No. 101 Wu (to Steve)

[CHUNG Yoon-Ngan <chungyn@mozart.joinet.net.au>]

No. 101 WU (§Å)
Wu means : clever doctor; wizard.
Surname Wu is an ancient surname which is more than 3000 years old.

Surname Wu originated in an area referred to during the Han (º~) Dynasty 
(206BC to 220AD) as the Ping Yang (¥­¶§) Prefecture. The present day 
location of Ping Yang Prefecture is in Lin Fen (Á{¨W) county of Shanxi 
(¤s¦è) province.  

In ancient time people superstitiously believed that every thing had a  
spirit. They also believed that the fate of existence of every thing, 
including human beings, in this world was determined by an almighty 
divine living up in the sky. People engaged soothsayers to communicate 
with the almighty devine. The official title of the soothsayers was Wu. 
It was belived that the soothsayers were the only people who could 
communicate with the almighty divine. All the requests to the almighty 
from the rulers of the land and the ordinary people had to go through 
the soothsayers. The replies from the divine spirit to the people also 
would have to  pass through the soothsayers. As a result of this the 
soothsayers were the very important person and were highly respec
ted by the people through out the land. The every day life of the 
superstitious people depended on the soothsaying by the fortune tellers. 
Even nowadays, every day, there is a soothsaying stated in the Chinese 
Lunar Calendar.

During the Dynasties of Xia ( ®L 2205BC to 1766BC) and Shang (°Ó 1783BC to 
1122BC) the official title of the soothsayers remained as Wu (§Å) and they 
were in charge of astronomy, mathematics, medicine and many other duties. 
The official title Wu was reclassified into two titles. One was entitled 
Wu Chen (§Å¦Ú) and the other Wu Zhu (§Å¯¬). 

The medical treatments for sick patients were very primitive during  
those time. Those soothsayers of Wu Zhu branch began to specialize in 
herbal medicine and they became herbalists. They stopped practicing 
their mediumistic profession and began to cure sick people. To the 
people they were cleverest doctors.
  
Some of the descendants of the Wu Zhu branch adopted the official title of 
WU ZHU as their surname. Many generations later the descendants of Wu 
Zhu split into two surnames. One was the surname Wu (§Å) and the other 
Zhu (¯¬). The Zhu branch emigrated to the north in seek of employment.    

CHUNG Yoon-Ngan		chungyn@mozart.joinet.net.au
http://www.joinet.net.au/~chungyn
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