RE: Surname Story - Ancestral Liu's Dragonburger

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

Dear Mr LIU,

Thank you for sharing your genealogy with us.
It is very interesting. Surname Liu is the fourth most popular 
surname in the Chinese race. There is a book entilted
"Yan Huang Bai Jia Tong Su Yan Yi  "炎黃百家通俗演義" volumn one. 
The pages in this book from 547 to 627 are all about the story of 
surname LIU. The authors are:
Yuan Pu 元浦;  Li Zhen 李鎮 and Zhao Cheng Xiao 趙成孝  

Here is my version and it is only up to the establishment 
of surname LIU. My next task is to trace all the surnames
from ancient time to the 1990s if time permits.


No. 4 LIU  (劉)
Liu means : a Chinese surname. 
Surname Liu is more than 3000 years old.

The Surname Liu originated in an area referred to during the Han (漢) 
Dynasty (206BC to 220AD) as the Peng Cheng (彭城) Prefecture. The 
present day  location of Peng Cheng Prefecture is in Tong Shan (銅山) 
county of Jiangsu (江蘇 province.
 
Yao Di (堯帝), who lived about 4400 years ago, was the legendary chief 
of the federated tribes in ancient China. Legend says that around 1880BC 
a descendant of Yao Di fathered an attractive baby boy with two words 
Liu Lei (劉累) written into  his palm. His parents named him after these 
two words. People said that when Liu Lei grew up he knew how to tame the 
dragons. Liu Lei could ride on the back of any flying dragon. Legends 
also say that Liu Lei was appointed by King Kong Jia (孔甲王) to look after 
his our dragons. King Kong Jia was the thirteenth King of the Xia 
Dynasty (夏 2205BC to 1766BC) and personally reigned from 1879BC to 1847BC . 
Soon after being employed as King Kong Jia's dragon-keeper, 
one of the dragons became ill and died. Liu Lei did not tell the King 
about the dragons death; instead he cooked the meat of the dead dragon 
for the King to eat. After the meal King  Kong Jia said that it was 
delicious and rewarded Liu Lei with some gifts. King Kong Jia wanted 
to watch some acrobatic shows performed by the dragons. In  order to 
prevent King Kong Jia from finding out about the death of one of his  
dragons, Liu Lei only allowed two dragons to perform at a time. The 2 
dragon performance had been going on for quite some time, and King Kong 
Jia thought that it could fantastic if the show was performed by his four 
dragons. The King  wanted his four dragons to perform together, but Liu 
Lei ignored the King's wish  and continued to use two dragons to perform 
the shows. King Kong Jia became  suspicious about his dragons and wanted 
to query Liu Lei. Knowing that he could  not trick the King any more and 
that sooner or later the King would find out about  the death of one of 
the dragons, Liu Lei took his family and fled to Lu (魯) county 
(present day Lu Shan 魯山 county in Henan 河南 province). After Liu 
Lei's death his descendants adopted LIU as their surname.     

During the reign of Zhou dynasty (周 1134BC to 256BC) King Xuan (周宣 王 
reigned from 827BC to 782BC), a descendant of Liu Lei called Xi Shu 
(隰叔) went  to lived in the State of Jin (晉 present day Yi Cheng 翼城 
county in Shanxi 山西 province). Jin Mu Hou (晉穆侯), the ruler of Jin, 
appointed Xi Shu as a Shi Shi (士師) or a teacher to the Jin Court. Xi 
Shu adopted SHI as his surname. By the time of  Shi Xi Shu's 
great-grandson Shi Hui (士 會) the Shi family had gained considerable 
influence in the Jin court.

Jin Xiang Hou (晉襄 侯), the ruler of the State of Jin from 627BC, died 
in 621BC. Shi Hui was ordered by the Jin Court to go to the State of Qin 
(秦 in present day  Feng Xiang 鳳翔 county in Shaanxi 陜西 province) to 
fetch prince Yong (雍), the  younger brother of Jin Xiang Hou to be 
installed as the new ruler of Jin. However,  on the way back to Jin, they 
were blocked by the Jin troops from returning home,  due to the fact that 
the elder son of Jin Xiang Hou, had been installed as King. Shi  Hui and 
Yong decided returned to Qin. Shi Hui stayed in Qin permenantly and  
reverted to his ancestors surname Liu. Shi Hui now was known as Liu Hui 
and he surnamed his children LIU.


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