Yuan (surname) - Spread of The Surname

Spread of The Surname

In general, the spread of the Yuan surname has followed the migration of Han Chinese throughout mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia. The general trend over the past 1500 years has been a shift from north to south and southeast.

The main branches of the Yuan clan after the Han Dynasty were all in north China, most of them in population centres near the Yellow River. In the 3rd century members of the Chen Yuan are known to have moved as far south as the Red River delta in modern Vietnam. Early migrations south established Yuan clans along the lower Yangtze River, in Danyang, Lujiang, Wuxi, Yangzhou and Nanjing. Records from the Tang Dynasty name three major Yuan clans, in Ru'nan, Pengcheng and Yichun.

Larger scale migrations south occurred during the middle and late Song Dynasty, when north China was overrun by the Jurchens and later the Mongols. Yuan clans appeared in what is now Zhejiang (Hangzhou, Ningbo, Fenghua and Yinxian), Jiangxi (Nanchang) and Fujian (Fu'an). The name was already widespread in the 12th century, being concentrated in what is now Sichuan, Zhejiang and Shanxi.

Around the beginning of the Ming Dynasty in the late 14th century, population booms in the lower Yangzi valley made Jiangxi, Jiangsu and Zhejiang the three most populous provinces for the Yuan name. The southern coastal provinces of Fujian and Guangdong also experienced significant increases.

By the Qing Dynasty, Yuan had penetrated to the frontier lands of Yunnan in the southwest, Guangxi in the south, Liaoning in the northeast and Taiwan in the southeast. Many in Guangdong and Fujian migrated south to Southeast Asia, especially Singapore and Indonesia.

Up until the 15th century, growth in the Yuan name consistently outstripped that of the general population, but this rate has fallen below average over the past six centuries. This period has seen a resurgence of the Yuan name in northern provinces, so much so that Sichuan and Hebei are now the most important in terms of absolute population. The Yuan name is most populous as a percentage of local populations in the Yangtze Delta region, in northwestern Jiangxi and in the border region between Shaanxi and Sichuan. As of 1994, for example, there were 97,400 Yuan in Shanghai, ranked 30th by population - slightly higher than the national average. In northeast China, Heilongjiang is home to concentrations in the southeast of the province as well as a lengthy strip along the Russian border. Generally speaking, the name is relatively absent in the farthest geographical extremes of China, namely southern Yunnan, Guangxi, and the island province of Hainan.

In Taiwan, the surname is ranked 94th by population. Most who hold the name were relatively recent emigres who arrived during the 19th century or at the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949. They are concentrated in Taipei, Hsinchu, Nantou, Chiayi and Tainan.