Thousands of Descendants of Jiang Ziya From Around the World Visit Linzi to Pay Respects to Their Common Ancestor

ZIBO, China, Sept. 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- A grand ceremony celebrating the 3,156^th anniversary of Jiang Ziya's birth was held at Taigong Square in Linzi, Shandong, China, the capital of former Qi Kingdom, on September 12, 2017. Thousands of descendants of Jiang Ziya from around the world attended the event to pay respects to their famous common ancestor.

Jiang Ziya was a great strategist, militarist and statesman in ancient China. Jiang Ziya's descendants have spread all over the world and have been found to have more than 100 surnames including single-character ones such as Jiang, Lyu, Qiu, Gao and Cui as well as two-character ones such as Chunyu and Dongguo. Representatives from the World Chiang Clansmen Association, South Korea's Jinju Kang Clan Central Committee and the China Cui Clan Historical and Cultural Society were present at the ceremony.

Kang Seok-seong, permanent vice president of Jinju Kang Clan Central Committee, said that there are over 1.5 million descendants of Jiang Ziya in South Korea while more than 160 of them made the journey to Linzi this time to pay their respects.

K.L. Chiang, president of the Chiang Clansmen Association in Taiwan, said, "The event makes the descendants of Jiang Ziya more connected and promotes better communications across the strait."

The memorial ceremony was part of the 14^th Qi Cultural Festival, which, with the theme of "Magnificent Qi Feng", focused on seven topics including the veneration of Jiang Ziya, Cuju (an ancient ball game), searching for one's ancestral roots, treasure hunting, fundraising for investment, music appreciation and, general speaking, benefits for the people and for the greater society, with an aim of showcasing the essence of the Qi culture dating back to 3,000 years ago.