Author: Yoon-Ngan CHUNG
Date: 01-28-04 21:48
To Yu Lang KHOO
Chinese surname GU (古)
Gu means: ancient; old.
The surname Gu is more than 3,000 years old.
The surname Gu was originated in an area referred to during the Northern Wei Dynasty (後魏時代 386AD to 534AD) as Xin An prefecture (新安郡). The present day location of Xin An prefecture is in Dai county (代縣 112.9 degree East and 39.1 degree North on the world map) of Shanxi province (山西省).
A man by the name of Qi (棄) was very good at farming and became an agricultural celebrity. People from far and wide came to learn from him. Shun Di (舜帝), the chief of the tribal community, appointed Qi the chief agriculturist of food production. As Qi had excelled in his job Shun Di delegated him to administer a region called You Tai (有邰 in the present day east of Wu Gong county 武功縣 in Shaanxi province 陜西省). Qi named the region Zhou and the people living there were known as the Zhou people (周族).
Twelve generations later in around 1198BC during the Shang Dynasty (商朝 1783BC to 1135BC) one of Qi's descendants named Gu Gong Dan Fu (古公亶父) became the leader of the Zhou People. Pillagings and plunderings were continually committed by the nomadic tribe to the North. Gu Gong Dan Fu did not want to fight them as the Zhou people were not strong enough he knew that they could not win. So he relocated his people to the centre of Wei Valley West (西渭谷 near present day Wei Shui River 渭水) of the Yellow River (黃河) and established the capital at Qi Shan (歧山 present day Qi Shan city in Shaanxi province).
Gu Gong Dan Fu's great-grandson Ji Fa (姬發) destroyed the Shang Dynasty and established the Zhou Dynasty (周朝 1134BC to 256BC). Ji Fa was installed as Zhou Wu Wang (周武王) or King Wu, the First King of the Zhou Dynasty. In order to commemorate their great-grandfather Gu Gong Dan Fu, some relatives of Ji Fa adopted GU 古 as their surname and left off the other three words of Gong Dan Fu.
The couplet of surname Gu
源自亶父, 望出新安.
Yuan2 zi4 Dan Fu, wang4 chu Xin An
A poem was composed from the last two words of Xin (新) and An (安) in the couplet:
新發于硎千年利,---Xin fa yu2 xing4 qian nian2 li4,
安然無恙萬家興.---An ran2 wu2 yang3 wan4 jia xing.
Historical prominent persons produced by the Gu clan
(1) Gu Zhi Qi (古之奇)
小惡無為, 涓流成池.
Xiao4 e3 wu2 wei4, juan liu2 cheng2 chi2
Gu Zhi Qi was born during the Tang Dynsty (唐朝 618AD to 907AD). He was a famous eunuch. He wrote a book called 縣令箴 (Xian Ling Zhen) about the rules and regulations of a county and how a county administrator should govern the territory under his jurisdiction. In olden days a county administrator was considered as the 父母官 or parental official of the people because he was in direct contact with the local people. The above two lines were part of a regulation in his book.
(2) Gu Bi (古弼 ? to 452AD)
Gu Bi was born in the the county of Da Tong (大同 in the present province of Shanxi 山西省) in the Kingdom of Hou Wei (後魏 386AD to 534AD), during the period of the North and South Dynasties (南北朝 420AD to 589AD). He was well versed in both polite letters and martial arts (文武雙全). Since he was excelled in military strategy the Court of Hou Wei bestowed upon him the title of 靈壽侯 0r the Duke of Ling Shou. He was also serving as a high official in the Court. Although he was a very busy man he never gave studying. He was not only admired by the Emperor but also the officials in the whole country.
(3) Gu Chu (古初)
Gu Chu was born in Lin Xian county (臨湘縣 in the present day province of Hunan 湖南省) during the Dong Han Dynasty (東漢朝 25AD to 220AD). It was recorded that during the reign of Emperor Guang Wu Liu Xiu (光武皇帝劉秀 25AD to 57AD) Gu Chu's father died. His father's corpse was put inside the coffin and was ready to be buried. Suddenly, his neighbour's house was on fire and it could be put out. Eventually the fire spread to his house, burning fiercely. Gu Chu crawled on top of his father's coffin lying there to protect the fire from buring the coffin. Sadly, Gu Chu was burned to death and the coffin was saved.
CHUNG Yoon-Ngan (鄭永元)
All rights reserved 28012004
Yoon-Ngan CHUNG
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