1. Origin of the surname
The surname Li has three origins:
1. It comes from the surname Ying, a direct descendant of the Gaoyang family of Emperor Zhuanxu. Zhuanxu gave birth to a great cause, and great cause gave birth to Nuhua. When Gaotao, Nuhua's son, became Emperor Yao's judge (equivalent to the current judge). His son Boyi was given the surname Ying, and his descendants inherited the position of official for three generations. According to the custom at that time, his descendants took the official as their surname and called them Li. There are two ways to say Li's name was changed to Li's. One theory is that during the Shang Dynasty, Li Zheng, a descendant of Gaotao, served as an official in the court. He offended King Zhou of Shang due to his direct advice, and the family named Li would face the disaster of annihilation. In this case, Li Zheng had a son named Li Zhen and fled to Yihou's ruins for refuge. He survived by eating plums to satisfy his hunger, so he didn't dare to be reasonable, so he changed his surname to Li. Another theory is: According to the Records of Surnames, there was no Li family before the Zhou Dynasty. Since then, Laozi has been surnamed Li, and his given name is Er. He is a descendant of Li Zhen. Because his ancestors have been Li officials for generations, the two characters Li and Li have ancient pronunciations. Therefore, Li is also the surname. Obviously, the Li family name started from Li Er.
2. Change the surname from another clan. During the Three Kingdoms period, after Zhuge Liang pacified the barbarians, he gave the local ethnic minorities the surnames of Zhao, Zhang, Yang, and Li. The Xianbei family had the compound surname Chi Li. After Chineseization, it was changed to the single surname Li in Chinese characters.
3. From the change of his surname to Li. According to relevant information, among the founding fathers of the Tang Dynasty, there were 16 generals named Xu (Xu, An, Du, Guo, Ma, Xianyu, etc.). They were given the Li family name from the Tang Dynasty because of their meritorious service.
The ancestral roots of the Li surname are in Luyi County, Henan Province, which is also the hometown of Laozi.
2. Migration distribution
Throughout history, people with the surname Li generally form two major lines. Origin. One branch is in Longxi, which is now Gansu Province, and the other is in Zhaojun, which is now Hebei Province. These two branches form the origin of the Chinese surname and continue to spread to all parts of the country. " records that in the Longxi lineage, the Li Yuan family emerged. After they established the Tang Dynasty, as the Tang Dynasty grew stronger, the lineage originating from Zhao County also became more and more prosperous. Within a few generations, it became a prosperous family in the area, ranking higher than the surnames Zhang, Wang, Liu, and Zhao. From then on, the Li family in Hebei was divided into three groups, extending to Shanxi in the west and Shandong and Anhui in the east. , south to Henan and Huguang, and expanded to a larger area
There were three main migrations of the Li family to the south in the Tang Dynasty: one was in the early Tang Dynasty, when some of the Li family moved south, including Li from Henan. During the reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty, some of the Li family entered Fujian with Chen Zheng and Chen Yuanguang to open up Zhangzhou. The second time was during the "Anshi Rebellion", and many of the Li family's descendants moved to the south. The third time was during the Five Dynasties, when some of the Li family moved to the south. They settled in Fujian, Putian, Jinjiang and other places.
Starting from the late Ming Dynasty, some people from Fujian and Guangdong moved to Taiwan. The Li family began to migrate to the Ryukyu Kingdom in the early Ming Dynasty. They were all from Fujian. Many of the generals sent by the Ryukyu Kingdom to the Ming and Qing Dynasties were surnamed Li, and they were all Chinese who immigrated to Ryukyu from Fujian.
3. Historical celebrities
Li Er. : Thinker and philosopher in the late Spring and Autumn Period, the founder of Taoism. Li Bing was a water conservancy expert during the Warring States Period. As the governor of Shu County, he controlled water according to law and built Dujiangyan, a well-known water conservancy project at home and abroad. He made great contributions to national agricultural production and water conservancy projects and was regarded as Sichuan by later generations.
God.
Li Shimin: Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, created the prosperous age of Zhenguan in which "he followed the advice freely, never picked up lost things, and never closed his door at night"
Li Bai: a famous romantic poet in the Tang Dynasty. He has an extremely high status in the history of Chinese literature and is known as the "Immortal of Poetry"
Li Guang: a famous general in the Western Han Dynasty. He participated in many wars against the Huns and was known for his bravery and skill in war. When he was the prefect of Peiping, the Huns did not dare to attack him for several years, and he was called "Flying General".
Li Qingzhao: a female poet in the Southern Song Dynasty who emphasized elegance and elegance in her poetry. Qingzhi proposed the idea of ????"Don't be a family", and instead used the method of writing poetry.
Li Shizhen was an outstanding medical scientist in the Ming Dynasty and the author of "Compendium of Materia Medica". , world-famous