In the early Ming, officials gathered migrants under the Great Pagoda Tree of Hongtong and moved them to thinly peopled regions.
Tips
culture
Millions of families across north China trace their ancestry to the Ming migrations from here, summed up in the rhyme 问我祖先在何处，山西洪洞大槐树, 'if you ask where my ancestors came from: the great pagoda tree at Hongtong in Shanxi'. The first tree is long gone, and the site is now a memorial park.
usage
Outside this name the same characters are simply 大 'big' plus 槐树 'pagoda tree', the tree that so often shades the entrance of a north Chinese village.
