The 王 surname

Wang (王) is one of the most populous surnames in China. In Taishan, the Wang recorded in the sources available are most concentrated around Nancun Village (南村) in Duhu Town (都斛镇); according to the Hong Kong edition of the Huang Genealogy (《黄氏族谱》) and local tradition, the Nancun Wang were originally surnamed Huang, descendants through a concubine's line of Huang Yinlong (黄隐龙), founder of the settlement of the Dongkou (洞口) Huang, and later changed their surname to Wang.^[1][2]

Origin of the surname[edit]

The Wang surname has many origins, four of them chief. From the Ji (姬) surname: with Jin (晋), crown prince of King Ling of Zhou (also called Wangzi Qiao, 王子乔), as founding ancestor, his descendants, being of the royal house, were called "the king's family" (王家) and so took Wang as their surname. From the Gui (妫) surname: the descendants of Tian Jian (田建), king of Qi in the Warring States period, changed their surname to Wang after losing the throne in the transition from Qin to Han. From the Zi (子) surname: by tradition, the descendants of Bi Gan (比干) at the end of the Shang. And changes of surname, or surnames granted, among ethnic minorities through the ages. Taiyuan (太原) and Langya (琅琊) are the famous ancestral commanderies of the Wang.^[1]

The Nancun Wang[edit]

According to the chapter on the Huang in Origins of Taishan's Surnames (《台山姓氏源流》), Huang Yinlong, great-grandson of Guotai Gong (国泰公) of the Taishan Huang, moved to Dongkou in Taishan and was the founding ancestor of the Dongkou settlement.^[2] The Hong Kong edition of the Huang Genealogy records that the Nancun Wang of the Chonglou (冲蒌), Doushan (斗山) and Duhu area (who live mainly at Nancun, Duhu) are in fact descendants of Yinlong Gong through a concubine's line. Local tradition holds that when the descendants of the two lines, the wife's and the concubine's, divided the family property, they quarreled over the shares and took the matter to the authorities; the concubine's line, fewer and weaker, lost the case and had no choice but to change their surname to Wang.^[2]

From then on, although the inscribed board of the village's ancestral hall read "Wang Ancestral Hall" (王氏宗祠), the ancestral tablets of every generation enshrined there were all carved "So-and-so Huang Gong Fujun" (某某黄公府君). When the Huang Grand Ancestral Hall (黄氏大宗祠) in Taicheng (台城) was first proposed, the elders of the Nancun branches and clansmen overseas also placed tablets in it. Tradition holds that the Nancun forebears three times met to discuss changing the surname back to Huang, and each time an epidemic broke out; the villagers took this as an ill omen, and the matter was dropped. By hall name, the Huang belong to the Jiangxia Hall (江夏堂) and the Wang to the Taiyuan Hall (太原堂); the poem "Ode to the Ancestors" (《咏祖》), written by Nancun clansmen living in Macau, has the line "Jiangxia and Taiyuan are one lineage" (江夏太原同一宗).^[2]

Distribution[edit]

According to a 1984 survey, the Wang of Nancun Township (南村乡) in Duhu numbered 12 villages, 856 households and 3,422 people.^[2]

Chixi Surname Culture (《赤溪姓氏文化》), compiled by the Taishan Chixi Hakka Culture Research Association (台山市赤溪客家文化研究会), lists the Wang as one of the Hakka surnames of Chixi Town (赤溪镇).^[3]

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