Ji (surname)

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Ji (姬 jī in Mandarin Chinese, Kei in Cantonese Chinese) is the family name of the family in control of the Zhou Dynasty (周朝 late 10th century BC to late 9th century - 256 BC) (Wade-Giles Chou Dynasty), which followed the Shang Dynasty and preceded the Qin Dynasty in China.

Thirty-nine members of the family ruled over China during this period.

Ji is a rare surname in China ever since it appeared. "Ji" (姬) literally means consort or concubine and is used before there Surname. Its originality dates back thousands of years. This surname was originally one the Yellow Emperor's surname, and although he had many sons to whom he could have passed the name to, he only gave the two chosen ones to possess this Ji surname. Not only this, one of the two sons that possessed this surname became the next emperor and passed this surname to only a few. The other sons all got different names such as Wang, Li, Ding, Yao, Zhang, Bai, and many others.

The emperor's surname cannot be used by people except royalty who received the emperor's approval. Hundreds of years later on, another emperor had the Ji surname, and all those who had this name had to change their name to something else other than Ji, thus people with this Ji surname is scarce.

[edit] Prominent People with surname 姬

Royal Family of Chou Dynasty
Ji Jin-Chun born 1877 Governor of Rehe and Suiyuan 1921-28. Fought against the Russians and the Japanese.
Ji Hen-gli, also known as Ji Hong-Chang.
Ji Hong-Chang, born 1895 Governor of Ningxia. Army officer 1913-1933. Nationalist Party Member.
Ji Pengfei, born 1910 a renowned official and senior member of the Chinese Communist Party.
Ji Shende, his son
Ji Yu-Tien, scholar born 1924
Ji Tai-Yuan, son
Ji Chao-zhu born July 30, 1929 retired PRC diplomat
Ji Xiao-tan, son