The Lu clan of Fanyang (范陽盧氏) was a Chinese political clan active from the late

Eastern Han dynasty The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...

to the early

Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...

. They descended from a noble clan in Qi, a ducal state under the

Zhou dynasty The Zhou dynasty ( ) was a royal dynasty of China that existed for 789 years from until 256 BC, the longest span of any dynasty in Chinese history. During the Western Zhou period (771 BC), the royal house, surnamed Ji, had military ...

. Their family name, Lu 盧, was derived from the name of the fief conferred upon them by the ruling Jiang family of Qi. In 386 BCE, after Duke Tai of the Tian family seized the rulership of Qi from the Jiang family, the Lu family, which was related to the Jiang (姜) family, lost their hereditary fiefs and property and became a family in diaspora. Later, the Lu family settled down in Fanyang Commandery, which covered present-day

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

Tianjin Tianjin is a direct-administered municipality in North China, northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the National Central City, nine national central cities, with a total population of 13,866,009 inhabitants at the time of the ...

and

Baoding Baoding is a prefecture-level city in central Hebei province, approximately southwest of Beijing. As of the 2020 census, Baoding City had 11,544,036 inhabitants, of which 2,549,787 lived in the metropolitan area made of 4 out of 5 urban distri ...

Notable figures

The first notable figure of this Lu clan was Lu Zhi, a prominent Confucian scholar and official who lived in the

and mentored other notable figures such as

Liu Bei Liu Bei (, ; ; 161 – 10 June 223), courtesy name Xuande (), was a China, Chinese warlord in the late Han dynasty#Eastern Han, Eastern Han dynasty who later became the founding Emperor of China, emperor of Shu Han, one of the Three Kingdoms of ...

and Gongsun Zan. When the

Yellow Turban Rebellion The Yellow Turban Rebellion, alternatively translated as the Yellow Scarves Rebellion, was a peasant revolt during the late Eastern Han dynasty of ancient China. The uprising broke out in 184 CE, during the reign of Emperor Ling. Although t ...

broke out in the 180s, Lu Zhi was one of the commanders who led Han imperial forces to suppress the rebellion. As a result, Lu Zhi and his family gained fame and prominence. During the

Northern Wei Wei (), known in historiography as the Northern Wei ( zh, c=北魏, p=Běi Wèi), Tuoba Wei ( zh, c=拓跋魏, p=Tuòbá Wèi), Yuan Wei ( zh, c=元魏, p=Yuán Wèi) and Later Wei ( zh, t=後魏, p=Hòu Wèi), was an Dynasties of China, impe ...

dynasty, three men from the Lu clan married princesses in Northern Wei. The Lu clan was also one of the four influential families of northern China at the time. However, some historical records show that members of the Lu family disregarded laws and behaved lawlessly, so some contemporary historians have negative opinions about them. The Lu clan's fame and influence faded by the beginning of the

, and it ceased to be mentioned in historical records around the end of the 10th century. From the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

to the early Song dynasty, there were a total of ten men from the Lu family who served as

chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

s in the imperial government. An account also cited that Han Yu, a prominent writer and government official of the Tang dynasty, married the daughter Lu I, an important member of the Lu clan. Records also show that around 800, the Lu clan was still a prominent family with members occupying important posts or marrying imperial bureaucrats. The records by

Shen Kuo Shen Kuo (; 1031–1095) or Shen Gua, courtesy name Cunzhong (存中) and Art name#China, pseudonym Mengqi (now usually given as Mengxi) Weng (夢溪翁),Yao (2003), 544. was a Chinese polymath, scientist, and statesman of the Song dynasty (960� ...

(1031-1095) identified the family as one of the most powerful and prestigious clans during the Tang dynasty, along with the Cui clan of Boling, Li clan of Longxi, Cui clan of Qinghe, and the Zheng clan of Xingyang. These were described as "lineages of the First Class".

Branches

*Southern ancestry (南祖) **Elder sub-branch of the southern ancestry (南祖大房) *northern ancestry (北祖) **Elder sub-branch of the northern ancestry (北祖大房) **Second sub-branch of the northern ancestry (北祖第二房) **Third sub-branch of the northern ancestry (北祖第三房) **Fourth sub-branch of the northern ancestry (北祖第四房) **Dishi sub-branch (帝師房)

Chancellors

* Lu Chengqing from the elder sub-branch of the northern ancestry * Lu Shang from the second sub-branch of the northern ancestry * Lu Han from the second sub-branch of the northern ancestry * Lu Mai from the second sub-branch of the northern ancestry * Lu Huaishen from the third sub-branch of the northern ancestry * Lu Qi * Lu Guangqi * Lu Wenji from the fourth sub-branch of the northern ancestry * Lu Duoxun from the fourth sub-branch of the northern ancestry

References

{{reflist Chinese clans