNancy YuenNancy Yuen is a Chinese operatic soprano.-Life and career:Nancy Yuen Miu Fun was born in Hong Kong, reportedly in 1967. She is a top graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, London, and has based her career in the United Kingdom and Singapore. She has made Cio-cio-san her signature role, winning...
(born 1967), operatic soprano. - Yuen AnitaAnita YuenAnita Yuen Wing-yi is a Hong Kong film and television actress. She was the winner of the 1990 Miss Hong Kong Pageant.-Pageant career:At the age of 18, Yuen entered the Miss Hong Kong 1990 pageant. She was a heavy favorite to win the crown from the semifinal to final. During the semifinals on August...
(born 1971): Hong Kong-based film and television actress. - Yuen FionaFiona YuenFiona Yuen was born in 20 January 1976 in Cologne, Germany.She went to Hong Kong and took part in the 1996 Miss Hong Kong Pageant, where she was second runner-up and won the Miss International Goodwill award. She can speak German, French, English and Cantonese fluently...
(born 1974): Hong Kong-based actress and TV presenter. - Yuan QuanYuan QuanYuan Quan is a Chinese actress & singer, who was born in Hubei City, and graduated from the Central Academy of Drama.-Filmography:*My Ex-wife's Wedding *Like a Dream *Shanghai Rumba...
(born 1977): television and film actress in mainland China.
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, NingboNingboNingbo is a seaport city of northeastern Zhejiang province, Eastern China. Holding sub-provincial administrative status, the municipality has a population of 7,605,700 inhabitants at the 2010 census whom 3,089,180 in the built up area made of 6 urban districts. It lies south of the Hangzhou Bay,...
, 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 RizhaoRizhaoRizhao is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Shandong province, People's Republic of China. It is situated on the coastline along the Yellow Sea, borders Qingdao to the northeast, Weifang to the north, Linyi to the west and southwest, and faces Korea and Japan across the Yellow Sea to the east...
, ShandongShandong' is a Province located on the eastern coast of the People's Republic of China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history from the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River and served as a pivotal cultural and religious site for Taoism, Chinese...
. (Chinese)