The 朱 surname

Zhu (朱) is one of the surnames of Taishan. According to the genealogies of Zhu families across Taishan, the Zhu came to Taishan in three waves: subjects who came south with the Song court at the end of the Southern Song, who honor Zhu Wenhuan (朱文焕) as their first ancestor in Guangdong, settled around Zhudong (朱洞) and spread from there to Pinggang (平岗), Paobu (泡步), Dancun Village (淡村), Zoucun Village (邹村) and Sanhe (三合); the descendants of Zhu Shaodi (朱少弟), hereditary battalion commander (qianhu) of the Guanghai Garrison (广海卫) in the early Ming, live around the walled town of Guanghai (广海); and the Hakka Zhu who came to Sijiu (四九) and Sanhe in the Qianlong reign of the Qing later moved to Chixi (赤溪). From the early Qing on, the branches also moved, one after another, to the Haiyan (海宴) area on the southwestern coast.^[1][2]

Origin of the surname[edit]

The Zhu surname is generally held to come from the Cao (曹) surname: tradition holds that Cao Xie (曹挟), a descendant of Zhuanxu (颛顼), was enfeoffed at Zhu (邾, around present-day Zoucheng, Shandong) at the beginning of the Zhou, and the people of the state took the state's name as their clan name; when the state of Zhu was destroyed by Chu in the Warring States period, the remaining clan dropped the "city" radical (邑) and took the surname Zhu (朱).^[1][3] Other accounts say it comes from the descendants of Danzhu (丹朱), son of Yao (尧), from the descendants of Weizi of Song (宋微子), and so on.^[3] Zhu families in Guangdong mostly claim Pei (沛国) as their ancestral commandery, and many branches honor Zhu Xi (朱熹), the Neo-Confucian philosopher of the Southern Song, as their forebear.^[4]

Coming to Taishan[edit]

The Zhudong line (end of the Southern Song)

According to the genealogies cited in Origins of Taishan's Surnames (《台山姓氏源流》), the Zhu who live in Zhudong (formerly part of Fucheng Town, 附城镇), Pinggang, Paobu and Dancun Village in today's Taicheng Subdistrict (台城街道), in Zoucun Village of the former Sanba Town (三八镇), and in Sanhe all share Zhu Wenhuan as their first ancestor in Guangdong. Wenhuan became a jinshi (palace graduate) in the 2nd year of Jiaxi of Emperor Lizong of the Southern Song (1238) and served as a reviewing official (pingshi) of the Court of Judicial Review (大理寺).^[1][2] Another source says he was a sixth-generation descendant of Zhu Xi.^[4] A Taishan Zhu Genealogy (《台山朱氏族谱》) compiled in 1994 records the founding ancestor as Zhu Bing (朱炳), courtesy name Wenhuan, art name Shushi (漱石), a man of the Song, and the first migrant ancestor as Zhu Tenglong (朱腾龙), art name Renzhai (仁斋), a man of the Ming.^[5]

The genealogies give two accounts of how Wenhuan's family came to Guangdong:

• According to the genealogy of the Zhu of Shangxiayue (上下岳) in Qingyuan (清远), when the Yuan army took Lin'an (临安) in the 2nd year of Deyou (1276) and the Prince of Yi (益王), having taken the throne in Fuzhou (福州), called on all quarters to come to the emperor's aid, Wenhuan raised a volunteer force and escorted the emperor south to Guangzhou; when the Song court moved to Yashan (崖山) in the 1st year of Xiangxing (1278), Wenhuan was ordered to resist the Yuan on the North River (北江), and was defeated and killed in battle; his son Jixian (继贤) carried his body away that night and buried it at Hengshi (横石) in Qingyuan. Wenhuan's family, for their part, came to Guangdong with the Song court and later drifted to Taishan.^[1][4]
• The genealogies of the Zhu of Zhudong, Pinggang, Paobu and other places record instead that Wenhuan was banished to Lingnan (岭南) after failing in an attempt to impeach a powerful minister; by the time of the three brothers Lanyu (兰玉; Renlong, 人龙), Lanmao (兰茂; Renhu, 人虎) and Lanrui (兰瑞; Renfeng, 人凤), the family lived in Shashui Village (沙水村) in Nanxiong (南雄); because of the "Consort Hu" (胡妃) affair they moved south, wandered from place to place, and finally settled in Zhudong. The author of Origins of Taishan's Surnames points out that the "Consort Hu affair" of this legend fits the time of Wenhuan himself but does not match that of his grandsons' generation.^[1][2]

Another report says that, according to tradition, Wenhuan had three sons, who moved to Xinning (新宁, today's Taishan), Nanhai (南海) and other places.^[4]

Lanyu's descendants later filled every natural village of Zhudong, and branched out to neighboring Pinggang and Paobu, to Yanglan (洋栏) and Xinyi (新一) in Sanhe, and to Jiayanglu (加羊路) in Kaiping (开平). Tradition holds that the Lanrui line, which came with Lanyu, opened up the two great branches of Dancun and Zoucun in the time of Jingwen Gong (景文公), and moved on to Najin (那金) in Sanhe, Danzao (丹灶) in Xinhui (新会), Caobu (曹步) in Zhongshan (中山) and other places, forming one continuous area with the Zhudong line.^[1][2] Zhudong is today a village committee under Taicheng Subdistrict.^[6]

The Guanghai line (early Ming)

According to the village history and genealogy of Dongrongli (东荣里), or Laozhu Village (老朱村), in Guanghai, this line descends from Zhu Shaodi, a military officer of the Ming. Shaodi was a native of Ningguo Prefecture (宁国府), Nanjing (南京); at the end of the Yuan he joined Zhu Yuanzhang (朱元璋) in his uprising, was made a commander (zhihuishi), and was transferred to the Front Guard of Guangzhou Prefecture (广州府前卫); in the 24th year of Hongwu of the Ming (1391) he was transferred again, as capped-and-belted battalion commander (guandai qianhu zhihuishi), and was ordered to build the walled town of the Guanghai Garrison to guard against Japanese pirates. Shaodi later went back to Nanjing, leaving behind his wife, née Guan (管氏), and his son Helü (鹤侣); Helü inherited the post of battalion commander, and his descendants have lived in Guanghai for generations. The Zhu of Zhujiaxiang (朱家巷) in the walled town of Guanghai, of Lejia Village (乐家村), of Dongrongli and of other places are all descendants of Helü.^[1][2] Lejia and Dongrong are today natural villages under Jing'an Village Committee (靖安村委会), Guanghai Town.^[7]

The Hakka Zhu of Chixi (Qing dynasty)

According to the Chixi County Gazetteer (《赤溪县志》) and the local Zhu genealogies, the first ancestor in Guangdong of this line of Hakka Zhu was Zhu Zhangfu (朱章甫), a seventh-generation descendant of Zhu Xi and a descendant of Zhu Quan (朱铨) of Luling (庐陵), Jiangxi; around the end of the Southern Song or in the Yuan he came from Jiangxi to Guangdong, and made his living as a Confucian scholar in Jiaying Prefecture (嘉应州). His descendants moved several times, came to Taishan in the Qianlong reign of the Qing, and settled in Sijiu and Sanhe; after the armed clashes between the Punti and the Hakka (土客械斗) in the 6th year of Xianfeng (1856), they moved again, to the Chixi Peninsula (赤溪半岛) in the southeast of Taishan.^[1][2]

Distribution[edit]

When Taishan was divided into districts, the Haiyan area was the Ninth District; when Origins of Taishan's Surnames was written, it was divided into three towns: Shalan (沙栏), Haiyan and Wencun (汶村). After the coastal evacuation (迁界) of the early Qing and the later return to the coast (复界), displaced people moved in from many places, and the Zhu came too, one after another. By the book's incomplete count, of the more than 370 natural villages then in the Haiyan area, the Zhu lived in 39, numbering about ten thousand, third only to the Chen and the Li; these are figures from the 1990s.^[1][2]

According to village histories and genealogies, the Zhu in different parts of Haiyan have different origins:

• Zhuwu (朱屋), Zhushawan (朱沙湾), Heyilu (禾义路) and other places: descendants of Yuanda Gong (源达公) of the Lanrui (Renfeng) line.
• Shanju (山咀), Shalan: their ancestors came from the north of Taicheng (台城).
• Lunding Village (仑定村): the line of Zhu Qianpo (朱前坡) came from Guanghai, and the line of Zhu Fengsu (朱凤素) from Dancun.
• Chunchang (春场): grew out of the Zhu salt workers who came here to make salt in the sun.
• Wucun Village (五村): originally home to five surnames living together; later the Zhu invited clansmen to move in, and it became a Zhu village; historically, many of its villagers still traveled a long way to Zhudong to worship Lanyu Gong.^[1][2]

Overseas: according to the contact records between Ziyang Monthly (《紫阳月刊》), the overseas magazine of the Taishan Zhu, and clansmen abroad, the Taishan Zhu living abroad are most numerous in the United States and Canada, and are especially concentrated in San Francisco (旧金山, 三藩市), California.^[1][2]

Ancestral halls and overseas Chinese magazines[edit]

• Ziyang Monthly: the overseas magazine of the Taishan Zhu.^[1]
• Zhu Peiguo Building (朱沛国楼): in the west of Taicheng; built through the joint efforts mainly of clansmen in the United States, Canada, Hong Kong and Macau, and completed in 1995; the place where the Taishan Zhu worship their ancestors and keep in touch with clansmen at home and abroad.^[1][2]
• Clan associations overseas: those made up mainly of Taishan Zhu include the Zhu Peiguo headquarters (朱沛国总堂) in San Francisco and the Zhu Peiguo branch (朱沛国分堂) in Los Angeles (罗省, 洛杉矶); within them, fang are also set up by lineage branch: the Zhudong Lanyu line has the Xinguanghe Fang (新广和房) and the Pingxi Fang (平溪房), and the Jingwen line has the Danxi Fang (淡溪房) and the Zouxi Fang (邹溪房), these two fang having jointly bought a building and founded the Side Tang (思德堂), where together they worship Jingwen Gong.^[1][2]
• Reunion conventions: from November 2 to 5, 2013, the 6th All-America Zhu Peiguo Tang Convention, held together with the 1st World Zhu Clan Reunion Convention, took place in Taishan, attended by more than 500 Zhu representatives from many places.^[8]

Genealogies[edit]

• Taishan Zhu Genealogy, 1994, one volume; records the founding ancestor Zhu Bing (courtesy name Wenhuan) and the first migrant ancestor Zhu Tenglong.^[5]
• Zhu Family Genealogy (《朱氏家谱》), a manuscript of 1985, one volume; records the founding ancestor Zhu Qiyi (朱启义); the clan's members live scattered in Liantang Village (莲塘村), Taishan, in Hong Kong and elsewhere.^[9]

People[edit]

• Zhu Yue (朱岳), from Laocun (老村), Pinggang; a division commander during the War of Resistance against Japan, he led his troops in the four Battles of Changsha and was wounded many times in combat, and his division earned the title "Loyal and Brave Division".^[1]
• Paul Chu (Zhu Jingwu, 朱经武) (1941–), physicist, whose ancestral home is Taishan; former president of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.^[1][10]