Why is Zhao the number one surname in the hundred family names?

"Hundred Family Names" was originally a Mongolian reading book compiled by a scholar in Qiantang (Hangzhou) in the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, which compiled common surnames into four-character and one-sentence rhymes, like a four-word poem, which is easy to read and remember.

Therefore, the order of "Hundred Family Names" is not the actual arrangement of the population of each surname, mainly because it is easy to read and easy to learn and remember. "Hundred Family Names" and "Three Character Classics" and "Thousand Character Text" are called "Three Hundred Thousand".

Why does "Hundred Family Names" start with the surname "Zhao"? After research, there are two main reasons:

1.The surname "Zhao" has a long history and is a big surname.

According to the records of the "Surname Compilation", the person who originally took Zhao as his surname was the father of the descendants of Emperor Zhuan.

He is good at control, and when King Zhou Mu got the place of Zhaocheng as a fief, he took the name of the fief as his family surname, and passed it down from generation to generation.

At that time, Zhaocheng is now located in the southwest of Zhaocheng County, Shanxi Province. Later, the family multiplied to the area of present-day Gansu, Henan, and Jiangsu. And this family has been very prominent from the beginning.

In the Spring and Autumn Period, since Zhao Yuan assisted Jin Wengong to dominate, the descendants of the Zhao family have been the doctors of the Jin State for generations, and the power is leaning towards the dynasty.

By the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, that is, the time of King Weilie of Zhou, the Zhao family was even more powerful.

The famous "Three Families of Jin" in history is that the Zhao family and the Han family and the Wei family, who are also doctors, divided the Jin Kingdom, and established themselves as a prince.

Later, the state of Zhao became stronger and stronger, becoming one of the Seven Heroes of the Warring States, and its capital was located in Jinyang, north of present-day Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province.

It can be seen that all the people surnamed Zhao now were originally from Shanxi, and then gradually moved to other places. "Five hundred years ago was one", in the case of people surnamed Zhao, if you seriously go back, how can it be more than 500 years?

2.The emperor of the Song Dynasty was surnamed "Zhao".

Since Zhao Kuangyin established the Song Dynasty, "Zhao" has naturally become the "first surname in the world". The author listed the surname "Zhao" in the first place, which inevitably suspected of patting the emperor's ass. But in fact, if the author does not rank the surname "Zhao" in the first place, he will have the "crime of bullying the king", which will lead to death.

"Hundred Family Names" was named after "Hundred Families", and 411 surnames were originally collected, which were later added to 504. Among them, 444 have single surnames and 60 have compound surnames.

However, in the big family of the Chinese nation, there are more than 100 surnames, and there are more than 100 surnames, and there are more than 100 surnames.

It is said that there are as many as 5,600 recorded or documented surnames. Among them, there are single surnames, compound surnames, three-character surnames, four-character surnames, and five-character surnames. In addition, some ethnic groups, such as the Dai, have no surname.

I think the main reason is that the population surnamed Zhao is very large, and there is also the result that the people surnamed Zhao became emperors when they were ranked at that time.

Because in the Spring and Autumn Period, Zhao was the most powerful, so it would be the first surname.

Because Zhao is the surname of the Song Dynasty, and the surname of the hundred families is ranked during the Song Dynasty, as the surname of the emperor is put in the first place.

First of all, the surname Zhao originated from the ancestor of Qin Shi Huang Yingzheng, and his status is very transcendent, and secondly, the surname Zhao itself contains other surnames.

Zhao Qian, Sun Li, Zhou, Wu, Zheng Wang. Feng Chen, Chuwei, Jiang Shen, Han Yang. These few sentences we all know are the first sixteen surnames in "Hundred Family Names".

We have been exposed to hundreds of family names since childhood, and although we can't recite a lot of them, it is more than enough to recite the first few. When we recited, we thought that the surname Zhao was the most populous surname. However, it was later discovered that the surname Zhao was not the most populous surname, and the most populous was the surname Li.

At this time, everyone has a question, since the surname Zhao is not the most populous surname, why is it ranked first in "Hundred Family Names"?

First of all, it needs to be explained that the surname ranking order of "Hundred Family Names" is not arranged according to the number of surnames, and has nothing to do with the population. Since it is not ranked according to the number of people, how can the surname Zhao be ranked first?

Let's take a look at the background of the appearance of "Hundred Family Names" at that time to know the reason. "Hundred Family Names" appeared in the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, when the Northern Song Dynasty did not unify the whole country, but only unified part of the northern regions, and there were many other regimes in the south. The so-called Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, the Ten Kingdoms regime is in the south, such as the Southern Tang Dynasty, which is very powerful in the southern regime.

It is said that "Hundred Family Names" was produced among the people of Wu and Yue at that time. The Kingdom of Wu Yue was founded by Qian Biao in 907 AD, and the emperor was surnamed Qian, not Zhao. And the reason why the first one is Zhao is because the Northern Song Dynasty was established by Zhao Kuangyin, and the surname of the Northern Song Dynasty is Zhao.

At that time, the Northern Song Dynasty was very powerful, and it already had the strength to unify the whole country, and it was only a matter of time before the whole country was unified. All the regimes in the south were afraid of the Northern Song Dynasty, so they put Zhao first. Next is the surname of the emperor of the country.

And the emperor's wife surnamed Sun, that is, the queen's surname. Li was the surname of another powerful regime, the Southern Tang. So that's how the first four came about.

However, no one knows exactly how the following order came about. But no matter what, this statement has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and no matter who is in first place, no one should care now. But at least we should know how the first few came about.

Because of the background of the era when the surname of the hundred families appeared, at that time, it happened to be the beginning of the Song Dynasty, and the founder of the Song Dynasty was Zhao Kuangyin, the Taizu of the Song Dynasty, so the surname Zhao was in front.

Because the ranking of 100 surnames is not arranged according to the number of people, the surname Zhao can be ranked first.

Because the Northern Song Dynasty was established by Zhao Kuangyin, the Northern Song Dynasty was very powerful at that time.

The surname "Zhao" is not the most populous surname in China.

To sum up, the reason why the surname Zhao can occupy the first place in the ranking of Chinese surnames is because of its long historical origins, strong political position, and wide geographical distribution.

Secondly, the surname Zhao once had a strong political position in history. In Chinese history, there are many celebrities with the surname Zhao, including many famous generals, politicians, cultural celebrities, etc. For example, Zhao Kuangyin is a famous emperor in Chinese history who founded the Song Dynasty, inaugurating China's first unified dynasty after five dynasties and ten kingdoms; Zhao Gou was a famous minister of the Northern Song Dynasty, and he made important contributions to the political and economic development of the Song Dynasty; Zhao Yuanren was a famous literary scholar during the Ming Dynasty, and his poetry and prose became classics of Chinese culture.

The contributions and influence of these celebrities not only made the surname Zhao have an important political position in history, but also established a lofty image for the surname Zhao in the hearts of Chinese.

Secondly, the surname Zhao once had a strong political position in history. In Chinese history, there are many celebrities with the surname Zhao, including many famous generals, politicians, cultural celebrities, etc. For example, Zhao Kuangyin is a famous emperor in Chinese history who founded the Song Dynasty, inaugurating China's first unified dynasty after five dynasties and ten kingdoms; Zhao Gou was a famous minister of the Northern Song Dynasty, and he made important contributions to the political and economic development of the Song Dynasty; Zhao Yuanren was a famous literary scholar during the Ming Dynasty, and his poetry and prose became classics of Chinese culture.

The contributions and influence of these celebrities not only made the surname Zhao have an important political position in history, but also established a lofty image for the surname Zhao in the hearts of Chinese.

Secondly, the surname Zhao once had a strong political position in history. In Chinese history, there are many celebrities with the surname Zhao, including many famous generals, politicians, cultural celebrities, etc. For example, Zhao Kuangyin is a famous emperor in Chinese history who founded the Song Dynasty, inaugurating China's first unified dynasty after five dynasties and ten kingdoms; Zhao Gou was a famous minister in the Northern Song Dynasty, and he made important contributions to the political and economic development of the Song Dynasty. Zhao Yuanren was a famous literary scholar during the Ming Dynasty, and his poetry and prose became classics of Chinese culture.

The contributions and influence of these celebrities not only made the surname Zhao have an important political position in history, but also established a lofty image for the surname Zhao in the hearts of Chinese.

Secondly, the surname Zhao once had a strong political position in history. In Chinese history, there are many celebrities with the surname Zhao, including many famous generals, politicians, cultural celebrities, etc. For example, Zhao Kuangyin is a famous emperor in Chinese history who founded the Song Dynasty, inaugurating China's first unified dynasty after five dynasties and ten kingdoms; Zhao Gou was a famous minister in the Northern Song Dynasty, and he made important contributions to the political and economic development of the Song Dynasty. Zhao Yuanren was a famous literary scholar during the Ming Dynasty, and his poetry and prose became classics of Chinese culture.

The contributions and influence of these celebrities not only made the surname Zhao have an important political position in history, but also established a lofty image for the surname Zhao in the hearts of Chinese.

The Hundred Family Names was compiled in the early years of the Song Dynasty. The emperor of the Song Dynasty was surnamed Zhao, and the surname "Zhao" was the surname of the country, which was naturally the most important, so it ranked first in the "Hundred Family Names".