Shangqiu City of Henan Province: the origin of surname Tang

Shangqiu City of Henan Province: the origin of surname Tang


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The Surname Tang had two branches, both deriving from surname Zi, with the common ancestor of Chengtang.
Chengtang was the grandson of the 14th generation of the legendary Emperor of Diku, a tribe leader of the far ancient time. Surnamed Zi, named Lv, Chengtang was also called Tianyi. As the leader of tribe Shang in the end of the Xia Dynasty, he was widely supported for treating the people with benevolent policies. Some small tribes came to join him out of admiration, which made him even stronger. Living in Hao, he was originally a war minister of the Xia Dynasty. However, Emperor Jie of the Xia Dynasty was a tyrant, bringing the nation into chaos. On seeing this, Zilv’s ambition grew. To carry out his plan, he eliminated a small kingdom near Shang first, then the three key allies of Xia in 11 campaigns, and at last the Xia Dynasty. Emperor Jie was exiled to Nanchao and the second feudalism dynasty of Shang was established, with the capital of Hao. Chengtang was the honorary name of Zilv bestowed after his death. Some of his offspring took it as their surname and like that appeared Tang families of Henan.
Another branch of Tang families derived in Kingdom Song that was established in 11th Century B.C. in the former capital of the Shang Dynasty with a close relative of Emperor Zhou of the Shang Dynasty ruling as the king. Therefore, they were also descendants of Shang. They changed their surname to Zi, then to Tang later to escape some disasters.
Tang families, deriving from Tang of the Shang Dynasty, originated in Henan Province, where the Shang Dynasty had been established. The Shang Dynasty moved its capital for seven times, bringing Tang families everywhere around Henan. In the Qin Dynasty, they mainly lived in Zhongshan and Fanyang (ancient states) where most of the Tang families nowadays derived from. In the Han Dynasty, some Tang families moved from Henan to Jiangsu, later to what now belong to Vietnam. At the beginning years of the Tang Dynasty, some Tang families moved from Henan to Fujian, following General Chen Zheng and Chen Yuanguang. In the Song Dynasty, Tang families lived in Jiangdu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Anhui, Hunan, Fujian, Sichuan and other provinces. Yin Chongyi of the Song Dynasty changed his surname into Tang since his former surname might offend the emperor’s father. In the Ming Dynasty, some Tang families moved to Guangdong and Guangxi. Since the time of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty, some of them moved on to Taiwan, Brazil, Japan, Mauritius, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, East Timor and Australia.
Tang: the creator of the Shang Dynasty
Tang was the creator of the Shang Dynasty. He was a son of Qi and his name was Lv. He lived in Hao, serving the court as a military minister of the Xia Dynasty. Later he won over Emperor Jie, the tyrannical emperor of the Xia Dynasty, in war and exiled him to Nanchao, after which Tang established the Shang Dynasty. He ruled for 30 years, since 1783 B.C. to 1757 B.C. till his death. His main living area was around Yucheng of Shangqiu, Henan Province.
Tang set up an example of gaining the royal power by force, making the history of China colorful by breaking the law of ruling by a constant emperor.