Monday, December 19, 2011

THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE TAN ETHNIC GROUP Part 1

Since the Zhou Dynasty, the Tan descendants of the Tan Kingdom had dispersed into the various locations of the world. For centuries, the distribution of the Tan Ethnic Group started from Shandong, He Nan then appeared in each and every Province of the Country. They are especially dense in both Guangdong and He Nan Provinces. There are nearly a million Tan descendants in each of these two Provinces.

The next Provinces are He Bei ( 河 北), Jiang Xi ( 江 西), Shandong ( 山 东), Jiangsu ( 江 苏), Zhejiang ( 浙 江), Guangxi 广 西), Sichuan ( 四 川), Guizhou ( 贵 州), Fujian ( 福 建), Yunnan ( 云 南), Anhui ( 安 徽), Hebei ( 河 北), Henan ( 河 南), Shanxi ( 山 西), Shaanxi ( 陕 西), Gansu ( 甘 肃), Rehe ( 热 河), Chahar ( 察 哈 尔) Liaoning ( 辽 宁). Nearly a century ago, they even started to migrate to overseas nations, North Atlantic such as Canada, America, San Francisco, Mexico, Cuba, Panama, Trinidad, central and south America. In Nanyang like India, East Africa, Middle East, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, The Philippines, North Borneo, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea as well as Australia. With regard to Europe and Japan, the out-flow was comparatively small. However in Hong Kong the number exceeded few hundred thousands.

The Guangdong (Canton) Tan clique is divided into four sects, namely Shi Xing ( 始 兴), Cong Hua (从 化), Long Men ( 龙 门) and Ren Hua ( 仁 化) four sects. The Shi Xing Clique was started by Nan Chao ( 南 朝) General Chan Yun Qi ( 陈 云 旗 将 军), Tan Zhen ( 谭瑱) living in Shi Xing and surrounding Districts. The population was about one hundred thousand people and have an ethnic group list. The Cong Hua Clique was started by Scholar Tan Huan ( 谭 桓) of early Song Dynasty Living in Cong Hua.

Population not very big, Ethnic Group List not clear. The Long Men clique was started by Scholar Tan Rui Qi ( 谭 瑞 奇), a Song Shao Xing ( 宋 绍 兴 进 士). Moved to Long Men from Yi Yang ( 弋 阳) of Jiangxi. Population not very big. Ethnic Group List not clear. Ren Hua ( 仁 化) clique was headed by The Song Dynasty Criminal Head, Tan Bo Cang ( 谭 伯 仓), moved to Ren Hua from Qian District ( 虔). His uncle Hong Gong was holding the post of Examiner of the thought of Confucianism in Guang Zhou living in Guangdong.

It was because his grandfather wanted to seek permanent stay in Guangzhou, he moved his ancestral residency. His descendants spread over the whole Province with a total population of over few hundred thousands. Many overseas Tan clans are members of his descendants. They have a Hong Zhi Ancestral Hall ( 宏 帙 公 祠) in Yue Hua Road, Guangzhou. It was recorded that the Hong Zhi Book Store was very big.

It was the main ancestral hall for the Tan in the whole Province. It was unfortunate that the Hall was destroyed during the war and is yet to be rebuilt. It is lucky that every branch of the ancestral hall still keep their own complete Ethnic Group List and can be referred any time when wanted. Su Hong Gong ( 溯 宏 公) was born on the Revival year of Tang Zhao Zong Tian Fu Yuan ( 唐 昭 宗 天 复 元), that is 1011, about 1100 years.

There are about one million distributaries in the whole Province. The one thousand year lists of Ethnic Group are still in good condition and can be used to search for personal details often clans. With regard to the ethnic group distributaries, at present Tai Shan ( 台 山), Kai Ping ( 开 平) have the most. The Tan God ( 谭 神 主)of the Guangzhou Hong Zhi ( 宏 帙) and Kai Ping collected the most.

Overseas Chinese living overseas and Hong Kong, the majority are Tai Shan (台 山) people, about fifty thousand people. They can be classified as the top Ethnic Group immigrants of China.

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