Jī is the
Mandarin
Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to:
Language
* Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country
** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China
** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
pinyin romanization of the
Chinese surname
Chinese surnames are used by Han Chinese and Sinicized ethnic groups in China, Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam, and among overseas Chinese communities around the world such as Singapore and Malaysia. Written Chinese names begin with surnames, unlike the ...
written in
Chinese characters. It is romanized as Chi in
Wade–Giles and Kai or Gai in
Cantonese. Ji is listed 194th in the
Song dynasty classic ''
Hundred Family Surnames''. Relatively uncommon, it is not among the top 300 surnames in China.
Origin
According to the ''
Yuanhe Xing Zuan'', a
Tang-era text on Chinese
genealogy, the Ji surname originated from
Kuaiji (present-day
Shaoxing) on the southern shore of
Hangzhou Bay in
Zhejiang. King
Shao Kang of the
Xia was said to have enfeoffed one of his sons in the place and his descendants adopted Kuaiji or Ji (written ) as their surname. Then, during the early
Han dynasty, a branch of this
clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship
and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clans may claim descent from founding member or apical ancestor. Clans, in indigenous societies, tend to be endogamous, meaning ...
was said to have migrated to
Mount Ji
Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest.
Mount or Mounts may also refer to:
Places
* Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England
* Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, ...
() in
Qiao Commandery
Bozhou () is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Anhui province, China. It borders Huaibei to the northeast, Bengbu to the southeast, Huainan to the south, Fuyang to the southwest, and Henan to the north. Its population was 4,996,844 at t ...
(, within modern
Bozhou in
Anhui). They then altered the character of their surname to match their new home.
Later adoption
During the
Xianbei Northern Wei
Wei (), known in historiography as the Northern Wei (), Tuoba Wei (), Yuan Wei () and Later Wei (), was founded by the Tuoba (Tabgach) clan of the Xianbei. The first of the Northern and Southern dynasties#Northern dynasties, Northern dynasties ...
dynasty,
Emperor Xiaowen
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother (empr ...
implemented a drastic policy of
sinicization, ordering his own people to
adopt Chinese surnames. The Tongji () tribe of the Xianbei adopted Ji as their surname.
Notable people
*
Ji Kang (嵇康; 223–262),
Cao Wei era scholar and philosopher, one of the
Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove
*
Ji Shao (
嵇紹; 253–304), son of Ji Kang, died when protecting
Emperor Hui of Jin during the
War of the Eight Princes
*Ji Huang (
嵇璜; 1711–1794),
Qing dynasty politician and
hydrologist
*
Ji Wenfu (
嵇文甫; 1895–1963), philosopher, President of
Henan University, Vice Governor of
Henan province
*
Ji Ruyun (
嵇汝运; 1918–2010), chemist, academician of
Chinese Academy of Sciences
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ji
Chinese-language surnames
Individual Chinese surnames