The Chang Clan#

Surname: Chang, pronounced as “chāng”.

Distribution of the Chang Clan#

• Ruanan Commandery, Henan Province
• Donghai Commandery, Shandong Province

Origins of the Chang Clan#

The surname “Chang” originates from the following sources:

1. It traces back to the Youxiong lineage, a direct descendant of the Yellow Emperor. The progenitor was Changyi, who adopted the name of his ancestor as his own surname.
2. It also originates from the “Ren” surname, with some families taking the name of their ancestral state. According to “Tongzhi·Shizhu Lue,” in ancient times, there was a person named Changyi, a son of the Yellow Emperor, born to Lüzu (another descendant of the Yellow Emperor).
3. Some branches of the Chang clan stem from a minister of the Yellow Emperor named Changyu.

The ancestor of the Chang surname is Changyi. According to “Fengsu Tong,” the Chang clan is descended from Changyi, the son of the Yellow Emperor’s principal wife, Lüzu. Later, Changyi married a woman from the Shushan family and had a son named Zhuanxu Gaoyang, who became one of the ancient emperors who succeeded the Yellow Emperor in leading the Chinese nation. Another source, “Xingshi Kaolue,” mentions that descendants of the “Ren” surname also included the Chang clan, with their prominent families located in Ruanan and Donghai. These branches of the Chang clan mainly multiplied in Ruanan, Henan, and the Donghai area at the border of Shandong and Jiangsu. However, according to the “Wanxing Tongpu,” the largest population of the Chang clan is found in the Lingnan region (the current Guangdong and Guangxi provinces). The prominent clans of the Chang family were based in Ruanan Commandery (southeast of present-day Ruanan County, Henan Province).

Migration and Distribution Today, people with the Chang surname can be found in:

• Xiantao City, Qianjiang City, Wuhan City, Huangshi City, and Xiaochang County in Hubei Province;
• Xinyang City, Dengfeng City, Yichuan County, and Luoyang City in Henan Province;
• Lu’an City, Chaohu City, and Jinzhai County in Anhui Province;
• Pingdu City in Shandong Province;
• Chongqing City and Chengdu City;
• Ji’an City, Xinyu City, Pingxiang City, and Nanchang City in Jiangxi Province;
• Yiyang and Taojiang County in Hunan Province;
• Nantong City in Jiangsu Province;
• Liaoning Province, Zhejiang Province, Chenggu County in Shaanxi Province, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, and Inner Mongolia;
• Taiwan Province, and Hainan Province.

The Chang clan primarily settled in Henan, particularly in the Ruanan and Donghai commanderies, where they developed into prominent families. These families were known as the “Ruanan Wang” (established by Emperor Gao of Han) and the “Donghai Wang” (established during the Qin Dynasty, with its administrative center in Tancheng, north of present-day Tancheng, Shandong).

Notable Figures with the Chang Surname Chang Hai: A high-ranking monk from the Ming Dynasty, a descendant of the Xu family from Taiyuan, Shanxi Province. He lived in seclusion in the Juewei Mountains and wrote 113 volumes of the Five Great Buddhist Scriptures by pricking his own blood. He was summoned to the capital during the Yongle era to participate in the revision of the “Tripitaka.”