Re: Chinese Surname

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

Hello Evelyn,

It is very strange to see the English surname Reid change
into Chinese surname CHUNG.

Yoon-Ngan

Chinese surname  ZHONG (ÄÁ)
Zhong means bell  
The surname Zhong is about 2200 years old.

The surname Zhong originated in an area referred to during the Qin Dynasty
(¯³´Â 221 BC to 207 BC) as the Ying Chuan Prefecture (åù¤t°p). The present
day location of Ying Chuan Prefecture is in the northeast of Chang Ge
county (ªø ¸¯¿¤) of Henan province (ªe«n¬Ù). 

It was during the Zhou Dynasty (©P´Â 1134 BC to 256 BC) that in 681 BC, Zi
Yu Shuo (¤l±s»¡) became the ruler of the State of Song (§º°ê), in present
day Shang Qiu county (°Ó¥C¿¤) of Henan province. Zi Yu Shuo ruled Song
until 651BC. Zi Yu Shuo had a son named Zi Ao (¤l±Î) who was employed by
the ruler of the State of Jin (®Ê°ê) which was in present day Yi Cheng
county (Ál«°¿¤) in Shanxi province (¤s¦è¬Ù). 

Zi Ao's son was called Bo Zong (§B ©v) who was a wise, able and virtuous
high-ranking official in the Jin Court. Ji Min (®VµC), the ruler of Jin,
who ruled Jin from 706BC to 679BC, adored Bo Zong.  However, other
officials were jealous of him, as far as they were concerned Bo Zong was a
foreigner. As Bo Zong was from the State of Song and they did not want to
work under a foreigner.  Eventually they had him murdered. 

Bo Zong had a son named Zi Zhou Li (¤l¦{²p)  who fled with his family to
the State of Chu (·¡°ê present day Jiang Ling county ¦¿³®¿¤ in Hubei
province ´ò¥_¬Ù). Xiong Zi (ºµ¸í), the ruler of Chu, who ruled Chu from
689BC to 674BC, welcomed him and his fami ly. 

Later Xiong Zi appointed Zhou Li as the Administrator of a city called
Zhong Li (ÄÁÂ÷) which was in present day Feng Yang (»ñ¶§) city in Anhui
province (¦wÀ²¬Ù). Zhou Li was known as Zhong-Li Zhou Li (ÄÁ-Â÷¦{²p).

In 518 BC city of Zhong Li was conquered and annexed by the State of Wu
(§d°ê present day Wu Xian §d ¿¤ in Jiangsu province ¦¿Ä¬¬Ù). The
descendants of Zhou Li adopted ZHONG-LI as their surname. 

During the Qin Dynasty a descendant of Zhou Li called Zhong-Li Mei
(ÄÁ-Â÷¬N)  joined the uprising armed forces organized by Xiang Yu (¶µ¦Ð)
against the tyrannous Qin administration. Eventually the Qin Dynasty was
destroyed by Xiang Yu in 206 BC. However, civil war broke out between
Xiang Yu and Liu Bang (¼B¨¹) who was the leader of another armed
organization. The civil war lasted until 202BC when Xiang Yu committed
suicide when he lost out to Liu Bang who founded the Han Dynasty (º~´Â 206
BC to 220 AD). Z hong-Li Mei was killed in the battle. 

In order to avoid trouble with the troops of Liu Bang the children of
Zhong-Li Mei were fleeing in two groups. One group settled down in the
present day of Wu Xian county in Jiangsu province, they did not changed
their surname. The other group fled west t o Ying Chuan Prefecture of
Chang She (ªø ªÀ), in present day Chang Ge county in Henan province. They
shortened their surname to just ZHONG and left off the word Li. Therefore
surnames Zhong and Zhong-Li came from the same ancestor. 

CHUNG Yoon-Ngan ( ¾G ¥Ã ¤¸) 
chungyn@mozart.joinet.net.au
Copyright 1999. All rights reserved.