Preface to the Updated Genealogy in 1996 (Text)

Preface to the Updated Genealogy in 1996

In this preface to the most recent edition of the Zhiyan Village Chen genealogy the compilers give an account of the ancient origins of the Chen surname, the origins of this particular Chen lineage and the origins of the village, and the several branches of the lineage.

Preface to the Recompiled Genealogy of 1996

A genealogy records the origin and development of one surname and one village and the deeds and writings of notable figures of ages past. It is a kind of history, and it deserves to be preserved for the value it has. Therefore as long as we take its essentials and abandon its dregs, manage it according to today’s new methods and rules, thus make the past serve the present, then the compilation of genealogies cannot be completely abandoned.

It has been 49 years since our Genealogy of the Chen Clan of Zhiyan was updated in 1947. If we do not update it again now, inevitably the birth and death dates and the deeds of many people will be unclear and significant events in village history will fail to be recorded. Therefore Xiangou, Weisong, and others initiated the updating. It started in December 1995 and they asked me to take charge. Thanks to the cooperative efforts of all the heads of the sub-branches and the support of the majority of the villagers it has now been finished. By precedent, we must write a preface after completion. In the past, such a preface was written in literary language, but young people and later generations do not understand it, therefore they know nothing at all about the ancestors. This exactly corresponds to an old saying: “one enumerates past records but ignores one’s own ancestry.” Therefore I have now switched to colloquial language to write it. We have recorded such matters as the origin of our Chen clan, where our ancestor migrated from, and how we developed after that, so that later generations will grasp it all at a glance, and will not be confused when they look at the genealogy.

The Origin of the Chen

King Wu of Zhou extinguished the Shang dynasty, and enfeoffed the descendants of sage kings and worthy ministers of past ages. [He] found Duke Man of Hu, the descendant of [the sage emperor] Shun, and enfeoffed him at Chen, which is an area in today’s Henan province. From then on, his descendants used Chen as their surname. At the end of the Qin dynasty [221-206 BC], there was a Chen Sheng who rose up in a righteous rebellion and extinguished the Qin dynasty. Chen Ping assisted the Han [founder] Emperor Gaozu in pacifying the world and became a famous minister of the Han dynasty [202BC-AD220]. Later there was a Chen Tang who achieved merit [during wars] in the western regions. In Eastern Han there was a Chen Shi, the Magistrate of Taiqiu, who was famous through the world for his upright and honesty. His contemporaries even said that they would rather be punished by the government than be criticized by Mr. Chen. His two sons, Yuanfang and Jifang, were also famous. Those who admire brothers have passed down the saying: “It is difficult to be an elder brother, since there is [the model of] Yuanfang; it is difficult to be a younger brother, since there is [the model of] Jifang.” Thus our Genealogy of the Chen Clan begins with Chen Shi. He was the first generation, and his sons the second. The pedigree only became clear and verifiable with him. He was from Yingchuan (today in eastern Xuchang in Henan), therefore most of the Chen lineages took Yingchuan as their choronym [a choronym is name of the place associated with the origin of a particular branch of a surname]. However, our Chen surname in Zhiyan uses Weirui as our choronym, because our ancestors wanted to trace our first ancestor back to Shun. Shun was the lord of the kingdom of Yu in the time of [the sage emperor] Yao. Yu was in today’s Shanxi province. Within the kingdom there was a river called Weirui, a place mentioned in the Classic of Documents in the sentence “[Emperor Yao] sent down his two daughters to Weirui [to be wives to Shun].” That is why people in the past said in prefaces to this genealogy that there was only a tiny difference between Yingchuan and Weirui. In fact we are also the descendants of Chen Shi.

The Date of the Establishment of the Village:

Since Chen Shi our Chen clan has continued without break. In the Six Dynasties (222-589) Chen Baxian replaced the Liang Dynasty and conquered the whole world. In three generations, from grandfather to grandson, they enfeoffed as princes more than fifty people who were the sons and nephews of the imperial clan, and the fiefs were spread through the whole country. At that time, there was a Chen Shuxian who was enfeoffed as the Prince of Henan. Our first ancestor Mr. Dajing was his 16^th-generation decendant, and lived in Xiangfu County of Kaifeng Superior Prefecture in Henan. His father and grandfather were both high officials in the Song Dynasty. Emperor When Gaozong of the Song Dynasty went south in 1127 (after the Jurchens conquered the north) Mr. Dajing followed him south. At first he resided besides the river in Anji. During the Shaoxing reign period (1131-1162) he was appointed prefect of Mu Prefecture (later it was renamed as Yen Prefecture, today it is Jiande) and resided in Fenshui County. He begot two sons, the elder one was Zhan and the younger one was Di. Zhan resided in Baikang of Fenshui, and was the first ancestor of the Chens of Baikang. Di resided in Zhiyan [Zhi-Reservoir] (it was called Zhishan [Zhi-Mountain] at that time but was renamed Zhixi [Zhi-Brook] in later times); he was the first ancestor of the Chens of Zhiyan. The Genealogy praises him for being versed in both the civil and the military arts and both erudite and versatile; his name was known to the whole world. Shaoxing was the title of the reign period of Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dyanasty. The title of the first reign period of Emperor Gaozong was Jianyan; it was changed to Shaoxing after four years, which lasted for 32 years [1130-1162]. It has been 869 years since [the Song Dynasty] went south in 1127 up to the present. The establishment of the Zhiyan village would not have been earlier than the Shaoxing reign period. If we suppose that it established in the 19^th or 20^th year [of the Shaoxing reign period], then it is clear beyond doubt that from the establishment of the village up to the present our Zhiyan village has had a history of about 850 years.

The Difference Between the Branches

Beginning in the 13^th generation after Mr. [Chen] Di, we divided into four branches: the Lower Gate, the Upper Gate, the Middle Gate, and the Front Gate (a division roughly based on location.) The Lower Gate branch were the descendants of Xiaoyou, Mr. Di’s fourth-generation descendant. All the other branches were the descendants of his younger brother Xiaode. Later the Upper Gate branch ceased, leaving only the Lower Gate branch (today’s Lower Residence branch), the Middle Gate branch (today’s Upper Residence branch), and the Front Gate branch. Among them, the Front Gate branch is the most prosperous and the most populous one, including the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and the Mamu sub-branches (房頭). The Mamu sub-branch is descended from Mr. Yi the 49^th; all the other sub-branches were descended from the two brothers Mr. Min the 6^th and Mr. Min the 17^th, who were descendants of Mr. Yi the 75^th. None of the other sub-branches had descendants. Mr. Min the 6^th begot Mr. Zerong and Mr. Ziming, which became the fifth sub-branch (the numbers of the sub-branches were set according to [the seniority of the] cousins). Mr. Min 17^th begot five sons: the eldest was Mr. Wuwei, the fourth was Mr. Xiangyue, and the fifth was Mr. Xiangsong. Mr. Wuwei begot six sons; the second, the third, and the sixth sub-branches were all his descendants (the other sub-branches did not have descendants). [The descendants of] Mr. Xiangyue was the fourth sub-branch. Because the population was not large, the descendants of Mr. Xiangsong were combined under the [sub-branch of] Mr. Xiangyue together, and is called collectively the 4^th sub-branch. (The other sub-branches did not have descendants) Therefore the relationship between the ancestors of the fourth and fifth sub-branches and the second, third, and sixth sub-branches were not of brothers, but of uncle to nephew. However, [they differed in that] the [ancestor of the] fourth sub-branch was a paternal uncle, and the [ancestor of the] fifth sub-branch was a more distant uncle. As for the Houjiang sub-branch, it moved to Nali since Mr. Jin the 7^th, the fourth-generation descendant of Xiaoyou. It also belongs to the Lower Gate branch.