jī 姬

Migration and Distribution (Lack of information) The Ji surname is not listed among the top 100 surnames on the Chinese mainland and in Taiwan. The Ji surname is one of the oldest surnames in China. In ancient times, the Yellow Emperor was a famous clan leader, and his tribe worshiped the dragon totem. It is said that the Yellow Emperor was born by a river called Ji, so he took the surname Ji. Among the Yellow Emperor's 25 sons, 14 were given a total of 12 surnames, and Ji was one of these 12 surnames. Later, King Wu of Zhou established the Zhou Dynasty. The king himself had the surname Ji and was called Ji Fa. Ji Fa later enfeoffed the whole country, sending many of his close relatives with the same surname to various parts of the country as feudal lords. The royal families of these states mostly changed their surnames to the names of the states they were in later. After the Zhou Dynasty ended, the descendants of the Zhou royal family also changed their surname to Zhou and no longer used the Ji surname. As a result, although the Ji surname was once a very large surname, it is not commonly seen today.