The origin of the surname
The surname Wu existed in ancient times. First, some of Shun's descendants were granted the title of Yu. Because the sounds of "Yu" and "Wu" are similar, Shun's descendants had the surname Wu. First, there was Wu Quan during the reign of Emperor Zhuanxu, and there was also the Wu family after that. One is that during the reign of Emperor Shaokang, there was a master archer named Wu He, who later had the surname Wu.
Coming from the surname Ji, taking the country as the surname, he is a direct descendant of the Xuanyuan family of the Yellow Emperor. During the Shang Dynasty, the Yellow Emperor's 12th generation grandson Gu Gong Danfu (Taiwang of Zhou) established the Zhou tribe. The Taiwang had three sons. Among them, the youngest son Ji Li was quite talented and gave birth to his son Ji Chang. When Ji Chang was born, Sheng Rui appeared, so the Taiwang chose Ji Chang to take over the throne. The eldest son Taibo and Zhongyong, the eldest son of the Taiwang, knew that their father wanted to pass the throne to Ji Li first and then to Ji Chang, so they decided to give up the throne of their own accord and went south to Jingman together (the Zhou people were hostile to the Chu State). call). Taibo and Zhongyong brought the advanced culture of the Central Plains to the relatively backward Jiangnan at that time, and were elected as rulers by the local indigenous people, known as Juwu. After Tai Bo's death, Zhong Yong succeeded him. After King Wu of Zhou Dynasty (Ji Chang became King Wen and his son Ji Fa became King Wu) destroyed the Shang Dynasty, Zhong Yong's 3rd generation grandson Zhou Zhang became a prince, the name of the country was changed to Wu, and the Taibo was posthumously named Uncle Wu. By the time Zhongyong's 19th generation, Sun Shoumeng, became king, he established his capital in present-day Wuxian County, Jiangsu Province. Shoumeng's fourth son Ji Zha was supposed to inherit the throne, but he avoided it and fled to Yanling to make a living by farming. After that, the descendants of Wu Wang Shoumeng were divided into two groups: one developed politically, and famous kings such as Wu Wang Helu and Wu Wang Fucha appeared; the other was Jizha and his descendants who developed independently and multiplied in number, forming the Most people with the surname Wu today. After the State of Wu was destroyed by the State of Yue, its descendants took the country as their surname and called it the Wu family.
Gathering place (migration distribution)
After the fall of the Wu Kingdom, Wu Hong, the prince of Fu Chai, was exiled to Jiangxi. Fu Chai also multiplied in some areas in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Shandong, and Henan. place. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the Wu family was widely distributed in the north and south of the Yangtze River. During the reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty, a general named Wu followed Chen Zheng, Chen Yuanguang and his son to open up Zhangzhou in Fujian. During the reign of Emperor Xizong of the Tang Dynasty, a general named Wu followed Wang Shenzhi and entered Fujian. They all settled in Fujian. After the Song and Ming Dynasties, the Wu family dominated the southeast. Among them, Ji Zha's 53rd generation grandson Wu Xuan was the prince-in-law of Later Shu, and the family became prominent for a while. Wu Jifu, the 5th generation grandson of Wu Xuan, is the ancestor of the Wu family who entered Guangdong.
The Wu family's move to Taiwan began in 1291. The first person to enter Taiwan was Wu Guangdou, a minister of rites in the Yuan Dynasty. He was ordered to lead 6,000 people by ship to "envoy to Ryukyu" (that is, Taiwan). The Wu family moved to Hong Kong around the time of the Yuan Dynasty.
The surname Wu is the seventh most common surname in Taiwan. The largest number of people with the surname Wu are in Tainan County, as well as in Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua, etc. From the late Ming Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, many people from the Wu family along the coasts of Fujian and Guangdong went to Penghu, Taipei, Kaohsiung and other places to make a living and start businesses. The family surnamed Wu in Ankeng, Xindian, Taipei County, was a Dagou (today's Kaohsiung City) who immigrated from Fujian to Taiwan during the Shunzhi period. During the Kangxi period, Wu Feng and his son from Pinghe came to Taiwan. Up to now, the most prominent one is the Wu Boxiong family. Wu Boxiong currently serves as a member of the Standing Committee of the Central Committee of the Taiwan Kuomintang and the mayor of Taipei City. His family is known as the Wu family "the first in Taiwan."
Wu expanded overseas, first to Japan. The Wu people traveled eastward to Japan around 450 BC, and one of them evolved into the Japanese royal family. While the Wu family was crossing eastward to Japan, a large number of people also moved southward into what is now Vietnam. Among them, Wu Quan, the 50th generation grandson of Ji Zha, proclaimed himself king in 939 and established the Wu Dynasty, the earliest independent dynasty in Vietnamese history. The last president of the South Vietnamese regime, Ngo Dinh Diem, came after Ngo Quan. There are now more than 200 surnames in Vietnam, and Wu is the sixth most common surname. Wu Feng entered North Korea during the Eastern Han Dynasty. Today, the surname Wu is one of the 20 most common surnames among the 143 surnames in North Korea. After the Ming Dynasty, some people with the Wu surname immigrated to Southeast Asia and moved to Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Myanmar and other countries. In modern times, some people also lived in Europe and the United States.
Tang name
"Yanling Hall": Jizha is the fourth son of King Shoumeng of Wu. He is known for his virtue. Shou dreamed of letting him inherit the throne, but he refused. Meng had no choice but to seal him in Yanling. His three elder brothers successively became kings of Wu. When they died, they wanted to pass the throne to him, but he still refused to accept it. Therefore, he was regarded as "the third most virtuous person" by later generations. Because his fiefdom was in Yanling, he was called "Ji Zi of Yanling" at that time.
Historical celebrities
Wu Daozi: a famous painter in the Tang Dynasty. He is regarded as the "Sage of Painting" by later generations. His painting lines are vigorous and bold, rich in changes. He has changed the fine brushwork of ancient gossamer drawings and developed the artistic method of line drawing, so the objects he expresses are full of movement and movement. The sense of rhythm is called "Wu Dai Dang Feng".
Wu Chengen: novelist of the Ming Dynasty. The author of "Journey to the West" has been handed down from generation to generation.
Wu Qi: a famous military strategist during the Warring States Period. Patriots. He was a general of Lu at first, and then a general of Wei. Later he went to Chu State, served as Ling Yin, presided over the reform, and was later killed.
Wu Guang: Leader of the peasant uprising in the late Qin Dynasty. In 209 BC, he and Chen Sheng launched an uprising of 900 garrison soldiers and established the Zhang Chu regime. Later, under the guise of Chen Sheng's order, Tian Zang, a general under his command, killed him.
Wu Jingzi: A native of the Qing Dynasty, he was an outstanding satirist famous for his novel The Scholars.
Wu Woyao: a famous novelist in the Qing Dynasty. Author of "The Strange Current Situation Witnessed in Twenty Years".
Wu Changshuo: a famous seal carver, calligrapher and painter in the Qing Dynasty. He is good at poetry, calligraphy, and especially good at seal cutting.
Wu Qijun: a famous politician and scientist in the Qing Dynasty. He is the author of 22 volumes of "An Illustrated Study of Plant Names and Facts" and 38 volumes of "An Illustrated Study of Plant Names and Facts", which are regarded as important Chinese botanical works in the 19th century.