"Guo", written in Chinese: 郭, is one of the most common Chinese surnames and means "the wall that surrounds a city" in Chinese. It can also be transliterated as Cok, Gou, Quo, Quach, Quek, Que, Keh, Kuo, Kwo, Kuoch, Kok, Koc, Kwee, Kwek, Kwik, Kwok, Kuok, Kuek, Gock, Koay, or Ker. The Korean equivalent is spelled Kwak; the Vietnamese equivalent is Quách.
The different ways of spelling this surname indicate the origin of the family. For example, the Cantonese "Kwok" originated in Hong Kong and the surrounding area. In the Philippines, the spelling is "Que", "Ke", "Quepe", and "Kepa". In 2019, Guo was the 16th most common surname in mainland China.[2]
There are eight legendary origins of the Guo surname, which include a Persian (Hui) origin, a Korean origin, and a Mongolian origin, as a result of sinicization. However, the majority of people bearing the surname Guo are descended from the Han Chinese.[citation needed]
One of the Guo family is from the Hui clans around QuanzhouinFujian.
Early in the 14th century, a Persian Al-Qudsan Al-Dhaghan Nam (伊本·庫斯·德廣貢·納姆) was sent to QuanzhoubyKülüg Khan for assisting grain transportation by sea. He failed to return to Khanbaliq due to war, then got married and settled at Quanzhou. Because his Persian surname Qudsan pronounces similar to Chinese Guo, Al-Qudsan Al-Dhaghan Nam's grandsons began to change their surname to Guo in order to assimilate with local Han Chinese. It was politically expedient to claim they were descendants of Guo Ziyi in order to be better accommodated by local people and later theMing dynasty government. After Haijin policy applied and the Portuguese began to dominate the China-Middle East maritime trade, they were more localized and recognized as descendants as Guo Ziyi by themselves and by local people.
Due to more people of these clans identifying as Hui, the population of Hui has grown.[3][4] All these clans needed was evidence of ancestry from Arab, Persian, or other Muslim ancestors to be recognized as Hui, and they did not need to practice Islam.[5] The Communist party and its policies encouraged the definition of Hui as a nationality or ethnicity.[6][7] The Chinese government's Historic Artifacts Bureau preserved tombs of Arabs and Persians whom Hui are descended from around Quanzhou.[8] Many of these Hui worship their village guardian deities and are non-Muslims; they include Buddhists, Taoists, followers of Chinese Folk Religions, secularists, and Christians.[9] Many clans with thousands of members in numerous villages across Fujian recorded their genealogies and had Muslim ancestry.[10] Hui clans originating in Fujian have a strong sense of unity among their members, despite being scattered across a wide area in Asia, such as Fujian, Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia, and Philippines.[11][12]
In Taiwan there are also descendants of Hui who came with Koxinga who no longer observe Islam, the Taiwan branch of the Guo (romanized as Kuo in Taiwan) family are non-Muslims, but maintain a tradition of not offering pork at ancestral shrines. The Chinese Muslim Association counts these people as Muslims.[13] The Taiwanese Guo clan view their Hui identity as irrelevant and don't assert that they are Hui.[14]
Various different accounts are given as to whom the Hui Guo clan is descended from. Several of the Guo claimed descent from Han chinese General Guo Ziyi.[15] They were then distressed and disturbed at the fact that their claim of descent from Guo Ziyi contradicted their being Hui, which required foreign ancestry.[16] The Encyclopædia Iranica claims the ancestor of the Guo clan in Baiqi was the Persian Ebn Tur (Daqqaq).[17]
^Chibli Mallat, Jane Frances Connors, University of London. Centre of Middle Eastern Studies (1990). Islamic family law. BRILL. p. 364. ISBN1-85333-301-8. Retrieved 2010-06-28.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
