Chinese surname WANG (king)

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

Chinese surname WANG (王)
Wang means: the king; the ruler;  
The surname Wang is about 2500 years old.

It was during the Spring and Autumn Period (春秋時間 722BC to 481BC) that
in 571BC, Ji Xie Xin (姬泄心) was crowned as Zhou King Ling (周靈王), the 
twenty third King of the Zhou Dynasty (1134BC to 256BC). Zhou King Ling 
reigned until 545BC. His eldest son, Ji Jin (姬晉) was inducted as the
crown prince. When Crown Prince Ji Jin was a teenager he was well known
among the officials in the Zhou Court as a smart, intelligent and clever lad. 

Ji Biao (姬彪), the ruler of the State of Jin (晉國 present day Yi Cheng
county 翼城縣in Shanxi province), who ruled Jin from 557BC to 532BC, sent
an envoy, Shu Yu (叔譽), to the Zhou Court to have an audience with Zhou
King Ling. After Shu Yu had completed his official business he met Crown
Prince Ji Jin in the palace. They had a long talk about current affairs.
Shu Yu was greatly impressed by the Crown Prince Ji Jin's intellect.   

Shu Yu returned to Jin and told Ji Biao about Crown Princ Ji Jin. However,
another official by the name of Guang (矌) did not believe what Shu Yu
had told Ji Biao. In order to prove that Shu Yu was right, Guang went to 
Cheng Zhou (成周 present day Luoyang 洛陽 city in Henan province 河南省), 
the Zhou capital, and asked to see Crown Prince Ji Jin. Guang and Crown
Prince Ji Jin had a long dicussion about politics, the policy of a good
government, astrology and many other subjects. Guang was surprised to see
that the Crown Prince was indeed a smart and intelligent boy. Guang told
the Crown Prince, "I have never seen such an intelligent lad as you, in
my whole life." Guang went back to Jin and told Ji Biao that whatever Shu
Yu had said about Crown Prince Ji Jin was true.

In 550BC, the two rivers of Gu (谷) and Luo (洛) near the capital had
overflowed their banks. The flood inundated the areas in the vicinity of 
the two rivers. Water from the two rivers was jeopardizing the palace 
buildings. Zhou King Ling ordered that the water rushing into the palace
buildings be blocked off. However, Crown Prince Ji Jin had another idea and 
he told his father not to block off the water but to drain it off just
like what Yu Di (禹帝 2205BC to 2197BC) had done 1600 years ago. Crown
Prince Ji Jin argued that the dikes could not hold the flood.  Besides if
the dikes collapsed water could damage the palace buildings severely. To
drain off the water by digging many small channels was the only way to
save the palace buildings. Zhou King Ling refused to listen. Father and
son argued and argued for many days. Eventually Zhou King Ling was
infuriated and he sacked Ji Jin as the crown prince and banished him and
his family to Lang Ye (瑯琊 present day Gao Mi county 高密縣 in Shandong
province 山東省).

Lang Ye was a place under the jurisdiction of the State of Qi (齊國)
which was a powerful State. Jiang Guang (姜光), the ruler of Qi, who
ruled Qi from 553BC to 547BCBC, did not want Ji Jin to stay in Qi. Zhou
King Ling was also afraid that his recalcitrant son might have political
influence on the ruler of Qi. So Zhou King Ling disowned Ji Jin and
striped him off his royalty and Ji Jin eventually became a commoner. Zhou
King Ling also ordered Jiang Guang to expel him from Qi. Ji Jin was told 
to leave Qi by Jiang Guang. So Ji Jin took his family and went north to
Jin Yang (晉陽 present day Tai Yuan city in Shanxi province), which was a
city in the State of Jin (晉國). The ruler of the State of Jin was Ji Wu
(姬午), the great-grandson of Ji Biao who admired Ji Jin's talent. Ji Wu
ruled the State of Jin from 511BC to 474BC.

Ji Jin with his family settled down permanently in Jin Yang city.
Residents in Jin Yang city knew this newly arrived family was once a Wang
Jia (王家) or King's family. They called Ji Jin's family Wang Jia. As
time went by the descendants of Ji Jin gave themselves the word WANG
(王) or King as their surname and left off the word Jia (家) or family. 

The surname Wang originated in an area referred to during the Qin Dynasty 
(秦朝 221BC to 207BC) as the Tai Yuan Prefecture (太原郡). The present
day location of Tai Yuan Prefecture is the metropolitan city of Tai Yuan
in Shanxi province (山西省). 

CHUNG Yoon-Ngan   (  鄭  永  元 ). 
chungyn@mozart.joinet.net.au
Copyright 1999. All rights reserved.