The 袁 surname

Yuan (袁) is one of the surnames of Taishan. According to the Taishan County Gazetteer of Local Lore (《台山县乡土志》), the Yuan of Dugang (独冈) came from Zhuji Lane (珠玑巷) in Nanxiong (南雄); and according to a piece of genealogical material of the Yuan of Fu'an Village (福安村), Taishan, the Yuan of that village honor Yuan An (袁安) of the Eastern Han as their founding ancestor and are descendants of Yuan Zhijun (袁志君), Provincial Administration Commissioner of Guangdong, and the village was founded in the Qianlong period of the Qing.^[1][2]

Origin of the surname[edit]

The Yuan surname comes from the Gui (妫) surname, its bearers being descendants of Shun. King Wu of Zhou enfeoffed Hu Gong Man (胡公满), a descendant of Shun, at Chen; Duke Hu's 13th-generation descendant Yuan Taotu (辕涛涂, also written 袁涛涂) took his grandfather's courtesy name as his clan name, and his family served for generations as grandees (dafu) of the state of Chen. In ancient times the characters 袁, 爰 and 辕 were used interchangeably, and only after the end of the Qin did Taotu's descendants generally write the name 袁. There are also other origins, such as non-Han peoples changing their surnames. The most famous ancestral commanderies of the Yuan surname are Runan (汝南) and Chen Commandery (陈郡).^[3]

Coming to Taishan[edit]

In an article in Xinning Magazine (《新宁杂志》), Huang Renfu (黄仁夫) quotes the record of the Taishan County Gazetteer of Local Lore as given in the book Song-Dynasty Migrants from Zhuji Lane 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》), listing the settlements of the various surnames that moved into Taishan from Zhuji Lane in Nanxiong; among them is “the Yuan of Dugang”.^[1]

A Yuan clan website has published a piece of genealogical material, “The Yuan of Fu'an Village (Runan Hall), Taishan City, Guangdong Province”, put together from the family genealogy by a clan member living in Canada, with a preface written in 1992. This genealogy takes Yuan An, Minister over the Masses (situ) of the Eastern Han, as its founding ancestor, and records that Yuan Zhijun of the 18th generation served as Grain Intendant of Guangdong and Provincial Administration Commissioner of Guangdong, and after retiring settled in Wentang (温塘), Dongguan (东莞), building his home at Chayuan (茶园); in a note, the compiler points out that the genealogy's line of descent has gaps: for example, other records give 38 generations from Yuan An to Yuan Zhijun, while this genealogy has only 18.^[2] The same website's table of Yuan founding ancestors records the founding ancestor of the Taishan branch as Yuan Run Weng (袁润翁), and says “Fulian Village (福连村) in Dugang (独岗), also called Fu'an Village, was founded in the 15th year of Qianlong of the Qing, the year xinwei, that is 1751 CE”; note, however, that the 15th year of Qianlong was a gengwu year (1750), and the xinwei year was the 16th year of Qianlong (1751), so the reign year and the sexagenary year in the original do not agree.^[2] Whether this “Dugang” (独岗) and the “Dugang” (独冈) of the Taishan County Gazetteer of Local Lore are the same place is yet to be verified. Another view on the website holds that the Yuan of Fu'an Village share their origin with the line of Yuan Zhijun of Chayuan, Wentang, Dongguan.^[2]

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