The YANG family name
and
Ancestral Poem

YANG family name

The word YANG literally means the willow tree, the poplar or aspen species. It is tall and stately tree, and looks like LEOU which is also a type of willow tree. The difference between them is that in the case of LEOU, the plant normally curves over the ground or at the river bank very gracefully while the willow branch (YANG) is slightly rigid and as such, usually thrusts upwards. Generally, the Chinese give both plants a combined name i.e. YANG LEOU.

Ancestral Poem

The above poem should be read from the right, straight down, and then to the left, and so on. Each generation uses one of the above characters (in turn) as part of their names. After 16 generations, it starts again.

  1. P'I; distinguished, greatness, great heritage, posterity, vast achievement.
  2. JENN (CHEN); to shake, move, excite to action, stir up, urge, rouse, accomplish, restore, call.
  3. TSONG (TSUN); ancestral temple, clansman, descended from the same ancestor, kindred, a class, a sect, same stock, a kind, a school.
  4. CHANG; glorious, prosperous, good, to make prosperous, increase in greatness, abundant.
  5. CHING; clear, pure, lucid, honourable.
  6. FEN; fragrance of flowers/plants, perfume.
  7. KEH; to subdue, to fix upon, overcome, recover, capable of, able to enjoy, adequate.
  8. SHYANG (HSIANG/SIANG); happiness, good luck, a good omen.
  9. BEEN (PEN); root source, origin, native, ancestor.
  10. YUAN; source of water.
  11. HOU (HOW); behind, descendents, posterity.
  12. JI (CHI/TSI); to amass, store up, save, hoard, accumulate.
  13. YIH; great, abundant, grand, graceful, anxious, in order, in sequence.
  14. SHYH (SHIH); an age, a generation of 30 years, the world society, from generation to generation.
  15. HUEI; radiant, bright, glorious, brilliant, luminous.
  16. HUANG; a great blaze, luminous, glittering as a star.

The poems or verses are usually composed by a scholar well versed in poems in praise of an Ancestral Temple or the accomplishments of a Clan for an auspicious occasion. They are by and large abstract and difficult for ordinary men to comprehend their hidden meanings. An interpretation is:

To strive in the accomplishment of the great heritage and to increase the greatness (glory) of the Clan.
The atmosphere/Clan's character is pure, honourable and fragrant; and is condusive to the attainment of happiness.
With the foundation (source, root) and the accumulation of posterity
Brilliantly, it shines from generation to generation.