Commandery
Longxi 陇西Ancestral Commandery
The Lis of Longxi: Branches Across the Four Seas
Main lineage: Tradition traces the Li surname to Gao Yao, who served as minister of justice (li); his descendants took the official title "Li" as their surname, later changed to the homophone "Li". In the Tang dynasty Li was the imperial surname and was granted in great numbers, greatly enlarging the clan.
A clan of many sources: The clan includes branches from bestowed surnames and from ethnic minorities that adopted the name.
Root point: Longxi in Gansu is the most representative ancestral seat of the Li clan.
▸ Internal migration: From the pre-Qin era the clan was spread across the Central Plains; Wei–Jin migrants moved into Jiangnan; the Sui and Tang spread it nationwide; the Ming and Qing saw large-scale Li participation in the Hongtong Great Pagoda Tree migration, the filling of Sichuan from Huguang, and the trek to the Northeast.
▸ Overseas branches: From the Ming and Qing, Lis of southern Fujian, eastern Guangdong, and the Hakka set sail for the Nanyang; in the late Qing and Republican era they moved on to Europe and America.