The surname Wei has two origins;

1. It comes from the surname Ji, with the name of the city or the name of the country. Bi Gonggao, the 15th son of King Wen of Zhou Dynasty, was granted the title of Bi. His grandson Bi Wan defected to the Jin State and became a doctor after Bi was destroyed by the Western Rong Dynasty. Because of his meritorious service, he was given the land of Wei as a city. Later, his descendants took the city as their surname and were called the Wei family. In 445 BC, Wei Si, a descendant of Bi Wan, established the Wei State. After it was destroyed by Qin in 225 BC, the defeated Wei royal family took the name of the country as their surname, forming the most important branch of the Wei surname. The surname Wei is known as Zhengzong in history.

2. Change the foreign surname to Wei. During the Warring States Period, King Zhaoxiang of the Qin Dynasty had the prime minister, Ranghou, and Queen Mother Zhaoxiang, the Queen Mother Xuan, half-brother Wei Ran. He was originally from Chu, with the surname Mi, and later changed his surname to Wei; from Pujiang in the Southern Song Dynasty, there were Wei Liaoweng, Jinshi of Qingyuan, and the surname Gao. Later, his surname was changed to Wei; in the Ming Dynasty, there was Wei Xiao, a Kunshan native whose surname was Li. He was a Jinshi in Hongzhi and later changed his surname to Wei.

Distribution of the Wei surname

In the early days, the Wei family mainly developed and multiplied in present-day Shanxi, Henan, and Shandong provinces, and some also lived in present-day Hubei and Hunan provinces. Wei Xin, the fifth-generation grandson of Wei Wuji, the grandson of Wei Gongzi Wuji, settled in Julu (now part of Hebei). Wei Wuwu had two great-great-grandsons, one named Wei Chen, who settled in Qinghe; the other named Wei Han, who settled in Rencheng. In addition, after Qin Shihuang unified the six countries, he once "migrated the world's richest people to 120,000 households in Xianyang". Some people of the Wei family moved to Shaanxi Province today. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, there were already residents surnamed Wei in some places in the south of the Yangtze River. In the early Tang Dynasty, Chen Zheng, Chen Yuanguang and his son entered Fujian to open up Zhangzhou. They were accompanied by generals Wei Youren and Wei Renpu, who later settled in Fujian. In the Tang Dynasty, Wei Muzhong immigrated from Julu to Nanchang, Jiangxi for 15 generations, and one of his branches moved to Shishibi Village, Ning, Fujian. In the 11th generation, there was Wei Cailu, who gave birth to four sons: the eldest son, Wei Yuan, moved to Changle, Guangdong; the second son, Wei Heng, moved to Changle, Guangdong. In Shanghang, Fujian, the 5th generation Sun Bangzheng moved to Longchuan, Guangdong; the third son Wei Li stayed at the ancestral grave; the fourth son Wei Zhen, one son moved to Jieyang, Guangdong, and the other lived in Haifeng. Wei Yuan's descendants Wei Yinghao and Wei Tejing moved to Hsinchu County, Taiwan during the Qianlong period; his descendants Wei Ding went to the United States in the third year of Xianfeng in the Qing Dynasty and later settled in Canada; his descendants Wei Song went to Indonesia in 1910 and became rich by opening tin mines. Malaysian legislator.

Genealogy of the Wei family

Jiangsu: four volumes of Wei family genealogy, the first volume of eight volumes of Wei family genealogy, six volumes of Wei family genealogy, and four volumes of Shao Jitang Wei family genealogy

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Zhejiang: The Wei family's Tailian Hall is not divided into volumes, the Lanfeng Wei family genealogy is in eight volumes, the Cishui Wei family genealogy is in 28 volumes, the Shanyin Wutang Wei family genealogy is in ten volumes, Huangyan Wei Family Genealogy in Six Volumes

Henan: Wei Family Genealogy in Sishui in Six Volumes, Wei Family Genealogy in Xiangcheng, Wei Family Genealogy in Zhenping in Five Volumes, and Wei Family Genealogy in One Volume

Hunan: The first volume of the 20th volume of the Wei family's fifth revised genealogy, the first four volumes of the eighth volume of the Wei family's fifth revised genealogy, the first volume of the 40th volume of the Hengyang Wei family genealogy

Sichuan: The first volume of the Wei family's ancestral genealogy in Huayang , One volume of the genealogy of the branch temple of the Wei family, one volume of the genealogy of the Wei family, and one volume of the genealogy of the Wei family

The genealogy of the Wei family is not divided into volumes, the genealogy of the continuation of the Wei family is not divided into volumes, and the genealogy of Liannan went to Wei to rewrite the genealogy is not divided into volumes.

Historical Celebrities

Wei Zheng: A famous official in the Tang Dynasty. During the reign of Emperor Taizong, he was appointed as an admonishing official and dared to offend Yan Zhijian. He put forward some famous sayings about governing the world, such as "listening at the same time will lead to enlightenment, believing only partially will lead to darkness", "the king is the boat, and the people are the water. Water can carry the boat, but it can also capsize it." He has advised on more than 200 matters.

Wei Yuan: a thinker, historian, and writer in the late Qing Dynasty. Together with Gong Zizhen, he belongs to the Jinwen Jing school and advocates resisting foreign aggression. He once compiled "Hai Guo Tu Zhi", put forward the famous idea of ??"learning from the barbarians to develop skills to control the barbarians", and advocated reforms. He was one of the earliest outstanding figures in China who looked at the world from a broad perspective.

Wei Wuji: Lord Xinling of Wei State. The younger brother of King Anli of Wei, he had 3,000 diners and was an outstanding son of the Wei family at that time. He is known as the "Four Young Masters" together with Lord Mengchang of Qi, Lord Pingyuan of Zhao, and Lord Chunshen of Chu.

Wei Wuzi: The earliest person with the Wei surname to become prominent in history was a senior official of the Jin Dynasty in the Spring and Autumn Period. His two sons, Wei Ke and Wei Jiang, were also famous figures.

Wei Yan: A famous general of the Shu Han Dynasty during the Three Kingdoms period. He once accompanied Liu Bei in Shu. He was famous for his bravery. He moved to become the general of the Western Expedition and the Marquis of Nanzheng.

Wei Zhongxian (Wei Zhongxian, the leader of the eunuch party in the late Ming Dynasty)

Wei Zhongxian was first named Jinzhong and later named Wanwu.

A great eunuch during the reign of Emperor Xizong of the Ming Dynasty, he was a native of Suning, Hebei Province. When he was young, he was a rogue, doing everything from eating, drinking, prostitution and gambling. He once married a wife named Feng and had a daughter. Because he lost all his money in gambling and was in debt, he hid in a hotel. He was grabbed, beaten, and insulted by gamblers who demanded debts. He was so ashamed that he left the palace in anger, changed his name to Li Jinzhong, and fled to Beijing on the 17th day of Wanli. In 1589, he was elected to the palace and his real name was Wei Jinzhong. He took refuge in the hands of Xizong's wet nurse, the Hakka family, and he was very favored by the Hakka family. When Xizong ascended the throne, he named the Hakka family the "Fengsheng Lady". Wei Zhongxian also ascended to the throne and was appointed eunuch Bingbi, the head of the twenty-four eunuchs. The eunuchs who held pens served the emperor closely, criticizing and answering memorials, conveying imperial edicts, and restricting the cabinet. They were known as the two emperors. Wei Zhongxian was illiterate. It was because of his Hakka family that he took up this important position. He was named Zhongxian by Emperor Xizong and had overwhelming power as prime minister. In the third year of Tianqi (1623), Wei Zhongxian also took charge of the Dongchang of the secret service agency, which made him even more popular. The imperial cabinet was completely controlled by Wei Zhongxian's lackeys. They actually worshiped Wei Zhongxian as their father and grandfather, and called themselves Qian'er and adopted grandson. The core figures of Wei Zhongxian's eunuch party include the "Five Tigers", "Five Biaos", "Ten Dogs", "Ten Children", "Forty Grandsons", etc. In the fifth year of Tianqi (1625), a large prison was established, Yang Lian, a member of the Donglin Party, and others were killed, which aroused public anger and civil uprisings occurred in Jiangyin, Suzhou and other places. In the sixth year of Tianqi (1626), Pan Ruzhen, the governor of Zhejiang, initiated the erection of a living shrine for Wei Zhongxian, and then other places followed suit, with shrines all over the country. There is a statue of Wei Zhongxian in the temple. Pedestrians passing by must bow five times and say nine thousand nine hundred years old. Wei Zhongxian claimed to be nine thousand years old. The cabinet drafted a decree to jointly name "I and the factory ministers". Some people even proposed that Wei Zhongxian should be listed as a saint along with Confucius, believing that Wei Zhongxian's contribution was higher than that of Mencius. The whole country was madly loyal to an emperor's slaves, which shows how corrupt the Ming Dynasty's politics was. In 1627, when Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty succeeded to the throne, he demoted the Hakka clan, deposed Wei Zhongxian, and sent him to Fengyang to guard the tomb. He was arrested and punished halfway, but Wei Zhongxian hanged himself in fear of crime.

Eunuchs are the cancer of China’s feudal centralized system. They always accompany the rise and fall of feudal dynasties and periodically cause harm to society, poison the country, bring harm to the politics of the time, and bring harm to the people of the time. disaster. The vast majority of eunuchs entered the palace when they were young. Some ambitious eunuchs even castrated themselves into the palace. Most of them came from poor families or committed crimes. For example, Zhao Gao was a criminal. Because the eunuch was a person who had been sentenced to death, he suffered severe physical and mental torture. The eunuch was in the deep palace, witnessing the luxurious life and arrogant power of the emperor and his concubines. Over time, he became infected with the desire for power. In particular, there are many officials who do not know how to read. Wei Zhongxian is illiterate, so he does not understand etiquette and justice, and he does not know the hardships of farming. How can he sympathize with the people's sufferings. Therefore, once eunuchs take advantage of their power, they will most likely be in trouble. Therefore, the wisdom of individual eunuchs cannot change the despicability of the eunuchs as a whole. Eunuchs were slaves, and their power was not legal in the first place. Instead, they used imperial power to wreak havoc, just like dogs fighting against human power. Most eunuchs are full of servility and are complete "dog slaves". Although most eunuchs suffered pitiable conditions, their "dog slave" nature was also shaped by their experiences and status, and it was impossible to sing their praises. Zhao Gao's chaos in government and accelerating the fall of the Qin Dynasty is a typical example. Eunuchs are the cancer of the autocratic system. As long as the system does not die, eunuchs will not be destroyed. This is the fundamental reason why generation after generation of eunuchs are wreaking havoc.