Taishan surnames

The 徐 surname

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Translated from the Chinese article, which is the one that is edited (read it in Chinese).

Xu (徐) is one of the surnames of Taishan. It comes mainly from the ancient state of Xu (徐国), taking the state's name as the clan name. According to the Taishan County Gazetteer of Local Lore (《台山县乡土志》), the Xu of Dadan (大担) say they came from Zhuji Lane (珠玑巷) in Nanxiong (南雄). On Yinglang Road (迎朗路) in Taicheng (台城) stands the Xu Ancestral Hall, built jointly by the Xu of the Four Counties (四邑) and completed in 1929.[1][2][3]

Origin of the surname[edit]

The mainstream account derives the Xu surname from the Ying (嬴) surname: Boyi (伯益) helped Yu the Great control the floods, and for his merit his son Ruomu (若木) was enfeoffed at Xu and founded the state of Xu; in the Western Zhou, King Yan of Xu (徐偃王) ruled with benevolence and righteousness; later, in 512 BCE, the state of Xu was destroyed by Wu, and the royal house and the people of the state took the state's name as their surname. Other accounts derive it from the Xu, one of the “six clans of the Yin people” (殷民六族) of the Shang, or from surname changes among ethnic minorities. The ancestral commanderies of the Xu surname include Donghai (东海), Gaoping (高平), Dongguan (东莞), Langya (琅琊) and Puyang (濮阳).[1]

Coming to Taishan[edit]

In an article in Xinning Magazine (《新宁杂志》), Huang Renfu (黄仁夫), quoting the Taishan County Gazetteer of Local Lore as given in the book Zhuji Lane Migrants of the Song Dynasty and the Agricultural Development of the Pearl River Delta (《宋代珠玑巷迁民与珠江三角洲农业发展》), lists the settlements of the various surnames that moved from Zhuji Lane in Nanxiong into Taishan, among them “the Xu of Dadan”.[2]

How the Xu came to Taishan and where they live is yet to be added. Family members who know more are welcome to edit this article.

Ancestral halls[edit]

  • Xu Ancestral Hall (徐氏宗祠): on Yinglang Road, Taicheng, built with donations from Xu kinsmen of the Four Counties of Jiangmen (江门); according to the clan association's 2024 appeal, its foundation was laid in 1924 and it was completed on the 11th day of the fourth lunar month of 1929. After the land reform it was used by the government for a long time; it is now listed as a key protected historic building of Taicheng.[3]

References

  1. “Xu (surname)”, Chinese Wikipedia 「徐姓」，维基百科
  2. Huang Renfu: “The Southward Migration of the Zhuji Lane People and the Origins of the People of Taishan”, “Xinning Magazine”, 2014, No. 1, Xinning Magazine Publishing 黄仁夫：「珠玑巷人南迁与台山人的来由」，《新宁杂志》2014年第1期，新宁杂志社
  3. Kaiping Fanglu Xu Gong Ancestral Hall Clan Fellowship Association: “To the Xu Kinsmen of the Four Counties of Jiangmen at Home and Abroad”, Tianxia Xushi website, May 2024 开平访卢徐公祠宗亲联谊会：「致江门四邑徐氏海内外宗亲」，天下徐氏网，2024年5月

Last edited 2026-10-19 08:38 · Written together by this site’s users: anybody signed in can edit it, and every version is kept under History.