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I don’t know since when, the heroines of costume dramas have mostly the surname Liu, and each of them has both excellent family background and ability.

For example, the heroine Liu Miantang in the recently aired costume drama "The Story of the Liu Boat" is not only the leader of Yangshan Village in Lingquan Town, but also a porcelain merchant with a great business acumen. She is both beautiful and capable.

The heroine of "The Willow Boat" Liu Miantang

Looking back at the heroines of ancient costume dramas, among all kinds of surnames, the surname Liu appears particularly frequently. Why are there so many heroines with the surname Liu in ancient costume dramas? Is there anything special about this surname?

There are many female protagonists with the surname Liu

The Liu family specializes in producing female protagonists. Before Liu Miantang in "The Story of the Liu Boat", there have been many women from the Liu family on the list.

The heroine of the TV series "Changfengdu" is named Liu Yuru, the legitimate daughter of a cloth merchant in Yangzhou City, Jiangnan. After becoming the daughter-in-law of the Gu family, she not only tidied up the family, but also made the business prosperous with the trust and support of her husband's family.

Image source: Weibo@电视长风渡

The heroine of "Moon Song" Liu Shao was born into a wealthy family and had no worries about food and clothing. She was simple and kind by nature, with a "chivalrous spirit". She dared to love and hate, and went through hardships just to protect the people of the world.

Image source: Weibo @TV series Moon Song

The heroine Liu Rong of "Picking Stars with Willow Leaves" did not have such a good background. She was a "willow leaf thief" who could fly over eaves and walls and appear and disappear without a trace. But don't worry, she eventually became a fairy couple who uphold justice with the hero.

Image source: Weibo @柳叶摘星辰 official Weibo

Of course, not all women of the Liu family are heroines, but even if they are not the protagonists, they are important characters with distinguished backgrounds.

The second female lead of "The Wind Rises in Luoyang", Liu Ran, is the daughter of the prominent Hedong Liu family. She is beautiful, gentle, virtuous and considerate, a true lady from a noble family.

Image source: Weibo @风起洛阳官微

In "Joy of Life", Fan Xian's aunt Liu Ruyu also has a very prominent background. She was born in the Duke's Mansion and has a noble status. From what Aunt Liu said in the play, "The Liu family has a deep foundation" and "The royal family has always been very kind to the Liu family", it is not difficult to see that the Liu family has an extraordinary status.

The surname Liu has become the "standard" for rich girls in costume dramas. As long as you are a member of the Liu family, you are already far ahead of other characters.

However, with so many surnames, why do noble ladies all like to have the surname "Liu"?

The origin of the surname Liu

"Liu" is not rare among Chinese surnames, but it is not common either.

According to the data of the seventh national census, Liu ranked 130th among the 300 surnames on the list.

There are two main theories about the origin of the surname Liu.

The first is that the surname Liu originated from the surname Ji and the surname Zhan. The Tang Dynasty's surname genealogy monograph "Yuanhe Xingzhuan" once recorded: Zhou Gong's grandson Lu Xiaogong's son Zhan, Zhan's grandson Wuhai, took his grandfather's character as Zhan, gave birth to birds, ate and picked under willows, and thus took the surname Liu. This sentence means that the descendant of Zhou Gong Ji Dan, Lu Xiaogong, had a son named Zhan, and Zhan's grandson Wuhai took his grandfather's "character" as his surname, which is Zhan. Later, because Zhan Wuhai's son Zhan Qin was granted a fiefdom in a place called "Liuxia", descendants began to use "Liu" as their surname.

Interestingly, after Zhan Qin's death, he was posthumously named "Hui". He was also called "Liuxia Hui" by later generations. Therefore, the academic community generally believes that Liuxia Hui is the ancestor of the Liu surname, and his fiefdom is the origin of the Liu surname.

The second is that the surname Liu is simplified from the compound surname "Liuxia". This can be said to be a continuation of the first theory, and it may be the result of Liuxia Hui's descendants simplifying the surname, removing the character "Xia" and retaining only the character "Liu".

After all, the surname Liu essentially comes from a place name, but there is still some controversy about where this place is. There are currently two views. One is that it is in Liuli, Xintai City, Shandong Province, and the other is in Dongliutunji, Puyang County, Henan Province.

Although there is still controversy about where the surname Liu originated, the academic community has basically reached a consensus that the Liu family moved many times. After Qin unified the six kingdoms, the Liu family moved to Hedong. The so-called Hedong refers to the entire province or southwestern region of Shanxi today. Because the Yellow River changes its flow from north to south through this area, and Shanxi is located east of the Yellow River, this area is called Hedong. Later, due to constant wars, the Liu family began their journey to the south.

Image source: Reference [9]

The Liu family who migrated south were divided into two branches: the Eastern Branch and the Western Branch.

The western branch of the family moved to Ruying (now Linru, Henan and Fuyang, Anhui), but soon returned to the north to serve the northern rulers. In order to expand their social network, the Liu family also formed marriages with other local big families, such as the Zhao family, which was quite influential at the time. Zhao Chaozong's second son Zhao Zhongyi married Liu Sengxi's daughter, and Zhao Chaozong's eldest daughter married Liu Sengxi's brother Liu Shiyi. This is a typical marriage network of mutual political support, which shows the status of the Liu family.

The eastern branch of the Liu family that migrated from Hedongnan to Xiangyang (now Xiangfan City) had a more difficult road to "promotion". The Liu family started out as brave warriors, that is, they entered the officialdom through military exploits, but to join the aristocratic clan circle at that time, "strength" alone was far from enough, and they also had to emulate the aristocratic clans in spirit.

With the rise of metaphysics in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the Liu family began to focus on improving the family's cultural accomplishment. In addition, family members later married into the royal family. For example, Liu Yan, the son of Liu Yun, the nephew of the famous Southern Dynasty general Liu Yuanjing, married Princess Changcheng, the daughter of Emperor Wu of Liang Xiao Yan, and Liu Yan's son Liu Pan married Princess Fuyang, the daughter of Emperor Wen of Chen Chen Qian. The Hedong Liu family finally entered the upper class and became a high-ranking family. After the demise of the Southern Dynasty, the eastern family also embarked on the road to return to the north.

It is worth noting that although the main branch of the Hedong Liu family has moved south, some branches have not left Hedong. Those who have left have not abandoned their ancestral roots and have returned to the Hedong area one after another.

Eventually, the Liu family, with its strong clan foundation and local power, successfully became one of the "Three Surnames of Hedong". From then on, when people mentioned the Liu family, they were no longer a "small family" that no one cared about, but a famous and prestigious family.

The Three Surnames of Hedong: specifically refers to the three major families of Pei, Liu and Xue who have regarded Hedong as their ancestral home since the Northern Wei Dynasty.

Let's go back to the female protagonists surnamed Liu in the costume dramas we are discussing. They are basically daughters of wealthy families, who have been living in luxury since childhood and have a good family living condition. "Liu" itself is a famous family, so these settings are not surprising.

But there are more than one famous surname, Liu. If you want the character of a "rich girl", any other surname will do. Why did you choose Liu?

Liu is more than just a surname

In traditional Chinese literature, "willow", as a cultural symbol with rich aesthetic connotations, has a meaning that transcends itself and becomes a metaphor and symbolic image. "Woman" is one of its more common symbolic meanings.

The long and narrow shape of willow leaves is often used to describe the long eyebrows of beauties, that is, "willow leaf eyebrows". The "hibiscus is like face and willow is like eyebrows" in the "Song of Everlasting Regret" by the Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi means that the hibiscus blooms like Yang Guifei's face and the willow leaves are like her eyebrows.

"A Dream of Red Mansions" describes Wang Xifeng like this: a pair of triangular eyes and two curved eyebrows | Source: Screenshot of "A Dream of Red Mansions"

In addition, willow trees are graceful and swaying, and are mostly planted along the waterside. The ancients often "used willows to describe people" and described the gracefulness of women by the soft and weak posture of weeping willows, reflecting people's aesthetic and emotional sustenance for women.

The rise of "willow waist" in the Tang Dynasty was the sublimation of the image of the graceful beauty of weeping willows by literati and poets. The swaying of willow branches was compared to the slender waist of women. The Tang Dynasty was an era of unprecedented prosperity in dance and music. When dancers danced, they were like willow branches swaying in the breeze, and were given the beautiful name of "willow waist" by literati and poets.

In Liu Yong's "Lang Tao Sha Ling·You Ren Ren", "The clap follows the red sleeves, the willow waist in the wind" depicts the beauty of the dancer's waist through the "willow waist", which is full of vitality and dynamism. In "Dream of Red Mansions", "Moves like a weak willow in the wind" is used to describe Lin Daiyu's walking as charming as a slender and weak willow swaying in the wind.

Lin Daiyu (the one in the white cape in the C position) from Dream of Red Mansions walks slowly

It can be said that the word "Liu" carries with it an aura of "beautiful woman", and people with the surname Liu are naturally attractive.

In addition, the Liu family was indeed a prominent family in history, so it is no wonder that the heroines in costume dramas all compete to have the surname "Liu".

References:

[1] Li Hong. The Liu Family of Hedong in the Sui and Tang Dynasties and Its Origin and Development[J]. Journal of Shanxi Normal University (Social Science Edition), 2005, (04): 84-87+108.

[2] Yao Weixia, Wu Chao. A review of the research on the Hedong Liu family in the past two decades[J]. Journal of Yinshan Studies, 2015, 28(02): 93-96.

[3] Wang Yongping. On the Family Culture and Customs of the "Eastern Family" of the Hedong Liu Family during the Southern Dynasties [J]. Journal of Jiangsu University (Social Science Edition), 2008, (05): 41-50.

[4] Ge Changyi. The symbolic meaning of "willow" in "The Four Lives of Willow"[J]. Journal of Lanzhou Education Institute, 2019, 35(12): 42-43+73.

[5] Liu Qian. On the Origin of the “Liu Yao” Tradition in Tang Dynasty Poetry[J]. Journal of Beijing Forestry University (Social Sciences Edition), 2015, 14(03): 8-14.

[6] Ma Chao, Song Kuisheng, Sang Jingshuan. Cultural connotation of willow and its application in landscaping[J]. Chinese Horticulture Abstracts, 2013, 29(08): 133-134.

[7] Li Hui. Planting of willow trees in my country and its cultural implications[J]. Commercial Culture (first half of the month), 2011, (09): 344.

[8] Guan Chuanyou. History of willow planting and willow culture in China[J]. Journal of Beijing Forestry University (Social Sciences Edition), 2006, (04): 8-15.

[9] Zhu Benjun, Wang Dacheng. “Chinese Historical Atlas” “Warring States” Settlement Identification in Yuanqu Basin: Also on the Traffic Route between Han and Wei and the Old Capital of Hedong[J]. Historical Geography, 2017, (02): 237-246.

Author: Minmin Zhang Yi