Yuan Yida and his works on surnames. "May I have your name?" -Surname is not only a question that China people must ask when they meet for the first time, but also contains unusual cultural connotations. China is the first country to use surnames in the world. About 5, years ago, surnames were hereditary and passed on by the paternal line. Therefore, the surname of China people is the oldest in the world. With the passage of time and the changes of the world, China people's surnames rank differently in different dynasties.
Experts point out that the change of surnames reflects the development and inheritance of Chinese history and culture from one side. The research on the "surname gene" and surname distribution of China people involves the origin of the Chinese nation, the distribution of genetic resources inherited by ancestors, the root-seeking at home and abroad today, the future population development trend and land use and other important issues and research fields.
"Hundred Surnames" are ranked according to population
Not long ago, with the support of the National Natural Science Foundation, Yuan Yida, a researcher at the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Qiu Jiaru, the founding president of the Chinese Qiu Clan Association, cooperated to complete a new survey of the "Surnames Research Project", which was ranked according to population. Today's new "ranking of hundreds of surnames" is introduced: Li Wang Zhang Liu, Chen Yang Huang Zhao, Zhou Wu Xu Sun, Zhu Ma Hu Guo, Lin He Gao Liang, Zheng Luo Song Xie, Tang Han Cao Xu, Deng Xiao Feng Zeng, Cheng Cai Peng Pan, Yuan Yu Dong Yu, Su Ye Lu Wei, Jiang Tian Du Ding, Shen Jiang Fan Jiang, Fu Zhong Lu Wang, Dai Cui Ren Lu, Liao Yao Fang Jin.
As soon as this result came out, many people compared it with the ancient enlightenment book Hundred Family Names, which we are familiar with. In fact, the two are not comparable. The old "Hundred Family Names" is a four-word and one-sentence rhyme composed by a scholar in Qiantang (Hangzhou) in the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty. Its ranking is not strictly based on the number of surnames, but mainly pays attention to the rhyming, catchy, easy to learn and easy to remember. Therefore, it has become a teaching material with the longest popularity and the widest circulation in China since its publication.
Wang Mingqing, a scholar in the Southern Song Dynasty, pointed out through textual research that the arrangement of the first surnames of "Qiansun Zhao Li, Zhou Wu Zheng Wang" in Hundred Surnames is exquisite: Zhao refers to Zhao Song, and since it is the surname of the monarch, it should be the first; Followed by Qian surname, Qian is the surname of King wuyue in the Five Dynasties and Ten Countries; Sun was the surname of the princess of the king's money at that time; Li is the surname of the king of the Southern Tang Dynasty.
Many dynasties compiled "Hundred Surnames"
The old "Hundred Surnames" originally collected 411 surnames, which were later supplemented to 54, including 444 single surnames and 6 compound surnames. The top 1 are Qiansun Zhao Li, Zhou Wu Zheng Wang, Feng Chen Chu Wei, Jiang Shen Han Yang, Zhu Qin You Xu, He Lv Shi Zhang, Kong Cao Yan Hua, Jin Wei Tao Jiang, Qi Xie Zou Yu, Bai Shui Dou Zhang, Yun Su Pan Ge, Xi Fan Peng Lang, Lu Wei Chang Ma, Miao Feng Hua Fang, Yu Ren Yuan Liu, Feng Bao Shi Tang and Fei Lian Cen.
Since the ranking of Hundred Surnames has no scientific significance, can we scientifically restore the surname ranking of people in Song Dynasty more than 1 years ago? According to the internationally recognized research method of surname frequency, Yuan Yida collected statistical samples from the index of Biographies of Song People, which is the most comprehensive document collected so far, and made statistics according to the name, native place or residence, work area and place indicated in the document of each character. At the same time, according to the numerical values of the four population statistics of Song Dynasty, the proportion of the average population of the whole country and provinces in Song Dynasty was calculated with the year interval as the weighted number, so as to calculate the expected distribution of surnames in the whole country at that time.
According to Yuan Yida's research, during the 319 years from Zhao Kuangyin's mutiny in Chen Qiao in 96 A.D. to the Southern Song Prime Minister Lu Xiufu's suicide by throwing himself into the sea with his 9-year-old emperor on his back in 1279, the order of hundreds of surnames was: Wang Li Zhang Zhao, Liu Chen Yang Wu, Huang Zhu Sun Guo, Hu Lu Gao Song, Edward Xu Lin Zheng, Fan He Han Cao, Ma Xu Tian Feng, Du Zhou Zeng Wang, Su Dong Fang Cai, and Du Zhou Zeng Wang.
According to the same scientific research method, Yuan Yida also got the ranking of hundreds of surnames in Yuan Dynasty and Ming Dynasty. During the 98 years from Kublai Khan's founding in 1271 to its demise in 1368, the order of hundreds of surnames in the Yuan Dynasty was: Wang Zhang Li Liu, Chen Zhao Wu Yang, Huang Zhou Xu Zhu, Zheng Hu Gao Guo, Lin Cheng Ma Shi, Wang Luo Sun Deng, Zeng Xiao He Fang, Tang Xie Feng Lu, Xu Han Dong Ye, Song Xia Yu Cao, Fan Pan Tian Yao and Jin Yuan Cai Dai.
Yuan Yida pointed out that, in fact, many dynasties in the history of our country compiled "hundreds of surnames" or "thousands of surnames", but they were not sorted by the population, but related to the family status or the pronunciation of surnames at that time. For example, in the Ming Dynasty, thousands of surnames began with the emperor's "Zhu" surname, while in the Qing Dynasty, hundreds of surnames began with "Kong" surname to show respect for Kong.