Liang (surname)

Liang (Romanization used in China, Chinese: 梁) is a surname common in East Asia. Meaning "a beam", "a bridge", or "an elevation", or "a mast", the surname is often transliterated as Leung (in Hong Kong) or Leong (in Macau, Malaysia, and Singapore) according to its Cantonese pronunciation, or Neo / Nio / Niu (Hokkien, Teochew, Hainan). To Chinese Indonesians, it is known as Liang or Nio. It is also common in Korea, where it is pronounced Yang 양 . In Vietnam, it's pronounced as Lương.

History

The first Liang was Liang Kang Hou who was the ruler of the State of Liang, in what is now Shaanxi Province in the northwestern part of China. The State of Liang existed during the Zhou Dynasty of 1027 BC to 221 BC. The descendants of Liang Kang Hou retained the name Liang as their surname in memory of the Liang state when it was annexed by the neighboring State of Qin in 641 BC.

During the Eastern Han period, a time when the Han Dynasty was in chaos and decline, a power struggle ensued between three rival groups, the powerful eunuchs, the cliques of officials and the consort families of which the Liang was one. This was largely because, starting in 88 AD, minors were placed on the throne and hence effective control of the Dynasty was in the hands of Regents. There were three successive empresses starting with Liang Na, Liang Ji and Liang Mengnu.

Liang

Liang may refer to:

Chinese history

Liang (realm)

Liang (Chinese: 梁) was a traditional Chinese fief centered on present-day Kaifeng. It was held by various powers over the course of Chinese history. It generally comprised modern Henan with a small part of Shanxi.

Ancient China

Liang (sometimes as 梁州, Liángzhōu) was one of the Nine Provinces of ancient China originally recorded in the Yu Gong or Tribute of Yu section of the Book of Documents. By the time of the Erya, it had been replaced among the list of the nine major provinces of China. Nevertheless, it was usually included among the lists of the Twelve Provinces in the reigns of the mythological figures of Emperor Yao and Emperor Shun. It included the upper Han River basin west of the Huaxia homeland.

State of Liang

The counts of Liang (梁伯, Liángbó) possessed the surname Ying (嬴). Their capital was located south of Hancheng in Shaanxi. During the 8th and 7th centuries BC, they were involved in various alliances against the hegemony of Jin. In 642 BC, the count constructed a new capital for his realm only to have it seized by Qin upon its completion. The next year, Duke Mu of Qin annexed the area completely.

Tael

Tael (/ˈteɪl/;simplified Chinese: 两; traditional Chinese: 兩; pinyin: liǎng) or tahil can refer to any one of several weight measures of the Far East. Most commonly, it refers to the Chinese tael, a part of the Chinese system of weights and currency.

In Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia it is equivalent to 10 mace (Chinese: 錢; pinyin: qián) or ¹⁄₁₆ catty, albeit with slightly different metric equivalents in these two places. These Chinese units of measurement are usually used in the Chinese herbal medicine stores as well as gold and silver exchange.

Names and etymology

The English word tael comes through Portuguese from the Malay word tahil, meaning "weight". Early English forms of the name such as "tay" or "taes" derive from the Portuguese plural of tael, taeis.

Tahil (/ˈtɑːhɪl/ in Singaporean English) is used in Malay and English today when referring to the weight in Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei where it is still used in some contexts especially related to the significant Overseas Chinese population.