The Shi Clan#

Clan Name: Shi, pronounced as “shí”

Distribution of the Shi Clan#

• Areas west of the Yellow River in Gansu Province, east of Wuwei
• Coastal regions of Hebei Province and Liaoning Province along the Bohai Bay

Origins of the Shi Clan#

The origin of the “Shi” clan can be traced back to several sources:

1. From the Ji Clan: According to the “Yuanhe Xing Zuan,” the Shi clan descended from Shi Yi, a high-ranking official of the State of Wei during the Spring and Autumn period. Another source, the “Chunqiu Gongzi Pu,” mentions Shi Yi’s descendant Shi Dizhong.
2. **As one of the “Nine Clans of Zhao Wu”: During the Tang Dynasty, the north of the Qilian Mountains (in present-day Linze County, Gansu Province) was inhabited by the Kangju people. After being defeated by the Xiongnu, they migrated to the regions of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers in Central Asia, establishing nine small kingdoms: Kang, An, Cao, Shi, Mi, He, Shi, Huo, Xun, and Wu. These nine clans were known as the “Nine Clans of Zhao Wu.” During the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang, these clans submitted to the central government. The ancestral homeland of the Shi clan is located around present-day Tashkent in Uzbekistan.
3. Changes from Xianbei Surnames during the Northern and Southern Dynasties: According to the “Wei Shu·Guanshi Zhi,” the Northern Wei dynasty had a three-character surname, Wushi Lan, which was simplified to the single-character surname Shi after they moved to the Central Plains. The “Hou Zhao Lu” also mentions that Ran Min changed his surname to Shi. The “Northern History” records that some members of the Lou clan also changed their surnames to Shi.

Population of the Shi Clan Today, the Shi clan has a population of over 3.6 million, ranking 71st among Chinese surnames, accounting for approximately 0.35% of the national population. The population growth rate of the Shi clan has followed a V-shaped trend over the past 1,000 years since the Song Dynasty. The main concentrations of the Shi clan are in Sichuan, Hunan, Shandong, Henan, and Hebei, which together account for about 41% of the total Shi clan population. Other significant populations are found in Guizhou, Liaoning, Shaanxi, Hubei, Shanxi, and Jiangsu, which account for another 28%.

Notable Figures with the Shi Surname

• Shi Shen: A native of the State of Wei, an astronomer and astrologer during the middle Warring States period. His birth and death dates are unknown, but he lived around the 4th century BC. He authored the “Astronomy” in eight volumes, which was later revered as the “Shi Shi Xing Jing.” The famous “Gan Shi Xing Jing” is actually attributed to Gan De and Shi Shen.
• Shi Jingtang: Born in the first year of the Jingfu era of the Tang Dynasty (892 AD) and died in the seventh year of the Tianfu era of the Later Jin Dynasty (942 AD). A member of the Shatuo tribe from Taiyuan, he was the founder of the Later Jin dynasty and ruled from 936 to 942 AD.
• Shi Xiongshou: A prominent general of the early Northern Song Dynasty (928–984 AD), from Junyi, Kaifeng (present-day Kaifeng, Henan). He formed a brotherhood with Zhao Kuangyin.