Chang Family History

Chinese: Mandarin form of the surname 常 which means ‘lasting forever’: (i) said to be borne by descendants of Chang Yi (常儀) and Chang Xian (常先) officials during the reign of the legendary Huang Di the ‘Yellow Emperor’ (c. 27th century BC). (ii) from Chang (常) the name of a fief (located in present-day Tengxian in Shandong province) that was granted to the grandson of Kang Shu the younger brother of King Wu of Zhou (c. 1087–1043 BC) and founder of the state of Wey (located around present-day Hebei and Xinxiang in Henan province).

(iii) from Chang (常) a fief (located in present-day Changzhou in Jiangsu province) that was granted to descendants of the kings of the state of Wu (located mainly in present-day Jiangsu and Anhui provinces) during the Spring and Autumn period (770–476 BC). (v) adopted in place of another Chinese surname 恒 (Heng in Mandarin pinyin meaning ‘lasting permanent’) which could be traced back to Duke Si of Heng an official in the state of Chu during the Spring and Autumn period (770–476 BC). People with this surname changed it to Chang (常) during the reign of the emperor Zhao Heng (趙恒 known as Emperor Zhenzong of Song 968–1022) in the Northern Song dynasty because their surname 恒 happened to coincide with the personal name of the emperor which was taboo in ancient China.

Chinese: Mandarin form of the surname 昌 which means ‘prosperity’: it is said to be from the name of Chang Yi (昌意) son of the legendary Huang Di the ‘Yellow Emperor’ (c. 27th century BC). Chinese: Mandarin form of the surname 暢 which means ‘fluent uninhibited’: the surname is borne by descendants of a noble family who lived in the state of Qi (located mainly in Shandong province) during the Spring and Autumn period (770–476 BC).

Chinese: Mandarin form of the surnames 張, 章 and 仉 see Zhang. 1- Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 曾 see Zeng. Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 臧 see Zang. 7: Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 程 see Cheng 8: Chinese: Hakka form of the surname 鄭 see Zheng 9: Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 陳 possibly based on its Cantonese pronunciation see Chen 10: Chinese: variant Romanization of the surnames 江, 蔣 and 姜 see Jiang.

1-1 Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 莊 see Zhuang. 1 Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 鐘 see Zhong 1 Korean: written 장 in Chinese characters 張 meaning ‘to extend’, 蔣 denoting a type of plant in ancient Chinese but now used only as a surname, 章 meaning ‘chapter’ or ‘sentence’, and 莊 meaning ‘serious’. All of the 33 Korean Chang clans had their origins in China and all but three use the same Chinese character for their surname, namely 張.