In recent years, experts and scholars who are enthusiastic about the study of Xiang Yu culture have made in-depth and difficult discussions on the lineage of Xiang Yu family on the basis of existing materials.
The Origin and Spread of Xiang Family
Xiang surname originated from the ancient Xiangzi country. Guxiang Ziguo was a vassal viscount in the Western Zhou Dynasty, located in the southeast of Xiangcheng County and most of shenqiu county. Xiangzi was Chen's vassal state and belonged to Chu in the Warring States Period.
There are two main sources of a family:
One is to take the country as the surname. According to Zheng Qiao's "A Brief History of the Dai Dynasty", "Xiang or Yanji's surname is the country, and the old city is located in the northeast of Xiangcheng County, Chen Zhou (the site of the old city is located in Huaidian Town, shenqiu county)." Biography of Ram and Biography of Gu Liang said that the item was destroyed in the Spring and Autumn Period, while Zuozhuan said that it was destroyed in the seventeenth year of Lu. Guo Xiang's descendants after the national subjugation took the original country name as a souvenir.
The second is to take the city as the surname. According to Records of Historical Records and Biography of Xiang Yu, "Xiang's family is a Chu general, and he was sealed in Xiang, so his surname is Xiang." According to the time of the demise of Lu, it should be that Xiang Yu's great-grandfather attacked Lu with King Chu Kao Lie before 249 BC. Because of his meritorious service, Xiang Yu's family took Shiyi as their surname.
Xiang clan people first lived in the Central Plains, about the end of the Zhou Dynasty. Due to many heroes and years of war, some Xiang people gradually spread and developed to Jiangsu, Zhejiang and the southeast coast. After a long history of more than two thousand years, Xiang's descendants have spread all over China.
Xiang surname is not a big surname in the big family of the Chinese nation. In Hundred Family Names compiled in Song Dynasty, the sequence is 125. After the national census 1982, Xiang ranked 163, accounting for 0.06% of the Han population in China. But in the history of China, it is famous and talented. The earliest record of Xiang's celebrity in Historical Records was in the Spring and Autumn Period. Biography of Historical Records of Gan Mao records that Xiang Tuo was Confucius' teacher at the age of seven, and Huainanzi also says that Xiang Tuo was Confucius' teacher at the age of seven. Xiang's hall number "Shengshi Tang" (referring to Confucianism) is derived from this.
However, after the demise of Chu and the failure of Xiang Yu, Xiang, who was once prominent, disappeared. For fear of implicating others, the original Xiang people fled everywhere, far away from their homeland, and settled in remote places or deep forests. Since the ruling center of Chu was originally in Jiangnan and Xiang Yu was in Jiangdong, most of Xiang's descendants left the Central Plains to the southeast and southwest and fled to remote places such as Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui, Fujian, Hunan, Hubei, Yunnan and Guizhou. At present, Li Xiang, Xiangjia, Xiangpu, Xiangkeng and other places in Zhejiang are the settlements of Xiang ancestors. There are also many descendants in the mountainous areas of southern Anhui (Huizhou and other places) adjacent to Zhejiang. Another reason is that after the establishment of the Western Han Dynasty, some Xiang surnames were given Liu by Liu Bangci, and some changed their surnames because of asylum, such as Gong, Paige and Jin. Therefore, in today's Suqian, Xiangcheng and Shenqiu in Henan, the number of Xiang surnames is already very small. According to 1982 national census statistics, the population of Xiang surname in Zhejiang, Hunan, Hubei and Guizhou provinces alone accounts for 74% of the national Han population. From about the Qing Dynasty, some Chinese people went overseas to explore new careers, and some people still live in Singapore and other countries.
The Spread and Migration of Yu Xiang Family
Xiang Yu's family is a noble family in Xiang's family. From the Warring States Period to the end of Qin Dynasty, Xiang Yan, Xiang Liang and Xiang Yu were all famous governors. In 223 BC, Wang Jian, a general of the Qin school, led 600,000 troops to attack Chu. Chu and Xiang Yan fought bravely against the enemy and sacrificed tenaciously, showing a strong patriotic spirit. So that when Chen Sheng and Guangwu launched a peasant uprising, they should also raise the flag of Xiangyan as a call. As one of the leaders of the peasant uprising army, Xiang Liang was brave and good at fighting, and played a great role in the anti-Qin struggle. After Xiang Liang's death, Xiang Yu led the army to destroy Qin Jun's main force in the Battle of Julu, which played a key role in overthrowing the Qin Dynasty and establishing the Han Dynasty. Xiang Yu's historical achievements and heroism are famous in history and praised by later generations.
According to the textual research of shenqiu county literature and history workers, Xiang Yan's parents did not establish their capital and rule the country after being blocked. Shortly after being sealed, about 245-240 BC, in order to avoid the war in the Central Plains, they moved their people eastward and settled on the east bank of Surabaya, a territory of Chu with pleasant scenery and fertile land, not far from Xuzhou, a strategic place. Now Wang Xiang's hometown is in Sucheng District, Suqian City, Jiangsu Province, which is the ancestral home of Xiang Yu's family. According to legend, the old locust tree planted by Xiang Yu is still there, and the old phoenix tree in Wu Tong Lane, the birthplace of Xiang Yu, is still there, which has become a historical witness of Xiang Yu's ancestral home.
In order to win people's hearts, in the winter of 20 1 BC, Liu Bang adopted the method of eliminating surnames and not cutting families for Xiang Bo's in-laws and active informers, and successively named four Xiang's characters, including Xiang Bo, as Sheyang Hou, Taohou, Hou, etc., and gave them to Liu.
Influenced by the traditional concept of "the winner is king, and the loser is enemy", only eleven Xiang clansmen such as Xiang Yan, Xiang Liang, Xiang Bo, Xiang Yu and Xiang Sheng are recorded in Historical Records and Hanshu. Although the lineages of some of them have been clarified, the specific situation of Xiang Yu's family, including reproduction, broadcasting and relocation, has not been recorded.
In order to carry out this research work, cultural relics workers in Suqian city began to look for traces of descendants of Xiang Yu's family. After investigation, there are only two small-scale Xiangzhuang in Suqian. Xiang Jixian, a villager in Xiangzhuang, Daxing Town, said that in Xiangzhuang, where they live, 50% of the people are surnamed Xiang. 1937 There was a family tree that was renewed and later burned. From the genealogy, we are descendants of Xiang Yu. However, they don't know when they settled down and what their lineage is. Mr Zhejiang Xiangxiang also claimed to be the descendant of Xiang Yan, the general of Chu, and called "the ancestral temple as evidence and the genealogy as evidence". According to this clue, the investigators made a special trip to Zhejiang Province with joy and visited Linhai City, Taizhou City, Xianju County and Dongyang City successively. In the local area, I saw the Xiang ancestral hall and many Xiang genealogies.
The genealogy of Xiang family seen by investigators was first formed in Chenghua period of Ming dynasty, and most of them listed their lineages from the branch ancestors, but the genealogy of Xiang family in Taoxi was traced back earlier. "Pu" wrote in the preface: "My family took the country as the surname from the grandson of Zhou Boqin, and then died out at the age of seventeen in the Spring and Autumn Period, and the world declined. Xiang Bo was returned to the Han Dynasty, and Gao Zu was named as a Liehou and later changed to Liu. At the time of Jian' an, the official tour of Wuxian County was a compound surname. Xiang Yan, general of the Eighth Division of Yan Liang, was sent to Yanggu Township, Wen Yueqing for hunting. According to legend, Zhao Dun, the 20th ancestor, moved to Taoxi in Xianxiang, separated from Taoxi by Tiantai, Yellow River, Ibn Nantang, Baiyan and Dahong. "
"During the Qin and Han Dynasties, there were footprints of my Xiang in Zhejiang."
By consulting historical materials and Xiang's genealogy, the investigators know that Xiang Bo was named as the Queen of Sheyang and died after ten years in office (three years of filial piety), but his son failed to inherit because of his guilt. So, Xiang Bo's descendants went to Zhejiang to thrive. 1000 years later, Xiang clan people spread all over Zhejiang Province and the neighboring ancient Huizhou area of Anhui Province.
This genealogy of Xiang family lists the lineage of Xiang family in Xiang Genealogy. The picture not only indicates that Shu is his ancestor and Xiang Yan is the eighth grandson of Shu, but also records that Xiang Yan has three sons, each of whom has a separate biography. Among them: the eldest son Xiang Chao and the eldest son Sun Jixiang; The second son Xiang Liang, the second son Xiang Li; The third son (Bo) and the third grandson Liu You. It also explains the origin and changes of Xiang surname in three paragraphs. First, there is the postscript to Shu Du: "The surname is Ji, and the Duke of Zhou was named a bird of Lu, and then he ate in Xiangchi City. Since the destruction of Qi Huan, descendants have taken the country as their surname. " Second, "Liu You" has a footnote: "Emperor Gaozu acceded to the throne, named Xiang Bo as the Liehou (Sheyang Hou), and gave him the surname Liu. The son of Bo is also. " Third, the eleventh grandson, Liu He, wrote: "In the twenty-fifth year of Jian 'an (AD 220), the Han Dynasty fell to the west and the soldiers were in chaos. Zi Yi was born in Dongyang (now Jinhua City, Zhejiang Province), and his surname was Xiang. "
According to this genealogy map of Xiang Family Tree, the genealogy of Xiang Yu's family can be listed as follows:
Huangdi (Xuanyuan)-Xiao Xuan-Ji Jiao-Di Ku-Abandon (ancestor of Zhou Dynasty Hou Ji, surnamed Ji)-Nothing-Bow-Gong Liu-Celebration Festival-Royal Servant-Poor Fu-Destroy-Gongfeijun-Gao Xi
According to the information provided by this genealogy of Xiang, and comparing with the historical records of three generations and the Han Shu Gu Jin Ren Biao, it is found that there are four doubts in this genealogy of Xiang: First, it is said in the preface that Shu was the ancestor of Xiang, while the historical records show that Shu was first sealed by his father to Cai, and Shu should be the ancestor of Cai and Xiang. Secondly, in the "Descent Table", there is a note: "Uncle's grandson is also a bird." After investigation, Uncle Du is not the grandson of Boqin, but the uncle of Boqin. Thirdly, in the fourth list of heroes in Hanshu Gao Hui Gao Houwen, it is clearly listed that Liu Kuang (Xiang Bo) is the Hou of Sheyang and Liu Xiang (a relative of Xiang) is Hou. Thus, Tamia Liu and Liu Xiang are two important figures with Wei Liu's surname. But the "lineage table" mistook Liu Kun and Liu Xiang for one person. Fourthly, if Liu Xiang is Xiang Yu's father's brother, then Liu Kun (Xiang Bo) is not Xiang Yu's uncle, and now Xiang's family in Zhejiang is not a direct descendant of Xiang Yu.
What are the reasons for the doubts in Xiang genealogy? Is the genealogical table of Xiang Yu's family listed according to this genealogy true? What is the true reproduction and migration of Xiang Yu's descendants? These all need further investigation and textual research.
References:
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