劉 / 刘 is an East Asian surname. pinyin: Liú in Mandarin Chinese, Lau4 in Cantonese. It is the family name of the Han dynasty emperors. The character 劉 originally meant 'battle axe', but is now used only as a surname. It is listed 252nd in the classic text Hundred Family Surnames. Today, it is the 4th most common surname in mainland China as well as one of the most common surnames in the world.
The Jin dynasty or Jin Empire, sometimes distinguished as the Sima Jin or the Two Jins, was an imperial dynasty in China that existed from 266 to 420. It was founded by Sima Yan, eldest son of Sima Zhao, who had previously been declared the King of Jin. There are two main divisions in the history of the dynasty. The Western Jin (266–316) was established as the successor to Cao Wei after Sima Yan usurped the throne from Cao Huan and took the title of Emperor Wu. The capital of the Western Jin was initially in Luoyang, though it later moved to Chang'an. In 280, after conquering Eastern Wu, the Western Jin ended the Three Kingdoms period and reunited China proper for the first time since the end of the Han dynasty.
For most of its history, China was organized into various dynastic states under the rule of hereditary monarchs. Beginning with the establishment of dynastic rule by Yu the Great c. 2070 BC, and ending with the abdication of the Xuantong Emperor in AD 1912, Chinese historiography came to organize itself around the succession of monarchical dynasties. Besides those established by the dominant Han ethnic group or its spiritual Huaxia predecessors, dynasties throughout Chinese history were also founded by non-Han peoples.
Yang is the transcription of a Chinese family name. It is the sixth most common surname in Mainland China. It is the 16th surname on the Hundred Family Surnames text.
The term Nine Provinces or Nine Regions, is used in ancient Chinese histories to refer to territorial divisions or islands during the Xia and Shang dynasties and has now come to symbolically represent China. "Province" is the word used to translate zhou (州) – since before the Tang dynasty, it was the largest Chinese territorial division. Although the current definition of the Nine Provinces can be dated to the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, it was not until the Eastern Han dynasty that the Nine Provinces were treated as actual administrative regions.
Jī was the ancestral name of the Zhou dynasty which ruled China between the 11th and 3rd centuries BC. Thirty-nine members of the family ruled China during this period while many others ruled as local lords, lords who eventually gained great autonomy during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. Ji is a relatively uncommon surname in modern China, largely because its bearers often adopted the names of their states and fiefs as new surnames.
Liang was a traditional Chinese fief centered on present-day Kaifeng. It was held by various powers over the course of Chinese history. It generally comprised modern Henan with a small part of Shanxi.
Tusi, often translated as "headmen" or "chieftains", were hereditary tribal leaders recognized as imperial officials by the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties of China, and the Later Lê and Nguyễn dynasties of Vietnam. They ruled certain ethnic minorities in central China, western China, southwestern China, and the Indochinese peninsula nominally on behalf of the central government. As succession to the Tusi position was hereditary, these regimes effectively formed numerous autonomous petty dynasties under the suzerainty of the central court. This arrangement is known as the Tusi System or the Native Chieftain System. It should not be confused with the Chinese tributary system or the Jimi system.
Cài was an ancient Chinese state established at the beginning of the Zhou dynasty, rising to prominence during the Spring and Autumn period, and destroyed early in the Warring States period.
Gongbo, personal name unknown, was the third ruler of the Qin state. Gongbo succeeded his father, the Marquis of Qin, who died in 848 BC, and ruled for three years. He died in 845 BC and was succeeded by his son Qin Zhong.
Duke Yǐ of Qi was the third recorded ruler of the ancient Chinese state of Qi during the Western Zhou dynasty. His personal name was Lü De (呂得) and ancestral name was Jiang.
The Chiefdom of Lijiang was a Nakhi autonomous Tusi chiefdom that ruled Lijiang during Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasty.
The Chiefdom of Bozhou, ruled by the Yang clan, was an autonomous Tusi chiefdom established by Yang Duan (楊端) during the Tang dynasty. After he conquered the Bozhou Prefecture from the Nanzhao Kingdom, Yang Duan was recognized as the hereditary ruler of the region by the Tang court in 876.
Mu'ege was a Nasu Yi chiefdom in modern Guizhou that existed from 300 to 1698. Since 1279, Mu'ege was conquered by the Yuan dynasty and became Chiefdom of Shuixi under the Chinese tusi system.
Chiefdom of Shuidong, ruled by the Song clan, was an autonomous Tusi chiefdom established by Song Jingyang (宋景陽) during the Song dynasty. After he conquered the Manzhou Prefecture from the Yi people, Song Jingyang was recognized as the hereditary ruler of the region by the Song court in 975.
Chiefdom of Sizhou, ruled by the Tian clan, was an autonomous Tusi chiefdom established by Tian Zongxian (田宗顯) during the Sui dynasty. After he conquered the Qianzhong area, Tian Zongxian was recognized as the hereditary ruler of the region by the Sui court in 582.
The Gyalrong, also called the rGyalrong or Jiarong, are speakers of the Qiangic Gyalrong language who live in the southern part of Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan, China. They are also found in Danba County of Garze Prefecture. The word Gyalrong is an exo-ethnonym and loanword from the Tibetan word rGyal-mo tsha-wa rong.
Politicsportal 
