Re: Chinese origins of an Armenian noble family

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

Hello Frank and Dr SL Lee,

This is what I found in my research on Chinese surnames.


Chinese surname No.79 AN (安)
An means : calm; tranquil.
The surname An is about 1800 years old.

Huang Di (黃帝) or the Yellow Emperor had twenty five sons and one of them
was called Chang Yi (昌意) who begot two sons. The eldest son was called
Zhuan Xu (顓頊) and the second one An (安). Huang Di appointed his
grandson An to administer a district in the furthermost west of his
capital You Xiong (有熊 in the present day city of Xin Zheng 新鄭 in Henan
province 河南省).

An's new domain was in the region of what we now call the Northeast of
Iran which was very far from his grandfather's capital. An established his
own country there and he named it An Xi (安息國) which meant Rest Claming.

More than two thousands years later during the reign of Emperor Liu Hong
(劉弘)  (168AD to 189AD) of the Han Dynasty (漢朝 206BC to 220AD) a crown
prince called An Qing (安清) of An Xi arrived at the city of Luo Yang
(洛陽) to preach Buddhism. He loved his ancestors land so much that he
decided to settle down.

After the death of his father An Qing was supposed to go back and become
the King of An Xi. However, he chosed not to go back and eventually he
gave up the throne in favour of his uncle.

An Qing travelled to every nook and corner in his adopted country
preaching Buddhism. While he was in the south of Chang Jiang (長江) or the
Yangtze River An Qing got married to a local girl and established his
family there. He surnamed his children AN (安) in remembrance of his
beloved country An Xi.

The surname An originated in an area referred to during the Han Dynasty
(漢朝 206BC to 220AD) as Wu Ling prefecture (武陵郡). The present day
location of Wu Ling prefecture is in the south of Xu Pu county (漵浦縣) of
Hunan province (湖南省).

CHUNG Yoon-Ngan (鄭永元)
chungyn@mozart.joinet.net.au
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