Hundreds or thousands of Chinese family names have been historically used by Han Chinese and Sinicized Chinese ethnic groups in mainland China, Taiwan, and among overseas Chinese communities. In ancient times two types of surnames, family names (Chinese: 姓; pinyin: xìng) and clan names (氏; pinyin: shì), existed.
The colloquial expressions laobaixing (老百姓; lit. "old hundred surnames"), and bǎixìng (百姓, lit. "hundred surnames") are used in Chinese ...
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Hundreds or thousands of Chinese family names have been historically used by Han Chinese and Sinicized Chinese ethnic groups in mainland China, Taiwan, and among overseas Chinese communities. In ancient times two types of surnames, family names (Chinese: 姓; pinyin: xìng) and clan names (氏; pinyin: shì), existed.
The colloquial expressions laobaixing (老百姓; lit. "old hundred surnames"), and bǎixìng (百姓, lit. "hundred surnames") are used in Chinese to mean "ordinary folks", "the people", or "commoners." Bǎijiāxìng (百家姓) is also used to call the list of one hundred most common surnames.
Chinese family names are patrilineal, passed from father to children. (In cases of adoption, the adoptee usually also takes the same surname.)
Prior to the Warring States Period (ififth century BC), only the royal family and the aristocratic elite could generally take surnames. Historically there was also difference between xing (姓) and shi (氏). Xing were surnames held by the immediate royal family. They...
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