It is derived from the surname Ying and is named after the country. The distant ancestor can be traced back to the Jintian clan Shaohao (surnamed Ying) during the Five Emperors era. Shaohao's great-grandson was Boyi, who assisted Dayu in flood control. The king of Xia granted Boyi's son Ruomu Yuxu, and his hometown was in the north of Si County in present-day Anhui Province. During the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, Xu State was always active between the Jianghuai River and was known as Xu Rong, also known as Xu Yi or Xu Fang in history.
In the Spring and Autumn Period, King Xu Yan rebelled against the Zhou Dynasty and was destroyed by King Mu of Zhou who united with the Kingdom of Chu. Later, King Xu Yan's son was renamed Xu Zi. During the Warring States Period, the State of Wu destroyed Xu, then the State of Yue destroyed Wu, and then the State of Chu destroyed Yue, and the territory of the State of Xu was merged with the State of Chu. The descendants of Xu State took the name of their country and lived scattered among the Jianghuai River.
In ancient times, Xu Ruomu was granted the title of Xu State (now northern Anhui), and Xu State became the earliest birthplace of the Xu surname. The Xu family who lived here migrated to the north one after another after the fall of Xu State. From the Han Dynasty to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, many counties were formed in Shandong, Henan and other places in northern China.
In the pre-Qin period, people with the Xu surname were mainly distributed in Anhui, Jiangsu, Shandong and other places. During the Qin and Han Dynasties, the Xu surname had spread to most parts of northern China. At the same time, it also began to move south to Nanchang, Jiangxi, Longyou, Zhejiang and other places, but the gathering areas were still mainly in the lower reaches of the Yellow River. During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, Xu surnames began to migrate southward on a large scale, but their main breeding areas were in most areas of the Huaihe River and the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.
In the Song Dynasty, the surname Xu moved from Shicheng, Jiangxi to Shanghang, Liancheng and other places in Fujian. In the Yuan Dynasty, the surname Xu multiplied in Fengshun County, Guangdong, Meixian District, Meizhou City, Haifeng County and other places.
The main famous names of Xu include: Xu Guang, the governor of Pi in the Western Han Dynasty, and Xu Wei, the philosopher; Xu Shu, a celebrity in the Three Kingdoms; Xu Ling, a Chen writer in the Southern Dynasty; Xu Zunming, a Confucian scholar in the Northern Wei Dynasty; ; Xu Xuan, a writer of the Five Dynasties and Song Dynasty; Xu Da, a famous general of the Ming Dynasty, Xu Xiake, a geographer, Xu Guangqi, a scientist, and Xu Wei, a writer and calligrapher;
Xu Dachun, a medical scientist of the Qing Dynasty; Xu Zhimo, a poet of the Republic of China; *War Marshal Xu Xiangqian, Vice Minister of Culture Xu Pingyu, educator Xu Teli, general Xu Haidong, painter Xu Beihong, historian Xu Zhongshu, paleobotanist Xu Ren, contemporary writer Xu Sixing, etc.
Extended information:
Another theory of the origin of the Xu surname comes from the "National Genealogy of Surnames": Boyizuo Dayu was successful in controlling floods. Dayu was old and wanted to abdicate the throne. Offered to Boyi, Boyi refused to accept it (note: being the leader at that time meant serving everyone compulsorily), so he fled to live in the east of Xuzhou and made a living by fishing on the East China Sea.
Eight years later, Dayu passed the throne to his son (from then on the family began to exist in the world). Boyi, from then on Boyi took the fiefdom as his surname and called him Xu Boyi. Therefore, the first person with the surname Xu was Xu Boyi.
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