Cao E was only fourteen years old at that time, and she was crying along the river day and night in search of her father. Seventeen days later, on May 5 of the lunar calendar, she also threw herself into the river. Three days later, she floated out of the river with her father's body in her arms. In order to commemorate Cao E's filial piety, later generations built the Cao E temple at the place where Cao E threw herself into the river. The village and town where she lived was renamed Cao E town, and the place where Cao E died for her father was named Cao E river. In the first year of Yuanjia (AD 151), Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty, Liu Zhi, Du Shang, the magistrate of Shangyu County, buried Cao E next to Jiangnan Road. He ordered his disciple Handan Chun to write an inscription, carve a stone and erect a stele to honor his filial piety (one theory is that Cao E was filial piety and filial piety). The E stele was written by Wang Yi of Changsha during the Jin Dynasty). Later, Zuo Zhonglang came here to look for Cai Yong. It was already late at night. He touched the text and read it, and then wrote eight characters on the back of the tombstone: "Yellow silk young woman's grandson Junjiu." (meaning "excellent words") Cao'e Temple was built during the Eastern Han Dynasty. Since then, it has been destroyed and rebuilt several times. Cao E's tomb is in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province today. It was renovated and opened in 1985 and is known as the "No. 1 Temple in Jiangnan". The famous Cao'e stele in the Eastern Han Dynasty has long been destroyed. The Song stele that exists today was made in the eighth year of Yuanyou in the Song Dynasty (1093 AD) and was copied and reprinted by Cai Bian, a master of calligraphy. People at that time respected filial piety, and some children who were born on the Dragon Boat Festival, May 5 of the lunar calendar, named Cao E as their surname, were called the E family. It is said that the E family of Zhuji, Shaoxing City, Zhejiang Province, got their ancestor's surname in this way. The original surname was Cao, which has been passed down for more than ninety generations.
Note:
Many people today believe that the E family comes from E Qing, a northerner in the Northern Wei Dynasty during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. This is not true. "E Qing" is a clerical error of Wei Shou, and should be "Moth". clear". Mo Qing, the Pingdong general of the Northern Wei Dynasty, was a Northern Qiang person and originated from the Mo Zhesha tribe of the ancient Qiang tribe in Longxi. From the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, there was only one ethnic group named "Mo" in northwest China, the Xiqiang Mozheshe tribe, and there was no ethnic group or individual named "E".
In addition, among the many legendary origins of the E family, only the sixth, seventh and eighth origins mentioned above have been confirmed, and the others need further research.