The origin of the surname Li and the origin of the surname can be summarized into the following categories:
1. The theory of the origin of the surname Ying.
That is to say, the Li family originated from the surname Ying, and their blood ancestor was Gaotao, the leader of the Dongyi tribe (whose surname was Yan or Ying). Gaotao was once appointed as Shun's Dali (the person in charge of criminal law). Official), so the Guanming family was named the Li family (the ancient characters for "Li" and "Li" are the same), first the Li family, and then the Li family. The ancestor of the surname was Li Li, and Li Er was the eleventh generation.
2. Plum tree totem theory. That is to say, it is believed that the surname Li originated from totem worship, with the plum tree as the totem.
Li was given the surname Li because he was an official in Dali. Later, he took refuge in Nanmuzi to feed himself during the Li campaign and was given the surname Li. Because the plums he ate were wild plums, the Li family cultivated them into domestic plum trees, and regarded the plum tree as a sacred tree, also known as a totem tree. Therefore, all the descendants of the Li family often plant plum trees beside their houses as a symbol, and this habit is still preserved to this day. There was a peach and plum garden at Li Bai's house. In the Tang Dynasty, many plum trees were planted in the palace gardens.
3. The origin of the surname Ji (tiger totem).
During the Shang Dynasty, there were descendants of Zhou with the same surname, named Ba people, who lived in Zhongli Mountain (now northwest of Changyang, Hubei Province). After King Wu of Zhou Dynasty destroyed the Shang Dynasty, the Ba people were granted the title of Bazi Kingdom in Ba (now Banan District of Chongqing). In 306 AD, the Ba people established the Dacheng Kingdom in Sichuan, known as Chenghan in history. This was the first dynasty established by the Li surname in China.
There is a view that the Li family’s totem is not a plum tree, but a tiger. The totem of the Chenchu ??area where Laozi Li Er was born is the tiger, and "Li Er" means "tiger" in the Chu language. The Ba people take the tiger as their totem, and the Ba language reads tiger as Li. When the tiger totem evolved into a surname, the Ba people respected the Han surname and adopted the surname Li according to the pronunciation.
4. It originated from the granting of surnames and the restoration of the Li family name.
During the Shu-Han period, after Zhuge Liang imprisoned the barbarians, he gave the local ethnic minorities the surnames Zhao, Zhang, Yang, Li, etc.; during the Han-Jin Dynasty, the nomadic ethnic minorities in the north attached themselves, and some Huns and Xianbei people followed. They were given surnames such as Liu and Li. During the Northern Wei Dynasty, after Xiaowen moved the capital to Luoyang, he implemented a policy of comprehensive cultural Hanization. The Xianbei people had a compound surname and the Li family was named the Li family. The Xianbei Tuoba clan of the Northern Wei royal family was actually a descendant of Han general Li Ling.
The Tuoba Li family of the Xixia royal family was given the Li family name at the end of the Tang Dynasty. In name, the surname was given, but in fact the Li surname was restored, because the Tuoba family of the Xixia royal family was a descendant of the Han general Li Ling.
During the Tang Dynasty, the royal family gave national surnames to ministers or military generals, first Xu, Bing, An, Du, Hu, Hong, Guo, Ma, Xianyu, Zhang, Abu, Adi, Shili, and Zhuxie , Dong, Luo and other surnames were given the surname Li by the Li Tang royal family due to their contribution to the founding of the country. Later, General Li Hemo and Li Yansheng from the Great Shi country and Li Xuan and Li Xun from the Persians were all given surnames by princes, and later Shatuo, Di, Uighur, and Khitan Because of their meritorious service or attachment, foreign ethnic minorities such as , Gaoche, Tubo, Judea, Parthian, Goguryeo, and Dangxiang were often awarded the surname Li.
Universal couplets for ancestral halls:
Moral inheritance;
Taibai legacy.
——An anonymous couplet to the ancestral hall of the surname Li. The first couplet "moral inheritance" comes from Laozi; the second couplet "Taibai legacy" and "poetry and wine flow" refer to Li Bai, the great poet of the Tang Dynasty
The merits of Wei Gong;
Yuanli gate wall.
——An anonymous couplet to the ancestral hall of the surname Li. In the Shanglian Dian, Li Jing made many military exploits during the Tang Dynasty, and was granted the title of Duke of Wei during the reign of Emperor Taizong. Xia Lian Dian originated from Li Ying in the Eastern Han Dynasty, whose courtesy name was Yuan Li. He was famous for his high reputation. Those who came after him and ascended the hall thought they were "climbing the Dragon Gate".
A distinguished family in Longxi;
Celebrities in Beihai.
——An anonymous couplet to the ancestral hall of the surname Li. The whole couplet refers to Li Yong, a calligrapher from the Tang Dynasty who was from Dujiang, Yangzhou and was good at annotating "Selected Works". During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong, he was the governor of Beihai. He was known as "Li Beihai" and his literary reputation was famous all over the world. He was the author of "Collection of Li Beihai".
Longxi Shize;
Feng Nan’s family voice.
——An anonymous couplet to the ancestral hall of the surname Li. Quanliandian originated from Li Guang of Han Dynasty, who was born in Chengji, Longxi. As well as Li Yuan, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, his ancestral home was Chengji, Longxi. "Feng" means Feng Yi, an ancient place name, now Dali County, Shaanxi Province.
Yehou Shize;
A model family voice.
——An anonymous couplet to the ancestral hall of the surname Li. The first couplet dates from the Tang Dynasty, when Li Mi was granted the title of Marquis of Ye.
Xia Lian Dian originated from Li Ying in the Eastern Han Dynasty, whose courtesy name was Yuan Li, who was called "a model for the world" by the students of Imperial College.
Longmen drove the seed to promote the Yuanli ceremony,
The wind pavilion sounded high and looked up to the Marquis of Ye.
——The door couplet of the "Li Family Ancestral Hall" at the eight gates of Hangu. The first couplet is "Longmen drives the species to push Yuan Li". Research proves that Yuan Li originally refers to Zhao Yuanhao. In the sixth year of Tiansheng of the Song Dynasty (1028), Yuan Hao led his troops to defeat the Uighurs, captured Ganzhou, and established himself as the prince. Yuan Hao was a man of great strategy, familiar with military art, knowledgeable about law, knowledgeable about Buddhism, and proficient in Tibetan and Chinese characters. He proclaimed himself the emperor and founded the country, named Daxia. The second line "The sound of the wind pavilion is high and the Marquis of Ye is raised", Ye is an ancient place name, referring to the west of Linzhang County, Hebei Province. Hou refers to the second rank of the five noble titles in ancient my country. It is speculated that in ancient times, the ancestors of the Li family were a high-ranking family respected by the world in the Ye area.
Sage Zou Lu once asked for rites,
The emperor of the Tang Dynasty also asked for poems.
——An anonymous couplet to the ancestral hall of the surname Li. The first couplet contains the story of Confucius asking about Li Dan's courtesy. The second couplet mentions that Li Longji, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, requested poetry from Li Bai.
Ode to the Minjiang River's water conservancy for thousands of years,
Taibai's poetic style is endless.
——An anonymous couplet to the ancestral hall of the surname Li. In the Shanglian Dian, Li Bing, a water conservancy expert from the Warring States Period, excavated Dujiangyan. The second couplet refers to Li Bai, a great poet of the Tang Dynasty, whose poem was named Wanli.
He came out of Longxi and was the general in the history of the country.
——This couplet adopts the couplet of the Li family ancestral hall in Caofushan, Jiashan County, Anhui Province. The first Lian Dian comes from the Li family's county, and the Li family has a large number of talented people in history, including "generals, ministers, princes, and princes"; the lower Lian Dian comes from the Li family who settled on the west bank of the Huaihe River, with the family tradition of "loyalty, good friends, and filial piety".
Since the Tang and Zhou Dynasties, the official history has left a long legacy;
From Guangdong to Shu, the ancestral virtues and clans have made great contributions.
——This couplet adopts the couplet of Li’s ancestral hall in Taiping Lane, Main Street, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province. "Li Guan" in the first couplet refers to Li's origin from Dali Guan; "Zhu Shi" means that Laozi (Li Dan) once served as Zhu Xia Shi in the Zhou Dynasty. According to the "Li Family Genealogy" of the Republic of China period, the Li family's migration in Chengdu is revealed in Xialiandian: General Li Guangbi of the Tang Dynasty was originally from the Khitan tribe in Liucheng, Yingzhou. He returned to the Tang Dynasty and was surnamed Li. He made many military exploits and was granted the title of Prince of Linhuai County and settled there. Jinling, and then moved to several provinces in the south. After the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, some people moved westward from the south. Among them, a branch of the Li family from Guangdong moved to Shu during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty and settled in Chengdu.
Fields can be plowed, mulberry trees can be used to sericulture, books can be read, and reputations can be passed down as family heirlooms;
When you fight, you win, when you attack, you take, when you defend, you are strong, and Wen Zhong is the founder of the country.
——An anonymous couplet to the ancestral hall of the surname Li. The first couplet comes from Li Xiyu, the Tang Dynasty ambassador to the south of the Yangtze River. The lower couplet comes from Li Wenzhong, the left governor of the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion in the Ming Dynasty.