This is the origin of the surname Deng
Our roots are very long and old. They are complicated and sometimes entangled
too.
This is the origin of the surname Deng
(1783BC to 1135BC) was Wu3 Ding 
(reigned 1324BC to 1275BC). He delegated his uncle
Män Jì
, also known as Dé Yáng 
, to administer a district called Dèng 
(present day Dèng town in Nán Yáng
district in Henan 
province). King Wu3 Ding also bestowed him
the title Hòu 
(Marquis) and surnamed him Dèng. He
was known as Dèng Hòu 
which was a hereditary
title during those times. Man Jì had a son named Cháo
who inherited the title Hòu, and of course, the
surname Dèng.
who inherited the title Hòu. King Chóu (reigned
1154BC to 1135BC) the last King of the Yin 
Dynasty (in 1388BC Shang Dynasty moved it capital to Yin present day An Yang2
city in Henan province. It was called Yin Dynasty ever since) was cruel and
wicked. My ancestor Zhong shifted his loyalty to Ji Fa the leader of the Zhou
people. Eventually Ji Fa destroyed the Yin Dynasty in 1134BC and founded the Zhou Dynasty 
(1134BC to 250BC) and titled himself King Wu3 the
Tiàn Zi3 
(Son of Heaven). King Wu3 rewarded
Zhong, Hòu (Marquis) same as the Yin one.
(reigned 719BC to 697BC) the 14th King of the
Zhou Dynasty. My ancestor named Wu3 Lí inherited the title Hòu. In the 8th year
of King Huan's reign in 712BC State of Dèng formed an alliance with the States
of Zhèng 
and Cài 
against the Chu3 
. Chu3 tribe were the descendants
of the Miáo clan. They lived in the area between Yangtze River and the Hàn Shui3
River (present day Zi Gui district in Hubei province). Later they moved to Dan
Yáng (present day Zhi Jiang district in Hubei province). They expanded acrossed
the Hàn Shui3 River to Huái Shui3 River in the east. They conquered and annexed
several vassal States of the Zhou Court.
In 704BC its leader named Mie Xiong proclaimed the formation of a new Kingdom to be called Chu3. He titled himself the King of Chu3. His actions infuriated the centre authority of the Zhou Court. As far as the Zhou Court was concerned there was only one Kingdom and one King in the land. The two Kingdoms were in antagonism. King Huan summoned troops from the vassal States including the State of Dèng; attempting to crush the Chu3. Battles were fought and the allied armies lost. Even though the Chu3 had won the day it did not expand further north as it had exhausted its own resources. About 15 years later when it had recovered Chu3 started to expand by conquering and annexing other States.
inherited the title. The time was during the
reign of King Xi 
(reigned 681BC to 677BC) the
16th King of the Zhou Dynasty. In the 4th year of his reign in 678BC, the crown
prince of the State of Chu3 with his army were on
their way to attack the State of Shen. They passed through the State of Déng.
Míng Yuan's uncle (mother's younger brother) advised him to kill the crown of
Chu3 saying that this particular crown prince would destroy Dèng later. He was
right. After it had conquered the State of Shen the Chu3 returned home the same
way through Dèng. While they were in Dèng the Chu3 destroyed the Dèng and
annexed it. The ruler of Dèng should have listened to his uncle. This was the
end of the State of Dèng, and the title Hòu was abolished.
. King Jing3 
(reigned 544BC to 520BC) the 24th King of the Zhou Dynasty (1134BC to 250BC)
appointed my ancestor Kan3 as Cì Shi3 
(an
administrator of a prefecture) to Xú Zhou 
(present day Xú Zhou city in Jiangsu province). The position was not
inheritable.
. During the Zhou Dynasty (the name of which King was
not mentioned). Jian was appointed as a Xiàn Lìng 
(district officer) of Jìn Yáng
.
. During the Zhou Dynasty An Gúo was appointed as
Chéng Zai3 
(Lord Mayor) of Nán Yáng city
(present day Nán Yáng city in Henan province. Nán Yáng city was originally the
State of Shen).
. During the Zhou Dynasty Cang was appointed as Zhòu
Mù 
(State Governor) of Zhì Lì Zhou 
(present day Hebei province. Beijing is in Hebei
province).
. Míng lived at Long3 Shi 
in Hebei province. He was a moral philosopher, a
philanthropist and a hermit.
. He was a Xiàn Lìng (district officer) of Hé Dong 
district (present day east of the Yellow River in
Shanxi province). He settled down there permanently.
was a renowned general in the Eastern Han 
period (25AD to 220 AD) and there is a biography
of him in 16th scroll of Eastern Han Canon
of History. According to our genealogy, he had 3 wives and 13 sons, and lived to
the age of 57. Throughout the genealogy, only sons are listed as descendants.
However, a daughter by the name of Sui 
of my 48th
generation ancestor Deng Xun 
(also called
Pingshu) is mentioned as having married the Emperor Xiaohe 
(4th Emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty), and
becoming Empress. My 54th generation ancestor Deng Ai 
has a biography in the 28th scroll of the Three
Kingdoms Canon of History. My 74th generation ancestor, Deng Jingshan 
has a biography in the second scroll of the Early
Tang Dynasty
Canon of History. Correlating with Western dates, my 87th ancestor, Deng Xunwu
, lived around 1100 AD in the Song 
Dynasty.
Migration southwards must have been a continual process, as in the 93rd
generation, it mentions that my ancestor, Zhizhai 
, begins the Eastern Guangdong (Yuedong) branch of
the family line. Various southern Chinese provinces are mentioned in the next
few generations as places where my ancestors lived including Cháo Zhou (Chiu
chow) and Jiaying Zhou. In the 96th generation, my ancestor, Wenfu 
, is mentioned as living in Changle during the Ming Dynasty
(1440 AD). In the 101st generation, there is the first mention of the town of
Boluo in Huizhou (Fui Chew), where my ancestors settled and stopped their
tradition of migrating and wandering in search of a homeland.
(113th Generation from Man Ji) left his village of
Lengshuikeng 
(Langsuihang in Hakka
pronounciation), near Boluo 
in Huizhou 
, Guangdong Province, in 1908 as a 14 year old,
having been orphaned by the famine and turmoil of the times. He was taken by his
paternal uncle to the then British colony of North Borneo (present day Malaysian
state of Sabah), where he studied in a missionary school. He learnt English and
after leaving school, he worked as a clerk in the Colonial Office, in the town
of Jesselton (present day Kota Kinabalu). After retiring, he returned for the
first and last time to visit his ancestral village in China in 1937. It was then
that he made a copy of the genealogy from the ancestral temple in his village,
which we possess today.
We are fortunate as ancestral temples and genealogical records were largely destroyed during the Cultural Revolution, and very few records like this remain in China. My father has done a lot of work to preserve the record and piece together details of the genealogy as well as the links with his father’s village. Now, I have computerised the record using a chinese wordprocessor and desktop publisher which I would be happy to share with any interested parties.
is about
3250 years old and originated in an area called Nán Yáng
Prefecture, named by the Qin Dynasty (221BC to 207BC). Return to Thien Genealogy Home Page
