lí 黎

Migration and Distribution The Li family first thrived in the area of the ancient Li State, which is present - day Licheng County, Shanxi Province. As early as the Warring States period, the Li clan began to migrate outward. According to the "Genealogy of the Li Family", during the Warring States period, "Some members of the Li clan settled down because of official positions, while others took shelter in different places. Thus, they moved westward to Liang (now in Shaanxi) and Yi (now Jinning County, Yunnan), eastward to Qing and Xu (now in Shandong and Jiangsu), southward to Jiao and Guang (now in Guangxi, Guangdong and northern Vietnam), and northward to Yan and Ji (now in Hebei)." By the Han Dynasty, some Li people had moved to Jiangxi and Hunan. During the Wei, Jin, and the Southern and Northern Dynasties, due to the wars in the north, the Li family migrated southward again. In the following years, they mainly thrived and migrated in southern regions. Some Li people also moved to Zhejiang and Fujian. After the Song and Ming Dynasties, the Li family gradually spread all over the country, but they were still mostly distributed in the south. In other words, historically, the Li clan has been a typical southern surname in China.