qú 瞿

### Migration and Distribution (Not available) The Qu surname is not ranked among the top 100 surnames in the Chinese Hundred Family Surnames both on the Chinese mainland and in Taiwan. In the Shang Dynasty, there was a high - ranking official named Qu Fu. His descendants took Qu as their surname and passed it down from generation to generation. This is the earliest origin of the Qu surname today. In ancient times, there was a place called Qushang. In the Shang Dynasty, a noble was enfeoffed there as a king and established the Qu State. The descendants of the royal family of the Qu State took the name of the fief as their surname and became the Qu clan, thus forming another branch of the Qu surname. Qushang is located in the area of Shuangliu County near Chengdu, Sichuan Province today. Because Shang Qu, a disciple of Confucius in the Spring and Autumn Period, once lived there, it is also called Shangquli. According to historical records, the earliest Qu family members to enter the Shanghai area were led by Qu Hui, a military officer. At the end of the Jingkang period of the Song Dynasty, Qu Hui followed Emperor Kang on his southward migration. The whole family moved from Bianliang to the Shanghai area and settled in Heshasha (present - day Xiasha in Nanhui). This is the Pudong Qu clan and also the main branch of the Qu clan in Shanghai. Later, they spread to places such as Fengxian's Fenshuidun, Songjiang City, Songjiang's Tianma Mountain, Gaoqiao's Jiebang, and Jiading City. Also in the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty, another branch of the Qu clan moved from Yanling (present - day Tongxiang, Zhejiang Province) to Longhua. They formed a sworn friendship with the Zhang, Shen, and Zhao families for generations, sharing weal and woe. The "Graves of the Four Families" has remained a famous historical site in Shanghai. After that, there were continuous migrations. For example, during the Zhizheng period of the Yuan Dynasty, Qu Xin fled the chaos in Kunshan to Qinglongjiang. At the same time, Qu Zhi, who served as an instructor in Qinglong Town, also settled there. During the Jiading period of the Southern Song Dynasty, Qu Yuwei served as the salt supervisor of the Xiasha Salt Field. His descendants succeeded one another and presided over the salt administration in Shanghai and western Zhejiang for as long as 150 years. The most remarkable achievement was made in the Xiasha Salt Field directly managed by the Qu family. Both the salt production and the salt tax were the highest in "Two Zhejiang Regions". The salt - making technology summarized in the "Aobo Tu", the criminal regulations set, the consolidation of salt stoves, the establishment of salt groups and pans, and other series of rectification and reform projects were all the work of the Qu clan. As a result, "the group hall was strict and orderly, and the established laws were flawless." Thus, Xiasha in the salt - field area "gathered a large number of merchants and became a prosperous city." The new town had singing and dancing pavilions, restaurants, and bustling commercial streets. It was even more prosperous than some counties. Due to the prosperity of Xinchang, there was a proposal to establish a county in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, but it was opposed by Qiao Tang, a powerful clan in Chuansha, and thus failed. In the early Yuan Dynasty, Qu Tingfa also concurrently held the position of the commissioner of the Shanghai Maritime Trade Superintendency. Salt - making, maritime transportation, and cotton - weaving were the three major economic pillars of ancient Shanghai. The salt industry was particularly developed during the Song and Yuan Dynasties. The Qu clan dominated the salt industry for generations and accumulated a large amount of wealth, thus becoming the most prominent family in Songjiang Prefecture. The Qu clan owned up to 7,300 hectares of land and built the largest garden in the south of the Yangtze River at that time, the Qu Family Garden. The garden covered an area of 2 hectares. There were as many as a hundred precious ancient zithers collected in the Qinxuan Pavilion in the garden. The Baike Hall was always filled with the sound of music and guests. In 1380 (the 12th year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty), Zhu Yuanzhang issued an imperial edict to exterminate the powerful clans in Songjiang. The Qu clan was listed at the top. The edict clearly stipulated that only the eldest son was to be left "to preserve the family line, and the rest were to be confiscated." Among the hundreds of families of the Xiasha Qu clan, "almost all were exterminated." It is recorded that two servants each carried a young child and escaped. One of them passed on the lineage to Gaoqiao's Jiebang. After this great disaster, the number of the Qu clan decreased significantly. In the late Ming Dynasty, the Qu clan rose again. During the Longqing and Wanli reigns, Qu Yanwei, a military - degree holder, presided over the military defense of Shanghai for 12 years. The Qu clan, together with the Li, Zhou, and Cao clans, were all prominent families in Shanghai. Qu Yanwei's son, Qu Qianting, served as the county magistrate of Teng County in the late Ming Dynasty and sacrificed his life in the fight against the Qing army. (The rest is omitted)