Táng (surname)

Tang (Chinese:唐, Pinyin: Táng; Japanese: 唐/とう/から; Korean: 당/唐), is a Chinese surname. Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese also have the surname with the same character but different pronunciation/romanization [] .

History

People with this surname mainly have two originations [ [http://www.hakkazg.com/xingshiguli/tangxing.htm 唐姓 ] ] :

* From the clan name "Tao-Tang" (or "Taotang", "Tao Tang")
** "Tao-Tang" was the clan name for Emperor Yao's tribe, so Yao is also known as Tang Yao (唐堯/唐尧) or Tang Fangxun (唐放勛/唐放勋) ("Fangxun" literally means great meritorious service or contribution). "Tao" means "pottery", which was a very important invention and tool in acient China; "Tang" was the ancient name for the place currently is part of central China and the central plain of Shanxi Province. Yao's tribe combined the names of pottery and their resident place as their clan name . The descendants of Yao continued using the surname Tang instead of "Tao-Tang", probably for simplification purpose.

* From the King Tang Shuyu
** In the early Zhou Dynasty (Western Zhou), when the King Wu of Zhou was still a child, one day he played a game with his young brother Tang Shuyu. The King Wu of Zhou cut a tung leaf to a Jade Gui (Chinese: 玉珪, a kind of jade article representing authority and trust) shape, sent to Tang Shuyu, and said: you're rised to the Marquis of Tang (Chinese: 唐侯, "Tang" here stands for the same place as mentioned above). The chancellor aside immediately advised the King Wu of Zhou to choose an auspicious day and make a royal ceremony for establishing Tang Shuyu. The King Wu of Zhou felt suprising and said: we are just playing a game and I just made a joke. The chancellor replied: the King cannot make a joke, once the King speaks out, historians record his words, the loyal ceremony will be held, and the loyal music will be played. Thus Tang Shuyu was rised to the Marquis of Tang, and later became the first king of Jin. It's a famous historic event and the origin for the Chinese phrase "Tongye Fenghou" (Chinese: 桐叶封侯) [Classic Chinese from the "Records of the Grand Historian" - 《史记·晋世家》:“成王与叔虞戏，削桐叶为珪以与叔虞，曰:‘以此封若。’史佚因请择日立叔虞。成王曰:‘吾与之戏耳。’史佚曰:‘天子无戏言’。言则史书之，礼成之，乐歌之。于是遂封叔虞于唐。”] . His offspring continued using "Tang" as their surname.

Notable people

* Tang of Shang (1675 BC-1646 BC): King of Shang Dynasty (in the oracle bone script of his period, his name was officially recorded the same as 唐(Táng) but not 汤(Tāng) which is used in later times [ [http://baike.baidu.com/view/29315.htm 商汤_百度百科 ] ] )
* Tang Shuyu: King of Jin
* Tang Yin (1470-1524): Ming Dynasty official, painter, calligraphist, poet, literator
* Tang Ching-sung (1841-1903): the first President of the Republic of Formosa
* Tang Shaoyi (1859-1938): Prime Minister of the Republic of China
* Tang Jiyao (1883–1927): general, warlord
* Tang Shengzhi (1889-1970): general, warlord
* Tang Junyi (1909-1978): philosopher
* Tang Ti-sheng (1919-1959): opera playwright, scriptwriter, film director
* Tang Fei (1933-): the Premier of the Republic of China
* Tang Jiaxuan (1938-): the Foreign Minister of the People's Republic of China
* Henry Tang (1952-): Hong Kong politician and official

Related topic

* Tang Dynasty

References