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''Jī'' () was the ancestral name of the Zhou dynasty which ruled China between the 11th and 3rd centuries BC. Thirty-nine members of the family ruled China during this period while many others ruled as local lords, lords who eventually gained great autonomy during the Spring and Autumn and
Warring States period The Warring States period in history of China, Chinese history (221 BC) comprises the final two and a half centuries of the Zhou dynasty (256 BC), which were characterized by frequent warfare, bureaucratic and military reforms, and ...
s. Ji is a relatively uncommon surname in modern China, largely because its bearers often adopted the names of their states and fiefs as new
surnames In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several giv ...
. The character is composed of the radicals (
Old Chinese Old Chinese, also called Archaic Chinese in older works, is the oldest attested stage of Chinese language, Chinese, and the ancestor of all modern varieties of Chinese. The earliest examples of Chinese are divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones ...
: ''nra'', "woman") and (OC: ''ɢ(r)ə'', "chin").Baxter, Wm. H. & Sagart, Laurent. ''  '', pp. 61, 106, & 175. 2011. Accessed 11 October 2011. It is most likely a phono-semantic compound, with ''nra'' common in the earliest Zhou-era family names and ''ɢ(r)ə'' marking a rhyme of (OC: ''K(r)ə''). The legendary and historical record shows the Zhou Ji clan closely entwined with the Jiang (), who seem to have provided many of the Ji lords' high-ranking spouses. A popular theory in recent Chinese scholarship has suggested that they represented two important clans the Ji originally centered on the
Fen River The Fen River drains the center of Shanxi Province, China. It originates in the Guancen Mountains of Ningwu County in northeast Shanxi, flows southeast into the basin of Taiyuan, and then south through the central valley of Shanxi before turni ...
in
Shanxi Shanxi; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanised as Shansi is a Provinces of China, province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi a ...
and the Jiang around the Wei River in
Shaanxi Shaanxi is a Provinces of China, province in north Northwestern China. It borders the province-level divisions of Inner Mongolia to the north; Shanxi and Henan to the east; Hubei, Chongqing, and Sichuan to the south; and Gansu and Ningxia to t ...
whose union produced the Zhou state ruled by Old Duke Danfu, although the theory remains problematic. In the family hymns recorded in the ''Classic of Poetry'', the Ji (姬) family is traced from the miraculous birth of the
Xia dynasty The Xia dynasty (; ) is the first dynasty in traditional Chinese historiography. According to tradition, it was established by the legendary figure Yu the Great, after Emperor Shun, Shun, the last of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, Fiv ...
culture hero and court official Houji caused by his
mother A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of ges ...
's stepping into a footprint left by the supreme god Shangdi.'' Book of Songs''. III.2.1. The '' Records of the Grand Historian'' instead make Houji the son of the Emperor Ku, descendant of
Yellow Emperor The Yellow Emperor, also known as the Yellow Thearch, or Huangdi ( zh, t=黃帝, s=黄帝, first=t) in Chinese, is a mythical Chinese sovereign and culture hero included among the legendary Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. He is revered as ...
. Sima Qian. '' Records of the Grand Historian''. It is sometimes listed as one of the Eight Great Surnames of Chinese Antiquity, replacing when present.


Ancient rulers with the surname

*Kings of the Zhou dynasty *Rulers of the State of Wu, who claimed descent from Taibo *Rulers of Eastern Guo and Western Guo, descended from Jili's two younger sons, Zhong of (Eastern) Guo and Shu of (Western) Guo *Rulers of Han, descended from a son of King Wen of Zhou *Rulers of Teng, descended from Shu Xiu of Cuo (Teng), a son of King Wen of Zhou *Rulers of Wey, descended from Shu of Wey–Kang, a son of King Wen of Zhou *Rulers of Wei, descended from a son of King Wen of Zhou *Rulers of the State of Liu ( from Duke Kang of Liu (), son of King Qing of Zhou *Rulers of
Xing Xing may refer to: * an abbreviation for crossing such as Pedestrian crossing, Pedestrian Xing or Wildlife crossing, Wildlife Xing, primarily used in North America * Chinese surname (姓, ''xing'') * Xing (surname) (邢), a Chinese surname * Xing ...
, descended from Pengshu of Xing *Rulers of Cai, descended from Cai Shu Du *Rulers of Cao, descended from Shu Zhenduo of Cao *Rulers of Jin state, descended from Shu Yu of Tang *Rulers of Lu, descended from Bo Qin, son of the Duke of Zhou *Rulers of Zheng *Rulers of Hann, which claimed descent from Wuzi of Hann, a grandson of Marquis Mu of Jin *Rulers of Shen, from sons of King Wen of Zhou *Rulers of Xi *Rulers of Yan from Duke of Shao, brother of King Wu of Zhou *Rulers of Cen (), from Viscount Ji Qu, nephew of the Duke of Zhou *Rulers of Xianyu (), who dwelt among the Di.


Other notable people

* Ji Pengfei (1910–2000), a prominent Communist * Ji Shengde, former head of Chinese military intelligence


Other surnames adopted by descendants of Ji

* Any surname derived from the Zhou dynasty Ji-descent vassal states * Qiū (秋) * Wēng (翁) ** Hóng (洪) ** Jiāng (江) ** Fāng (方) ** Gōng (龚) ** Wāng (汪)


References

{{surname Chinese-language surnames Individual Chinese surnames Eight Great Surnames of Chinese Antiquity