The 甄 surname

Zhen (甄) is one of the surnames of Taishan. The Zhen of Guangdong all take Zhen Shunhe (甄舜河), who moved south from Zhuji Lane (珠玑巷) in Nanxiong (南雄) at the end of the Southern Song, as their 1st-generation migrant ancestor; his descendants lived first at Dayuezhen Village (大岳甄村) in Xinhui and then moved to Dexingdu (德行都; later part of Xinning County), forming the four great branches of Wangbei (旺北), Xiakeng (霞坑), Shihai (石海) and Lechong (簕冲). From the Qianlong period of the Qing on, descendants of the four branches moved in large numbers to Haiyan (海宴), and so Haiyan became the place in Taishan where the Zhen are most concentrated.^[1]

Origin of the surname[edit]

The original meaning of zhen (甄) is the wheel used in making pottery, and by extension the craft of making pottery and the office in charge of it. Old texts give two main accounts of where the Zhen surname came from, both tied to Emperor Shun (帝舜): one, following the Eastern Han Customs of Chenliu (《陈留风俗传》) and the Song Comprehensive Treatises: Treatise on Clans and Lineages (《通志·氏族略》), says "Shun made pottery on the riverbank, and his descendants took it as their clan name" (舜陶甄河滨，其后为氏): Emperor Shun made pottery beside the Yellow River, and the descendants he left in charge of pottery took Zhen as their clan name; the other, following the Tang writer Zhang Yue's (张说) Stele for Lord Zhen, Commander-in-Chief of Guangzhou (《广州都督甄公碑》), says that in the time of King Lie of Zhou (周烈王) Chen Tong (陈通), a descendant of the state of Chen, went over to the Zhou royal house, and the King of Zhou, because Shun had once held the office of potter (陶甄), granted his clan the name Zhen. There is also an account that the surname comes from Zhongzhen (仲甄), the youngest son of Gaoyao (皋陶), and a record that Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei changed a Xianbei two-character surname to Zhen.^[1][2]

From the two Han dynasties to the Northern and Southern dynasties, the Zhen of Wuji (无极) in Zhongshan Commandery (中山郡; today part of Hebei) were a famous family of officials; Empress Zhen (Empress Wenzhao, 文昭皇后), consort of Emperor Wen of Wei in the Three Kingdoms period, came from this family, and so Zhongshan Commandery became the ancestral commandery of the Zhen surname.^[1][2]

Coming to Taishan[edit]

According to the study by Zhen Bingchang (甄炳昌), based on the Lingnan Zhen Genealogy (《甄氏族谱》), Zhen Ji (甄济) of the Tang was a descendant of the Zhen of Wuji; his descendant Zhen Tingxuan (甄廷宣) became a jinshi (palace graduate) under Emperor Gaozong of the Southern Song and settled in Anqing (安庆); Zhen Tingxuan's son Zhen Shanqing (甄善庆) became a jinshi in the 4th year of Shaoxi of the Southern Song (1193) and served as judge (推官) of Nanxiong Prefecture, dying in office, and his second son Zhen Jingxian (甄景贤) then settled at Zhujili (珠玑里) in Nanxiong. Zhen Jingxian's second son Zhen Rubi (甄如璧) is Zhen Shunhe, also named Yizhao (亿兆), courtesy name Qunfang (群芳); born in the 1st year of Qingyuan of the Southern Song (1195), he is the "1st-generation migrant ancestor" of the Zhen of Guangdong.^[1]

In the 9th year of Xianchun of the Southern Song (1273), Zhen Shunhe, nearly eighty, led four generations, among them his son Shimao (世茂), his eldest grandson Keli (可立) and his great-grandson Sushan (素善), from Zhujili in Nanxiong to Dayuezhen Village in Gangzhou (冈州; today Xinhui), and died the next year. After the fall of the Southern Song, the 4th-generation descendants Zhen Sushan and Zhen Shida (甄仕达), to escape the fighting, led the clan west to Dexingdu (later part of Xinning County; today around Xinchang (新昌), Kaiping City).^[1]

The four great branches

Zhen Sushan had five sons and thirteen grandsons, who lived first at Wangbei, with Xiakeng branching off later; Zhen Shida had three sons and thirteen grandsons, who lived first at Shihai, with Lechong branching off later. So the four great branch lines of Wangbei, Xiakeng, Shihai and Lechong took shape, and the genealogy says "in all, the four villages of Matigang Bao (马蹄冈堡) are the main line". Through the Yuan and the Ming and into the early Qing, the Zhen kept largely to the pattern of living together in the four villages.^[1]

The branches' moves to places within Taishan, as Zhen Bingchang records them, were mainly these:^[1]

• The line of Yunshi (云谥), Sushan's eldest son: his son Chouqing (畴卿) lived at Xiakeng, and his descendants branched out to Pingtang (平塘) in Enping, Jindigang (锦地岗), and Xiazhou (霞洲) in Chonglou and Xiachuandao (下川岛) in Taishan; the three branches of Suiqing (遂卿), Qiqing (奇卿) and Yiqing (益卿) lived at Wangbei and branched out to Sanhe (三合) in Taishan, Jinji (金鸡) in Kaiping and other places.
• The line of Yunshan (云山), Shida's third son: his descendants lived at Lechong and branched out to Huaping (花瓶) in Taishan and other places.

Settling in Haiyan

From the 1st year of Qianlong of the Qing (1736), descendants of the four branches of Wangbei, Shihai, Lechong and Xiakeng moved in many waves to the Haiyan area, gradually forming villages where the Zhen live together. Descendants of the four branches also settled in Guanghai (广海), Sanhe, Chonglou, Duanfen (端芬), Baisha (白沙), Xiachuandao and other places.^[1] Also, according to Huang Renfu (黄仁夫), quoting the Taishan County Gazetteer of Local Lore (《台山县乡土志》), the Zhen of Haiyan likewise say they came from Zhuji Lane in Nanxiong.^[3]

Distribution[edit]

According to Zhen Zhongsheng (甄仲生), writing in issue 2 of 1993 of the Shunhe Overseas Chinese Magazine (《舜河侨刊》), the descendants of Zhen Shunhe in the Haiyan area numbered 3,681 households and 15,694 people, living in 107 villages. Zhen Bingchang's 1996 article says that, by an incomplete count, Taishan City has more than 25,000 people surnamed Zhen, the second-largest concentration of the Zhen in Lingnan; descendants of Zhen Shunhe in Hong Kong and Macau number some 20,000 or more, and overseas some 40,000 or more, most concentrated in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago and other places in the United States. These are all figures from the 1990s.^[1]

Genealogies and overseas Chinese magazines[edit]

• The Lingnan Zhen Genealogy: compiled in the 19th year of Kangxi of the Qing (1680) and revised in the 15th year of Guangxu (1889), it records the branches from Shunhe in the 1st generation to the 14th generation; after that the four villages of Wangbei, Xiakeng, Shihai and Lechong each continued their own family genealogies. The Zhen Genealogy compiled jointly by Wangbei and Xiakeng is also one of the sources of Zhen Bingchang's study.^[1]
• Zhen Family Genealogy of Sanhe, Duanfen, Baisha, Doushan and Duhu Towns, Taishan City (《台山市三合、端芬、白沙、斗山、都斛镇甄氏家谱》): edited by Zhen Songzhao (甄松照), 2004; it takes Zhen Shunhe as the first migrant ancestor.^[4]
• Shunhe Overseas Chinese Magazine: the Zhen clan's magazine; Zhen Bingchang's article quotes articles from its 1993 and 1995 issues in many places.^[1]
• Zhen Shunhe Tang (甄舜河堂): the Zhen Shunhe Tang of San Francisco was founded in 1936; according to Zhen Bingchang it was the first clan association founded by Zhen descendants overseas.^[1]

People[edit]

• Zhen Songnian (甄松年), a jinshi of the Qianlong period of the Qing, a descendant of the line of Lianshan (连山), Shida's eldest son. According to Zhen Bingchang he served as tutor to the imperial princes, examiner of the Wenyuan Pavilion, collator at the Wuying Hall, compiler at the Office of Military Archives and in other posts; his tomb is at Dexingdu, Xinning.^[1]