The surname Kong (kǒng)
He was the successor of Wei Zi Qi and Zhong Yan, and his first ancestor was Kongfu Jia. It is the 72nd surname among the top 100 surnames in contemporary China. The founding ancestors of the Kong family, who immigrated from the Great Locust Tree in Hongtong during the Ming Dynasty, were from Pingyang and Taiyuan prefectures, as well as the five states of Ze, Lu, Liao, Fen and Qin, and the two counties of Hongtong and Zhaocheng. In the early Ming Dynasty, the Hongtong Great Locust Tree was relocated to other places in a concentrated manner. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, its descendants were distributed in Henan, Shandong, Hebei, Beijing, Tianjin, Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Anhui, Jiangsu, Hubei, Hunan, Guangxi, Inner Mongolia, Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Shanxi and other places.
The earliest record of the surname Kong can be found in the "Qianfu Lun" of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
The main sources of its surname are threefold:
① It originates from the surname Zi. According to the "Guangyun" and "Qianfu Lun", it is said that Qi, the founding ancestor of the Shang Dynasty, was born from Jian Di, the second concubine of the emperor, who swallowed the egg of a black bird. When Qi grew up, he was appointed as the Grand Tutor by King Shun for his meritorious service in assisting Yu the Great in controlling the floods, in charge of education, and lived in the Shang Dynasty. Some say he lived in the foreign regions, and was given the surname Zi. In the fourteenth generation, there was Tang. Tang was named Lu because his ancestor swallowed the egg of a black bird and thus gave birth to Qi. His courtesy name was Taiyi. After Tang became the leader of the Shang people, he intermarried with the Youxin family, appointed Yi Yin as the ruler, and established the capital in Bo. He gathered his strength and, after eleven campaigns, finally conquered the Xia Dynasty in one fell swum and established the Shang Dynasty, moving the capital to Xibo. As King Tang was the founding monarch of the Shang Dynasty and was highly respected by the Yin people, his descendants took his son and himself as their surname, thus forming the Kong surname, which is known as the Kong surname of Henan. According to the "Records of the Grand Historian" and the "General Chronicles: A Brief Account of Clans", during the reign of King Zhou of Shang, the Shang Dynasty was overthrown by King Wu of Zhou, who established the Zhou Dynasty. King Zhou's son, Wu Geng, was enfeoffed in the former territory of Chaoge, and Guan Shu, CAI Shu, and Huo Shu were ordered to keep an eye on Wu Geng. After the death of King Wu, when King Cheng was still young, Duke of Zhou took over the government. The three eunuchs were dissatisfied and colluded with Wu Geng to rebel. Duke of Zhou quelled the rebellion and enfeoffed Wei Zi Qi, the eldest son of King Di Yi of Shang, the half-brother of King Zhou of Shang, in the State of Song to preside over the ancestral worship of the Shang people. After Wei Zijun's death, his younger brother Wei Zhongyan ascended the throne. Wei Zhongyan's great-grandson, Duke Xiang of Song, gave birth to Fu Fuhe. Fu Fuhe gave birth to Song Fuzhou. Song Fuzhou gave birth to Shi Fusheng. Shi Fusheng gave birth to Zhengkao Fu. Zhengkao Fu successively held the positions of minister in the reigns of Duke Dai, Duke Wu, and Duke Xuan. He gave birth to Kongfu Jia, whose given name was Jia and courtesy name was Kongfu. Duke Mu of Song was then the Grand Marshal. Because of Hua Du's rebellion, Kong Fujia was killed. His son, Mu Jinfu, was still young and was carried by his family to escape to the State of Lu. When Mu Jinfu grew up, he took his father's given name as his surname. They were called the Kong family and settled in the State of Lu from then on. The grandson of Mu Jin's father was Fang Shu. Fang Shu passed down to his fifth-generation grandson, Liang He, who was a well-known strongman at that time. Shuliang He served as a minister of Zouyi in the State of Lu. In his later years, he married Zhengzai, the daughter of the Yan family, and they had Confucius. Later, he became a highly renowned thinker and statesman in Chinese history. After that, the Kong family developed into a prominent clan. It is the Kong surname from Shandong. It is historically known as the orthodox surname Kong.
② It originates from the surnames Ji and Si. According to the "Dialectics of Ancient and Modern Surnames", there was also a surname Kong in the State of Wei, who was a descendant of Kang Shu, the younger brother of King Wu of Zhou. In the State of Chen, there was a surname Kong, who was a descendant of Kong Ning, the Minister of GUI.
③ It originated from the descendants of Duke LAN of Zheng Mu. According to the "General Annals: Brief Account of Clans", Duke Mu of Zheng had thirteen sons, among whom the descendants of two sons took the surname Kong. There was a man named Song Zi who gave birth to a son named Xi. Xi's courtesy name was Zi Kong. His descendants took the character Kong from his courtesy name Zi Kong as their surname. Another son was named GUI GUI. He gave birth to a son named Zhi. Zhi's courtesy name was Shi Zi Kong. The descendants of Zhi took the character Kong from their ancestor's courtesy name Shi Zi Kong as their surname, which is known as the Kong surname in Henan.
The main ancestral homes of the Kong surname are Lu Commandery, Jingzhao Commandery, Henan Commandery and Kuaiji Commandery. Lu Commandery: In the early Western Han Dynasty (206 BC), the original Xue Commandery of the Qin Dynasty was changed to the State of Lu. During the Wei and Jin Dynasties of The Three Kingdoms period, it was renamed Lu Commandery. It was equivalent to the area around Qufu and Sishui in present-day Shandong Province.
The main ancestral hall names of the Kong family include Que Li Hall, Zhi Sheng Hall, etc. The Que Li Hall and the Zhi Sheng Hall are both named after Confucius. Confucius was born in Que Li and was regarded as the "Great Sage of Perfection" in history.