Cao [撋, pronounced as cáo(ㄘㄠˊ)]
1. Origin of the surname:
The first origin : Originated from the Gaoyang surname, from Yan'an, the fifth grandson of Emperor Zhuanxu, and belongs to the surname given by the emperor.
In ancient times, people had very few surnames. At that time, only tribal leaders and their relatives had surnames. The vast majority of common people did not have surnames. The origin of ancient surnames is mainly formed by the clan's totem, the clan's residence, the occupation of the clan leader, etc.
The Huangdi clan is collectively called the Huaxia clan. The Huaxia clan is a general name that combines many clans. His clan totem is the dragon. The image of the dragon is a collection of images of many animals. The claws of the dragon are the claws of a bird. Then It is the symbol of the bird totem of the Fengniao clan of the Yi people in the East; the dragon's mouth is the mouth of a tiger or wolf, and is the symbol of the totem of the Beidi people in the north; the dragon's horns are the horns of a sheep, and the sheep is the totem of the Yandi tribe of the Western Qiang; The dragon has the body of a snake, and snakes and insects are the symbols of the totems of Fuxi, Nuwa, and Leizu.
Some scholars believe that Leizu was the Yellow Emperor’s concubine and a very remarkable woman in ancient times. She not only assisted the Yellow Emperor in his great achievements, but also invented silkworm raising and spinning. She was called the Silkworm God. Leizu The totem of the Huangdi tribe is the silkworm, and the original shape of the dragon, the totem of the Huangdi tribe, is the image of the silkworm. The surnames of Zhuanxu, Wu Hui and Lu Zhong, the direct ancestors of the descendants of the Ji surname, are Wei, and the character Wei is actually a hieroglyph of the image of a silkworm. Jackie Chan.
Lei Zu’s descendants were very prosperous, and later developed into many surnames and surnames. For example, her two sons, the eldest son Xuan Xiao was called the Qingyang family, and Xuan Xiao’s son was called the Gaoxin family. Zhuanxu, the son of the second son Changyi, was called Gaoyang. Zhuanxu's grandsons Chongli and Wu Hui were Zhu Rong's clan, and Zhu Rong's clan Wu Hui's son Lu Zhong.
Among Lu Zhong’s six sons, the eldest son Fan inherited his surname. The second son Huilian married Huang Yi, a man with the surname Dongyi, and adopted the surname Huang from the Yi people. The fourth son Qiuyan also The branch that married the Dongyi Ying surname adopted the surname Juan.
Yan An, Lu Zhong’s fifth son, was very smart. He once assisted Dayu in flood control, and summed up the experience and lessons of Dayu’s father Gun’s failure in the process of water control, and proposed the strategy of “opening canals and digging rivers” Great advice that works. Dayu adopted Yan An's suggestion and used canals to dredge the nine rivers, which saved many people from flooding. He also transported grain through the "canals" and relieved many people in the disaster-stricken areas.
Cao refers to a channel or waterway constructed by artificial excavation. In ancient times, transporting food by cart was called zhuan, and transporting food by water was called cao.
After Dayu succeeded in controlling floods, he specially awarded the surname Cao to Yan An, who had made great achievements, and was known as the Cao family and the God of Cao in history. In ancient times, when emperors and monarchs conferred surnames, it was a supreme honor for their ministers. It was much more glorious than gold, silver, jewels, titles, and lands.
The second origin: It originated from the surname Ji, which came from the food towns of the Weiguo officials in the Spring and Autumn Period. It is a surname based on the name of the feudal town.
After Zhou Pingping pacified the rebellion in the homeland of the Yin and Shang Dynasties, he granted his younger brother Kang Shu a title in Wei. Kangshu was first granted a title in Kangguo (now Yuzhou, Henan). The common names Kanghou and Kanggong in bronze inscriptions refer to Wei Kangshu and his descendants. The Weiguo fiefdom was located in Yinxu and hundreds of miles around it, generally including the northern part of Henan and the southern part of Hebei. This area was once the seat of the Xia Dynasty and Guowei Dynasty, and was also the central area of ??the "Dayi Shang" in the Shang Dynasty. Therefore, Zhou people still used to call the Shang area Yi and Yin. "Yin" and "Wei" had the same pronunciation in ancient times. Uncle Kang named the country Wei, which was named after the old place.
Uncle Kang of Wei in the early Zhou Dynasty abided by the teachings of the Duke of Zhou and "started with business politics, and used Zhou Dynasty to explore borders". He used merchant politics to implement Zhou laws, and his governance was very successful. Weiguo became an important pillar of the Pingbo Zhou Dynasty, and Uncle Kang was also promoted to the Zongzhou royal family as a Sikou. In this way, Weiguo was actually handed over to his son Yongbo to rule. Before King Zhou Li, there were few records of the history of Wei.
When King Ping of Zhou moved eastward, Duke Wu of Wei sent troops to help Pingrong of Zhou. After Duke Zhuang of Wei came to the throne in the early Spring and Autumn Period, although Wei State was still a great country in the East, it began to decline, suffering from internal and external troubles. In 660 BC, the promiscuous and extravagant Duke Yigong of Wei was killed by the Di people, and the Wei Kingdom was also lost. Only 5,000 survivors were left to live in Cao (Cao, today's Hu County and Jun County, Henan Province) with the support of Song, Zheng and other states. ). In 659 BC, Duke Huan of Qi moved to Chuqiu (now Junxian County, Henan Province) to re-establish the country.
During the reign of Duke Wen of Wei, the national strength was somewhat restored.
In the first year of Wei Cheng (629 BC), Wei moved to Diqiu (now Puyang, Henan) to avoid the intrusion of the Di people. After a hundred years of recuperation, the economy began to flourish. In the late Spring and Autumn Period, the Sun family and the Ning family of Wei State were in exclusive power, and the relationship between the king and his ministers was at odds.
Entering the Warring States Period, the Wei State had declined and was struggling to survive between Zhao, Wei, Qi and Chu. In 254 BC, Wei State was finally annexed by Wei State and became its vassal. In 241 BC, the State of Qin attacked the State of Wei, incorporated the original Puyang area of ??Wei State into Dongjun, and moved the State of Wei to Yewang County (today's Qinyang, Henan). The State of Wei became a vassal of the State of Qin. In the first year of Qin II (209 BC), Wei Junjiao was deposed as a commoner, and the Wei Kingdom finally perished.
Weiguo was the last feudal state of the Zhou Dynasty to perish.
During the Spring and Autumn Period, a Weiguo official was granted the title of Caoyi (now Huaxian and Junxian in Henan Province). His descendants took the name of their ancestors' food towns as their surnames and were called the Cao family. Later, most people of the Cao family changed their name to the Cao family, and some evolved into the Chao family.
2. Migration distribution:
According to the historical record "Tongzhi Clan Brief": In Chinese history, there were more Cao family members during the Han Dynasty, and there were Cao Zhongshu and Cao Zhongshu. His son Cao Shaoyou was famous as a chivalrous man. He was from Xihe and belonged to the Xihe tribe. There is also a person named Caofang. It is also recorded in the historical book "Xutongzhi·Clan Brief·6": During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, there was a misfortune. There are few historical records later.
Cao clan people are relatively rare in contemporary times, but they are still distributed to a certain extent in Hunan, Jiangxi and other provinces.
3. County Hope:
Xihe County: In ancient times, this county had different meanings. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the western border of Wei State along the Yellow River was called Xihe, which is today's Junxian County, Huaxian County and other places. During the Warring States Period, the Yellow River was in the east of today's Anyang, so Anyang can be called Xihe. According to "Historical Records: Biography of Zhongni's Disciples", "Zixia lived in Xihe and taught". During the Wei Dynasty, the land along the Yellow River in present-day Shaanxi Province from the Qin Kingdom was taken and Xihe County was established. The Yellow River between Shanxi and Shaanxi was used as the criterion, and the west bank was Xihe. In the fourth year of Yuanshuo in the Western Han Dynasty (125 BC), a county was established, with its administrative seat in Pingding (today's Dongsheng, Inner Mongolia). At that time, it governed the area along the Yellow River between present-day Shaanxi and Shanxi provinces, and included present-day Yikezhao in Inner Mongolia. Eastern League and western Shanxi and other places. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, it was moved to Lishi (today's Lishi, Shanxi). During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the northern part of Xihe County in the Northern Wei Dynasty was owned by the Qiang and Hu, and only the western Shanxi area was retained. The Zhi family was ruled in Lishi, Shanxi Province (today's Fenyang, Shanxi Province). During the Tang Dynasty, Fenzhou was also called Xihe County.