2 Distribution of surnames

Not surprisingly, surnames are not evenly spread throughout China. In northern China, Wang (王) is the most popular surname, being shared by 9.9% of the population. Next are Li (李), Zhang (张) and Liu (刘). In the south, Chen (陈) is the most popular, being shared by 10.6% of the population. Next are Li, Huang (黄), Lin (林) and Zhang (张). Around the major crossing points of the Yangzi River, the most popular surname is Li, taking up 7.7%, followed by Wang, Zhang, Chen and Liu.

A study by geneticist Yuan Yida has found that in each province of China, there is always a surname which appear particularly often. In GuangdongGuangdong ( Traditional: , Simplified Chinese: , pinyin: Guangdong , Kwangtung in older transliteration and Kuang-tung in Wade-Giles), is a province on the south coast of the People's Republic of China. Together, Guangdong and neighboring Guangxi are call it is Liang (梁) and Luo (罗), in GuangxiGungxi ( Simplified Chinese: , Traditional: , Wade-Giles: Kuang-hsi Tongyong Pinyin: Guangsi also transliterated as Kwangsi is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its formal name is the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region . Together, Guan it is Liang (梁) and Lu (陆), in FujianFujian (; alternate spellings Fukien Foukien pinyin Fujian Wade-Giles Fu-chien local transliteration Hokkien from Min-nan Hok-kian is one of the provinces on the southeast coast of China. The name Fujian comes from the combination of Fuzhou and Jian'ou, t it is Zheng (郑); in TaiwanFor the political entity commonly known as "Taiwan," see Republic of China. The island of Taiwan ( Traditional: , Simplified: , Pinyin: Taiwn, Wade-Giles: T'ai-wan, Taiwanese: Tai-oan) is located off the coast of China in the Pacific Ocean. It is also kno it is Cai (蔡); in Anhui it is Wang (汪); in Jiangsu it is Xu (徐) and Zhu (朱); in Zhejiang it is Mao (毛) and Shen (沈); in Jiangxi it is Hu (胡) and Liao (廖); in Hubei it is Hu (胡); in Hunan it is Zhang (谭); in Sichuan it is He (何) and Deng (邓); in Guizhou it is Wu (吴); in Yunnan it is Yang (杨); in Henan it is Cheng (程); in Gansu it is Gao (高); in Ningxia it is Wan (万); in Shaanxi it is Xue (薛); in Qinghai it is Bao (鲍); in Xinjiang it is Ma (马); in Shandong it is Kong (孔); in Shanxi it is Dong (董) and Guo (郭); in Inner Mongolia it is Pan (潘) and in the three provinces of Manchuria it is Yu (于).

After the Song Dynasty, surname distributions in China largely stabilised. Villages were often made up of individuals with the same surname, often with a common male ancestor. They usually intermarried with nearby villages, creating clusters of individuals with similar genetic material.

3 Surnames at present

See List of common Chinese surnames

Of the thousands of surnames which have been identified from historical texts prior to the Han Dynasty, most have either been lost or simplified. In recent centuries some two-character surnames have often dropped a character. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, moreover, some surnames have been graphically simplified.

Although there are thousands of Chinese family names, The 100 most common surnames, which together make up less than 5% of those in existence, are shared by 85% of the population. The three most popular surnames in Mainland China are Li, Wang and Zhang, which make up 7.9%, 7.4% and 7.1% respectively. Together they number close to 270 million and are easily the most popular surnames in the world. The reason for this is statistical—it is more likely that the father of a child will have a common family name than an uncommon name, so small differences are magnified over time. This effect is more pronounced among Chinese than European surnames because Chinese surnames have existed for a much longer time.

Most commonly occurring Chinese family names have only one character; however, about twenty double-character family names have survived into the modern time. Some famous ones include Sima ( Wiktionary: Wiktionary: , simp. Wiktionary: Wiktionary: ), Zhuge ( Wiktionary: Wiktionary: , simp. Wiktionary: Wiktionary: ), Au Yeung ( Wiktionary: Wiktionary: , simp. Wiktionary: Wiktionary: Ouyang in pinyin, occasionally Anglicized, or rather, Irishized, as O'Young), and Szeto (in Cantonese) ( Wiktionary: Wiktionary: in pinyin: Situ ). There are family names with three or more characters, but those are extremely rare and are not ethnically Han Chinese, for example, Aixinjueluo ( Wiktionary: Wiktionary: Wiktionary: Wiktionary: , also romanized from the Manchu language as Aisin Gioro, which was the family name of the Manchu royal family of the Qing dynasty.

Popularity of family names has regional distributions. Some common Northern names are rare in the South. For example, the 55th most popular family name Xiao ( Wiktionary: ) is almost unheard of in Hong Kong, as this "new" surname was "created" from oversimplifying the traditional surname " Wiktionary: " during the Cultural Revolution. Wiktionary: (simp. Wiktionary: ) is perhaps the most common last name in Hong Kong (romanized as Chan) and is also common in Taiwan (romanized as Chen), whereas in Singapore, Hsu ( Wiktionary: ) is the most common. Fong ( Wiktionary: ), which is only the 47th most common overall, is much more common in San Francisco's Chinatown in the United States. As with the concentration of family names, this can also be explained statistically, as a person with an uncommon name could move to an unsettled area and leave this family name to large numbers of people.

Transliteration of Chinese family names (see List of common Chinese surnames) into English poses a number of problems. It is

common for the same surname to be transliterated differently and for different family names with similar pronunciations to be transliterated identically.

4 Usage

In writing Chinese names, Chinese family names are placed before the given name, e.g. CHEUNG Kwok Wing. Hence the Western concept of first name and last name only creates confusion when used with Chinese names. In Westernized Asian countries or for those residing in the West, often a Western name is chosen, e.g. Leslie Cheung (張國榮). When the Western name and Chinese name are put together, it often becomes hard to tell what the family name is. Using Leslie Cheung as an example, some variants include:

• Zhāng Guóróng — China, transcription using official Hanyu pinyin system, which romanizes Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese characters, and adds suprasegmental phonemes.
• Cheung Kwok-wing — China (Cantonese-speaking), romanization of Cantonese pronunciation of Chinese characters.
• Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing — Hong Kong, hybrid of Western/Chinese.
• Leslie Kwok-wing Cheung — United States among others, use given name as middle name.

Some publications and legal documents will print the family name in small capital letters to allow it to be easily distinguished, e.g. Leslie CHEUNG Kwok Wing.

Chinese women usually retain their maiden names after marriage. Outside of Mainland China they will sometimes place their husbands' family names in front of theirs. For example, former Chief Secretary for Administration of Hong Kong, Mrs. Anson Chan is known as CHAN FANG On-sang ( Wiktionary: Wiktionary: Wiktionary: Wiktionary: ) where Fong is her maiden name.

5 The sociological use of surnames

Throughout most of Chinese history, surnames have served sociological functions. Because of their association with the aristocratic elite in their early developments, surnames were often used as symbols of nobility. Thus nobles would use their surnames to be able to trace their ancestry and compete for seniority in terms of hereditary rank. Examples of early genealogies among the royalty can be found in Sima Qian's Historical Records, which contain tables recording the descent lines of noble houses called shibiao (世表).

Later, during the Han Dynasty, these tables were used by prominent families to glorify themselves and sometimes even to legitimise their political power. For example, Cao Pi, who forced the abdication of the last Han emperor in his favour, claimed descent from the Yellow Emperor. Chinese emperors sometimes passed their own surnames to subjects as honours. Unlike European practice in which some surnames are obviously noble, Chinese emperors and members of the royal family had regular surnames except in cases where they came from non-Han ethnic groups. This was a result of Chinese imperial theory in which a commoner could receive the Mandate of Heaven and become emperor. Upon becoming emperor, the emperor would retain his original surname. Also as a consequence, many people also had the same surname as the emperor, but had no direct relation to the royal family.

The Tang Dynasty was the last period when the great aristocratic families, mostly descended from the nobility of pre-Qin states, held significant centralised and regional power. The surname was used as a source of prestige and common alliegance. During the period a large number of genealogical records called pudie (譜牒) were compiled to trace the complex descent lines of clans and their marriage ties to other clans. A large number of these were collected by Ouyang Xiu in his New History of Tang.

During the Song Dynasty, ordinary clans began to organise themselves into corporate units and produce genealogies. This trend was led by the poet Su Shi and his father. As competition for resources and positions in the bureaucracy intensified, individuals used their common ancestry and surname to promote solidarity. They established schools to educate their sons and held common lands to aid disadvantaged families. Ancestral temples were also erected to promote surname identity. Clan cohesion was usually encouraged by successive imperial governments since it aided in social stability. During the Qing Dynasty surname associations often undertook extra-judicial roles, providing primitive legal and social security functions. They played important roles in the Chinese diaspora to South-East Asia and elsewhere, providing the infrastructure for the establishment of trading networks. In southern China, however, clans sometimes engaged in armed conflict in competition for land. Of course, clans continued the tradition of tracing their ancestry to the distant past as a matter of prestige. Most of these origin myths, though well established, are spurious.

As a result of the importance of surnames, rules and traditions regarding family and marriage grew increasingly complex. For example, in Taiwan, there is a clan with the so-called "double Liao" surname. The story is that the founder of the clan was adopted and so took the surname Liao, but in honor of his ancestors, he demanded that he be buried with the surname Chen. As a result, his descendants use the surname Liao while alive and the surname Chen after death. In some places, there are additional taboos against marriage between people of certain surnames, considered to be closely related. Conversely, in some areas, there are different clans with the same surname which are not considered to be related, but even in these cases surname exogamy is generally practiced.

Surname identity and solidarity has declined markedly since the 1930s with the decline of Confucianism and later, the rise of Communism in Mainland China. During the Cultural Revolution, surname culture was actively persecuted by the government with the destruction of ancestral temples and genealogies. Moreover, the influx of Western culture and forces of globalisation have also contributed to erode the previous sociological uses of the Chinese surname.

6 See also

• Chinese clan

7 External links

• Chinese Surnames (Simplified), with Real Audio
• Chinese-sounding surnames in the 1990 US census
• 《百家姓》 The Hundred Families' Surnames with literal meanings of the surnames.

See also: Most popular family names, Korean name

Kinship and descent

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