cāng 苍

Migration and Distribution (Not Available) The Cang surname is not among the top 100 surnames in the Baijiaxing (Hundred Family Surnames) on the Chinese mainland or in Taiwan. In ancient times, Huangdi (the Yellow Emperor) was a famous clan leader, and his tribe revered the dragon totem. Huangdi and Yandi are regarded as the common ancestors of the Chinese nation. Among Huangdi's sons, there was one named Canglin. The descendants of Canglin all took Cang as their surname and passed it down from generation to generation. Among Huangdi's grandsons, there was one named Zhuanxu, who was also a well - known clan leader at that time. The eight sons of the Gaoyang clan, descendants of Zhuanxu, were all worthy people capable of governing the country and bringing peace, and they were known as the Eight Worthies of the Gaoyang clan. The eldest of these eight was named Cangshu, and his descendants also took Cang as their surname, thus forming another branch of the Cang surname. Huangdi had a historian named Cangjie, who was also a famous clan leader at that time. His tribe had a prosperous culture, and it is said that Chinese characters and the Bagua (Eight Trigrams) were both invented by Cangjie. In ancient times, "苍" (Cang) and "仓" (Cang) were interchangeable, so Cangjie was also called Cangying, and the descendants of Cangjie also took Cang as their surname, which is another origin of the Cang surname today.