Sima's family once established the Jin Dynasty, inheriting 154. Why are there so few people surnamed Sima now?

Surname culture has always been an important part of Chinese traditional culture. After the Yellow Emperor ruled the world, hundreds of princes were enfeoffed, and these hundreds of princes' families flourished, gradually taking the names of family fiefs as surnames and gradually forming a "hundred surnames".

Of course, the "Bai Jia" in Bai Jia's surname is a virtual reference, not a real number of 100, but many meanings. China has thousands of surnames.

After thousands of years of development, some surnames have a large population, while others have a small population. There are various reasons for the small population. Most people with a large population have only one reason-the ancestors established a dynasty, which made the national population explode.

For example, there are some most popular surnames, such as Liu, Zhao, Li and Zhu. Their ancestors established famous unified dynasties in the history of China, such as Han Dynasty, Song Dynasty, Tang Dynasty and Ming Dynasty.

In these dynasties, the surname clan thrived on the strength of the dynasty, so the ethnic group had an advantage.

But there is a special case, that is Sima.

Historically, the Sima family once established a dynasty, that is, the Jin Dynasty, which also inherited 154 (AD 266-420), but now there are very few people surnamed Sima in the whole country, and Sima has now been properly "restored" to the surname of ethnic minorities. Why?

The territory of the heyday of the Jin Dynasty

The name Sima comes from the official name. According to legend, during the period of the ancient emperor Shao Hao, there was a position of Sima, and Sima Shi was the descendant of the person who had held the position of Sima.

Sima family originated in Henan, and by the Han Dynasty, Sima family had spread all over the country, especially in Henan and Shaanxi. During the Three Kingdoms period, the Sima family was not the most popular in China, but it also had a large population. Hanoi county became the most famous county at that time because of the appearance of Sima Yi.

After Sima Yan established the Jin Dynasty, Sima became the national surname of the Jin Dynasty, and the population of Sima increased greatly. If we follow this development law, Sima will soon become the most popular surname like Zhang and Liu.

Portrait of Sima Yan, Emperor Wu of Jin Dynasty

Why is there another ending behind? The reason is that the dynasty established by Sima Shi was untimely.

The Jin Dynasty was a chaotic time in the history of China. The rebellion of eight kings broke out only a few decades after the establishment of the Jin Dynasty, followed by the rebellion of five emperors, and the war in the Central Plains continued.

A few Sima families escaped from Luoyang and came to Jiangnan to establish the Eastern Jin Dynasty. The other Sima families were mostly distributed in Henan and Shaanxi, and were slaughtered by the five lakes in the north, which made the Sima family in the north lose all their money.

Five nomadic tribes plague China people.

After the demise of the rulers, Sima's life was even more difficult. It was too easy for the Jin Dynasty to usurp the Han Dynasty and stand on its own feet. Rulers of the Jin dynasty didn't understand the sufferings of the people at all, only knew their own luxury, so the Jin dynasty was not liked by the people at all.

During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, China was still in frequent wars. Faced with the pressure of survival, many Sima families have changed their surnames. Nowadays, many surnames such as Ma, Tong and Feng were changed by Sima.

Historically, Sima Jia also produced many talents, such as Sima Qian, Sima Yi and Sima Guang. However, due to the above reasons, the development of Sima's family is not so vigorous.

Nowadays, there are fewer people named Sima. Sima, who once created a glorious history, has now become a minority surname.