Migration and Distribution (Lack of information) The Yi surname is not listed among the top 100 surnames in the Mainland and Taiwan. The Yi clan originated from the Ying surname. In ancient times, among the descendants of Boyi, the leader of the Ying clan (Boyi was a minister of Emperor Shun and a descendant of Huangdi), those who took pride in him adopted his name "Yi" as their surname, thus establishing the Yi clan. Additionally, there was a county named Yidu in the ancient Chengyang Commandery (now Guanghan County, Sichuan Province). Some people living in Yidu County took the place - name as their surname, also known as the Yi clan. The prominent branch of the Yi surname resided in Fengyi, which is located in today's Dali County, Shaanxi Province.

Migration and Distribution The Yi surname originated in the Yishui River Basin in Henan. In the early days, they were active in the Central Plains region. During the Han and Tang dynasties, there were traces of the Yi clan in present-day Shandong and Shanxi, with Chenliu County (present-day Kaifeng, Henan) as their prominent ancestral seat. Since the Song Dynasty, the Yi clan has been distributed in present-day Shandong, Hebei, Tianjin, Beijing, Jiangsu, Fujian, Guangdong, Yunnan, and the Northeast region. Although the population of the Yi surname is not large today, it is widely distributed, especially in Hebei. Currently, the number of people with the Yi surname does not rank among the top 300 in the country.

Migration and Distribution There is a lack of information about the activities of the Yi family name in the pre-Qin period. Records of the Yi family name did not appear until the Three Kingdoms period. Hebei was the main early activity area of the Yi family. By the Western Jin Dynasty, the Yi family had left their marks in Hunan and Gansu. In the Tang Dynasty, the Yi family immigrated to Jiangxi. During the Song and Yuan dynasties, the Yi family also appeared in regions such as Shanxi, Shandong, Guangdong, and Hubei. At the latest, in the Ming Dynasty, the Yi family entered the southwestern region and Fujian. During the Song Dynasty, there were approximately 60,000 people with the Yi family name, accounting for about 0.08% of the country's total population and ranking after the 150th place among the surnames in the Song Dynasty. Hunan was the province with the largest number of people with the Yi family name, accounting for about 59% of the total population with the Yi family name nationwide. The distribution of the Yi family in the country was mainly concentrated in the three provinces of Hunan, Jiangxi, and Shandong, forming two major gathering areas of the Yi family centered around southern Hunan and Jiangxi and northern Shandong in the country. During the Ming Dynasty, there were approximately more than 170,000 people with the Yi family name, accounting for about 0.19% of the country's total population and being the 95th largest surname in the Ming Dynasty. The distribution of the Yi family in the country was mainly concentrated in the three provinces of Jiangxi, Hubei, and Hunan, accounting for about 80% of the total population with the Yi family name. Secondly, they were distributed in provinces such as Sichuan, Jiangsu, and Henan. Jiangxi was the province with the largest number of people with the Yi family name. During the Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties, the Yi family population mainly migrated to the southeastern, southern, and western regions. Basically, a gathering area of the Yi family centered around the provinces in the Yangtze River Basin was formed in the country.

Yi Zhong A native of Xiangyin in the Ming Dynasty. In the early years of the Hongwu period (AD 1368 - 1398), he served as the county magistrate of Suining and achieved remarkable governance. Hou Yi Legend has it that he was a person in the time of Emperor Yao and was good at archery. Once, ten suns appeared in the sky at the same time, causing the vegetation to wither. Hou Yi shot down nine of the suns. Later, he obtained the elixir of immortality from the Queen Mother of the West, but his wife, Chang'e, stole and swallowed it, then flew to the moon and became the moon goddess. It is said that the Yi surname is descended from Hou Yi.