Chinese 李: from a character meaning ‘minister’. This was part of
the title of Gao Yao, a great-grandson of the legendary emperor
Zhuan Xu, who became famous as a minister under the model
emperors Yao and Shun in the 23rd century BC; he was the first
to introduce laws for the repression of crime. His descendants
adopted this part of his title as their surname. The use of this
name continued for over a millennium to the twelfth century BC,
down to the rule of the last king of the Shang dynasty, the
despotic Zhou Xin. Li Zhi, the head of the Li clan at that time,
displeased Zhou Xin and was executed, leaving the rest of the
clan facing imminent disaster. They fled, and nearly starved to
death, surviving only by eating a fruit called mu zi. When the
characters for mu and zi are combined, they form the character
for plum, pronounced Li. In token of this salvation, the clan
changed their name to the current character for li ‘plum’. Li is
now the most common surname in China. Among the many famous
bearers are Lee Kw