According to historic records, people with surname Fang were the descendants of Yan Di Yu Wang.

Lei, son of Yu Wang was given the prefecture of Fang Shan as a fief, thus he was called Fang Lei. All his offspring took Fang as surname ever since. This was usually regarded as the beginning of surname Fang.

During the reign of Emperor Xuan of West Zhou Dynasty, general Fang Shu, one descendant of Fang Lei was both grave and sagacious. He was once entrusted with a mission to put down Jingman rebellions down south, making tremendous achievements for the rejuvenation of Zhou Dynasty. Since then, people with surname Fang in various regions all claimed themselves descendants of general Fang Shu.

It is said that surname Fang originated from Henan province and later moved to other places across the country. During the reign of Emperor Ning of Song Dynasty, surname Fang began to move southward from today's Guangshan, Huangchuan in Henan province to Fuzhou, Zhangzhou and Longxi in Fujian province. The frequent population migration southward has made surname Fang very popular in Taiwan. After Ming Dynasty, there have been many scholars with surname in Tongchen, Anhui province, and therefore Fang has become the distinguished family there.

By People's Daily Online