3. Sun (sūn)
3. Sun (sūn)
Looking for the roots
There are many clues to the origin of the surname Sun, mainly six Big sources: First, it comes from the surname Mi. When Sun Shu'ao, the magistrate of the State of Chu, took office, he was an honest official and had outstanding political achievements. He was known as "a famous prime minister of his generation". In order to commemorate him, later generations took the "Sun" in his character as their surname. Sun Shu'ao became the ancestor of this surname. Mi and Sun are also descendants of the Yellow Emperor. The second one comes from the surname Ji, a descendant of Uncle Kang, the king of Wei. Kang Shu, the eighth son of King Wen of Zhou Dynasty, was granted the title of King of Wei State and was known as Wei Kang Shu in history. The grandson of Wei Kangshu's ninth grandson, Huisun, was named Yi, and his son was Wuzhong. He took his grandfather Huisun's surname as his surname, and there were also those who took the single character "Sun" as their surname. Wu Zhong is the ancestor of this Sun surname. The third one is derived from the surname Gui, who is a descendant of Emperor Shun. In the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty, King Wu pursued the title of the surviving family of the sages, and after Emperor Shun, the descendants of the surname Gui were granted the title of Chen Kingdom. In the Spring and Autumn Period, Prince Wan of Chen State fled to Qi State to avoid disaster. His fifth generation grandson Shu served in Qi State and was given the surname Sun by Qi Jinggong due to his meritorious service. The fourth is derived from the surname Zi, who is a descendant of Shang Tang and the descendant of the Zi surname ethnic group Bi Gan. After Bigan was killed by King Zhou of Shang Dynasty, some of his descendants took refuge and hid their surnames. Since they were originally descendants of a prominent family, they changed their surname to Sun. The fifth is from the Xiahou family who changed their surname to Sun. Sixth, ethnic minorities change their surnames.
Changes in distribution
The Sun surname was first active in Henan and Shandong. During the Warring States Period, a prominent family was formed in Wu County in the south (now Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province). During the Qin and Han Dynasties, it expanded from the Central Plains to all directions. During the Three Kingdoms period, Sun Jian and his son established the State of Wu in the south of the Yangtze River. During the Song and Ming dynasties, it expanded to the whole country and formed two major gathering centers in Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Shandong. Today, people with the Sun surname are mainly concentrated in Shandong and Henan provinces, and also occupy a large proportion in Heilongjiang, Liaoning, Hebei, Anhui and other places.
A Gathering of Celebrities
Sun Yang: Bole, a minister of Duke Mu of Qin in the mid-Spring and Autumn Period. He was good at looking at horses, and was also called Sun Yang Bole.
Sun Wu: A great military strategist in the late Spring and Autumn Period, he wrote "Sun Tzu's Art of War" and put forward the famous saying "Know yourself and the enemy, and you can fight a hundred battles without danger".
Sun Bin: A famous military strategist during the Warring States Period, a descendant of Sun Wu, and the author of "Sun Bin's Art of War".
Sun Quan: The founder of the Wu Kingdom during the Three Kingdoms period, the Great Emperor of Soochow. The courtesy name is Zhongmou, a native of Fuchun County, Wu County (now Fuyang, Zhejiang Province). The 22nd descendant of the military strategist Sun Wu, he is a man of great talent and strategy, and extremely brave. Later generations have a saying that "having a son should be like Sun Zhongmou".
Sun Simiao: a famous medical scientist and pharmacologist in the Tang Dynasty. A native of Huayuan (now Yaoxian County, Shaanxi), north of Beijing. He is the author of "A Thousand Gold Prescriptions" and "A Thousand Gold Wings Prescription". He is known as the King of Medicine and is regarded by many Chinese as the God of Medicine.