The Origin of Chi Chang

The surnames of Huang, Yu and Fei were for the distinguished families of the county of Jiangxia in ancient times. The county of Jiangxia was located in Hubei province. The defined areas formed in successive dynasties varied slightly and the county of Jiangxi has been the county of Wuchang since the Sui Dynasty. The descendents of Huang used "Jiangxia" as the clan title, no matter where to migrate, because they were the distinguished family of Jiangxia County. The awareness of worship ancestor and thought of source was the traditional core value of the Han nationality after all.

Then where does "Chi Chang" in "Huang Shi Chi Chang Fellowship Society" come from? From which literary quotation?

In the past the majority of descendents of Huang all revered Qiao Shangong as their forefather. Enshrined and worshiped for thousands of years, he has become the symbol of unity and cohesion. There were different historical records about the deeds of Huang Qiaoshan. Some said he lived in the reign of Emperor Ling of the Eastern Han Dynasty and went on to become Jiangxia Prefecture; some said he was in the Eastern Jin Dynasty and served as Xuzhou Prefecture. According to more complete data, he was from Shaowu in Fujian province, born in Xiantong fourteenth year during the reign of Emperor Tang Yizong (in 870 A.D.). He was promoted to Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Works in the third year of Guangshun during the reign of Later Zhou Taizu (in 953 A.D.) due to his excellence both in the arts of pen and sword and his repeated wonderful merits. Born in the unsettle times of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, he witnessed the situation of endless contest and slaughter. He sighed and the thought of withdrawal grew. He then returned to his hometown for education advocating, with the establishment of Peace Academy and concentration in children education of the clan.

Qiao Shangong boasted a prosperous family with first wife Shang Guan and two secondary wives of Wu and Zheng, as well as 21 sons. Three sons were left with him and others were sent to other places for procreating. To encourage his sons, Qiao Shangong wrote the following qilv (an eight-line poem with seven characters to a line) as family instructions: Ride a horse on the journey to a foreign land, and set the three cardinal guides and the five constant virtues in the land; with the time passing by, the foreign land is just like homeland and actually will become your homeland. You should never forget your parents' words day and night. You should burn fathers incense dusk and dawn to pray for God blessing. Three-seven men are always the descendants of Chi chang." The above "Family Education Poem" has become the "Motto Poem" for the descendants of Huang to hand down from generation to generation. There is no need to make more explanation for the poem with clear style. "Three-seven men" in the last sentence refers to his 21 sons. As for "Chi Chang", you can refer to "Poetry Xiaoya•June": "Arrogant long beak dog" and "Xunzi• The Ritual Theory”: "Everything is flourishing", as well as "The poem of Lu Song•Qin Officer”: "Make you passionate and prosperous", which means thriving life and endless growth in nature.

"Motto Poem" of Huang was later composed into a song by a deceased clan elder Shitong, in the early 1960s or so, when he was acting as the honorary president of the society.

The clan elder proficient in poetry died in 1972, whose native place is Jinsha township of Chao an. He established Eastern Co., Ltd. after the war. With good reputation, the clan elder is the leader of overseas Chaozhou people. With a good command of Chinese, English, he has also gained great achievement in painting, sculpture and music, to sum up "as rich as Tao Zhu and as talented as Rui Mu". He served as the party leader of "Freedom Socialist Party" once, taking part in the election of legislators. As a benevolent man, he set up the free clinics in Gewen Garden and Zhenruilv to the benefit of the poor and the sick, which was widely reputed far and near. Enthusiastic about social public welfare, he held positions in more than forty societies.