Liao, Western Xia, Jin, and Yuan characters have a single surname, what is the reason?
In Chinese history, there have been many dynasties founded by ethnic minorities. They have their own unique culture and writing, which makes the culture of the Chinese nation more diverse.
For example, the Liao, Western Xia, Jin and Yuan dynasties, after an in-depth understanding, we will find that although the surnames of the characters in these dynasties are usually compound surnames, the surnames are relatively single, what is the reason for this?
From 916 to 1125 AD, the Liao Dynasty was a dynasty established by the Khitan people. The Khitan people are a branch of the Xianbei of Donghu. During the Five Dynasties period, the Central Plains was in a state of turmoil, and Yelu Abaoji, one of the leaders of the Khitan tribe, seized the opportunity to unify the world.
In 907, he ascended the throne as the new Khan. After ascending to the throne, he fought everywhere, put down the rebellion of the tribes, and accelerated the pace of unification. In 916, Abaoji became the emperor with his bravery and skill, and established the Khitan State.
Thirty-one years later, Abaoji's son Yelu Deguang inherited the throne and renamed the Khitan Kingdom Daliao. The territory of the Liao Dynasty was mainly distributed in the northern region, and its territorial range included Sakhalin Island in the northeast, central Mongolia in the north, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi and the Northern Song Dynasty in the south, and the Altai Mountains in the west.
Although Liao was a country founded by ethnic minorities, the Liao Dynasty absorbed much of the Han culture due to exchange activities such as wars and economies. The translation of Han books brought many advanced science and technology to the Khitan, as well as some literary works of the Central Plains, and the Khitan also borrowed from the Han in terms of political system.
In the Liao Dynasty, not only the Khitan language was used, but also Chinese characters were mastered. The influence of Han culture on the Khitan is far-reaching, but the Khitan still retains unique national characteristics, such as **, paintings, etc., all show the courage and boldness of the nomads.
The Khitan was a large country with a long history, controlling a vast territory in the north and having a population of 9 million at its peak. According to records, the Khitan people originally did not have a surname, but were named according to the name of the place of residence.
The surname Yelu originated in the Xilamulun River and later spread widely among the tribe where Abaoji belonged.
The Western Xia was established in the northwest by the Dangxiang clan, who originally lived in Sichuan and migrated to northern Shaanxi during the Tang Dynasty. Although they had submitted to the dynasties of the Central Plains, when the Northern Song Dynasty annexed various regimes, Li Jiqian chose not to surrender and establish a state.
Since then, Li Jiqian and his grandson Li Yuanhao have occupied Lanzhou and the Hexi Corridor region, and in 1038 they became emperor and established the Western Xia Kingdom. Although the Western Xia emperors all had the surname Li, in fact their surnames evolved from the compound surname Tuoba.
The tribe of the Dangxiang tribe of the Western Xia is named after the surname, and naturally most of the Tuoba tribe have the surname Tuoba.
The Jin Dynasty, a dynasty founded by the Jurchen people, existed from 1115 to 1234, and its origins can be traced back to the Heilongjiang region in northeast China. In 1115, Jin Taizu Wanyan Aguta was proclaimed emperor in today's Harbin, and the founding name was Dajin, and began the process of expansion.
In the ensuing campaigns, the Jin dynasty conquered the Liao Dynasty and then the Northern Song Dynasty, and at one point extended its territory to the Sea of Japan. The population of the Jin Dynasty was also quite large, reaching 50 million at its peak.
There were many surnames in the Jin Dynasty, among which Wanyan was a royal surname, as well as the surname of the white number and the surname of the black number, a total of 99 surnames, among which the surnames of Tudan, Pucha, and Sushilie were the most common.
In Jurchen culture, white is seen as a symbol of nobility, so the surname of the white number is more noble than the surname of the black number. In addition, the Jin Dynasty also had many Han surnames that were influenced by the Han Chinese.
The Yuan Dynasty, a dynasty that spanned the ages, was founded by the Mongols and was the first unified dynasty in Chinese history to be unified by ethnic minorities. Its predecessor was the Mongol state founded by Genghis Khan.
At that time, there were many Mongol tribes in the Mongolian region, and most of them belonged to the Jin state. As time passed, the Jin state gradually declined, and the Mongols began to rise. In 1204, the Mongol leader Temujin succeeded in uniting the Mongol tribes and establishing the Mongol Empire, ending a long period of war.
After unifying the Great Mongol Kingdom, Temujin carried out a series of conquests, successively eliminating the Western Liao, Western Xia, Jin and Dali, and successfully surrendered Tibet.
From Genghis Khan to Kublai Khan to other rulers of the Yuan Dynasty, their surnames were all Er Jin, one of the oldest surnames of the Mongolian people, with a history of more than 2,000 years.
However, as the tribal population increased, the surname Qiyan gradually decreased. In fact, the royal family name is also derived from the Qiyan family.
In the previous generations of Genghis Khan, the Qiyan clan was placed in front of the Qi'er Jin, forming the Qiyan Er's Jin. However, by the time of Genghis Khan, people began to use the surname alone.
By studying the surnames of ethnic minority regimes in history, it can be found that most ethnic minority regimes have relatively few surnames of figures. Although there were as many as 99 surnames of the Jurchen people in the Jin Dynasty, including many Han surnames, most of their leaders still had the surname "Wanyan".
In contrast, the Han people have had many surnames since ancient times, such as Zhao, Qian, Sun, Li, Zhou, Wu, Zheng, Wang, etc.
It can be seen that most of the ethnic minorities live in scattered and relatively closed areas, unlike the Han people who live in various parts of the Central Plains. As a result, each ethnic minority usually has its own unique surname to distinguish it from other ethnic groups.
In addition, due to historical and geographical reasons, ethnic minority areas are often inaccessible, relatively culturally closed, and have less communication and integration with Han or other ethnic groups. At the same time, ethnic minorities tend to live together so that they can share the same culture and customs.
This congregation has led to a tendency to name their tribes after place names or other tribal characteristics, and their surnames are often homogeneous due to their closed and communal nature.