The surname Zhong is a surname with a large number of people, ranking 56th among Chinese surnames today.
As for the time and reason for the formation of the surname Zhong, ancient genealogists have different opinions. Lin Bao of the Tang Dynasty's "Yuanhe Surname Compilation" says: "Zhong, after Song Weizi, Huan Gong's great-grandson Bozong served in the Jin Dynasty. He was born in Zhouli and served as an official in Chu. He food and food Zhongli. Because of his surname Yan, his descendants may have the surname Zhong. In Chu there are Zhongyi, Zhong Jian, and Zhong Ziqi were friends with Bole. Xiang Yu sent Zhong Limei, and Mei Zhongzilou (should be Jie) also had a single surname of Zhong. The "Song Weizi" mentioned here was the elder brother of King Zhou of Yin, who was under the control of Zhou Gong in the early Western Zhou Dynasty. Dan Zhifeng established the Song Dynasty in the south of Shangqiu, Henan Province, and was the founding monarch of the Song Dynasty; Song Huan Gong was the 19th monarch of the Song Dynasty. He had a great-grandson named Bo Zong, who served as a doctor in the Jin Dynasty and was known as the "Sage of Jin" "But because he was loyal and dared to remonstrate, he offended the ruling Que family and was killed. Bo Zong's son Zhouli fled to the Chu State and later served as the Grand Administrator. He lived in Zhongli (now northeast of Fengyang, Anhui Province). His descendants took Yi as their surname and were divided into two surnames. One branch had the compound surname Zhongli. In the Spring and Autumn Period, the State of Chu had Duke Yun Zhongyi, doctor Zhongjian, and Zhong Ziqi who was good at listening to the qin and became close friends with Bo Le, who was good at playing the qin. At the end of the Qin Dynasty, Zhong Limei, a native of Yilu (southwest of Haizhou Town, Lianyungang City, Jiangsu Province today), was Xiang Yu's general. His second son took over and began to live in Yingchuan Changshe (now northeast of Changge, Henan Province). In order to avoid hatred, the province " "Li" has a single surname of Zhong.
According to "Zuo Zhuan": In the seventh year of Duke Cheng of Lu (584 BC), the Zheng people "prisoned Duke Yun Zhongyi and presented it to the Jin Dynasty"; in the fifteenth year of Duke Cheng of Lu (576 BC) Year), "The third generation of Jin Dynasty harmed Bo Zong and killed him for his disobedience, as well as Luan Fuji. Bozhou rushed to Chu with plows." This shows that there was already a Zhong family in Chu State before the state went to Chu. Therefore, Deng Mingshi of the Song Dynasty said in "Ancient and Modern Clan Book Differentiation": "Zhong Jian was the descendant of Yi, and Ziqi Youjian's grandsons were not from Zhouli." " But where are the "food towns" of Zhong Yi's ancestors? Deng Mingshi did not say anything about it, and there is no record in ancient books. Therefore, Zhang Shu of the Qing Dynasty's "Seeking the Origin of Surnames" believed that the Zhong family "should be based on the official name." According to "Zhou Li Chunguan" records, in ancient times there was an official named Zhongshi who struck bells with his palms to play music. As Zhang Shu said, the earliest branch of the Zhong surname has Guan as its surname, and is the descendant of Zhongshi, an official of Zhou Le Palace.
As mentioned above, the Zhong family during the Qin Dynasty mainly lived in the Chu Kingdom (today's Hubei and Hunan areas). Starting from the Han Dynasty and for hundreds of years, Yingzhou Prefecture has been the development and reproduction center of the Zhong family. It has given birth to many outstanding figures. Therefore, many surname books say that the Zhong family looks out over Yingchuan (the county seat is in Xuchang City, Henan Province today). East), most people of the Zhong clan take "Yingchuan" as their hall name. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhong Hao, a native of Changshe, lived in seclusion and taught poetry and rhythm in Mishan. More than a thousand people immigrated to his family. His seventh descendant, Zhong Ya, crossed the river with the Jin family at the end of the Western Jin Dynasty and lived in Jiankang (now Nanjing, Jiangsu Province). During the reign of Emperor Yuan of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, he joined the army in the Prime Minister's Records Office, and later became the Censor Zhongcheng. According to the "Taiwan Provincial General Chronicle, People's Chronicle, Clan Chapter", there are 13 surnames brought into Fujian Province from the Central Plains during the Jin Dynasty, including the surname Zhong. At the same time, some of the Zhong family moved to Shaoxing, Zhejiang today. Zhong Ya's 7th grandson Zhong Yu was the Prime Minister of Yongjia County in Liang in the Southern Dynasty. Zhong Chong of Yu Zi was the Linghai Ling. He fled the difficulties of waiting for the scene and moved to Gan County, Nankang (now Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province). At the end of the Southern Dynasty and the beginning of the Sui Dynasty, there was Zhong Shixiong, who was General Chen Fubo of the Southern Dynasty. History books called him the "Lingnan Chieftain". Lingnan refers to the south of Wuling, which is equivalent to the current Guangdong and Guangxi provinces and northern Vietnam. This shows that the Zhong family was also among the ethnic minorities in Lingnan during the Southern Dynasties. In the early Tang Dynasty, Chen Zheng and Chen Yuanguang, father and son from Gushi in Guangzhou, were ordered to go to Fujian to open up Zhangzhou. They were accompanied by general Zhong Dexing and later settled in Fujian. In the Tang Dynasty, the Zhong family was also distributed in present-day Shanxi, Sichuan, Guangzhou, Guangdong, and Hefei, Anhui. During the Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties, there were settlements of the Zhong family in Zhangzhou, Quanzhou, Ninghua and other places in Fujian, and in Nanhai, Nanxiong, Lianling, Chaozhou, Meizhou, Xingning and other places in Guangdong. Starting from the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, People from Fujian, Guangdong, and Zhong families moved to Taiwan one after another, and later some people moved overseas.
During the Three Kingdoms period, there was a minister and calligrapher Zhong Yao in Wei, who was a native of Changshe, Yingchuan. Emperor Wen served as Tingwei, and Emperor Ming served as Taifu, so he was called "Zhong Taifu"; his calligraphy won over others. , is good at all styles, especially Li, Kai, and is known as "Zhong Wang" with King Xizhi of Jin Dynasty. Zhong Hui, the son of Zhong Yao, was promoted to Situ. He was an important counselor of Sima Zhao, a erudite man, and excelled in the studies of famous scholars. In the Southern Dynasties, there was a literary critic named Zhong Rong, who was a native of Yingzhouzhoushe and served as an official in the Qi and Liang dynasties. He wrote "Shipin", which commented on more than 100 poets from the Han Dynasty to the Liang Dynasty. He played an important role in the history of literature. In the Tang Dynasty, there was Zhong Shaojing, the prime minister and calligrapher of Ruizong, who was the 10th grandson of Zhong Yao.
In the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhong Xiang, the leader of the peasant uprising in the Dongting Lake area, grew to hundreds of thousands and was once promoted to the king of Chu. In the early Yuan Dynasty, there was Zhong Mingliang, a member of the She ethnic group in Xunzhou (now Longchuan, Guangdong), who led more than 10,000 people in an uprising that lasted for 2 years; in the Yuan Dynasty, there was also a dramatist Zhong Sicheng. There was a writer Zhong Xing in the Ming Dynasty. During the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty, there was Zhong Renjie, the leader of the peasant uprising in Chongyang, Hubei Province, who was once called King Zhong Qin. In modern times, there was a botanist named Zhong Guanguang. It can be seen that Zhong made positive contributions to China's civilization and progress.