The surname Li was originally based on his official position. Ni Tao was the legendary leader of the Dongyi tribe, and his activities were located in the area of ??Qufu City, Shandong Province today. When Yao was the leader of the Yanhuang Yi Alliance, Neng Tao served as a Liguan and was in charge of criminal law. His descendants followed his official position and named their family Li clan. Neng Tao was known for his integrity. After Shun succeeded Yao to the throne, he continued to be used in important positions.
The descendant Li Zheng served as an official in the Shang Dynasty and dared to give direct advice. He offended King Zhou of Shang and was punished to death. His wife Qihe fled with her son Lizhen to Yihouzhixu (today's Yihe River Basin in western Henan), where she hid and survived by eating muzi (plum tree fruits). So starting from Li Zhen, the Li family name was changed to Li family name in order to commemorate Li Zi who preserved the Li family name.
The famous Lao Tzu is said to be the 11th grandson of Li Lizhen. In the Tang Dynasty, Li was the "national surname". In the early years of the Tang Dynasty, all the generals who followed Li Yuan and Li Shimin to conquer the world were given the surname Li, which greatly expanded the number of people with the surname Li. The Tang Dynasty was the heyday of China's feudal society. It had been emperor for more than 300 years. The Li surname was the most prominent, and the population of the Li surname developed greatly.
From the early years of the Ming Dynasty, the Li family began to migrate overseas. During the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, more and more Li people immigrated overseas.
There are more than 20,000 surnames in ancient and modern times, and the number of people with the surname Li now ranks first
According to the latest research by experts, there are more than 22,000 Chinese surnames in ancient and modern times. This is the most relevant information about Chinese surnames so far. Most statistics recorded. Among the top ten surnames, Li ranks first. Accounting for 7.9% of the total population.
According to a report by "Xinhuanet" on July 28, these 22,000 surnames also include the Chinese translations of ethnic minorities who have belonged to China's territory in the past dynasties. Surname. With the changes of the times, many surnames have disappeared, and there are currently about 3,500 Han surnames in use.
Experts found that among the top ten surnames, the surname Li ranks first. There are 270 million people with the three surnames of Li, Wang and Zhang, accounting for more than 22% of the country's total population.
Among the 22,000 surnames, there are Chinese-translated surnames belonging to ethnic minorities on the territory of China in the past dynasties. With the changes of the times, many surnames have disappeared, and there are about 3,500 Han surnames still used by contemporary Chinese.
After years of collection and research, Associate Researcher Yuan Yida of the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences found that the three largest surnames in the country are Li, Wang, and Zhang, accounting for 7.9% of the total population respectively. , 7.4 and 7.1, reaching 270 million people, making them the three largest groups of people with the same surname in the world.
The 100 common surnames in contemporary China account for 87% of the country's population, and there are 19 surnames accounting for more than 1% of the country's population, namely Li, Wang, Zhang, Liu, Chen, Yang, Zhao, Huang, Zhou, Wu, Xu, Sun, Hu, Zhu, Gao, Lin, He, Guo, Ma. Historically, about half of China's population has been concentrated in these nineteen surnames.
In addition, the regional distribution of people with the same surname in China is uneven. For example, in the northern region, the surname Wang is the most common surname, while in the south, the surname Chen is the most common surname; in the Yangtze River Basin, a transitional area between north and south, the surname Li is the most common surname.
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The "Li" in the surname should all be Muzi Li, not "Li", "Li" or "Lu" "Bar? However, did you know that their ancestors’ surname was “Li”, not the “Li” they use today?
Tens of thousands of years ago, our ancestors lived in a matrilineal clan society, with women leading life and labor, and everyone only had a first name but no surname. About five thousand years ago, in order to ensure that the men and women who married each other were from different clans and to avoid incest marriages that would be detrimental to the growth of offspring, it was decided to give each clan a title for identification, which is the oldest surname.
So, what did our ancestors use as their surname? Most of them used local materials, and some had surnames based on the country they belonged to, such as Qin, Zhao, Han, Wei, Chen, Song, etc. Some have official surnames, such as Shi, Zuo, Dong, Sima, etc.
Some people simply took their surname as their profession. Those who made pottery were surnamed Tao, those who were fortune tellers were surnamed Bu, and those who were butchers were naturally surnamed Tu.
According to legend, during the time of Emperor Yao, the country had the position of governor. The job of the magistrate is to resolve disputes between people, distinguish right from wrong, and then make fair judgments. At that time, there was a governor named Gao Tao. He was fair and strict and very respected. His descendants also inherited the position of Li Guan and took "Li" as their surname.
At the end of the Shang Dynasty, the tyrant King Zhou came to power. The judicial officer Li Zheng often criticized King Zhou's evil deeds and punished those who did wrong around King Zhou. King Zhou was furious and executed him. In order to avoid being implicated, Li Zheng's wife immediately took her young son Li Zhen and hid in a remote forest.
The mother and son lived in the woods. They drank from the spring water in the mountains when they were thirsty, and ate wild fruits on the trees when they were hungry. Years and months passed, and Li Lizhen grew up relying on spring water and wild fruits. It was not until King Zhou was overthrown that the mother and son returned home. In order to commemorate the days when he grew up eating wild fruits in the forest, Li Lizhen changed his last name from "Li" to "Li". "Li" is composed of the two characters "wood" and "子", which can be interpreted as the fruit on the tree or the child under the tree.
Since then, there have been many descendants of the Li family. The most powerful Tang Dynasty in Chinese history, the emperor was named Li. At that time, many meritorious ministers were given the surname Li. Gradually, more and more people named Li were found all over the world.
Since there are so many people named Li, there are naturally many famous people in history. For example, the great pre-Qin philosopher Li Er (Lao Tzu), who even Confucius consulted, Li Bing, a water conservancy expert in the Warring States Period, and the Tang Dynasty author? Death Bizhu⒚鞒?耀┭ЪYithorium Guan Laiqu P∨笥甞?隳苁?徆匌匿squid holding?Blooming Wandou sun θSong Dynasty insulated the ciwu grains for cooking?Barium Mijia francium?Feed ⒗钤夋堋⒋笊carbon according to the thin weft ⒎绶?The shit is exhausted 羾錾 skeleton⒐Ψ瓌扌扌玌×?⒏How often does Zhi Xi?
The surname Li is the surname with the largest population among Chinese people. It has gone through a process from being named after an official position to being named after a tree. According to legend, Emperor Shaohao had a descendant named Gaotao, who was in Dali (the name of the chief justice's palace) when he was Emperor Yao, and he formulated the punishment of Wu Zhong. Never makes a mistake in handling a case. Gaotao's descendants inherited the Dali position hereditary, and passed through three generations of Yu, Xia and Shang, and they were called the Li family. At the end of the Shang Dynasty, Li Zheng offended King Zhou and was executed for not enforcing the law. Li Zheng's wife Qi He fled to Yihou's ruins with her son Li Zhen. There are many plum trees in the local area, and it is the season when the fruits are ripe. The mother and son were in distress and survived by eating plums to satisfy their hunger. So "Li" was changed to "Li", and subsequent generations took Li as their surname. In the Tang Dynasty, Xu, An, Du, Hu, Hong, Guo, Xianyu, Zhang, Abu, Adi, Shili, Zhu Xie, Dong, Luo and other surnames were given the surname Li because of their contribution to the founding of the country by Li Yuan and Li Shimin. The Li family became very favored. The famous family surnamed Li lived in Longxi County (now the area of ??Lanzhou, Gongchang and Qinzhou in Gansu Province). There are many celebrities in the history of the Li family, including the flying general Li Guang of the Western Han Dynasty, Li Shimin, Li Bai, Li He and Li Shangyin of the Tang Dynasty, Li Qingzhao of the Song Dynasty, Li Zicheng and Li Shizhen of the Ming Dynasty, etc. They are all famous figures in history.