Gu (surname) - History

History

According to Chinese records, this family traces its ancestral roots to the ancient Kingdom of Gu, which existed as a tributary kingdom during the Xia Dynasty (around 2200 B.C), in current-day Henan province. This Kingdom of Gu was destroyed when the Shang Dynasty overthrew the Xia Dynasty. The survivors of this kingdom adopted the name, and became the northern lineage of the family Gu.

A second, southern lineage of the family Gu came around the Spring Autumn period. Although they technically did not obtain that name until the Han Dynasty.

• The Southern lineage of Gu family makes up the majority of all those who bear the name today. A book of family tree was published.
  • According to the page, 顾氏宗谱，全名顾氏铭宗天荣支瀚派敏士后房谱。从这份家谱中可以了解到2100多年来江南顾姓的兴起、迁移和生活过程，尤为可贵的是从中可以得出三国宰相顾雍、东晋著名画家顾凯之、唐朝诗人顾况，以及明末清初大儒顾炎武皆出一脉，而他们的祖先就是“三千越甲可吞吴”的越王勾践. Roughly translated, the book details 2100 years of the family through some of the most famous person bearing that name. All of whom are descendants of King Gou Jian of "Yue" Kingdom during the Spring Autumn Period.

King Gou Jian of "Yue" Kingdom was a descendant of the Yellow Emperor. His ancestors established the Kingdom of "Yue" in South of the Yantze River near current day 浙江绍兴. Near the end of Spring Autumn period, Yue Kingdom fought with the neighboring Wu Kingdom for regional supremacy and the unofficial title of "Hegemon".

• 496BC, 1 year after King Gou Jian of Yue ascends his throne, King of Wu attacked Yue to take advantage of young King Gou Jian's father's death and King Guo Jian's inexperience. Wu's army easily won several battles and besieged Yue's capital. King Gou Jian devised a strategem, whereupon 3 rows of condemned Yue prisoners were sent before the Wu army, and committed ritual mass suicide. Wu's army witnessed this spectacle and was terrified into thinking that Yue soldiers had no fear of death. At that moment, Yue army charged Wu army, and the Wu soldiers retreated. King Gou Jian turned a defeat into a victory, and Yue soldiers even managed to wound King of Wu in the chase. King of Wu died from his injuries after returning home.
  • The new King of Wu vowed revenge for his father's death. He prepared 3 years for a war with Yue. And he succeeded where his father failed. King Gou Jian surrendered his throne and agreed to become a tributary king in service to Wu.
  • But King Gou Jian secretly vowed his revenge. He disavowed his kingly privileges and lived and worked among his people, to strengthen his Kingdom of Yue. History records that King Gou Jian was made a servant of King of Wu, and made to work in the horse stalls. King of Wu had men watch Gou Jian's every move to make sure that he genuinely submitted to defeat and no longer had the will to fight. Gou Jian endured all forms of humiliations, and knowing that his life and kingdom are on the line, he even went out of his way to debase himself to demonstrate that he was truly happy as a servant of Wu. At the same time, Gou Jian's ministers sent women and treasures to Wu to please the King of Wu. Finally, King of Wu let his guard down and allowed Gou Jian to return to Yue.
  • Back in Yue, Gou Jian foregone on all privileges and eat plain food, as a reminder of the humiliation of his defeat. He slept on a bed of straw and hung a piece of gallbladder from the ceiling, so that at every meal, he could lick the gallbladder to remind himself of the bitterness of defeat. Because of this story, 卧薪尝胆 (sleep on straw and taste gall) became a Chinese proverb. After 22 years, he built a sufficiently large army to defeat Wu. He refused to take Wu's surrender and ordered his army to sack Wu. After that Yue united the region under its supremacy. King Gou Jian of Yue became the last "Hegemon" of China for the Spring and Autumn Period.
  • Chinese historians roughly tabulated the scale of violence occurred during the Spring and Autumn Period, by going over historical documents. They estimated that over 450 battles occurred in that 230 year period, 36 Lords and 52 Dukes were defeated and killed, and their estates and city states were sacked.
  • Soon after King Gou Jian's reign, the 7 large Kingdoms began a series of continuous expansionist wars that would be later called the "Warring Nations Period".
  • Above historical events were chronicled in the "Spring Autumn" Chronicles by later Chinese historians.
  • In 2007, a Chinese TV series 卧薪尝胆, was released, on the above historical events.
  • Yue Kingdom was later destroyed around 306 BC, during the Warring Nations period. Kingdom of Yue disintegrated from within, when Royal descendants split the Kingdom in civil wars, after a series of unclear successions.
  • At the beginning of Han Dynasty, King Gou Jian's 7th generation descendant was named Yao. He was a regional warlord. He assisted the Royal family of Han dynasty in establishing the new dynasty. For his service, the Han Emperor rewarded Yao with the title of "King of Eastern Sea". Yao later bestowed his own son the title of "Duke of Gu Yu". Thus his descendants proclaimed themselves the last name "Gu", and called Yao "Gu Yao" as the 1st Ancestor of "Gu".

• According to a 2002 article similar trace of that family was confirmed through historical archives.
• Other commentaries are found at and

A third, most recent lineage of the family Gu came about around the end of the Northern Song Dynasty. Emperor of Northern Song and most of his family were captured by the Jin invaders, only his son the crowned prince managed to escape to the South and formed the Southern Song Dynasty court. The invaders enslaved the Royal Family, but many decades later released them in Northern China. The surviving members changed their names and concealed their royal bloodline to hide their shame. One of the adopted names was Gu.