History of Chinese Surnames · Huang Clan

Author: Liu Youping
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2000-12-01
Features: Yellow, which reminds us of our mother river, the Yellow River; it makes us think of the loess plateaus with thousands of gullies and ridges; it also makes us recall the dragon robes of ancient emperors, symbols of nobility. As one of the top ten surnames in contemporary China, the surname Huang shares a long history and a journey of rise and fall with the Yellow River, the loess plateaus, and the dragon robes. It is said that the surname Huang originated from the ancient Ying clan and later established the Huang State. Huangs have been renowned in the cultural history of the Chinese nation for their loyalty and diligence. Jiangxia is the largest clan name of the Huang surname. The History of Chinese Surnames is an illustrated historical work that includes numerous exquisite illustrations covering the ancestors, figures, clan names, cultural relics, documents, famous scenic spots, and historical sites related to the surname. This book is one of them. In this book, the author provides a detailed introduction to the origin and culture of the "Huang" surname, with rich illustrations and vivid explanations, integrating humanistic, geographical, and historical knowledge, offering great benefits to readers.
Excerpt: "Filial piety" is the deepest and most fundamental gene in Chinese culture. Throughout history, the Huang surname has been a model of traditional Chinese filial piety and represents the Chinese culture that emphasizes filial piety. Therefore, all official histories in past dynasties have included "Filial Piety and Loyalty Biographies," as well as various Biographies of Filial Sons, extensively praising and promoting filial piety. There is also the so-called "Twenty-Four Filial Exemplars," revered as the representatives of traditional Chinese filial piety, and among them, two are Huangs—Huang Xiang and Huang Tingjian. When discussing the filial piety of the Huang surname, we must first mention Huang Xiang. Huang Xiang is the great ancestor universally recognized by all Huangs today, and he was a renowned filial son famous for his piety. Legend has it that Huang Xiang knew how to be filial to his parents since childhood. When he was only nine years old, his mother passed away, and he was heartbroken, crying all day long to the point of physical and emotional exhaustion, deeply moving and touching. After his mother's death, he showed even greater filial piety to his father. During the hot summer days, he fanned his father's bed curtains to keep the bedding cool and drive away mosquitoes, ensuring his father could rest peacefully. In the cold winter, he warmed his father's bedding with his own body to keep him warm. His moving acts of filial piety later spread far and wide. The local governor heard of this and greatly praised Huang Xiang, recruiting him as a filial scholar in his court. Later, Huang Xiang devoted himself to studying and brought honor to his parents, eventually achieving high-ranking positions such as Left Vice Minister and Minister of Personnel, bringing glory to his family. He was praised by his contemporaries as "A Jiangxia child, complete in loyalty and filial piety, unmatched in the world." Thus, Huang Xiang was revered by later generations as a representative of traditional Chinese filial piety. In the Twenty-Four Filial Exemplars, "Huang Xiang Fanning the Bed" is listed as one of the exemplars, and in the Three-Character Classic, a widely used Chinese textbook for centuries, Huang Xiang is presented as the model of filial piety, with the line "At nine, Xiang could warm the bed, Filial to parents, what should be done." It is clear that the filial piety of the Huang surname was indeed well-known among the older generation of Chinese people, familiar to all. After Huang Xiang, many descendants of the Huang family continued to inherit the tradition of filial piety, promoting and expanding it. As a result, numerous great filial sons emerged among the ancestors of the Huang surname throughout the generations. For example, during the Jin Dynasty, a filial son named Huang Shu lived in what is now Dongguan County, Guangdong. Legend has it that Huang Shu was poor and supported his parents through his hard work. Before his parents passed away, he did his best to fulfill their last wishes. If his parents desired something, he would travel thousands of miles to find it. After his parents' deaths, he built a small hut on their graves and stayed there to guard it, undisturbed even in the wild, where wild animals roared. From today's perspective, this practice of guarding the graves of deceased relatives may seem excessive, but at the time, it was a profound expression of filial piety. Huang Shu's deeds later earned praise from the government. Later, a temple was built in his honor, with Huang Shu deified and worshipped as a god. This is the "Special Temple of the Filial Huang Shu" in Dongfan County, Guangdong. Over a thousand years later, the great Ming Dynasty playwright Tang Xianzu wrote a Stele for the Special Temple of the Filial Huang Shu in Dongguan County. By the Tang Dynasty, there were many filial sons among the Huangs, including Huang Bian from Ziyang, Huang Zhou from Guixi, Huang Huan from Shaowu, Huang Jiaji from Quanshan, and Huang Cong from Shixian, all mentioned in the Filial Piety and Friendship Biography of the New Book of Tang. Among them, the most famous filial son is Huang Cong, the founding ancestor of the Huang family in Tandu, Shixian, Anhui. Legend has it that Huang Cong was inherently pure and extremely filial to his parents, renowned far and wide as a great filial son. Later, when his stepmother fell seriously ill and no medicine seemed to help, a medical text Supplement to the Herbal Classic mentioned that human flesh could cure illness. Huang Cong then cut a piece of his thigh meat to make a soup, which his stepmother drank and recovered. After his father's death, Huang Cong wailed day and night, guarding his father's grave for the rest of his life. A local governor named Lu reported this to the court, and in the 19th year of the Zhenyuan era (803 AD), the court honored the Huang family with a public commendation and listed Huang Cong's name in the national history. In the Song Dynasty, Huang Tingjian further exemplified the filial piety of the Huang surname. Historical records state that Huang Tingjian was inherently filial. When his mother fell ill for over a year, he visited her day and night. Despite holding high office as a Historian, Huang Tingjian personally washed his mother's toilet facilities every day without fail. After his mother's death, he built a hut at her grave and mourned for her, so grief-stricken that he fell seriously ill. Although Huang Tingjian was a renowned scholar and official, his profound filial piety was truly exceptional. For this reason, later generations revered him as a representative of traditional Chinese filial piety, and in Guo Jujing's Yuan Dynasty Twenty-Four Filial Exemplars, he is listed as one of the exemplars. Other famous filial sons of the Huang surname during the Song Dynasty include Huang Deguo from Zizhou, mentioned in the Filial Piety and Righteousness Biography of the Song History, and Huang Guanxiang from Zixing, who was granted grain, silk, and tax exemptions by the court for his filial piety. There are many more filial sons and grandsons of the Huang surname in history, recorded in historical accounts, local chronicles, and family genealogies, too numerous to list. As the Ming Dynasty scholar Gu Qing said: "The Huang family is a pure line of filial piety, passed down through generations, rooted in the heart and manifested in action, a tradition with deep origins."