The Mi Clan#

Clan Name: Mi, Pronunciation: mǐ

Areas Where the Mi Clan is Found#

Xi’an City, Dongxiang in Gansu Province, and Juye County in Shandong Province.

Origins of the Mi Clan#

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

1. Originating from official titles: This origin dates back to the Zhou Dynasty, when officials and their attendants adopted their official titles as their surnames.
2. Derived from the Yao Clan: Related to the ancient ruler Shun, this branch of the clan took the name of a renowned ancestor.
3. Derived from the Mi Clan: Descendants of the Chu state during the Pre-Qin period adopted the surname due to a phonetic similarity.
4. From foreign ethnic groups: During the Sui and Tang dynasties, people from the Mi state in the Western Regions adopted the Chinese surname after sinicization.
5. From the Hui ethnic group: Some members of the Hui community adopted the Mi surname as part of their sinicization process.
6. From the Manchu ethnic group: Again, some Manchus changed their surname to Mi during sinicization.

Migration and Distribution#

The Mi clan is diverse in origin and composition. As of January 2009, it ranked 210th on China’s list of most common surnames, with a population of approximately 529,000 people, accounting for around 0.033% of the total Chinese population. According to Mi Fu, a painter from the Northern Song Dynasty, the Mi clan originated from the Mi family of the Chu state during the Spring and Autumn period. Since almost no one in China currently bears the surname Mi, it is likely that the Mi surname replaced the earlier Mi clan due to phonetic similarities. The Mi family was once a prominent and large noble family. After the Qin dynasty conquered the Chu state, some members of the noble Mi clan changed their surname to the phonetically similar “Mi” to avoid persecution. It is also possible that the simplification of the character “Mi” was due to practical considerations in writing. According to the “Book of Tang,” the Mi clan was one of the “Nine Clans of Zhao Wu.” During the Sui and Tang dynasties, a state called Kang existed north of the Qilian Mountains (present-day Linze County, Gansu Province); after being defeated by the Xiongnu, its people migrated to Central Asia (present-day Bukhara, Uzbekistan) and established several small kingdoms, including the Mi state. During the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang, these kingdoms were absorbed into Chinese culture, and the Mi clan became part of the Han Chinese population. The Mi clan later became a prominent family in Longxi Prefecture.

Notable People with the Surname Mi#

Mi Fu: Originally named Mi Fu, with the courtesy name Yuanzhang and the pseudonym Xiangyang Manshi, he was a renowned painter and theorist of calligraphy and painting from the Northern Song Dynasty. His ancestral home was in Shanxi, but he moved to Xiangyang and later settled in Runzhou.