Ximen () is a

Chinese compound surname A Chinese compound surname is a Chinese surname using more than one Chinese character, character. Many of these compound surnames derive from Zhou dynasty Chinese noble and official titles, professions, place names and other areas, to serve a purp ...

. Ximen literally means "west gate", the origination story says that there was a noble family in

Zheng Zheng may refer to: *Zheng (surname), Chinese surname (鄭, 郑, ''Zhèng'') *Zheng County, former name of Zhengzhou, capital of Henan, China *Guzheng (), a Chinese zither with bridges *Qin Shi Huang (259 BC – 210 BC), emperor of the Qin Dynasty, ...

or Qi state live near the west gate, so the descents took Ximen (west gate) as their family name. As compound surnames are rare in China, some Ximen families have changed their name to the single surname Xi(西).

Notable people named Ximen

Ximen Bao Ximen Bao was a Chinese hydraulic engineer, philosopher, and politician. He was a government minister and court advisor to Marquis Wen of Wei (reigned 445–396 BC) during the Warring States period of ancient China. He was known as an early ratio ...

, minister and court advisor in Wei *

Ximen Qing Ximen Qing () is a fictional Chinese Song dynasty merchant, womanizer, and murderer in Yanggu County, Shandong. He is the male protagonist in the novel ''Jin Ping Mei'' and a minor character in the novel ''Water Margin''. In both novels, he is ...

, fictional character in ''

Water Margin ''Water Margin'' (''Shuihu zhuan'') is one of the earliest Chinese novels written in vernacular Mandarin, and is attributed to Shi Nai'an. It is also translated as ''Outlaws of the Marsh'' and ''All Men Are Brothers''. The story, which is s ...

'' and ''

The Plum in the Golden Vase ''Jin Ping Mei'' () — translated into English as ''The Plum in the Golden Vase'' or ''The Golden Lotus'' — is a Chinese novel of manners composed in vernacular Chinese during the latter half of the 16th century during the late Ming dynasty ...

'' *

Ximen Chuixue Lu Xiaofeng is the fictional protagonist of the ''wuxia'' novel series ''Lu Xiaofeng Series'' by Gu Long. Character description Lu Xiaofeng is described as a charming, good-looking man sporting a moustache that resembles his eyebrows, ...

, fictional character in ''

The Legend of Lu Xiaofeng Lu Xiaofeng is the fictional protagonist of the ''wuxia'' novel series ''Lu Xiaofeng Series'' by Gu Long. Character description Lu Xiaofeng is described as a charming, good-looking man sporting a moustache that resembles his eyebrows, ...

'' * Ximen Yan, fictional character in ''

Meteor Garden (2018 TV series) ''Meteor Garden'' () is a 2018 mainland Chinese television series starring Shen Yue, Dylan Wang, Darren Chen, Caesar Wu, and Connor Leong. The series is based on the Japanese shōjo manga series written by Yoko Kamio, and a remake of the 200 ...

'' * Ximen Nao (西门闹), fictional main character in ''

Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out ''Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out'' () is a 2006 novel by Chinese writer Mo Yan, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2012. The book is a historical fiction exploring China's development during the latter half of the 20th century through ...

'' by

Mo Yan Guan Moye (; born 17 February 1955), better known by the pen name Mo Yan (, ), is a Chinese novelist and short story writer. Donald Morrison of U.S. news magazine ''TIME'' referred to him as "one of the most famous, oft-banned and widely pirate ...

Notes

{{surname, Ximen Chinese-language surnames Individual Chinese surnames