The 叶 surname

Ye (叶) is one of the surnames of Taishan. The Ye of Taishan honor Ye Qiongzhi (叶琼枝) of the Song as their grand founding ancestor (太始祖); his descendants moved from Xinhui (新会) into the Dugang (独冈) area of Shuibu (水步) and then spread to other places, hence the saying "our roots for ten thousand years are in Dugang"; according to Origins of Taishan's Surnames (《台山姓氏源流》), the Ye had been in Taishan for more than six hundred years (counting to the 1990s).^[1] By the estimate of Origins of Taishan's Surnames (Volume 1), in the 1990s there were about 5,300 Ye in Taishan, living mainly at Gangning (冈宁) in Shuibu, Guangming (光明) in Fucheng (附城), Qunhou (群厚) in Shuibu and other places.^[1]

Origin of the surname[edit]

The Ye descend from the Shenyin (沈尹) clan of the Mi (芈) surname. In the Spring and Autumn period, Shen Zhuliang (沈诸梁, courtesy name Zigao 子高), son of Shenyin Xu (沈尹戌) of the state of Chu, was enfeoffed at the town of Ye (叶邑, south of today's Ye County, Henan) and was called the Duke of Ye (叶公). He put down the rebellion of Sheng, Duke of Bai (白公胜), and rendered service to Chu; his descendants took the name of the fief as their surname and were called the Ye. The Duke of Ye in the idiom "the Duke of Ye loves dragons" (叶公好龙) is Shen Zhuliang. The ancestral commandery of the Ye is Nanyang (南阳).^[2][1]

Coming to Taishan[edit]

According to Origins of Taishan's Surnames, Shen Zhuliang's descendants lived in Ye for generations. In the Qingtai period of the Later Tang in the Five Dynasties, Ye Yilang (叶一琅) moved with an official posting to Xinfeng (信丰), Jiangxi, and his grandson Ye Yanqing (叶延庆) moved again to Xianyou (仙游), Fujian. Yanqing's grandson Ye Yong (叶颙; art name Qingjie 清介, posthumous name Zhengjian 正简), whom that text records as born in the 1st year of Daguan (1107), after passing the jinshi (palace graduate) examination served as registrar of Nanhai (南海), Guangdong, and rose to Left Executive and concurrently Administrator of the Bureau of Military Affairs; he later settled at Dapu (大圃) in Nanhai rather than returning to Fujian, and is honored as the founding ancestor of the Ye of Guangdong. The Qingjie Academy (清介书院) on Yonghan North Road (永汉北路; today's Beijing Road) in Guangzhou was built by Ye Yong's descendants in his memory.^[1] Wikipedia, on the other hand, says that Ye Yong, a chief minister of the Southern Song, was a native of Xianyou, born in 1100 and died in 1167, once served as registrar of Nanhai, and received the posthumous name Zhengjian; but a note to that article explains that he is not the Ye Yong who lived in Nanhai, Guangdong, and whose son married a commandery princess of the Zhao clan.^[3] Whether the founding ancestor of the Ye of Guangdong and this chief minister are one and the same is yet to be verified.

Ye Yong's fifth-generation descendant Ye Qiongzhi (courtesy name Lingyang 陵阳) served as a prefect in the Song; his descendants moved from Nanhai to Xinhui, Hua County (花县), Heshan (鹤山) and other places. Qiongzhi's descendants Ye Ruchen (叶如琛), Ye Songshou (叶松寿), Ye Chunshou (叶椿寿) and Ye Baishou (叶柏寿) moved from Xinhui to Kengwei Village (坑尾村) and Songshan Village (松山村) in Dugang; later Qiongzhi's fifth-generation descendant Ye Youxing (叶有兴) moved from Xinhui to Zhuling Village (珠岭村) in Dugang, and his sixth-generation descendant Ye Songxing (叶松兴) moved from Xinhui to Qunhou.^[1]

Apart from Qunhou and Duhu (都斛), the three villages of Kengwei, Songshan and Zhuling in Dugang are the earliest settlements of the Ye of Taishan. The Ye of Guangming and Dakeng (大坑) in Fucheng, Junzikeng (君子坑) and Hengtang (横塘) in Sanhe (三合), Yewu (叶屋) in Dunzhai (墩寨), Duanfen (端芬), Doushan (斗山), Gangning, Sanba (三八), Chawan (茶湾) in Shangchuan (上川) and other places mostly moved out of Dugang, directly or indirectly. The Ye of Taishan have three sets of generation names (班派): the Kengwei and Songshan line uses 达 (Da), 君 (Jun), 崇 (Chong), 建 (Jian), 业 (Ye); the Zhuling line uses 近 (Jin), 悦 (Yue), 远 (Yuan), 来 (Lai); and the Qunhou line uses 兰 (Lan), 芳 (Fang), 桂 (Gui), 茂 (Mao). Except for Ye families who came later from other provinces, all the lines honor Ye Qiongzhi as their grand founding ancestor.^[1]

Distribution[edit]

According to Origins of Taishan's Surnames (Volume 1), the numbers and distribution of the Ye of Taishan at the time were as follows (all estimates from the 1990s):^[1]

• Gangning administrative district (管区), Shuibu (the four natural villages of Nanxi 南溪, plus Tangbu 塘步, Xichao 西潮, Lian'an 联安 and Baimiao 白庙; 8 villages in all): about 1,300 people
• Guangming, Fucheng: about 800 people
• Qunqing (群青, also called Qunhou), Shuibu: about 700 people
• Kengwei and Songshan: about 600 people
• Junzikeng, Sanhe: about 400 people
• Dunzhai, Duanfen: about 300 people
• Hengtang, Sanhe: about 200 people
• Dakeng in Fucheng, Sanba, Doushan, Duhu, Nafu (那扶), Chengxi (澄溪), Chenbian (陈边) in Dajiang (大江), and those scattered through the market towns: about 1,000 people

In all, about 5,300 people, plus about 7,000 clan members overseas.^[1]

Ancestral halls and overseas Chinese magazines[edit]

• Ye Gong Qiongzhi Memorial Hall (叶公琼枝纪念堂): in the Guanghua School (光华学校) at Gangning (formerly part of Dugang).^[1]
• Genealogy of the Nanyang Ye of Taishan (《台山南阳叶氏宗谱》): compiled by Ye Jingwen (叶敬文), 2001.^[4]

People[edit]

• Ye Shufan (叶树蕃), of Tangbu Village, Dugang (Gangning); a juren (provincial graduate) of the Guangxu period of the Qing. Two of his "juren houses" still stand in Tangbu Village, Gangning.^[1]
• Yap Kwan Seng (叶观盛, 1846–1901), of Beimen Township (北门乡), Chixi (赤溪); the last Chinese Kapitan (甲必丹, head of the Chinese community) of Malaya. Kuala Lumpur has streets named after him and after the firm he founded, Xinjiuji (新就记).^[1]
• Ye Shaoyi (叶少毅), of Xichao Village, Gangning, Shuibu; an early Chinese aviator who joined the flying corps of the Guangdong Army Aiding Fujian (援闽粤飞行队). On December 8 in the 7th year of the Republic (1918), flying a reconnaissance mission, he ran into rain and was killed in a crash at Zhangzhou (漳州), aged only 24; he was buried at Huanghuagang (黄花岗) in Guangzhou, and his epitaph was written by Lin Sen (林森).^[1]
• Ye Zhuolin (叶卓林), of Jinkeng (筋坑), Fucheng; studied at the University of Berlin in Germany; during the War of Resistance against Japan, a mechanical engineer who designed and made tank weaponry.^[1]
• Ye Chengxun (叶程勋), of Qunhou, Shuibu; graduated from the cavalry course of the 6th class of the Whampoa Military Academy, served as a colonel commanding a regiment, and was killed in the defense of Nanjing.^[1]
• Ye Yinquan (叶因泉, 1903–1969), of Yewu Village, Dunzhai, Duanfen; a cartoonist whose best-known work is Refugees of the War of Resistance (《抗战流民图》), a series of 102 pictures.^[1]
• Yip Wing-sie (叶咏诗), of Jinkeng, Fucheng; a conductor who won first prize at the Besançon International Competition for Young Conductors in France and once served as a conductor of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra.^[1]