The A 5000 years old unbroken chain of DNA.
This story traces the roots of author's ancestral clan all the way through 5000 years of recorded Chinese history, also a brief account of recent family history with 7 consecutive generations of poets starting from his father and uncle upwards.
( Note: All Chinese names are spelled mainly with the current official standard of Pu Tong Hua (
). Click to go back to Page of Related Topics After reading this page I would recommend you to visit http://zengsingapore.tripod.com for more reading about the Zeng clan)
The Chinese people generally like to call themselves
descendants of Huangdi (
).
Who then is this all important Huangdi? The name Huang-di literally means the Yellow Emperor. He
was the great historic figure who has been credited as the first joint leader of
tribes and therefore the founder of the Chinese nation over 5000 years ago. But
is he really the ancestor of all Chinese people? For if that was true, then it would mean that in
just a few thousand years one single man had fathered the whole ethnic Chinese
race.
It happens today that almost in every 4 person who walk on this earth, one of
them is a Chinese ethnic origin, that is if all ethnic Chinese home and abroad are
all counted in. Actually, in the land of China
there are more than 70 ethnic tribal origins,. many
of them are small and spread out in the mountainous areas in the south-west
regions.. What then are the reasons for Chinese people to pride themselves as this
man's descendants? Of course, the reasons are that people revere a great man and also feel proud to be part of a tradition
as well as a great historical achievement. Indeed, for the historic tradition, which Huangdi had
started, he should be revered and remembered for always... And yet, there are
truly some Chinese clans or families today whose roots can be traced through authentic historical records to
be directly descended
from the blood
of Haungdi. As I am about to show you that at least one such clan, my own clan, is
a direct offspring from Huangdi. It can be proven by tracing through well known
Chinese history
for which I shall prepare a list of relevant historic books in the Bibliography
at the end of this writing. I shall also provide 8 pages of photo-copies from authentic clan registries in this
Web page. Actually there are hundreds of volumes of such authentic clan
registries edited by various clan branches through out China. ...... But who was Huangdi, the Yellow Emperor, and how did such
an honour and respect for him start? We have to go back very long way into the early days of the
Chinese civilization. In the above item No.5 of these Related Topics
I have told the story of Fu
Xi
(or Fu Shi 
) and how he was credited with the invention of Yin-Yang and
Trigrams (
),
I shall now continue the story from there.
Apparently around 7000 years ago a
surge of creative civilization had already become evident in lower north eastern regions
of China, where the Yellow River flows on its way to the sea. From
the photos of 3 pottery wares, which I have posted in the beginning of
page #5
"Story of Yin and Yang, and the earliest
correlation to cosmology" of the Related
Topics page, you can see how advanced the art forms were and the
technology used in firing those potteries. It had had to be done with a well constructed
kiln requiring pumped air to force up the temperature of the burning coal or
charcoal from about 800 °C to at least 1000 °C ( modern potteries are made
under much higher temperatures ). Some of the shapes and designs of those Neolithic
pottery wares are difficult to make even for some of us today.... Yet, such a
standard of appreciation for art and technology could only have come from a background of
a pretty civilized and secured society, when people could afford to enjoy the
appreciation of arts and ideas, as compared to the primitive humans who were otherwise exposed to the dangerous
elements and wild beats. Those potteries were made by people who appears to have
lived in reasonably affluent conditions and have learned to enjoy the creative
art forms and symmetries. It is said in old legends that Fu Xi ()
invented the use of nets about 7000 years ago with which he had taught people to catch animals, birds and fishes to domesticate
and breed for pets, for foods and for riding as transportation.
He is credited also with instituting the custom of marriage. It was said that
the male partner must give two deer skin to the bride's family as dowry. Fu
Xi also initiated the early philosophy by observing nature's phenomena and changes,
then proceed to predict the probability of outcome. The philosophy was pretty advanced already as it
involved a theory, which explained that all changes in nature are caused by the
energy of poles, called Yin-Yang ( 
) followed by continuous evolutionary development
into all kinds of more complex symmetries that could be examined and interpreted. It was the earliest version of
I-Ching (
), which
then constituted only Trigrams (). One
more important historic development credited to Fu Xi was the initiation of the Chinese written language.
It would make sense because once an intelligent culture begins, some kinds of written
records would become inevitably necessary. ....Thus Fu Xi unselfishly shared all his
knowledge with his people and taught other tribes how to live in relative ease
and safety. So people followed him and adhered to his leadership. He was chosen as chief of the tribes in the land. Legends and other
evidences show the era of his rein and his successors' lasted roughly 1200 years
(5200 BC - 4000 BC).... However, as this was the very beginning of written
scripts, the
records are thin and vague, it is more likely that all those legendary
achievements credited to him were not the work of one man, but the result of developments during the entire epoch under his
name or his influence. One thing can be sure, as living became less primitive and less risky, it
was time for real civilization to sprout ...
Fu Xi's epoch was followed by the epoch of
Shen-Nong (
), Legend has it that Shen-Nong was inspired by the Hexagram
(
) and
invented the plough. He therefore brought agriculture to his people, which gave
them even more comfort and security in life. Shen Nong is also credited
for the invention of herbal medicines. Supposedly he tasted different plants
himself to
find out their healing or poisonous properties ( some books say that he died of
testing a poisonous plant ). He was also made the joint chief of
all tribes in his time. He and his offspring ruled the land for about 380 years
(4080
BC to 3700 BC).... By this time, human beings have been living on earth for eons of eons already, yet suddenly a few thousand years ago they started to find
real comfort and security.
This would mean population explosion to be followed by social problems. So by the time
the
rein had come into the hands of Shen Nong's descendant named Ru Wan (
)
there were problems amongst the tribes and
the land was plunged into unrest and dispute. Soon the descendants of the
earlier rulers were at war with each other. However, as the early culture had
been brewing already for some one and
half millenniums, and life had become relatively secured, the old land of China was
getting ready for a more constructive scheme of things. Consequently the stage was set for the grand entry
of our hero Huangdi, the Yellow Emperor.
Up to this point in time all stories are more or less legends except for some rare proofs from relics unearthed, but starting from the Huangdi era, historic records began to be much more clear and detailed. Unfortunately, at around 220 BC a very undesirable event occurred in China and much, if not most of important written history was lost. The Emperor Chin (or Qin) (
) who had conquered the rest of the Warring States (
) and completed the links of the Great Walls (
), ordered the burning of books (words written in bamboo strips, which could be rolled up like rolls of curtain blinds) and killing of many scholars and historians. Apparently he had hoped that if people were ignorant, then he and his children could rule forever. He was so stupefied by his greed he could not see that his empire would crumble right after his own death. It was however in the Han Dynasty (
) that the imperial minister and historian Sue Ma Chin (
145 BC - 87 BC) was decreed to recompile the badly scorched Chinese history. He and his ministerial aids spent decades in reconstructing 130 volumes of history together (
). Fortunately, only less than a hundred years had elapsed since the great destruction of records, much of the past was still fresh in memory. Sue Ma Chin's work therefore not only reconstructed Chinese history but also screened and authenticated it. There were also events of history recorded by others before him in less organized manners, such as Li-So (
) written by Chuk Yuen (
340 - 278 BC ). There are of course further records, which have been continuously unearthed all the time, which confirm and verify the accuracy of the main stream Chinese history. .. At any rate, up to about Emperor Chin's time people's family names, or surnames were usually their clan names, and the clan names were usually the names of the place from whence they had come. It was really quite a natural thing to do, just as today we would introduce ourselves as an English if we are from England, or a Chinese if we are from China, a.s.o. In due time the land that one belonged to became ones mark or ones surname (unlike some European names, which were originally single names. The surnames were much later additions, much of which were purchased from authorities) .....
So in the old days, if your family had shifted residence from one place to another, you might have to use the new name of residence or new address to identify your family and clan. But as time went on, families would spread into many places, and when generations descended further, for most people the family past would be forgotten. The clan names or family names continued to change with domicile and became quite different, even if the roots of blood ancestry were the same. This went on for eons until somewhere between the Spring and Autumn era and the era of Han Dynasty, say 700 BC to about 100 BC, when social fabrics had become closely knitted and movements of people had become more and more homogeneous, then it became necessary to stick to one family name only. This must have happened quite naturally over a long period, as there was no record of exactly when and how it happened that people had stopped to change their surnames with their domiciles. However, for the historically more important and well known families, i.e. then ruling class, it is possible to trace the movements of their historic past completely and reliably. This is something very peculiar and particular to China, because up to Ching Dynasty (
), the last imperial dynasty, and even for many people today, the family tradition has been the most important part of belief for the Chinese folks. Actually in the early history of China, the worship of the family past and ancestral spirits was the only religion of the land. Therefore family records of ancestry, especially the glorious past achievements were kept in the very finest details and worshipped. Yes, indeed worshipped!.. . OK, now that I have laid enough foundation of historic conditions, I shall proceed to tell more about Huangdi and his descendants. ...
Who then was Huangdi? His family name was
originally Gong-Sun (
), but his other surnames were Ji
(
) and Shuan Yuan (
). Yes, you have
guessed right! He or his family had lived also in a place called Suan Yuan near the
River of Ji....
Huangdi, the Yellow Emperor is the revered name given to him because he became the
first great Emperor who had conquered his people's hearts not only by his
military achievements but more by deeds and by many other merits he had
contributed in history. In fact, he
unified China for the first time into one great nation, and because of all his
achievements he was remembered with great respect all the way down the Chinese
history. Other tribes of different ethnic origins that joined the nation later
on were also proud to be part of the tradition and would also call themselves the
descendants of Huangdi. Indeed, this man, who was of such a magnitude, did come
into the historic scene in around 3700 BC.... It was Huangdi who had instituted many important social,
cultural and political structures that constituted one of the earliest human
civilizations and
direct political influence that extended from about 5700 years ago all the way down to
about 3600 years ago. 
On the left is the picture of Hungdi's tomb in Shan Xi Province
Chao San East.
It was probably because of such deeply rooted moral and philosophic tradition that although China later invented the printing press, the magnetic compass and the gun powders amongst other things, and despite her cultural and military might, she never sent one single soldier beyond her own territory and never attempted to forcibly impose her culture or way of life onto other people. Instead, she built the greatest defensive walls on earth and during the early 7th century AD sent imperial envoy into India to import Buddhism.... These are common knowledge, which have been talked about and passed down the entire span of the Chinese history. Such a heritage has a very strong root connecting all the way back to the influence and memory of the Yellow Emperor, whose story and that of some of his direct descendants I shall now begin to tell you..
Apparently towards the end of the epoch of Shen
Nong's rein, there were continuous out breaks of social unrests, probably due to
population explosion after a sustained period of security in life because of the
agricultural developments. Shen Nong's ruling successors at this time were not good
enough to ride the unrest. More and more tribal leaders were heading for one
young tribal chief, our hero Huangdi,
who was shaping up as a strong influence and a capable leader of the time. Eventually
two great wars broke out, one was between Huangdi and Shen Nong's successor and
the other with another powerful adversary, a tribal chief named Chi Yiu (
). The later
battle was said to have
occurred in the foggy seaside in today's Shan Xi Province ()
and Huangdi won this big war by using his invention of a
two wheel hand-driven cart equipped with direction finding compass, which was
used to lead the battle in thick fogs. After the two famous
victories, Huangdi also drove out the frequently marauding external invaders
from the north, thus expanding the territories and building a powerful foundation for a large
empire, with the political structure and
civilization that was to follow. .. According to
various records, Huangdi and his aids had invented over 20 kinds of tools and
instituted administrations of fundamental importance, which greatly improved living
and social standard for the people. Indeed, his presence in history was the major
corner stone marking that a great advance in civilization had taken place during
his period.
In short, he had lifted China from a still primitive society onto an organized and moralistic,
almost philosophic social platform.
I cannot go into great details here. Briefly amongst the
inventions credited to Huangdi were clothing and a system of adornment,
including hats in accordance to social status. His queen Lui Joh (
)
was
responsible for the teaching people the cultivation of silk worms and therefore
production of silk. So silk was worn even in the dawn of human history. In those days it
was a man's duty to hunt and plough, and it was a woman's job to weave and cook.
Huangdi invented or improved the
design of boats and horse drawn carts. He instituted the method of building and
design of large houses with attached communal halls, and started the use of water well,
enabling a hygienic and readily available source of drinking water. It appears
that it was during his rein a living commune system was instituted. This was a
group of families, each given an equal piece of land but structured in the
shape of a "Naught and Cross Puzzle", thus " # ".
The 8 families would share their farming tools and water well that they had dug
and built, but center piece of land would be tended and cultivated by all
families. The crops of this central piece of land would be given to the State, something like
today's taxations. Huangdi also improved the
calendar system by employing 6 officials responsible for observing and
calculating
the solar, lunar and planetary movements in alignment with the rhythms of music. Huangdi improved weapons and
archeries, also invented the use of war drums as well as the compass cart. In
his rein the Chinese written language greatly matured. It is said that even the
medical science was divided during this period into inner and
external medical practices, in other words, the internal use of herbal medicine
and external surgery. There were some
minor invention or improvements at the time too, which included mirrors and music
etc..... Huangdi was said to have lived and personally ruled for over three hundred years. Obviously this
must have been a typical exaggeration of legend, but I have another idea. I think this was
probably not the
cycles of the sun that was counted at this time. It was most likely the cycles of moon as the Chinese calendar
was originally based on the motion of moon because the culture was almost
entirely agriculture, which depends on the knowledge of lunar motions. It is also a strange fact but
true that the ancient culture in China was a highly practical and sober one
because very
little in the way of fantasy or exaggeration have been found.... Amongst
other things there was no worship of God.
However, one day when Confucius ( 
551 BC
- 479 BC ) was confronted with this question by his disciple Jai Yu (
)
about the length of Huangdi's rein, Confucius
replied " People benefited from him for one hundred years. He was feared
and revered for another hundred years. Then he left his teachings and examples
for another one hundred years. Therefore in all there were three hundred years
". This also makes sense! Confucius was understanding but logical as usual!
Huangdi also reorganized his army and made them into divisions, then he started
a system of ministry by employing four capable ministers to assist him in the administration of his rule. These able men were said to have similar
ideas and
thinking as Huangdi's, because of that Huangdi was said to have four faces. One day
Confucius was asked why did Huangdi have four faces, to which Confucius answered
that because Huangdi had chosen four people with the same policies to rule under
him, therefore he was said to have four faces. Lastly Huangdi was the
ruler to institute the tradition of passing on the ruling to the first
born son... From the above we can see that Huangdi not only expanded the
territories of ancient China, he had built a solid foundation for the subsequence
Chinese way of life. That's why Huangdi was regarded as the opening
ancestor of the Chinese nation. Actually he is more like the initiator of the
subsequent philosophy and structure of the traditional Chinese society.
Huangdi was survived by 25 sons born out of
various wives (busy man!). 14 of his sons were given domains to rule and later adopted 12
surnames from those domains. His first wife Lui Joh ()
bore him 2 sons, namely
Shien Shao ( 
)
and Chan
Yi (
). However, from here the historic records becomes rather
hazy and the years of his descendants' reins are unclear. It was probably that by
this time the Chinese calendars were still under development and had not yet
reached any kind of stability. As the Chinese calendar was based on the lunar
cycles, probably working its way up to coincide with the solar cycles, as I have said the
so called years might
have been the cycles of moon. This is what I believe anyhow, but what was really going on
still awaits archeological confirmations and extremely accurate carbon-14
technology. Because of that I would not go into
details here..... Anyhow upon
Huangdi's demise, the power was passed onto his son Shien Shao (
). After his son
then his grand son Zhuan Xu (
)
who had all become the
joint chief of tribes of the land. Then Zhuan Xu was succeeded by his own son Di Ku (
), or
Huangdi's great great grand son. The fourth succession was Di Ku's son Di Zhi (
),
but it did not last long and the job was passed on to Di Zhi's younger brother Di Yau
(
). This
Di Yau proved to be a great leader ( "Di" actually means
"Emperor" ). It was during the rein of Di Yau that the calendar was
adjusted to 365 days for one year and the times of seasons were fixed for
agricultural purposes. Emperor Yau also did something else remarkable that will be
remembered in Chinese history and mentioned in school books for always. 
On the left is Emperor Yau's Temple in Shan Xi Province (
)
Nien Fan City
History dictates that Di Yau's crown prince Zhu Dan
(
) was no good. He was cruel and extravagant. Di Yau did not consider him fit to rule. One day he
thought of retiring, so he asked four of his chief administrators if
any of them think that he was up to the job, but none of them thought they could
do it. What eventually happened was rather unbelievable. Emperor Yau actually asked his aids to
search around the country for someone whose quality would be good enough to become the
future Emperor. Of course that person must have the proper moral potential that all folks could respect and
follow. They found
a poor farmer in the country side by the name of Shun ( 
)
and brought him to Yau, because Shun was well known for his
filial conducts towards his father and for his compassionate tolerance towards
his step brother who had tried many times to harm him. So after close
observations Emperor Yau decided that Shun was the man he had wanted. So he gave
Shun two of his daughters as wives to assist him and to boost up his status. Then
he made him an apprentice for full three years before he actually gave him the
job as his acting Emperor, while Yau stayed on the side himself officially still as the Emperor.
Later upon Yau's demise, Shun wanted to return the power to Yau's son Zhu Dan.
He even went back to the country side to farm again, but
nobody wanted to follow Zhu Dan. That's when finally Shun agreed to become Emperor Shun. This was the rein of Di
Shun ( 
), which lasted all together 28 years. During Shun's rein people were
content, well behaved and prosperous.... This story was not completely surprising, as Shun's roots
were traced. He happened to be an impoverished direct descendants from the blood
of Zhuan Xu (). Zhuan Xu was Huangdi's grand son who had also held the
position as the joint leader of tribes. So, Shun was in fact also of
Huangdi's direct descendant.
However, at this time China was always threatened by great
floods. The Yellow river changed course frequently causing major disasters.
People could not plough the land in peace and were driven to move residence all the time. At
the time of Shun, the ministers, who consisted of 4 strong tribal chiefs, had chosen a man named Ghun (
)
to be responsible for curbing the floods. Ghun in fact was also a grand son of Emperor Zhuan Xu (), who in turn was the grand son of Huangdi. Unfortunately Ghun used
the methods of blocking and building dams to stop the floods, but to no avail.
He was eventually executed as
punishment for his many failures. However, his son Yu (
)
suggested
the use of digging, channeling and guiding the floods into the sea. So Di Shun used him to
curb the floods and Yu finally succeeded.
Yu laboured for many long years in
carrying out his
extremely dangerous and arduous task until he finally controlled the floods.
Click on the left picture, or Yu's
ancestral roots, to view enlarged historic records of Ghun ()
and Yu's ()
ancestral relationship with Huangdi ().
Yu was
so diligent and duty bound that only 4 days after his marriage, he left home on his
way to battle with the floods. For 13 years he fought relentlessly and
dedicatedly with the force of nature, 3 times his work brought him pass the front door of his
house, including once he heard his son crying inside the
house, but Yu did not stop to
go in. Meanwhile, Di Shun felt that he had the duty to carry on the tradition by
abdicating his seat to a chosen successor. Eventually he chose Yu as his
successor, but he also made Yu an apprentice emperor first. Only after Di Shun had died 3 years and with request from all the
tribal leaders, Yu then officially ascended the throne and became the
ruling emperor as Di Yu ( 
). Imagine over 4000 years ago while Egyptian Pharaohs were building great pyramids to glorify their existences, in China my own clan ancestors Ghun ()
and his son Yu () was digging canals to curb floods (I will explain later on). Although Ghun ()
was none other than a direct descendant of China's opening Emperor Huangdi () (Ghun was a great great
great grand son of Huangdi, and was then the Earl of Xia), he was executed for his failures and mistakes in his duties. Yet despite Ghun was executed, his own son Yu ()
took up his father's job and succeeded in curbing the floods, he was awarded the highest office of the land. Emperor Di
Shun ( ) abdicated in his favor. It shows that over 4000 years ago the rulers of China not only cared about the
life and livelihood of their people, they were absolutely fair, strict and self-sacrificing, even among the ruling class. It's no wonder their deeds and stories are praised and
remembered through out the entire history. Of course, after Yu's achievements Chinese people immediately experienced great boom in wealth, culture and security. Not only they could
now live in peace and safety, but they were also able to use the canals for agricultural prosperity. Yu's achievements benefited Chinese people for the next 4000 years, even
today...
Thus these 3
successions of unselfish power sharing for the benefit
of the common people and for the country have been praised and passed on each
generation through out the entire Chinese history. Obviously it would continue to be the Chinese pride always.
Such a half chosen and half general approval by popular vote from the community
seems to echo a Chinese voice of democracy through out history ( even
today's Hong Kong SAR Government is constructed of partial appointment and
partial election ). In
some sense its energy appears to be still strong and working today. In fact, if
circumstances allowed such a power transition to take place, it could yield a
relatively stable succession ( Hitler was elected in 1933, the French Revolution
and Chinese Cultural Revolution were both mass movements )..... However, such admirable and almost poetic political events bloomed like a beautiful
flower only briefly in the early Chinese history, as Yu, or Di Yu, or
Emperor Yu did not continue the tradition of abdication and training potential
emperors. Although it was also his intention to pass on the rein to some one
outside his family, but it was
the choice of the tribal leaders that Yu should pass the rule to his son Qi (
),
because his son was capable and had the respect of the tribal leaders..... It was from this time on in
history that all imperial successions would be passed to the first born son of the ruling family, which in time then
became a tradition and a matter of law. The epoch of rein by Yu and his family was called the dynasty of Xia (
),
which lasted from about 2100 BC until roughly 1600 BC. Because of Yu's enormous achievement in curbing the floods, he is often revered
as Da Yu (
), meaning the
Great Yu. His work had benefited not only the people of his generation but
also generations of people of the subsequent 3600 years, as his work and efforts
remain beneficial even today. 
On the left : The Temple of Da Yu in Ze Ziang Province Shao Xin
I have so far related the important role of Huangdi in the Chinese history. I have also used a lot of space to describe the most amazing early tradition of searching all over the country for a man with suitable moral quality to rule, and then make him an apprentice to rule under guidance. It's almost poetic and even romantic, but this is real history and hence it is beyond any value as well as unforgettable.... However, it is also extremely strange that a civilization so early and so raw should yet be so inspiringly sober and people orientated. Probably because early human civilizations had very slow accelerations but extremely deep roots. Legends were passed on by verbal descriptions. In the end, they would become bigger than life, and their influence became more penetrating.... Anyhow from Huangdi until the end of Xia dynasty for about 2000 years, the influence of this entire historical epoch may be attributed to the great impact of Huangdi, as it is still being felt even today.
Now I will start to show why I gave the name of this page "5000 years old unbroken chain of DNA", as I shall follow by revealing and proving step by step that there are truly direct descendants from the blood of Huangdi, the Yellow Emperor. Probably this is particular or peculiar only in China, as early Chinese people did not worship Gods, they worshipped the spirits of their ancestors. As it happened the ancestral records have been kept meticulously to the very last details. Ancestral roots are entirely traceable from the history and from authentic clan records. Please be patient as I should continue from where I have left off. But for now there is one more thing I should point out first. It is that despite the romance of history China was a society under a feudal system. Especially at the dawn of history when the feudal lords would have all the rights and privilege, while the vast majorities were mere unintelligent and ignorant masses. There was really hardly any choice but to allow the seeds of the better equipped to perform the major functions of society and to rule....
The children of the lords remained always better equipped and most privileged even when dynasties changed. These feudal lords passed on their genes through many wives, and after say half a dozen generations the offspring could become quite a number. Our story up to now demonstrates that all those rulers whose names we have been referring to are in fact entirely stemmed from the blood or the DNA of the one and only Yellow Emperor. In other words they are the direct descendants of one single man..... These early feudal lords would continue to create their own children as peers and sub-rulers of smaller domains. This went on roughly from 2100 BC to about 770 BC when the following era would be called the Era of Spring and Autumn ( roughly 770 - 450 BC ). The era was then followed by the Era of Warring States ( roughly 450 - 250 BC ). It was during the era of Spring and Autumn as well as the era of Warring States that there were literally thousands of offspring from the past ruling class whose lives had become uprooted by over crowding fiefdoms, social upheavals and wars between the States (By the way, ancient Chinese fiefdoms consists of 5 ranks
. They are equivalent to the European fiefdoms. Many Chinese history books written in English language, also this web page, use the European equivalent to denote those ancient titles). Many of these children of the past ruling class had been reduced to poverty, but they retained loyal to their upbringing and were still much better educated and equipped. So, they were forced to travel and serve under other State rulers and sell their expertise for one special knowledge or another. Their skills and knowledge produced an enormous diversity of technical and philosophical progress as well as unceasing wars. Then around 250 BC one ruthless strong man, the Emperor Chin (
O.K. Now let's return from this detour. Da Yu's ()
son Qi ()
was the preferred
choice by the tribal chiefs. Qi then passed his crown onto his descendant Tai Kang (
).
Unfortunately Tai Kang indulged in pleasure seeking and neglected his duties. He
also did not care much about his people and gradually lost his power to a
subordinate. In the end this subordinate forced him into exile. He was also forced
to pass his throne to his brother Zhong Kang (
).
Zhong Kang later passed it onto his own son Xiang (
).
Xiang was assassinated by the same ambitious subordinate. Xiang's spouse fled to
safety in pregnancy and later gave birth to the infant son Shao Kang (
).
Shao Kang grew up to avenge his father's murder and resurrected the family
dynasty. However,
at this junction our story will now take a different route. Having proved
the roots with various authentic historical literatures (see bibliography) up to this
point, we are now going to depart from the Chinese national history and branch
into my own clan or family history, because the purpose of this writing is not
to write Chinese history, but to trace a chain of DNA
that could very well be the longest chain ever recorded in the world. However, for that
reason the historical proofs and proper authenticity are also imperative and entirely necessary. ....
Note: Strictly speaking, the original ancient Chinese did not know what it is like to believe in God. Even the Daoism, which has a pure Chinese origin, is more a philosophy or worship of nature than a religion. There had been so much practical or down-to-earth philosophy in search of knowledge with nature since Fu Xi all the way down to the end of Spring and Autumn (
) period ( roughly 450 BC ), which had kept scholars busy, there was simply no need of the super-naturals. It was only after hundreds of years of violent social changes during the epoch of Warring States and already news spread through the Silk route into China about a flourishing religion called Buddhism in India, that finally in the 7th century AD at the beginning of the Tang Dynasty (
) Emperor Tai Zhong (
) sent envoy San Zhuan (
600 AD - 664 AD ) to India to import that well advertised religion..... But what did the early Chinese do without religion until the 7th century AD? They did believe in heaven and after life, but there was no named Gods. They believed in the worship of the spirits of the ancestors. So the ancestor's birth days and birth hours as well as the dates and hours of his or her demise were kept accurately so that the descendants could give an offering not only on the anniversaries, but also provide the accurate identification of the deceased in the after-world. So that the offerings may be delivered by the afterworld-postman to the correct address and correct identity of the receiver. It was, and still is, a form of love, devotion, worship and memories of the ancestor.
There are of course many hundreds of family names, but a few dozens of these families maintain an exact inventory of life and death as well as a brief entry of essential events in the life time of each member of the family tree in a clan registry (
). Some families spread their younger generations in different places and became unknown to each other. In which case each branch would in time print and maintain its own registry, but the new registry would start off by explaining when and from whence the family branch had migrated to the new location. The most important thing was, and for many still is, that the anniversary of birth and death of at least ones own parents, and perhaps grand parents, would be remembered and worshipped. Many family distinguish the generations by given a middle name which serves as the rank of the generation. There are four impotant clans, including our own Zeng clan, that have enjoyed special imperial favour, as there was an imperial decree (which emperor I must do more research) to use the words of a certain imperial poem to denote the generation ranks. This poem was good enough for 50 generations, and the 50 words are still being used today. In fact, my generation stands in the15th word only. So there are another 35 generations to go, which could last another millennium before the poem runs out. I have given my own children this traditional rank in their names too, not merely because it is a nice tradition but because it is a practical thing to do. For any member of these 4 families they can recognize each other's generation the very moment they meet and introduce themselves, whether in China or any place on this globe just by knowing the middle names, so that the uncles or nephews never get mixed up ( I have seen in the past during the ancestral memorial worshiping formalities a younger person of higher ranking would stand in front of the queue followed by some older men whose generations were of lower ranks... Of course the uncles or great uncles were always uncles or great uncles in the family regardless of the difference in age... ). Anyhow, here are the 50 ranking words :
These four special families are Kong, Zeng, Mang and Yuen (
). The reason for this stemmed from the high esteem for the cultural legacy left in Chinese history by Confucius, whose clan name is Kong (
). It was Confucius who started the first privately own public school in China. I belong to the family or clan of Zeng (
).
My ancestor Zengcius (
505 BC - 436 BC ) was Confucius's disciple who continued the school teaching after the master's demise. It was he who promulgated the Confucian teachings...
On the left is picture of Conficius temple in Juk Fu of Shan Dong Province. There are hundreds, probably thousands, of Confucius temples all over China
Confucius's only son Kong Li (
) died before Confucius. It was left for Zengcius to groomed and educated the young grand son of Confucius, named Ji Se (
). Ji Se grew up to carry out the school tradition and it was Ji Se's student who educated the famous Mengcius (
372 BC - 289 BC). Yuen, the last member of the 4 special surnames, was Confucius's favourite student who was a young prodigy, but unfortunately he died in his mid teens. In memory of him his surname was included. However, the whole of Confucius teachings, which influenced China's emperors and commoners alike for 2500 years were disseminated mainly by Zengcius and Mengcius. The reason that Zengcius (
) was because he was the source that started energizing the feudal Chinese Society with Confucian philosophy, but did not want to claim any credit for it....
On the left is Temple of Zengcius, the Source Sage or Stem Sage,
My family name should be Zeng ( Zeng is the recently revised spelling of the official Chinese language, namely the Pu Tong Hua
) from the poem and my private name is Dong (
). So I am Zeng Guang Dong (
), just like the Guang-Dong Province. This generation name is taken from the main Wu Cheng (
) tradition of Shan Dong Province. However, I was given also a secondary name, with which I should use for schooling. My secondary name is Wen-Lu (
). All my clan cousins share the secondary generation name "Wen". It comes from the tradition of our clan branch in Fu-Jian Province, namely the Lun Saan Tradition (
), for which I shall clarify later on in this web page. Please visit also the linked web-page http://zengsingapore.tripod.com for more reading about the Lun Saan Tradition (
On the right: This another view of Zengcius or Zeng Tze's temple in Wu
Cheng ()
of Shan Dong Province.
I shall now switch to some of the
authentic records of the Zeng family history. The first is a revised edition of ancestral
registry printed in Ching Dynasty, Jia Chin ( 
)
11th year of Emperor Ren Zong (
)
or 1806 AD, edited and published by the main clan organization at Wu
Cheng () of
Shan Dong
Province (
). However, the
commentary text was written much earlier by Zeng Fu (
),
the retired Teacher and Guardian of Crown Prince [ who later became Emperor Xi
Zong ( 
)] and
Ex-Minister of Works (plus a
mile long other titles) dated April 1607 AD in the 35th year of Wan Li ( 
) of Emperor Shen Zong ( 
) Ming Dynasty ( 
). There are originally 7 volumes in this edition. All pages are chopped with Imperial seal,
marking the Ching Emperor's concession and recognition (
). The
books containing copies of these registry records ( listed as book No.17
in the Bibliography ) are in display at the Central Public Libraries of Hong Kong and
Beijing, and the rest is in Wu-Cheng...I shall now translate a small part of the
commentary written by Zeng FU as follows, but I shall include the complete
commentary (4 pages) which relates the clan history in enlarged JPeg images.
Readers may view them by clicking on the small page image displayed in this page :-
In the first paragraph first page of first volume, it states "....... The name of our clan, Zeng (
) the ruler of the State of Zeng (
or
about 1850 BC ). In the 6th year of Duke Siang of the State of Lu (
567 BC) the Zeng State was plundered and destroyed by the State of Ju (
). The Prince of Zeng named Wu (
) fled to the State of Lu (
) and remained there in the service of Lu. He dropped the (
) part (which denotes the domain) from our surname Zeng (
) alias Dian (
or
) and the 5th was the "Source Sage, or Stem sage (
). Both father and son were students of Confucius, thus our family shines ever since ..... ". ......
Traditionally and historically the Zeng clan claims to have traceable family records extending 4000 years
, it refers to the time when Prince Qu Lie (
) or "House of Three Reflections", which I will explain soon. Note that the pages of this family registry were chopped with a round imperial seal, which displays double dragon and a ball which has 2 words in it "Imperial decree" (
On the left is the first page of the original Chinese commentary with imperial seal of Ching Emperor. Those who are interested may view 4 pages of enlarged version by clicking on this picture.
Note: The throne of the Zeng State was
originally created in the north of today's Fong Chen City of the He Nan Province
(
)
in about the 19 century BC.
This was a rich domain because its people, therefore our clan, had invented the method and the
accessory for steam cooking foods. It was an important addition for the
gastronomy. This accessory for steam cooking
invented by the Zengs was a round
pottery plate with seven holes in it. The different sizes of this holed steaming plate may be
placed inside different sizes of cooking pots. A similar kind of stainless or
aluminum plates with more holes are still being used today. One can fry, cook or stew foods
with the same cookery but in steaming it needs an extra accessory. Steaming gives a delicious fresh tastes to the fishes,
vegetables and rice. Although in their days there were no pattern rights, but
also there were no commercial competitions either. So even though the State of Zeng
was not
big, it was a very rich country. The State of Zeng lasted altogether about 1300
years before it was destroyed in 567 BC. The time of the invention is now
untraceable but it occurred when the written script "Zeng" was still under a great deal of
development. Zeng ()
is pronounced
"Tseng" or a strong "Zheng", which is exactly the same as "Steaming" ( 
) even today in that part of China and in standard Pu Tong Hua
(
). Zeng was sometime written with a pottery attachment ( 
). Today the utensil for steaming rice is still called "Fan-Zeng" ( 
). The extra steaming attachment of the cooking
pot becomes "Cheng" (
),
which means "layer". The word "Addition" or "Increase" then became Zeng (
),
which is an addition of an earthen ware. Because the State of Zeng was small but
rich, she had to buy or offer gifts to the bigger neighbours like the State of Lu
and Chu all the time in order to survive and to have protection, the word for Gift or a Present would
in time become "Zeng" (
) by
adding a shell currency to the script. a.s.o...
In 1978 a tomb was
discovered belonging to the Marquis Zeng Yi (
) 
who was buried in 433 BC at the old site of the State of Zeng. in Hu Bei
Province.
A huge number
of unprecedented cultural relics of
On the left and right are the famous Marquis Zeng Yi's musical bronze bells. On the left below is a set of stone chimes unearthed from the Marquis tomb buried in 433 BC.
Click on each of these pictures to view its enlargement and
other related objects and pictures. Also to listen to beautiful classic
melodies played with these ancient bronze bells 
On the right is a majestic looking square bronze vessel and at the
lower right is a large
bronze urn. please click on all these pictures to view enlarged images.
the early Warring States were unearthed.
Never before have archeologists seen such riches and the standard of artistic as
well as engineering achievements about 25 centuries ago. There are some 15000 burial objects of
unbelievable beauty and sophistication. Alone the bronze wares total over ten tons.
There are a
complete orchestra of musical instruments. There is large cache of kitchen
utensils. There are 4500 pieces of weapons, including battle chariots.... I
simply feel I must find space to show some pictures to my readers here. So just
click on each picture you see here and a lot more pictures will appear before
you. Otherwise a large Jpeg image would take a long time to show
itself.... (Note:- There
have been some recent developments, which suggest that Marquis Xeng Yi might not
be a direct descendant of the Zeng's clan. It is of course possible because the
life and detailed identity of the Marquis in his era of Chinese history were not
sufficiently recorded.
In fact, it remains an enigma, especially because such great
wealth has been found in his grave, yet his position in the clan history has not
been referenced. However, since his name is clearly Zeng Yi and nothing else,
I shall continue to treat him as a member of Zeng clan and display his burial
objects here, until his true identity could be officially
confirmed).
Left picture shows an intricately designed wine jar and the
lower right picture shows the jar standing on a punch bowl. Click on them to see
enlargements. 
There are beautiful lacquer wares,
jades, gold ornaments and some 4500 pieces of weapons. There is a bronze hotpots
with charcoal still in it and springs for use in music instruments made of
gold to prevent rusting, and gold hooks looking as if they are design and made
today. .... 
Anyhow I am posting some photos here to show
you what I mean....
A pair of Bronze vase on the left. On the right are some spring coils and hooks made of gold. Click on pictures to see enlargement
Note: I have been told by my father that I am the 72nd
direct generation from our ancestor the last Prince of Zeng State named Wu ()
who fled to the State of Lu when the Zeng State was destroyed in the year 567
BC. It was Wu who began to use Zeng ()
as his Surname. So Zengcius or Zeng San ()
or Zeng Ji or Zeng Tze (
) was prince Wu's great grand son.... Ancestor Zeng Ji has been probably the
greatest sage, as well as
the greatest moral example in the entire Chinese cultural history. One of the reasons
is that he was responsible for the continuation of Confucius's private school,
also the up grooming and the education of Confucius's grand son Ji Se ()
who then further continued the school. 
It was Ji Se or one of his students who
gave the education to Meng Tse or Mengcius ().
On the left is an exotic design of horse helmet in lacquer. Click to view its enlargement
Together they taught Chinese culture how to think and behave for 2500 years. But the real credit should go to Zengcius alone, because without him there would be no school and no Mengcius, and consequently the knowledge and everything about Confucius would be unknown...
What's this on the right? It's a chariot's Axle Cap armed with a cutting and sawing weapon. Click on the picture to view its enlargement and other Chariot Axle Caps.
Mengcius was younger than Zengcius by 133 years, and in between some 3
generations had passed. Yet, Zengcius managed to pass on his moralistic
teaching that no personal credits are claimed in any of the writings between
them. The entire credit had been focused in the respect for their grand master,
Confucius. 
In all 13 huge series of Classics, most of which were not by Confucius' hand,
but no credits were given to the
disciples, and in particular none to Zeng Ji. Therefore Confucius became the most
revered and respected teacher in Chinese history.
On the left is a 2500 year old Hot Pot, which Marquis Zeng Yi took with him to his tomb. Click on it to view an enlarged picture.
It was the typical teaching of
Zengcius, to humble, even belittle oneself, but to respect ones teacher, ones elder
and ones ancestor to the point that one lost ones own identity and ceased to
exist.
So Zengcius succeeded so much in belittling himself that very few
realized how important he was to the Chinese civilization.... Nonetheless, Confucius was of course indeed very great teacher too!
On the left is a belt carved out of jade with seamless linking rings still intact. Click to view an enlargement picture.
Zengcius was completely loyal, honest and moralistic to the extent that some
people today might say it borders on complete nonsense. His most famous quote to his students
was "I examine myself 3 times a day. Have I been disloyal in my service to
others?
Have I not been trustful to my friends? Have I not practiced what I have learned?
" 
. So through the ages his descendants would call their
home the
"Home of Three Self-Examination", or "House of 3
Reflections" (
)... 
History recorded one incident One day there
was a tragic event in town and a man was killed. A friend ran to tell Zeng San's mother that her son
had
killed someone. The mother was doing her household work, but she was completely undisturbed.
Fig left shows a considerable bundle of continuous coil of springs made of gold alloy buried with other mechanical parts at 433 BC. Gold alloy is tough and rust free. It is the proof for the earliest invention of mechanical automation in human history 2500 years ago
Then a second friend
came to report the same tragic event claiming that her son had killed. The
mother was completely untroubled. Soon a third reporter came running to tell that
her son Zeng San had killed some one. Only then she was scared. But she was right! For finally Zeng San came home, and it became clear that someone else with the same name
had committed the tragic act. One day Zeng San was up in the hills to collect
cooking woods, he suddenly felt pains in his heart. He sensed something was wrong at home. So he rushed back
quickly. Upon his return his mother told him "Son, we had important visitors and
there is nothing in the house that I could offer to our guests as a courtesy. So I bite
my finger in the hope that you might get alarmed and come home quickly.
You did!" .. Traditional Chinese people took such telepathy as a form of
extreme filial concern between mother and son. [Because of Zengcius' s famous honesty and his filial conduct to his parents, he was deified as one of the 24
exemplary filial deities in Chinese history and
worshipped... 
Huge temples for him and his master Confucius were built in great
cities around China. Memorial worships were held for the anniversaries of their
birthdays and their deaths by Emperors and commoners alike through out the
dynasties.. That was why Zeng's family registries were treated with importance
and sealed by imperial decree.
...
In the mother's moment of urgency she bit her finger and hoped that her son would return home. Zeng San received the vibration and was considered to have extrasensory link with his mother due to his deep filial concern for her.... Click picture to see a bigger picture
It should be noted that while Confucius has influenced enormously the brains
of the Chinese civilization ( and historically including that of Japan and Korea
)
through the dynasties, Zengcius has influenced the hearts and behaviours of the
Chinese people.
Although our Sage did not claim any credit to his writings, the clan registry shows that Zengcius was the
main author of the "Book of Filial Piety" (
), and
the co-author of the
"Book
of Great Learning" (
).
His teachings had typically influenced his student Ji Se ()
to write the "Doctrine of the Mean"(
). Therefore,
Zengcius was the major source of influence for the humbleness, the inner sensitivity and self awareness,
the politeness, the utter respect for the elder and the teacher (
)
as well as the
filial conduct in the Chinese tradition. This tradition was eventually translated into
deeds of ancestral worship. The filial duty was particularly essential to the
old Chinese belief. The importance of producing a son so that the family name
may be continued and the needs of the ancestral spirits may be attended to, has directly
contributed to the population growth in China. It has remained a very strong force of influence and
important code of conduct even today, especially in the social behaviour of Japan.....( as a result all rulers of the empire tend to make use of
this tradition, which in turn had brought about a pious and therefore inward
looking and peaceful
code of social conduct as well as social structure. It was one of the reasons
that Confucius school of teaching had become the roots of Chinese civilization
for 2500 years ).
Now the following is another revised clan registry
dated Ching Dynasty the 5th year of Emperor Tong Zhi (
1866 AD) by the clan branch, which had migrated from the above main stem at Wu
Cheng () of Shaan Tung
Province () to Xiang Tan of
Hu Nan Province ( 
).
I
t was the 6th revision of registry edited and published by that clan branch,
which consists of 32 volumes. In the beginning of it :-
Zeng Ji (
).... Click on picture to see enlargement
It states: "In tracing the history of our clan, the stem was begun from the fourth generation descendant of Huangdi, and our original surname was Gong Sun (
). Then four generations from Da Yu was Emperor Shao Kang (
). When Ju (
) of Zeng escaped to live in the State of Lu (
). Yao's son Fu (
) dreamt of calling by spirits of Eastern Yue Mountain (
) as son Xi (
) were both students under Confucius. But San became the true successor and inspired disciple of Confucius. ...
This is the above commentary in original authentic Chinese. Click on picture to view 4 pages in enlargement
In view of the huge amount of information and
records given by each branch of the clan as they migrated all over China.
Most larger branches maintain their own registry, which can always be traced as
they are treasured by the descendants of the clan. Here in this website I shall only
introduce the part of ancestry that traces from Zeng San (
505 - 435 BC ) all the way up to the
paternal ancestor Huangdi (
)
3700 BC with proof as well as imperial confirmation at Ching Dynasty.... From
Zeng San onwards the family produced dozens of famous scholars, poets and government
officials, State Ministers, even Prime Minister (Chief Ministers), guardian and teacher of royal
princes and many great military generals and patriots. The entire clan history is star studded with the most brilliant qualities of men.....
The 15th generation descendant of our Sage was Zeng Zu (
),
there was civil unrest at the time caused by Wong Mong's revolt in the year 23 AD (
). Wong Mong
successfully carried out a coup and stole the Han imperial crown for a while.
Our Zeng Zu refused
to serve in the government, when he was pressured he took the whole clan and migrated southwards to He Nan
Province ( 
). It was the
first family migration southwards.
The Zeng people
then started to spread around. In Eastern Jin Dynasty (
)
Zeng Xie ( 
) was made General
of Southern Defense. His grand son Zeng Xin ( 
) was Minister of Culture of Tang Dynasty (
). (Click
on above cover page of clan registry and read the second page for more details)
In
the year Emperor Shi-Zong of Tang Dynasty (
)
ascended the throne (874 AD), there was a great social unrest caused by
Wang-Chau's revolt (
).
One
important clan member Zeng YinShi (
843-923 AD)
of our branch at Jit An Prefecture of Jian Xhi Province (
)
organized an army with his elder brother-in-law Wang Chau (
),
then under the banner and leadership of his younger brother-in-law General Wang Shen-Zi
(
862-925 AD) together
they left northern China from Prefecture Gu-Chi of Guang-Jao County (
) in He-Nan
Province ( ) and
marched into Fu Jian ( 
)
to put down unrest. At the time Fu Jian was still a relatively undeveloped
region and a newly acquired
territory of China as it was only annexed at the end of the previous dynasty
and during the Three Kingdom era. Anyway they fought in many places of Fu Jian and eventually
when peace was successfully restored to Fu Jian, Wang Shen-Zi
( ) was created
the "Prince of Mahn" (
Mahn is the short name for Fu-Jian )
and our fore-father Zeng YinShi ()'s
spouse Wang Yuen-Jin (
),
the elder sister the Prince of Man, was
created a Princess (
). Finally our
ancestor Zeng YinShi ()
settled down to live in Fu Jian's Jin-Jian (
)
at a place called Lung-Shan (
), which
literally means Dragon Hill. Some years later a family temple was erected
at Dragon Hill. This was the origin of the Zeng clan in Fu Jian and Zeng YinShi ()
was the opening ancestor of our Fu Jian clan. This branch of clan has been
known as the Lung Shan Stem, or Dragon Hill Stem ().
Our ancestor Zeng YinShi ()
then became the Governor of Mahn (or Fu Jian Province). He wrote his administrative
policies entitled "
", meaning "The Government Policy of Mahn", which extended 25 volumes and
served to path the way to peace and prosperity for many generations. In fact, Fu Jian never experienced notable political problems ever since. I am a direct descendant of this man and therefore
belong to the Lung Shan Stem. My secondary name "Wen Lu " () comes from the verse "
",
which is the second word in the second verse of our Lung Shan Stem generation
verses, used to denote that although our ancestral origin was rooted in the north but we also belong
to the Fu Jian clan branch. All my
cousins in the clan have the same secondary name "Wen" (
)
as their middle name, which denotes our generation. Please read web page
http://zengsingapore.tripod.com
for exact details written in Chinese.
On the right is picture of Zeng Fong. He was the Major of a township
named Cheng Xiang in late Tang Dynasty ( about 900 AD ). There was an outbreak of infectious
decease. He donated medicines but there were just too many people to cope with.
So he brewed herbal medicines and poured them into a water well with the herbs, from which people
could drink day and night. The well became famous and was called Zeng's Well.
Later in Song Dynasty (
)
Emperor Ren Zhong (
about 1020 AD)
heard of it and wrote 5 large words "The Zeng's
Filial and patriotic Spring" for the well. Click for enlargement
Between Tang Dynasty to Song Dynasty ()
the family political influence reached all time peak. Many powerful politicians and sons
known in history were produced. Amongst them there were two Prime Ministers and
there was Zeng Gong ( 
1019-1083
AD ) who was regarded by
historians as one of the eight greatest scholars in the era of the Tang and Song
Dynasties ( 
)
which ranged about 630 AD to about 1280 AD. This is also considered the peak period of the entire
history of Chinese literature, therefore these 8 scholars have been the giants of the Chinese literature in the
entire history. 
Zeng Gong's time was in the middle of Song Dynasty.
At the time the family was in the prefecture of Nan Feng of Shan Xhi
Province ( 
).
This is the picture of Zeng Gong (
).
Because he was just a civilian scholar, he is seen here adorned in civilian clothe and
hat.
It was said that the family had so many powerful
statesmen at the time that after attending sessions at the imperial court and upon returning
home these successful sons of Zeng would put down their hand held jade plates ( made for
writing notes or reports on it ), such plates would fill half the bed ( 
). In only one
State Examination 6 family members would pass the highest qualification of the
land ( 
).
In memory of our roots from Nan Feng in Shan Xhi
Province and the
glorious past in Song Dynasty our old ancestral house in Hui An Fu Jian (
)
where I
was born, which was built nearly 200 years ago and (only partially torn down for rebuild in
year 2000 ), the complex that housed the clan was named Nan Feng Bei Sui ( 
), meaning the second home of the original Zengs from Nan Feng of Shan Xhi
Province (
). In the front entrance of the complex there displayed a couplet,
which states, 
......
My father used the first two words for my name. What the first line of this
couplet says is that we have descended from the tradition of Shan Dong, then it proclaims the historical fact that
our ancestor Zeng San (
) was responsible for the
education of Confucius's grand son Ji Se (),
and therefore also Meng Tse or Mengcius (
see above ). The second line of the couplet says that one of Nan Feng's ( 
) sons was amongst the greatest literally giants of
China whose works rivals those of the other 7 giants in the Tang and Song
Dynasties... So, at this point we may draw a short summary as follows:- Our paternal ancestor Da Yu (
)
was responsible for channeling the flooding rivers into the sea, which had benefited
people ever since, and since Da Yu was directly a
blood offspring of Huangdi, the Yellow Emperor, our opening blood ancestor was also
the opening emperor of the nation and the ethnic culture. 
This is Zeng Bu. He was appointed as the Prime Minister of
Song Dynasty ( 
)
Emperor Fei Zhong ( 
)
in 1122 AD. Click to see enlargement
Therefore, the Zengs, despite the zigs and zags of historical changes, have a ancestral root, which can be traced all the way back to over 5000 years. The reason that the Chinese culture is said to have 5000 years of history, it is in fact counted from the Yellow Emperor who pioneered the start of this huge nation and set the foundation of subsequent Chinese culture, and whose off-springs had ruled China during the entire early history for at least 2 millenniums. This is obviuosly the longest unbroken chain of traceable DNA or the longest ancestral tree known in human history, and it's still growing....
Now I must hurry to draw the curtain for this
page, otherwise it would become too long. I have a lot more to say about the
history of Zengs, perhaps someday I will say them in my personal biography.
However, before I sign off, I shall quickly relate the more recent
history of the clan.... During Song Dynasty Fu Jian's Chuan Jao ( 
) became the main sea port that
connected the external world. 
Some of our
clan fore-fathers descended from the Lun Shan Stem have strong roots in Chuen Jao.
One of our clan elder Zeng Huai ( 
) became the Prime Minister ( 
) of Emperor Xao Zong (
) of
Song Dynasty (
) in the year 1172 AD.
On the left is picture of Zeng Huai (
), the Prime Minister in the 1180s AD. Click to view the
enlargement.
Then came the Mongolian Yuen Dynasty, which
lasted for 88
years. The traditionally scholastic and political family of Zeng refused to
serve in the government again. However, at
the very end of Yuen Dynasty ( 
)
and the very beginning of Ming Dynasty (
),
as the Mongolian dynasty was overcome there were again civil riots and unrest, one of the
great generals who successfully restored peace in the country was General Zeng Wen Chao (
). He was created a
peer in the 1380s AD to enjoy a ruling jurisdiction all the way from border of
today's Jiang Xi province ( 
) to middle of Hu Nan province ( 
) (This was the largest fiefdom in recent Chinese history whose domain stretched over two provinces). This was
when the General moved his family to Xiang Tan of
Hu Nan Province ( ).
The tradition continued. In the 1850s there was a big revolt in China. A certain
Hong Siu Chuan ( 
)
proclaimed a new kingdom called "Tai Ping Tian Guo" (
)
against the Ching Empire. In fact the full name of his new kingdom was called " Kingdom of Heavenly
Father, Heavenly Brother and Heavenly Great Peace", ( 
),
but it brought hardly any peace, as the blood shed went
on for over 12 years.. However, the revolt was put down by a scholar turned general Zeng Guo Fan (
1811 AD -
1872 AD).
Our clansman Zeng Guo Fan was a great general and a smart politician, but above
all, a great scholar who has left
behind many volumes of his productive thoughts. He is particularly remembered for his
letters to his family, which number in several large volumes.... Zeng Guo
Fan was like some of his ancestors created as a First Rank Marquis. At one time or another he was governor of various Provinces as well as
a Guardian of the Crown Prince in his time.
This is Zeng Guo Fan who put down the Tai Ping revolt.
Through the late Ming Dynasty and the
beginning of Ching
dynasty there were often troubles in the costal areas where sea pirates, like Zang Bao Tsai ( 
), were
rampant. Part of our clan people moved from Fu Jian's Jin-Jian ()
to one small village prefecture called Ta Ku (
)
as part of the coastal defense officials. Ta Ku belonged to the township of Hui An (
). However,
these were days of changing dynasties and at times the coastal areas were tempestuous. Our direct ancestor Zeng Dun Nga (
)
died in Ta Ku. As his coffin was kept in a temple awaiting burial, it was taken
away by mistake and lost. Then his eldest son Zeng Siao Fu ( 
1618
- 1698 AD) was captured by pirates together with 13 other victims. The pirates
demanded ransom to be paid within 10 days, or else the victims would be killed.
In the end our
ancestor Zeng Siao Fu paid to free all 14 victims in emergency without
even asking their names. He then decided he had to take his family to safety. He moved residence to Hui An Huang Tang (
),
then again to (
). Finally he settled
down inside a compound inside the Hui An township. The compound was called Hung Chu Wei (
)
where eventually our ancestral complex would be built. This was where I was born Zeng Siao Fu ()
was therefore my direct ancestor at this location 10 generations ago. The children of this branch did not do badly either! In front of our ancestral hall in
Hung Chu Wei () there were 8 flag posts,
denoting that 8 of Zeng's sons were allowed to display his own colours in the last imperial
dynasty. It showed that
even here in Hui An the branch had produced some successful sons during the
Ching dynasty. My grand father
Zeng Quan Fan ( 
)
was the Dynasty's Officer of Yin and Yang. He was not only an expert on
I-Ching but he was also in charge of all the temples and religious affairs in
town. My own father, Zeng Kee Tong (
),
being a traditional Chinese scholar, was a school head master who established the Lung Yen Primary School, which is said to be still in operation.
Please click My Family to read the story about my
parents and grand parents. Father did not know a word of English and had no
idea of any implications there might be, when he followed his brothers and was registered in English as
"Chan Kee Tong"
when he first arrived in Hong Kong. Before he passed away, he compiled and edited
works left by his more recent ancestral seniors. As a result he published a book
containing a collection of poems including his own. The book is titled " Seven
Straight Generations of Collective Poetry from the Family of Zeng in Hui An " 
. Just
as the name implies it shows that the clan in Hui An did produce more than one
or two sons of literature.
I wonder how many families on earth can boast
seven consecutive generations of poets! The next known longest family tree of poets in China, which extends over 5 consecutive generations was also a Zeng clan branch ... Of course, then
there were two huge revolutions as well as world wars, which
had thoroughly turned life upside down and reduced the past family glories to ashes today. However,
family prides can sometimes go too far as well. Please click Clan
Pride,
I will show you what I mean...
My father's book of 7 consecutive generation family poetry. Please click on Family Poetry details and story.
On looking back through more than 5000 years of history,
this unbroken chain of DNA has been traceable strictly through the well known
and well documented Chinese history as well as the authentic clan records
verified by imperial court of the Ching dynasty. Thanks to our very first known
stem forefather Huangdi, who built the nation and started the ethnic roots and
also to the great man Da Yu who channeled 9 flooding rivers into the sea (some of which are still in use) more
than 4000 years ago, and then to the giant of a man Zeng San whose sagely
self-reflection and moderation over shadows the significance of his knowledge, his achievements and his influence in Chinese civilization. Without these great creative figures history would have forgotten
its own memorable trails. However, this strand of DNA has had more than its share of human struggles, and
has left
also more than its share of success and memories in the course of its passage.
(Now, let me add two of the most recent but equally remarkable examples of Zeng's DNA to the list. After the publication of this page in the Internet, clansman Zeng Qing Hong
was elected as the current Vice President of China, and clansman Tsang (Zeng) Yam Pui 
was elected as the current Head of Hong Kong Government. The tradition is doing just fine at the very opening of the 21st century). I
can now make a brief summary for this writing as follows :-
The surname "Zeng" ( or sometimes
written as "Tseng" or in Cantonese dialect "Tsang", I have also come across the use of "Chan" ) has
taken 3 major phases of metamorphosis. The family name was originally
Gong-Sun (), then
it adopted Ji
() and Shuan Yuan ()
as its names, because Huangdi had lived in a place called Shuan Yuan ()
belonging to the River of Ji. This was said to be round about 3700 BC. It has
also been said hat Huangdi ruled for more than 300 years. I believe that
although the historic facts are correct, the timing needs to be scientifically
re-evaluated. I believe that unlike the early Mesopotamian culture, which was
primarily a nomadic desert culture, the early Chinese culture was primarily mainly agricultural. So whilst the Mesopotamians would use the cycles of Sun first, the
early Chinese would use the lunar cycles instead. If I am right, then the 300 years were probably the counts of lunar cycles and not solar cycles. This makes
sense. Firstly because practically all early Chinese records have been factual,
sober and without exaggerations, nor superstitions. Secondly, it would reduce
Huangdi's rule of over 300 years to just about 30 years, which of course would
be perfectly normal. On the other hand Confucius' explanation is also highly likely... Then it came to the time of Da Yu's (
) who curbed floods about 2100 BC. Da Yu's ancestral roots stemmed from the
blood of Emperor Zhuan Xu (),
the grand son of Huangdi ( Click on Yu's
ancestral roots to view historic accounts ). The Surname was then changed to Si (
). This completes the first phase of metamorphosis.
By
this time the calendar timing and dating of historic records had become fully
mature. The year was already known to have 365 and a quarter days. This historical fact is recorded in Sue Ma Chin's Historic Records (
) and
other historic books of ancient
China as it was handed down to us through the dynasties. Then in the middle of the dynasty of Xia ()
round about 1850 BC, Emperor Shao Kang ()
created his second son
Prince Qu Lie () a
Baron (Imperial China used 5 ranks of fiefdom equivalent to the European/English fiefdoms) as
the ruler of the State of Zeng. It was originally written with a part of silk (
). Then it became (), which in Chinese
script had a part ()
that denoted domain of Zeng. This completes the second phase of
metamorphosis.
The story of resurrection of Xia by Emperor Shao Kang ()
as well as major historic events of Xia are well documented also in the early
Chinese history such as Sue Ma Chin's Historic Records (
) in the
volume "The History of Xia " (
),
but in particular 
.and
, in which the
records are much more detailed. Finally, the State of Ju ( )
destroyed the State of Zeng ( ) in 567
BC. State Prince Wu (
) of Zeng escaped to live in the State of Lu (
). He dropped the domain part in the script of Zeng (
), which has
remained unchanged ever since. This completes the 3rd metamorphosis of the
surname. 
This is a page taken from a book of history with a Chapter on the origin
and changes of the ancient Zeng
State (
).
Click on it to view an enlarged Page.
The rest of the Zeng's clan history was
the story of their southern migration. The blood ancestral roots from Huangdi
down directly to Da Yu and to Zengcius represent none other than 3 of the
most important figures in the development of Chinese civilization. Huangdi (
), the first is the
conqueror and first builder of the tribal union, and therefore, the father of the Chinese nationhood. The second is the conqueror of nature
and brave engineer, Da Yu (
), who diverted ravaging floods into the sea some 41 centuries ago, which
benefited his people ever since. He was also the creator of the tradition of Chinese Empire,
which lasted 4 millenniums. The third is the most important intellectual and moral example of all
age as well as the
greatest influence of all, the Source Sage, Zengcius (
), who made it possible for
the Confucius philosophies to permeate the lives and hearts of Emperors and
commoners alike, yet he claimed no credit to himself. Together they have left
behind a huge civilization with great humane and intellectual traditions. These historic facts are evidenced by the temples, which the
Chinese people have built to worship through all the passing dynasties. It has been in the loving memory and
respect of all people, emperors and common folks alike.
The achievements of clan ancestors have been the Chinese
self esteem
through the millenniums and yet they made no use of the powers of super-natural,
nor the powers of the super military. Such humane capacities and wisdom
are undisputedly unparalleled in human history. Because of that China had
never felt the need to send soldiers outside its domain to conquest. She simply allowed
outsiders to come in and let themselves absorb and drown in the wake of humanitarian culture and in the vibrant waves of the ocean of humanity, and to enjoy the most basic human
bond, as well as the love and desire for the filial relationship... I may add also that four times the descendants of the
Zengs had shown their true ancestral quality of loyalty and patriotism. The first time was in
506 BC when the ancestor of Marquis Zeng Yi took risk to protect King Zao of
Choh, and refused to hand over the fleeing King in exchange for land, thus
preferring loyalty over profit. The second time was in about 23 AD
when Wong Mong's of Han dynasty successfully staged a coup (
), the Zengs refused to serve in the rebel government and had to flee and migrate for the first time away from their
familiar home land. The third time was during the entire period of Yuen Dynasty (
) when the Mongolians took over China, the sons of Zengs again refused to serve in the Mongolian government.
In fact, when the last of Sung's rulers King Fook ( about 1270 AD ) was
driven by the Mongolians to run as far as Kowloon ( of today's Hong Kong ), a whole lot of Zengs
came down with him to this remote sea side and protected him. This is the reason why there are so many Zeng descendants in this area today. Soon afterwards, another son of the family General Zeng Wen Chao (
) was
instrumental in returning the rule and the peace to China in the opening days of Ming Dynasty (
). The fourth time was the scholar patriot Zeng Guo Fan (
) who organized an army of voluntary fighters
from Hu Nan (
) and put down the Tai Ping revolt.... All four incidents somehow reflect the
characteristics of old clan's political belief and loyalty, but none of it can
compare with the sagely deeds of the Zeng San whose daily self examinations
had influenced countless Chinese scholars to do the same down the ages, thus
imparting the inner cautiousness and sensitivity in the behaviours of the past
Chinese scholars....
The Zeng's hereditary DNA also depicts the continuous coronary pulses of the Chinese intellectual culture, starting from the Stem Sage who was responsible for for the materialization of Confucian philosophy to Zeng Gong, one of the only 8 giants in Chinese literature, to the most recent family tree of 7 consecutive generations of poets. And yet, all these could only have stemmed from the one single man who had fathered the Chinese civilization 5000 years ago, Huangdi! This chain of DNA is not only unbroken, it's alive and well!
A Clan Registry (
To facilitate my reader's further reading I am going
to make a list of bibliography, and I shall make a hyper-link to it at the end of this page, which contains books with appropriate
information as well as all the historic records referred to in this writing. Of
course these books are all in Chinese language. Their authors and publishers
are given accordingly. It would not help to translate the titles, as translated titles
cannot be found! (Note: The spelling of clan name "Zeng"
is the recently revised and centralized official English spelling. Although the Chinese character remains the same, many clan members have migrated to
different parts of the world, some adopted local dialect's English spellings. As a result Zeng, Tseng, Tsang and Chan are all names of the same ancestral clan).... However, from the end of Warring
States downwards, the records belong partially but largely to the family history, which in the case of
Zeng's clan, is even more
meticulously preserved as I have shown in two of the commentaries in the family registry, certified by imperial seal. I have also made some enlargements of those documentary records in
this page. These pictures are copies of original authentic documents with imperial seal and commentaries still in their copies. They also provide a great deal of information. All of them relate
clearly to the unbroken links in the ancestral tree and historical trace in classic Chinese
language. There are many more district family registries in various parts of
China, including Taiwan. I have merely shown here two of them. My birth was one
of the very last to be recorded in the registry by our clan
organization in Hu Nan Province with my birthday and birth hour in it. It was
the last registry just
before the onset of the second world War.. At this moment of writing, the political influence of the clan people is back in full force. The present vice President of China Zeng
Qing Hong and The Chief Officer of Administration for Hong Kong SAR Mr. Donald Tsang (Zeng) are two of the more important examples. There are many others... So this is a very long length of
DNA passed down through generations that has now been reliably traced for over 5000 years. It is probably the longest unbroken chain of DNA, one of the most important family tree
in China and the longest family tree in the world! ......
Please click on this very informative link : http://zengsingapore.tripod.com to read more about the various branches, especially the more recent developments of the Zeng clan.
Click to go back to Related Topics .... Click to Go forward to Bibliography Page
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