Chu [ chǔ ].
The surname Chu is based on the official name. According to "Tongzhi, Clan Briefing, Taking Officials as Clan": "Originally from the Yin (Shang) descendants, Song Gonggong, Xia, picked his food from Chu. His virtues can be learned from Chu, so he was named Chu Master, so he was named surname."; Residents Named after the place.
There is another simpler way of saying the surname Chu, which is to take the surname from the place of residence. According to "The Origin of Surnames", there was a place called Chu in ancient times, and the local residents took Chu as their surname.
The Chu family is a surname of many ethnic groups and origins. It ranks 223rd on the current surname ranking list with a population of about 443,000, accounting for 10% of the total population of the country. Around 0.027. The surname Chu is not among the top 100 surnames in both mainland China and Taiwan. The Chu family is ranked 11th in the Song version of "One Hundred Family Surnames". There are two theories about the origin of the Chu surname.
One theory is that it comes from Henan. During the Spring and Autumn Period, Zishi, the son of Duke Gong of the Song Dynasty, was appointed as "Master Chu" by Gong Gong due to his commendable virtues, which is equivalent to the position of mayor today. His descendants took this as their surname.
Another theory about the origin of the Chu surname is that it was mentioned in "Zuo Zhuan" that there was Chu's Pavilion in the south of Luoyang; "Book of the Later Han Dynasty: Chronicles of Prefectures" also recorded Chu's Canal , the surname Chu was derived from the place name. However, no matter which statement is correct, in short, it is certain that the birthplace of the surname Chu is in Henan.
Extended information
Who's Who:
Chu Suanzi
Chu Suanzi (324-384), Yangzhai, Henan (now Yuzhou, Henan), the queen of Sima Yue, Emperor Kangdi of Jin Dynasty. Chu Suanzi was born in a family of officials. His grandfather Chu Qia was the prefect of Wuchang, and his father Chu Pei was an official who worshiped General Wei and Xu Yan as the governor of two states. Chu Dianzi's natural beauty, coupled with her family's good cultural accomplishment, made her broad-minded and magnanimous since she was a child.
When she was more than ten years old, she was selected as the concubine of Langya King Sima Yue. Sima Yue ascended the throne as Emperor Kangdi of Jin Dynasty. Chu Suanzi, who was twenty years old at the time, became the queen. After that, she came to the court three times, supported six emperors, and served as the general secretary for about 40 years.
In the ninth year of Taiyuan (384), Chu Suanzi died in the Xianyang Palace at the age of sixty-one. Her posthumous title was Queen Kangxian.
Chu Shaosun
A Western Han Dynasty classics and historian, a doctor of Emperors Yuan and Cheng, who once supplemented Sima Qian's "Historical Records". It is he who "Mr. Chu said" in the current "Historical Records" of supplementary work. Chu Shaosun pioneered Lu poetry.
Chu Feiyan
That is, Zhang Yan, a general of Wei during the Three Kingdoms period, whose surname was Chu. Zhang Yan was born in Zhending, Changshan, and his surname was Chu. When the Yellow Turbans arose, Yan gathered young men together to form a group of thieves. They turned around and attacked in the mountains and rivers. They were really determined and killed more than ten thousand people. Boling Zhang Niujiao also raised his voice and called himself to engage in military affairs and join forces with Yan. Yan pushed the bull's horn to become his commander, and they all attacked Litao. The horns of the bull were hit by flying arrows. He was wounded and died, so he ordered him to serve Yan, saying: "Yan must be the commander."
Niujiao died, and he served Yan, so he changed his surname to Zhang. Yan Ji's defense was swift and swift, so his army's nickname was Fei Yan. Afterwards, the people of Zhejiang lived in Guangzhou, and the valleys of Changshan, Zhaojun, Zhongshan, Shangdang, and Henei were all connected. Their young commanders, Sun Qing, Wang Dang, etc., each sent their troops to follow Yan, and they were called Heishan. Emperor Ling was unable to conquer, and all the counties in Hebei were harmed. Yan sent people to the capital to beg for surrender and worship Yan Ping's troubled general.
Chu Qi
His courtesy name is Wu Liang, a descendant of the Chu family. In the Jin Dynasty, he served as General Andong and later moved to Qu'a (Chu Village in the west of Lizhuang). Chu Qi became the ancestor of the Chu surname in Danyang, Jiangsu Province.
Chu Liang
He was a native of Danyang in the Tang Dynasty and the ninth grandson of Chu Qi. He served as a regular servant when he was an official, and he was called a celebrity in Jiangzuo by historians. Chu Liang had two sons, Suixian and Suiliang. The second son Suiliang, named Dengshan, was the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty and a famous calligrapher. He lived in Dongchu Village, Lizhuang, Danyang.
Chu Suiliang
A native of Yangzhai, named Dengshan (596-658, or 597-659), a native of Qiantang (now Hangzhou) in the Tang Dynasty, the son of Chu Liang. During the reign of Emperor Gaozong, he was granted the title of Duke of Henan Province and appointed as Minister of the Right Servant. He was known as "Chu Henan" in the world.
Because he opposed Emperor Gaozong's decision to make Wu Zetian his queen, Chu Sui refused to accept his advice and begged to return to the fields. Tired of being demoted to the governor of Aizhou, he died out of worry and anger. Chu Suiliang was well versed in literature and history, worked in regular script and official script, and studied calligraphy by Zhong Yao and Wang Xizhi, thus forming an elegant, thin and vigorous body.
Together with Ouyang Xun, Yu Shinan and Xue Ji, they are known as the four great calligraphers in the early Tang Dynasty.
Reference: Baidu Encyclopedia-Chu surname