The mandarin version of my surname Oon is Wen (溫). Mr Chung Yoon-Ngan, a sinologist and expert in chinese culture, has this to say about its origin.
"Chinese surname WEN (温)
Wen means "lukewarm or gentle"
The surname Wen is about 2600 years old.
The surname Wen originated in an area referred to during the Qin Dynasty (秦朝 221BC to 207BC) as the Tai Yuan Prefecture (太原郡). The present day location of Tai Yuan Prefecture is in an area near the city of Tai Yuan (太原市) in Shanxi province (山西省).
In 1115BC Ji Song (姬誦) was crowned as King Cheng (姬成公即周成王) who reigned from 1115BC to 1078BC, the second King of the Zhou Dynasty (周朝 1134BC to 256BC), which is the longest ruling Chinese dynasty - lasting 878 years. In 1106BC Zhou King Cheng gave his younger brother Ji Shu Yu (姬叔虞) the authority to rule the newly conquered state of Tang (唐国) present day Yi Cheng county (翼城縣) in Shanxi province. Ji Shu Yu was also given the inheritable title of Hou (侯) or Marquis. Ji Shu Yu came to be known as Tang Shu Yu (唐叔虞).
Zhou King Cheng eventually discovered another state by the name of Tang existed, located in Tang Zhou (唐洲), present day Zheng Yang (正陽) county in Henan province (河南省). In order to avoid the confusion of having two States with the one name Zhou King Cheng renamed the State of Tang the State of Jin (晉國). Tang Shu Yu became the first ruler of the State of Jin.
Years later Tang Shu Yu appointed one of his sons to administer a place called Wen (温) in the district of He Nei (河內) present day Wen Xian (温縣) in Henan province, which was designated a state. Wen was an extremely important area because of the soils' excellent wheat-growing properties.Wen was also renamed the State of Wen (溫国).
In 719BC Ji Wusheng (姬寤生), the 3rd ruler of the State of Zheng (鄭国), present day Xin Zheng (新鄭) in Henan province, caused widespread flour shortage in the Zhou capital Cheng Zhou (成周), present day Luoyang (洛陽) in Henan province, by ordering the theft of Wen's entire annual harvest, as an act of defiance against the Zhou Court.
The people of Di (狄族) were a northern semi-nomadic tribe who wanted to expand their domain into the agricultural land in the south. In 650BC, during the Spring and Autumn Period (春秋时代 770BC to 476BC), the Di people conquered and annexed the State of Wen. Members of the Wen royal family fled to the West hoping to revive their State, but unfortuntely they failed to do so. Instead they adopted WEN as their surname in remembrance of their extinct State.
The couplet of surname Wen :
源自姬姓
望出太原
CHUNG Yoon-Ngan
Copyright 1999. All rights reserved"
The story continues... Many generations later, Wen descendants settled in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han (汉武帝) who reigned from 141 BC to 87 BC. The next great move was undertaken by most of the descendants of Wen Jiao [溫嶠 (288AD–329AD), courtesy name Taizhen 太真), formally Duke Zhongwu of Shi'an (始安忠武公), a Jin Dynasty (晋朝) general and governor of Jiangzhou (江州, modern Jiangxi Province 江西省)] who migrated to the southern part of China i.e. southern Anhui, southwestern Jiangxi, southern and western Fujian, and the border area of Guangdong between 874AD to 880AD towards the end of the Tang Dynasty (which ended on 1st June 907AD) at the time of the Huang Chao Revolution 黃巢起義 [the reigning emperor at the time was Tang Xi Zong 唐僖宗] which was contemporaneous with the 2nd major wave of kejia (hakka) migration (the 1st being during the time of Qin Shi Huang when 5 tribes rose in rebellion). Their descendants in turn migrated to Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, Sichuan, Taiwan, Hainan and then further south to Nanyang (South East Asia) and other parts of the world in 3 further major waves i.e. towards the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty respectively.
My paternal grandfather, the late Voon Sui Yong 温水容, a non-indentured hakka 客家 from Macun 马村 village, Paitan town 派潭镇, Zengxian 增县 county (which became Zengcheng 增城 city in 1993), Guangzhou 广州, Guangdong 广东 came to Malaya (no one in my family knows exactly when, but definitely before 1927 the year in which my late father Oon Thean Soo 温天赐 was born in Malaya) as a single young adult to unite with his aunt who was then working in Perak to seek a better live following a heated argument with his delinquent younger brother who spent most of his time gambling and would not lend his hand much to till the family's ancestral farm land. Thus began the Malayan branch of my lineage when the late Sui Yong married my paternal grandmother the late Cheong Oi (mandarin 张爱, Zhang Ai), a daughter of a tin mine operator in Ipoh, Perak.
My maternal great grandfather Cheong lost most of his fortune he amassed in China when the communists took over and nationalised all his landed properties. What he had remaining in Malaya were liquidated and repatriated to Hong Kong where he re-settled his family. My late father did not keep in touch with his maternal grandfather and the Cheongs except for an aunt and her children in Papan, Perak.
As for my paternal granduncle's descendants, they remained in China and so I still have relatives there whom I am now seeking to unite.
Visit this site www.wschn.net to learn more about the Wen clan and this site www.woon.com.my to keep tab on the activities of some clan members here in Kuala Lumpur.
Below is a list of Wen's generation (middle) names for those among us who are keen to observe the tradition for their future generations. The generation names for my branch of the Wen Clan is highlighted in gold. They form a poem of 12 verses, each verse consisting of 5 characters, and each character represents a generation. The poem therefore cycles through 60 generations and then repeats itself at the end of every cycle thereafter.
江西万载温氏字辈：“宗良(克)尚玉温思廷嘉润(和惟)春圣世文光大英明俊秀伦天开奇彩凤人萃瑞祥麟桂茂香傅远兰芳枝永新景运同元泰朝家代作宾”。
广东粤东温氏字辈：“叔虞始封唐太原始发祥有晋乃南渡忠武著建康江石再迁播岭表显荣光箕裘节济美种族日蕃昌贤豪相继起富贵海天长宗团期永固奕祀庆流芳”。
广东翁城、长宁(新丰)温氏字辈：“大所道秉观能以正立定乃汝则必福景玉树宝文可泰锡晋仁敬子惠奕世永庆”。
广东新会温氏字辈：“周中有郁良自东廷绍邦孔象文仲宣芳龙光克(得)振奕世传扬连成显达永长祯祥”。
广东清新太和镇、太平镇、高田镇温氏字辈：“德若斯云大超光奕世连朝廷立过仕定必安邦先贤良君子志英雄佐国家勤中能俭事乐业定荣华”。
广东清新沙河、新洲、太平、三坑、山塘、浸潭温氏字辈：“魁子贞信国作述诒谋善光华衍庆长宏基崇远厚兴发大超常”。
广东新峰(普宁高埔、船埔)温氏字辈：“子景上千仲明尚大时尔学士宗祖荣昌习文演武奕世名扬贤才蔚起端振纲常诗礼守训首义有方德尊爵贵品正客庄运逢交泰斯际期堂”。
广东廉江长山镇、塘蓬镇、长沙垌、大坡村、博白县、石岭水尾外村、陂波、凉伞树下、林松、防城、宁明温氏字辈：“永定登科贤才□昌生全用世积厚荣光家声远振国泰民安学业蔚起经济其祥”。
广东澄海温氏字辈：“勉汝志于学良思益友亲文章华国士猷烈经邦臣祖德千年远宗功百世新子孙永济美荣耀庆恩伦”。
广东广州花都北兴镇温氏字辈：“良三文清学其心国庆荣光宗隆德业耀祖显声名美盛求开创贤才贵守成传为长发达立定永章程”。
Other famous Wen descendants include :
- Wen Jie(温疥)prime minister(宰相),State of Yan(燕国),Han(汉)Dynasty
- Wen Xian(温羡),minister(大夫),Jin(晋)Dynasty
- Wen Yanbo(温彦博),chancellor(宰相),Tang(唐) Dynasty
- Wen Tingyun(温庭筠 812-870),first truly distinctive writer of Ci(词)the song-verse style of lyric poetry that dominated Chinese poetry during much of the late Tang dynasty and the Song dynasty
- Wen Tiren(温体仁),scholar(大學士)Ming(明) Dynasty
- Wen Da(温达),scholar(大學士),Qing(清)Dynasty
- Wen Fu(温福),scholar(大學士),Qing(清)Dynasty
- Wen Jiabao(温家宝 1942-Present),6th Premier (2003-2013)of the People's Republic of China.
- Walter Wen Changming(温长明 1956-Present), 7th Attorney-General of Singapore(2008-2010),currently Law Professor at National University of Singapore.
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