Origin and Evolution of the Surname Zhao

Zhao is one of the top ten Chinese surnames, ranking eighth, and is mainly found in the provinces along the Yellow River and in the northeast. Today, the Zhao people account for about 2.06% of the country's population, totaling about 26 million.

Names and Totems of Zhao

Zhao, dash and redundancy. The Eastern Yi tribes of the Shao Hao period used the bird as a totem. In the clan emblem with the Xuanbird Swallow as the clan totem, the character "Xiao" should represent the Xuanbird Swallow, which is enshrined on the right god's lattice. On the left, there is a hasty figure to show the function of the worshipping clan. Later it was extended to the emperor's imperial chariot, so in ancient times, Zhao, Xiao, and so were synonymous. Zhao clan's earliest activity place called, later formed a castle. Then came the name Zhao, and Zhao eventually became a country and a surname.

The origin and evolution of the surname Zhao

The Han Chinese surname Zhao originated from the surname Sheng. The ancestor can be traced back to Shao Hao of Jinshitian in the era of the "Five Emperors" more than 4,000 years ago. The Shaohao clan is a branch of the Eastern Barbarians, with the phoenix as its totem, and its descendant Gaotao was in charge of criminal law and justice during the Yao and Shun Dynasties. Bo Yi, the son of Gaotao, was in charge of fire and the taming of birds and beasts, and was named after the man who helped Dayu rule over water. A descendant of Bo Yi, a driving doctor of King Mu of Zhou. For his great contribution to the pacification of the rebellion of King Xu Yan, King Mu of Zhou sealed Zaofu in Zhao Cheng. Zhao Fu's descendants took the name of the fiefdom as their surname. From then on, the surname Zhao emerged in China, and Zaofu is the originator of the Zhao surname in the world for 3,000 years.

Integration of exogenous genes

Another Zhao surname came from foreign surnames. After entering the Wei, Jin and North-South Dynasties, due to the war in the north, a large number of ethnic minorities entered the Central Plains, and Zhao followed the residents of North China to migrate and develop in the south and southeast. The Song Dynasty was an important and special period for the great development of the Zhao surname. After the wars in the northern regions of the Eastern Jin, Sui and Tang dynasties and the migration of a large number of people from the Central Plains to the south, the population and political center of China shifted from the north to the south for the first time. Zhao Kuangyin staged a mutiny at Chenqiaoyi and established the Great Song Dynasty, which lasted more than 300 years. From then on, the Zhao surname spread all over the Yangtze River, north and south, and Lingnan, becoming the main surname in China. It was only after the Tang Dynasty that the Zhao surname in the north was integrated into foreign bloodlines, mainly including the Western Xia Dangxiang, the Northern Song Jin, the Jews, and the Manchurian Eight Banners nobles of the Qing Dynasty who switched to the Zhao surname. The integration of foreign genes into the Zhao surname in the south occurred during the Ming and Qing dynasties, with important ethnic groups being the Miao, Yao, Zhuang, and Yunnan natives. After a long period of intermingling with the Han Chinese, these foreigners gradually assimilated into the Zhao Han in the north and south, especially in the area north of the Yangtze River.

Historical distribution and migration of the Zhao surname

When King Yu of Zhou transgressed, King Zhou was mediocre and incompetent, and the seventh generation, Sun Bin, brought him to Jin. Zhao Su, a descendant of Shufeng Band, was in Geng, southeast of present-day Hejin, Shanxi, and his son Zhao Shuai Feng was in Yuan, northwest of present-day Jiyuan, Henan. During this period, Zhao was prominent in the state of Jin and had a thriving population. Unforeseen events occurred. Duke Jing of Jin met his demise, the Zhao family was destroyed, and only one person was spared, Wu Zhao. It was not until twelve years later that Zhao's wrongful death was cleared. The grandchildren of Wu Zhao and Zhao Yang*** governed the state of Jin, and Zhao's descendants once again prospered. By then, Zhao's power had reached the area between Taiyuan in Shanxi and Hebi in Henan. In 408 B.C., Zhao Ji claimed himself as a vassal of the state of Zhao, and divided the state of Jin with Wei and Han, becoming one of the Seven Heroes of the Warring States. Zhao passed on 11 monarchs, and these monarchs were wiped out by Qin in 222 BC. By this time, Zhao's area of activity had expanded to northeastern Shaanxi, the Hetao region of Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, southern Hebei, northern Henan and western Shandong.

The Qin and Han Dynasties were an important stage in Zhao's migration. Qin Shi Huang destroyed Zhao and brought the royal family of Zhao to Ceylon

During the Song Dynasty, the Zhao surname numbered about 4.4 million people, accounting for about 5.7% of the country's population, making it the fourth largest surname in the Song Dynasty. Hebei is the first province with the Zhao surname, accounting for 14% of the total Zhao population in China. The distribution in China is mainly concentrated in the provinces of Hebei, Henan, Sichuan, and Shandong, where about 46% of the Zhao people live, followed by Hunan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, and Shaanxi provinces, with a concentration of 27%. The country is centered on Hebei, Henan, Shandong, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Jiangxi and Zhejiang as the three major gathering places of Zhao.

During the Ming Dynasty, the Zhao surname had only about 1.6 million people, accounting for about 1.7% of the country's population, ranking only 12th. Song, Yuan and Ming six hundred years, the national population growth rate of 20%. The population of the Zhao surname has decreased instead of increased. 60 years, the population of the Zhao surname has decreased by 64%, which is related to the Yuan Dynasty's destruction of the Song Dynasty, the Zhao royal family was massacred, and the Zhao clan changed their surnames to avoid the disaster. During the Ming Dynasty, Shandong was the largest province with the Zhao surname, accounting for 16.6% of the total Zhao population in China. Its distribution in China is mainly concentrated in Shandong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Shanxi. The Zhao surnames in these four provinces accounted for about 52% of the total Zhao population, followed by Hebei, Jiangxi and Shaanxi provinces with a concentration of 19%. There are very few Zhao surnames in Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian. During the Song, Yuan, and Ming Dynasties, the overall distribution pattern of the Zhao surname underwent major changes; in addition to a sharp decline in population, its population mainly migrated from the north to the southeast and northwest. The country re-formed Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Sulu, Shanxi, Shaanxi two major Zhao population gathering area.

Distribution of the contemporary Zhao surname and its examples

The Zhao surname has a population of about 26 million, making it the eighth largest surname in China, accounting for about 2.06% of the national population. In the 600 years of the Ming Dynasty, the population of the Zhao surname surged from 1.6 million to nearly 27 million, an increase of nearly 17 times. The population growth rate of the Zhao surname is higher than that of the whole country. This may be related to the fact that Zhao, who usually changed to other surnames, resumed his original surname. The current distribution in China is mainly concentrated in the provinces of Shandong, Henan and Hebei, accounting for about 36% of the total Zhao population in the country, followed by the provinces of Heilongjiang, Jiangsu, Yunnan, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Anhui and Liaoning, with a degree of concentration of 38%. Shandong is the largest province of the Zhao surname, inhabited by about 12% of the Zhao people. The country has formed four regions along the Huang, Hei, Sichuan, Suzhou, and Anhui with a high proportion of Zhao surnames. During the six hundred years, the extent and direction of Zhao population movement was very different from that of the Song, Yuan and Ming periods. Migration from the east to central and northern China was greater than that from the north to the southeast. At the same time, migration to the southwest and northeast became an important direction.

The Zhao surname is found in Luyu, Hebei, Beijing, Tianjin, Shanxi, most of Shaanxi, east-central Inner Mongolia, western Heijiliao, and southwestern Yunnan. The general Zhao surname accounts for more than 3% of the local population, and up to 5% in the central area, accounting for 22.6% of the total land area, where about 50% of the Zhao surname live. In southern Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia, eastern Qinghai, western Inner Mongolia, eastern Heiji, eastern Liaoning, Sichuan, Guizhou, Chongqing, Hubei, Anhui, Jiangsu, most of Yunnan, western Guangxi, northern Hunan, northern Zhejiang, and northwestern Xinjiang, the Zhao surname generally accounts for between 1.2% and 3% of the local population, or 37.7% of the total land area, and about 41% of the Zhao people live there.

Traditional Culture of the Zhao Surname

The Wanghe Halls. The famous counties of Zhao include Tianshui, Xiayi, Nanyang, Jincheng, Yingchuan, Dunhuang, Jiuquan, Fufeng, Xin'an and Pingyuan. Tang Hao and county kings with the same name, including, Qin He, Cui Huan, Zhuang Ji. Zhao Pu, the chancellor of the Northern Song Dynasty, and Zhao Pu helped Zhao Kuangyin to launch the "Chenqiao Mutiny" to establish the Northern Song Dynasty, "a cup of wine and return to the field" of the play to reduce the number of local armed forces, to centralize the power and consolidate the Northern Song Dynasty. Song Taizu very much appreciate his ability and wisdom, asked: "Why do you manage this country

Family training Zhao family training "The Analects of Confucius" Southern Song ministers' family training. Zhao Ding's family education was extremely strict. He Wei Song Sima Guang "Analects of Confucius" as the standard of discipline, focusing on the promotion of thrift and frugality, teach their children and grandchildren to be thrifty and plan the livelihood of the family. Emphasize that "all officials should be diligent, all have talent, each has its own strengths and weaknesses, rare and valuable, only hardworking, we can come". He also believes that diligence is a rule for oneself and obedience is a rule for others. "Being good to others is the only way to be safe in life," i.e., stay away from evil. And it is believed that thrift is the best virtue of being a man. The thirty articles said by Zhao Ding are common and reasonable, and are highly valued by later generations.

At present, there are 166 kinds of Zhao's genealogies in the Shanghai Library, and 444 kinds of Zhao's genealogies in the libraries of other units in China, the United States and Japan.

Frequency of Celebrities and Family Sages

From 755 to 79,000, there are 902 Zhao names paid, accounting for 1.99% of the total number of celebrities and ranking sixth among celebrity surnames; Zhao famous literary scholars accounted for 1.82% of the total number of literary scholars in the country and ranked seventh; Zhao famous doctors accounted for 1.51% of the total number of M.D.'s in the country and ranked 15th; and Zhao's famous artists accounted for 1.9% of the total number of artists in China, ranking 12th.

The Zhao surname was prominent from the beginning of the family name. During the Spring and Autumn Period, Zhao Shuai assisted Duke Wen of Jin in deciding his hegemony. During the Warring States period, Zhao became one of the Seven Heroes. Zhao's descendants have always been strong, and Zhao reached the peak of power in the Song Dynasty. Some of the most famous figures include: Zhao Xie and Zhao Sheng, famous generals of the Warring States period; Zhao Chongguo, famous general of the Western Han Dynasty; Yu Zhao, a magistrate; Zhao Tuo, king of South Vietnam; Zhao Qi, a scholar of the Eastern Han Dynasty; Zhao Yun, a famous scholar of the Three Kingdoms, and Zhao Shuang, a mathematician; Zhao Xie, a scholar of the Tang Dynasty; Zhao Kuangyin, who was a yellow-robed scholar during the Song Dynasty, and Zhao Pu, a famous courtier, Zhao Chang, a painter and Zhao Lingqi, a monumentalist; Zhao Mingcheng, an inscriber. Zhao, Chancellor of the Southern Song Dynasty, painter Zhao; Zhao Bingwen, writer of the Jin Dynasty; Zhao Fu, Song and Yuan rationalist: Zhao Meng_, painter and seal engraver of the Yuan Dynasty, Zhao Youqin, scientist; Zhao Nanxing, literary scholar of the Ming Dynasty, Zhao Xianke, medical doctor; Zhao Yiyi, poet, medical doctor and historian of the Qing Dynasty, and Zhao and Zhao, seal engravers; Zhao, famous general of Republican China's resistance against the Japanese invasion; Zhao Jiuzhang, contemporary linguist, meteorologist and physicist, and Zhao Chengtuo, phytochemist and organic chemist, Zhao, a paleontologist and geologist; Zhao Zonggui, an expert in fuel chemistry; Zhao, an expert in structural mechanics; Zhao Hongzhang, an expert in wheat breeding; and Zhao Shuli, a writer and poet.

Zhao's blood type

The distribution of Zhao's blood type is as follows: 32.4 percent type O, 28.5 percent type A, 29.8 percent type B, and 9.3 percent type AB.