The Zhi Clan#

The surname Zhi is pronounced as “zhī”.

Distribution of the Zhi Clan#

The Zhi Clan is found in the southeastern part of Shandong Province, in areas such as Zhucheng, Linyi, and Jiaonan, as well as in Heyang County of Shaanxi Province.

Origin of the Zhi Clan#

The Zhi Clan is one of the Chinese surnames, ranking 163rd in the “Hundred Family Surnames” list, with a relatively small number of bearers.

Origins of the Surname “Zhi”#

There are four theories regarding the origin of the “Zhi” surname:

1. During the reigns of Yao and Shun, there was a man named Zhi Fu, and his descendants took “Zhi” as their surname (as recorded in the “Biographies of Eminent Men”).
2. There were clans with the surname Zhi among the descendants of the Zhou Dynasty. According to the “Lu History,” some descendants of the royal family and nobles of the Zhou Dynasty adopted “Zhi” as their surname.
3. The surname also originated from the Ji family, specifically from the descendants of Hou Ji. During the Zhou Dynasty, the system of inheritance designated the eldest son of the legitimate wife as the “Zongzi” (the heir to the family lineage), while the sons of the concubines and other sons were referred to as “Zhizi.” Some of these “Zhizi” adopted “Zhi” as their surname during the land distribution process.
4. Descendants of the ancient Yuezhi tribe from the Western Regions settled in the Central Plains and adopted “Zhi” as their surname.

Founder of the Clan#

The founder of the Zhi Clan is Zhi Shucai, a renowned scholar from Dingzhou during the Tang Dynasty, praised for his filial piety. During the late Sui Dynasty, when famine struck, he begged for food in the wild. His mother was captured by robbers, who intended to kill her. Zhi Shucai revealed the truth, and the robbers, moved by his loyalty, released her. When his mother fell ill with a serious wound, Zhi Shucai sucked the pus from the wound and applied medicine to it. After her death, he built a house by her grave to mourn her. A white crane appeared by his side, and people believed this was a sign of his filial devotion. Therefore, Zhi Shucai is revered as the ancestor of the Zhi Clan.

Migration and Distribution#

The Zhi Clan is not among the top 100 surnames in either mainland China or Taiwan. Its origins are complex and somewhat unclear. It is said that during the reigns of Yao and Shun, there was a man named Zhi Fu, and his descendants formed the Zhi Clan. Another theory suggests that the surname originated from a clan with the surname Zhi among the descendants of the Zhou Dynasty. During the Western Han Dynasty, there was a small state called Yuezhi in Central Asia, located along the Silk Road in the vicinity of Dunhuang (in present-day central and western Gansu Province and eastern Qinghai Province). The people of Yuezhi first settled in places like Shaanxi and Shanxi before gradually migrating throughout China. By the Jin Dynasty, some members of the Yuezhi community had settled in the Central Plains. After the Tang Dynasty unified the country, they were assimilated into Chinese culture and adopted Chinese naming conventions, sometimes taking the character “Zhi” from the name of their former state as their surname.

Famous People with the Surname Zhi#

Zhi Qian, a high-ranking monk from the Three Kingdoms period, was from the Yuezhi tribe. He came to China at the end of the Han Dynasty. His grandfather, Fa Du, led several hundred people from his state to China during the reign of Emperor Ling of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Zhi Qian studied under Zhi Liang, a disciple of Zhi Chen. Zhi Qian was well-versed in various languages from the Western Regions and fluent in Sanskrit. He translated numerous important Buddhist scriptures and was honored by the Wu ruler Sun Quan for his erudition.