The 翁 surname

Weng (翁) is one of the surnames of Taishan. According to a 2017 report by Taishan TV, the Weng of Taishan moved from Xinhui (新会) to Miaobian Village (庙边村) in Duanfen Town (端芬镇) some 600 or more years ago, and apart from a few who went abroad to make a living they have not moved elsewhere since; all the Weng of Taishan come from Miaobian in Duanfen. Several Weng ancestral halls still stand in Miaobian, and the Weng Family Mansions (翁家楼) complex in the village is a cultural relic protected by Guangdong Province.^[1][2]

Origin of the surname[edit]

Weng is one of the older Chinese surnames, 200th in the Hundred Family Surnames (《百家姓》). One account says it comes from the descendants of Emperor Ku Gaoxin (帝喾高辛氏), who were enfeoffed at Wengshan (翁山) and took its name as their surname; another says it comes from the Ji (姬) surname, tradition holding that the descendants of Hongweng (弘翁), a son of King Zhao of Zhou (周昭王), took Weng as their surname. The ancestral commanderies of the Weng include Yanguan (盐官), Qiantang (钱塘) and Linchuan (临川). The legend of the "Six Laurels" (六桂), in which the six sons of Weng Qiandu (翁乾度) of the state of Min in the Five Dynasties divided into the six surnames Hong, Jiang, Weng, Fang, Gong and Wang, is the origin of the Weng hall name "Liugui Tang" (六桂堂).^[3]

Coming to Taishan[edit]

According to the report, the Weng clan moved from Xinhui to what is now Miaobian Village in Duanfen Town some 600 or more years ago. Local tradition holds that when the founding ancestor of the Weng first arrived he stayed for a time beside an old temple, and so the village was named "Miaobian" ("beside the temple"); before that it had another name. Only after the Weng had lived in Miaobian for more than two hundred years did they build the clan's first ancestral hall.^[1]

The name of the first migrant ancestor who came to Taishan and the exact date of his coming are not recorded in the sources available, and are yet to be added.

Ancestral halls[edit]

According to the report, over more than six hundred years the Weng of Miaobian built more than ten ancestral halls, one after another, of which six survive, including:^[1]

• Bochun Weng Gong Ancestral Hall (伯淳翁公祠): the first ancestral hall of the Weng of Miaobian, built in the Shunzhi period of the Qing (1644–1661). Bochun (伯淳), to whom it is dedicated, is called in the report the founding ancestor of the Chupu (处朴) line of the "Four Laurels" (四桂) and a director in the Ministry of Rites under the Song. The rear two sections of the hall have collapsed, and only the first survives.
• Kongwen Weng Gong Ancestral Hall (孔文翁公祠) and Kongxuan Weng Gong Ancestral Hall (孔璇翁公祠): built on either side of the Bochun Weng Gong Ancestral Hall; both are now unsafe buildings.
• Chupu Weng Gong Ancestral Hall (处朴翁公祠): a branch hall of the Bochun Weng Gong Ancestral Hall, in Yueming Village (月明村), Miaobian, built in the 8th year of Tongzhi of the Qing (1869). It originally had three sections; the rear two collapsed, and in 2008 the villagers raised funds to restore it, at about two-thirds of its original area.
• Maoyi Weng Gong Ancestral Hall (茂裔翁公祠): a branch hall, built in 1919 beside Lantian Village (蓝田村), Miaobian, in a markedly Western architectural style; it was later put to other uses and renamed several times.

The Weng Family Mansions[edit]

The Weng Family Mansions stand in Mofan Village (模范村), Miaobian, Duanfen Town. Weng kinsmen of Taishan origin living in the United States and Hong Kong engaged a German to design them, and they were built from 1927 to 1931. Covering about 1,500 square meters, they comprise three Western-style villas, the Yushu Lou (玉书楼), the Wowen Lou (沃文楼) and the Xiangzhong Lou (相忠楼), and two two-story buildings combining Chinese and Western styles, with Baomai Hill (宝脉山) behind them. At the end of 2008 they were listed as a cultural relic protected by Guangdong Province. According to the recollections of local elders, the mansions were first built by Weng Ruizheng (翁瑞正) and his brothers; Weng Ruizheng studied in the United States and after returning home rallied the villagers to donate funds to found the Dade School (达德学校) in Miaobian, which later became Miaobian Primary School.^[2]