Chinese surname TONG

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

Chinese surname TONG (Êc)
Tong means : a Chinese family surname.
Surname Tong is about 3100 years old.

In 1818BC Si Gui (©q¬Ñ) became the sixteenth King of the Xia Dynasty 
(®L´Â 2205BC to 1766BC). Xia King Si Gui was a very clever man. By nature
he was cruel, brutal and atrocious. He was a tyrant as a ruler. As a man
he indulged in luxuries and spent most of his time with his beautiful wife
Shi Mei Xi (¬I©f³ß).  The couple were masochists and they derived pleasure
by torturing people. Many minor offenders of his subjects were tortured to
death.

Guan Long Feng (ÃöÀs³{) was a respectful and much honoured official
serving Xia King Si Gui. Guan Long Feng advised Xia King Si Gui about the
danger lying ahead for him if he were to continue the sadism. Xia King Si
Gui would not listen to him. Instead he had Guan Long Feng tortured to
death.

Zhong Gu (²×¥j) was a Tai Shi Gong (¤Ó¥v©x) or a scholar cum advisor in
the Xia Court. Knowing that Xia King Si Gui would not repent of his sins
Zhong Gu resigned.

Eventually the Xia Dynasty was destroyed and Xia King Si Gui was killed by
Zi Li (¤l¼i) who founded the Shang Dynasty (1765BC to 1135BC). Shang King
Zi Li employed Tong Gu as an officiail. 

After Zhong Gu's death some of his children adopted Dong (¥V), halt of his
name Zhong (²×), as their surname. Dong meant winter which was a very cold
season and they did not like it. So they added the character Ren (¤H) or
person to the left of the character Dong. Ultimately, the modified
character was Tong (Êc). That was how surname Tong came about.

In 1122BC Ji Fa founded the Zhou Dynasty (©P´Â 1134BC to 250BC). An
official with the surname of Tong, a descendant of Zhong Gu, for unknown
reason, refused to serve in Ji Fa's administration. Ji Fa sent him to
work in a settlement in the far away eastern part of the country (present
day Liaoning province ¿ñ¹ç¬Ù).

There is a river called Tong Jia Jiang (Êc®a¦¿) in Liaoning province. It
is one of the tributaries of Ya Lu Jiang (Ànºñ¦¿) or Yalu River which is
also the border between China and Korea. 

During the Han Dynasty (º~´Â 206BC to 220AD)  it was called Yan Tan Shui
(ÆQÅy¤ô) or salty beach river.  However, during the Yuan Dynasty (¤¸´Â
1271AD to 1368AD) Yan Tan Shui was renamed to Da Chong Jiang (¤j¦ä¦¿) or
big worm river.called Da (big). During the Ming Dynasty (©ú´Â1368AD to
1644AD) people living along the banks of Da Chong Jiang became prosperous
and rich. Most of the people living there were with the surname Tong, the
descendants of Tong Gu. The Ming government changed Da Chong Jiang to Tong
Jia Jiang or river of the Tong family. 

During the Qing Dynasty (²M´Â 1644AD to 1911AD) many ethnic Man Zhou
(º¡¬w) people emigrated there. These Man Zhou people settled down there
for good. Like the ethnic Han, they adopted Tong as their surname.
   
Many Man Zhou with the surname Tong were conscripted into the Qing army.
They were posted to all parts of China.

In 1911AD Dr Sun Yat-Sen overthrew the Qing Dynasty and he founded the
Republic of China (1911AD to ?). Many Tongs of Man Zhou origin did not
return to Liaoning province. They settled down in the places where they
were stranded. Therefore the Tongs are widely spread through out China.
   
People with the surname Tong are mainly of ethnic Man Zhou origin.
However, there are Han Chinese with this surname too and they are the
offspring of Tong Gu

The surname Tong originated in an area refeered to during the Qin Dynasty
(¯³´Â 221BC to 207BC) as the Liao Dong prefecture (¿ñªF°p). The present
day location of Liao Dong prefecture is in Liao Yang county (¿ñ¶§¿¤) of
Liaoning province (¿ñ¹ç¬Ù).

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