Yuan (surname) - Genealogies

Genealogies

Almost all available information on the early origins of the surname come from noble genealogies which were updated and maintained until the 10th century. Some of the aristocratic Yuan families of the Tang Dynasty used these registers as a means of upholding their prestige and maintaining influence. These texts were also used as sources for the 5th century story collection Shishuo xinyu (世說新語: "New Tales of the World"). A Yuan clan genealogy from Jiangxi is mentioned in Sui shu (隋书: "Book of Sui") and a Yuan clan temple inscription survives in the anthology of essayist and poet Han Yu. Although no copies of early genealogies are extant today, fragments have been preserved by famed Chinese historian Ouyang Xiu in the 11th century work Xin Tang Shu.

From the time of Ouyang Xiu onwards, the practice of genealogy compilation devolved down to gentry families and became correspondingly more widespread. The clans of the Yangtze Delta and its hinterlands were most active in producing genealogies. Many of the Yuan clan genealogies associate their clans with the Ru'nan Yuan or the Chen Yuan, and in particular trace their ancestries to Yuan An. Yuan Zhijun (袁志君), founder of the Yuan clan of Dongguan and ancestor of the Ming dynasty general Yuan Chonghuan (袁崇煥), for example, claimed to be a 38th generation descendant of Yuan An. A number of collateral branches in Xingning, Meixian and Huiyang also follow the Tongguan clan in the claim. Similarly, the clans of Xinchang, Fenghua and Yinxian, which produced many jinshi degree holders in the Song Dynasty, claimed that their ancestor Yuan Yuan (袁元) was a 31st generation descendant of Yuan An. It was not uncommon for clans to build memorial halls, sometimes titled "Ru'nan", "Woxue" (卧雪: "Sleeping in snow") or "Shouzheng" (守正: "upholding justice"), in honour of Yuan An. Such attempts to trace the origin of clans to a famous individual have interest as a sociological phenomenon rather than for its historical accuracy.

Clan-based activities and genealogies were attacked during the Cultural Revolution, when various movements inspired by the Chinese government attempted to eradicate symbols of the old society. They were relatively successful, so much so that many genealogies have been lost. Most surviving Yuan genealogies on the mainland are now out of private hands.

Some one hundred Yuan clan genealogies are known to be held in government archives or in public libraries in Beijing, Shanghai and Ningbo. A provincial breakdown of the geographic distribution of these genealogies in order of number: Zhejiang (23); Jiangsu (22); Hunan (17); Jiangxi (9); Shandong (9); Sichuan (5); Henan (4); Anhui (3); unknown (7). A few genealogies may also be held in university archives in Japan and the United States. No doubt many more fragments are scattered in villages and townships across China.