The 邝 surname

Kuang (邝) is one of the major surnames of Taishan. The Kuang of Taishan honor as their founding ancestor Kuang Gongbiao (邝公表), who in the Chunyou period of the Southern Song moved from Pancun Village (潘村) in Guboli (古博里), Xinhui (新会), to Zhongxin Village (忠心村) in Chongyun Bao (冲云堡), Xinning County (新宁县), which is present-day Zhongxin Village under the Chongyun Village Committee in Sanba Town (三八镇), Taishan City; the family genealogy says the Kuang come from the Fang (方) clan and share their origin with the Lei (雷) and Fang surnames, and the three surnames together form a clan organization, the Suyuan Tang (溯源堂).^[1][2] According to Origins of Taishan's Surnames (《台山姓氏源流》, vol. 1), the Kuang of Taishan number some 13,800-odd people, most concentrated in Chongyun and Lingbei (岭背).^[1]

Origin of the surname[edit]

There are several accounts of the origin of the Kuang surname: one says that Huang Xian (黄贤), a descendant of Huang Xuan (黄宣), Marquis of Heyang in the Eastern Han, had his eldest son Huang Dan (黄旦) change his surname to Kuang to escape disaster in the Shenlong period of the Tang; another says that the descendants of Fang Zhun (方谆) of the Southern Song were granted a change of surname to Kuang in the 4th year of Qiandao (1168); another says the surname descends from the ancient state of Kuang (旷).^[3]

The genealogy of the Kuang of Taishan gives this account: a son of Emperor Yuwang (帝榆罔), 8th-generation descendant of Shennong (神农), lived at Leize (雷泽) and took Lei as his surname; for his merit in helping the Yellow Emperor make war on Chiyou, he was enfeoffed at Fangshan (方山, northwest of present-day Yuzhou, Henan), and his descendants took the place as their surname and were called the Fang; Yiping (以平; taboo name Xun 询, art name Sanqi 三七), eldest son of Fang Tingying (方廷英), 7th-generation ancestor of the Fang of Jiangnan, changed his surname to Kuang, and this was the beginning of the Kuang. The door couplet of the Suyuan Family School (溯源家塾) at Shuikou (水口), Kaiping (开平), "源同一脉，衍以三宗" ("One source, one bloodline, spreading into three clans"), refers to the Lei, Fang and Kuang having one origin.^[1][2]

Coming to Taishan[edit]

The genealogy records that Kuang Xun (邝询) became a palace attendant in the 3rd year of Jianyan of the Southern Song (1129); in the same year came the "Miao-Liu Mutiny" (苗刘之变), and he moved south with his whole family to Shangshulangli (尚书朗里), Dazhen Township (大镇乡), Nanhai (南海), Guangdong, becoming the founding ancestor of the Kuang of Guangdong; Dazhen in Nanhai is regarded as the cradle of the Kuang surname in Guangdong. Kuang Xun's son Kuang Zhun (邝谆), the genealogy records, became a jinshi in the 12th year of Shaoxing (1142) and rose to be prefect of Lin'an; late in life he was demoted, and he moved with his whole family to Heyuan (河源), Huizhou. Kuang Zhun had three sons: the eldest, Yiyuan (一元), stayed in Heyuan; the second, Yisheng (一声), moved to Gugang (古冈), Xinhui, and is the ancestor of the Kuang of the three counties of Xinhui, Kaiping and Taishan; the third, Yijun (一俊), returned to live at Dazhen, Nanhai.^[1]

Yisheng Gong (1155–1246), the genealogy records, held offices including secretary in the Ministry of Justice, chancellor of the Imperial Academy and Minister of Justice; in the 1st year of Baoqing of the Southern Song (1225) he moved from Heyuan to Gugang, Xinhui, and later to Pancun Village in Guboli (now part of Kaiping). His second son, named Xing (兴), courtesy name Gongbiao (1197–1269), moved in the Chunyou period of the Southern Song (1241–1252) from Pancun Village to Zhongxin Village, Chongyun Bao, Xinning County. Gongbiao Gong is the founding ancestor of the Kuang of Taishan (called the 4th-generation ancestor in the genealogy), and Zhongxin Village is regarded as the cradle of the Kuang of Taishan.^[1][2]

According further to the Taishan County Gazetteer of Local Lore (《台山县乡土志》), the Kuang of Panxi (泮溪) came from Zhuji Lane (珠玑巷) in Nanxiong (南雄).^[4]

Branches

Gongbiao Gong had four sons, Daochang (道昌), Daozhen (道真), Daorong (道荣) and Daojin (道进); Daorong had no heir, so there are in fact three main lines. The figures below are all figures for the 1990s as recorded in Origins of Taishan's Surnames (vol. 1):^[1][5]

• Daochang line: based at Cangxia (仓下) in Taicheng (台城), living in 24 natural villages in the two towns of Taicheng and Sijiu (四九), 365 households and 1,418 people in all; among them, the branch of Jichong Gong (集充公) of the 24th generation moved from Cangxia to Sijiu Town.
• Daojin line: living mainly at Dongyang Village (东洋村), Fuchang (福场), Doushan Town (斗山镇), and at Mashankou Village (马山口村) and Xiamaji Village (下马迹村), Sanhe Town (三合镇), 125 households and 600 people in all.
• Daozhen line: the largest line of the Kuang of Taishan, spread over 123 natural villages in 12 towns of the city, 2,345 households and 10,131 people in all. It is divided into two branches after the brothers Yifeng (仪凤) and Tianxi (天锡) of the 7th generation:
• Yifeng branch: based at Dongmei Village (洞美村), Xinyu (新余), Sanba Town, living in 10 natural villages in the six towns of Fucheng (附城), Sanba, Sanhe, Sijiu, Duhu (都斛) and Chixi (赤溪), 116 households and 526 people in all.
• Tianxi branch: spread over 113 natural villages, 2,229 households and 9,605 people in all, and further divided into the Chongyun sub-branch (based at Chongyun; 54 natural villages, 1,044 households, 4,559 people), the Lingbei sub-branch (Jinhua [金华, art name Yunxiu 云岫] of the 13th generation moved from Chongyun to Lingbei, where his line multiplied; 38 natural villages, 804 households, 3,395 people) and the Liuzhendong (刘真洞) sub-branch (descendants of Guo'an [郭安] of the 12th generation; 21 natural villages, 381 households, 1,651 people).

Distribution[edit]

According to Origins of Taishan's Surnames (vol. 1), the Kuang of Taishan have multiplied from the founding ancestor Gongbiao Gong to the 33rd and 34th generations, 3,267 households and 13,835 people in all, living in 154 natural villages in 12 towns of the city; they are most concentrated in the two village committees of Chongyun and Lingbei (formerly part of Fucheng Town, now under Taicheng), and others are spread over Taicheng, Sanba, Sanhe, Sijiu, Doushan, Duhu, Chixi, Nafu (那扶) and other towns.^[1][2][5]

Ancestral halls and overseas Chinese magazines[edit]

• Suyuan Tang: the clan organization of the three surnames Lei, Fang and Kuang. The Suyuan Family School at Shuikou, Kaiping, built in the 26th year of Daoguang of the Qing (1846), was the earliest Suyuan Tang organization; the Suyuan Tang of Sacramento (二埠), United States, was first established in 1859, and the Suyuan headquarters in San Francisco (大埠) in 1886; there are Suyuan branch associations in the Americas, Southeast Asia, Australia, Hong Kong and elsewhere.^[1]
• Suyuan Monthly (《溯源月刊》): the clan magazine of the three surnames, founded in Taicheng in June 1926 and suspended after the outbreak of the War of Resistance against Japan; it resumed in July 1947 and was suspended again in the first half of 1949; it resumed for the second time in September 1984, with a print run of about 3,000 copies per issue, sent to more than ten countries and regions; by 2004, 39 issues had been published in all, and in 1993 it won second prize in a Guangdong provincial competition of overseas Chinese and hometown magazines.^[2]
• Suyuan Middle School (溯源中学): built in Taicheng in 1936 with donations from members of the three clans living abroad, a four-story building; during the War of Resistance the school buildings were occupied by the Japanese army, and after the war it was turned into Suyuan Primary School. After the buildings were returned in 1984, at the proposal of and with donations from Kuang Wenchi (邝文炽), an industrialist living in Hong Kong, it was reopened in 1986 as Suyuan Electronics School (later called Suyuan Electronics Technical School), with the school's name written by State Councilor Fang Yi (方毅).^[2]