The 阮 surname

Ruan (阮) is one of the surnames of Taishan, living mainly around Shangge (上阁) in Doushan Town (斗山镇) and Tangtou (塘头) and Tangdi (塘底) in Duanfen Town (端芬镇). Most of Taishan's Ruan honor as their founding ancestor Ruan Shilin (阮石麟), who came south from Zhuji Lane (珠玑巷) in Nanxiong (南雄) at the end of the Song and settled at Huangqiaotou (黄桥头) in Pingkangli (平康里), Xinning (新宁) (around today's Shangge, Doushan Town).^[1][2] According to 1997 figures, the Ruan living in Taishan numbered about five thousand or more, and those living overseas outnumbered them.^[1]

Origin of the surname[edit]

According to the Register of Surnames (《姓谱》), in the Shang dynasty there was a state of Ruan between the Jing (泾) and Wei (渭) rivers (around today's Jingchuan, Gansu), which was later destroyed by the Zhou, and its descendants took the name of the state as their clan name; the line "invaded Ruan and went on to Gong" (侵阮徂共) in the ode "Huang Yi" of the Greater Odes of the Book of Songs (《诗经·大雅·皇矣》) refers to this state. Other accounts trace it to the Yan (偃) surname, as descendants of Gao Yao (皋陶), and to the Shi (石) who changed their surname to Ruan at the end of the Eastern Jin. The ancestral commandery of the Ruan surname is Chenliu (陈留).^[3] The genealogical records of Taishan's Ruan also take Chenliu as their ancestral commandery, and hold that the Ruan of the southeastern provinces mostly came from the Chenliu line that moved south in the Eastern Jin and the Southern dynasties.^[1]

Coming to Taishan[edit]

The genealogies of the Ruan in the counties of central Guangdong mostly say that their forebears moved south from Zhuji Lane in Nanxiong to Gangzhou (冈州; today's Xinhui, Jiangmen) in the Xianchun reign of Emperor Duzong of the Southern Song. According to research by Ruan Yizhi (阮逸之), author of the chapter on the Ruan in Origins of Taishan's Surnames (《台山姓氏源流》), among the ninety-seven households listed in the travel permit issued by the prefect of Nanxiong at the time of the southward migration, the one surnamed Ruan was Ruan Keyi (阮可益), who was settled in Cuodong Du (矬峒都; today's Tingping Village, 汀萍村), where his descendants still live; but most of the Ruan of central Guangdong do not take Ruan Keyi as their first migrant ancestor, and instead honor Ruan Shilin as their founding ancestor.^[1][2]

Ruan Shilin, taboo name Kui (逵), courtesy name Shanfu (善富), is recorded in the genealogy as a Grand Master of Splendid Happiness with Silver Seal and Blue Ribbon (银青光禄大夫) of the Song. He originally lived at Zhuji Lane in Doutian Ward (斗田坊), Shixing County (始兴县), Nanxiong Prefecture (南雄州); having offended powerful men, he was demoted to instructor (jiaoshou) of Nan'en Prefecture (南恩州), and so settled at Huangqiaotou in Pingkangli, Xinning. The genealogy records that he died in the 9th year of Dade of the Yuan (1305), aged sixty-four; his birth year is given as the 2nd year of Chunyou of the Southern Song, which the original glosses in parentheses as 1241, the two being a year apart. His first wife, née Qu (屈氏), was from Shenting Village (莘汀村), Panyu (番禺), and is buried on the hill behind Kengwei Village (坑尾村), Shangge; his second wife, née Bai (柏氏), is buried at Shenting Village, Panyu.^[1]

The genealogies of different places do not entirely agree on his sons and branches. The Shangge genealogy of Taishan records only three sons born of Lady Qu: Pingkang (平康), Ping'an (平安) and Pingtai (平泰); the genealogy of Chongcha Xiancun (冲茶贤村), Xinhui, records two more sons, Yuejiang (越江) and Guangyuan (广源), whom Ruan Yizhi believes were born of Lady Bai. According to the Xinhui genealogy, Pingkang lived at Shangge, Taishan; Ping'an at Tanjiang (潭江), Xinhui; Pingtai at Tangtou, Taishan; Yuejiang in Shunde (顺德); and Guangyuan at Xiangjiao (象角), Zhongshan (中山); the Xiangjiao genealogy of Zhongshan, however, says that Pingtai's descendants live at Haiyan (海宴), Taishan. Ruan Yizhi considers that earlier compilers of the genealogies did not consult one another, and that the matter is now hard to verify.^[1]

Pingkang branch

The line of Pingkang Weng lived at Hengmei Village (亨美村), Shangge; his descendants branched out to Wenhai in Shunde (顺德文海), Huanglian (黄连), Yunfu (云浮), Shangjiao in Panyu (番禺上滘) and other places.^[1]

Pingtai branch

The line of Pingtai Weng moved to Tangtou, Cuodong (矬峒塘头; today's Tangtou, Duanfen Town); in the 9th generation a branch went to Tangdi, and other branches moved to Huizhou (惠州), Dongguan (东莞), Sanshui (三水), Yangjiang (阳江), Yangchun (阳春), Xinxing (新兴) and other places.^[1]

Ping'an branch

The line of Ping'an Weng lived at Tanjiang, Xinhui; his descendants moved to Yunnan (云南), Annam (安南; today's Vietnam), Zhuji in Zhejiang (浙江诸暨), and to Zhaoqing (肇庆), Yangjiang, Gaozhou (高州), Leizhou (雷州), Qiongzhou (琼州) and other places.^[1]

Distribution[edit]

According to Origins of Taishan's Surnames (vol. 1), as of August 1997 the main places where Taishan's Ruan lived were as follows:^[1]

• Shangge, Doushan Town: Nazhou (那洲) 625 people, Meinan Village (美南村) 1,000, Nanchang Village (南昌村) 185, Longping Village (龙平村) 25, Hengmei Village 180, Shitou Village (石头村) 138, Simei Village (泗美村) 53; 2,206 in all
• Duanfen Town: Tangtou administrative district (塘头管区) 829, Tangdi administrative district (塘底管区) 1,044, Tangnan Village (塘南村) 214 and Henan Village (河南村) 164 in Xiangbu administrative district (香步管区), Beice Village (北册村) 112 in Natai administrative district (那泰管区), Naqunyang Village (那群洋村) 275 in Xikuo administrative district (西廓管区); 2,638 in all
• A few others live at Tangsheng Village, Hengtang, Sanhe Town (三合镇横塘塘盛村); Qishi Village, Guanghai Town (广海镇奇石村); and Youcuntan, Haiyan (海宴佑村坦)

These figures do not count those in Taicheng (台城) and other towns; at the time the Ruan in Taishan were estimated at over five thousand. Doushan and Duanfen are both emigrant home areas (qiaoxiang), and the Ruan living in the Americas, Europe, Africa, Oceania, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan outnumber those who remained at home.^[1] Surname Culture of Chixi (《赤溪姓氏文化》), compiled by the Chixi Hakka Culture Research Society of Taishan (台山市赤溪客家文化研究会), also lists the Ruan among the Hakka surnames of Chixi Town (赤溪镇).^[4]

Ancestral halls and overseas Chinese magazines[edit]

• Many ancestral halls were built in the home villages; most are used as schools.^[1]
• Dongyun Road (东云路) in Taicheng once had the Yueyan Ruan Gong Ancestral Hall (曰严阮公祠), dedicated to the 9th-generation ancestor Yueyan Gong (曰严公); the horizontal plaque on its front was inscribed by Huang Rongxi (黄荣熙), a jinshi of the late Qing.^[1]
• Zhengshi Street (正市街) in Taicheng once had a smaller study hall (书室), dedicated to the 10th-generation ancestor Shijian Gong (石涧公), chancellor of the Imperial Academy (国子监祭酒).^[1]
• Both were built in the Guangxu reign of the Qing, became public property after 1949, and were later rebuilt as residential buildings; the original buildings no longer exist.^[1]
• Tangtou once had two primary schools, Daying (达英) and Dongping (东平); in the 1980s fellow villagers in the United States donated money to build Tangtou Middle School (塘头中学).^[1]

People[edit]

• Ruan Xiusen (阮秀森), art name Dongsheng (东生), 21st generation; from fusheng (supplementary student) he was granted by imperial favor the rank of juren on the supplementary list, then granted jinshi status, and appointed corrector (jiantao) of the Hanlin Academy.^[1]
• Ruan Junci (阮君慈), once county magistrate of Taishan; his poems often appeared in the Taishan Datong Daily (《台山大同日报》) in the Republican period.^[1]
• Ruan Chen Cailian (阮陈彩莲) (born 1892), wife of Ruan Zugen (阮祖根), who lived in the United States; after her husband's death she raised five sons and three daughters, and in 1952 she was chosen as an American model mother.^[1]