Xie (surname) - Origins and History

Origins and History

During the legendary Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors period, the Xie were believed to be the descendants of Yuyang, son of the Yellow Emperor. Yuyang's descendants founded ten states successively, the State of Xie (谢) first, and its occupants becoming the first Xie.

For the purpose of reciprocating his mother's upbringing, King Xuan of Zhou (r. 827 – 782 BCE) of the Western Zhou Dynasty granted the former State of Xie, Xie Ying (谢营)，modern-day Nanyang (南阳), Henan province, to his maternal uncle Shen Boxi, the Marquess of Shen, whose line claimed descent from the semi-mythological character Bo Yi. The area was renamed the State of Shen, and as a gesture of gratitude to his nephew, Shen Boxi adopted the surname Xie, which means "thanks" or gratitude in general.

By the early Qin dynasty, a branch of the Xie relocated to Yangxia (阳夏), Chen (陈) commandery (modern-day Taikang, Henan, and built a reputation as a noble clan.

In the Eastern Jin dynasty, the Xie were among the cluster of noble clans who fled to the south in the wake of the fall of Chang'an, dominating the court thereafter. During the subsequent Southern Dynasties period, the Yuan (袁) clan of the Chen (陳) state established extensive marriage alliances with the major clans Wang (王), Xiao (萧), and especially the Xie, whose ancestral lands were also in the commandery of Chen.

By the Yuan dynasty, the Xie had spread across China, and Chen Youliang, a fisherman from the Ming Dynasty, was originally from the Xie clan, but his ancestors married into the Chen family and adopted the Chen surname because they only had daughters and no sons to carry on the family line.