Baixing
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Baixing (Chinese: 百姓; pinyin: bǎixìng; lit. 'hundred surnames' or lao baixing (Chinese: 老百姓; lit. 'old hundred surnames') is a term in Chinese meaning "the people", or "commoners".[1] The word lao (Chinese: 老; lit. 'old') is often added before "baixing" to give the term a more affectionate tone.[citation needed]
Chinese family names are patrilineal, passed from father to children. Chinese women, after marriage, typically retain their birth surname. Historically, however, only Chinese men possessed xìng (Chinese: 姓; lit. 'family name'), in addition to shì (Chinese: 氏; lit. 'clan'); the women had only the latter, and took on their husband's xìng after marriage.[citation needed]
Legendary origin
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Thousands of years ago,[clarify] along the plain of the Yellow River, there lived several large tribes, including the Huangdi tribes (Chinese: 黄帝族), Yandi tribes (Chinese: 炎帝族), Yi tribes (Chinese: 夷族), and the Jiuli tribes (Chinese: 九黎族). After many years of tribal wars[clarify], the Huangdi tribes, Yandi tribes and the Yi tribes formed an alliance which consisted of roughly 100 tribes, hence the origin of the Baixing Chinese: 百姓, or the "hundred surnames". The three-tribe-alliance won the war over the Jiuli tribe, and the war captives became slaves of the alliance, hence the origin of the term Limin (Chinese: 黎民), who were formerly of the Jiuli tribe.
History
During the Western Zhou, Baixing came to mean "slaveowners" and Limin their slaves. Over thousands of years[clarify], the terms Baixing and Limin came to refer to the same thing, the common people.[citation needed]
See also
References
- ^ Lee, Philip (June 2003). 250 Essential Chinese Characters for Everyday Use. # Publisher: Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd. pp. Page 25. ISBN 978-0-8048-3359-2.
External links