New Chinese Surnames

93 million people in China have the family name Wang. 92 million have Li. 88 million are Zhang.

"A further seven surnames, including Chen, Zhou and Lin, are held by at least 20 million Chinese" and "about 85 per cent share only 100 surnames." On average, that's 10 million per name. Yikes. Everybody's a Smith!

Another report by the Chinese Academy of Sciences found at least 100,000 people share China's most popular name, Wang Tao.

Under a new draft regulation released by the ministry of public security, parents will be able to combine their surnames for their children, a move that could open up 1.28 million new possibilities, the China Daily reported.

For instance, a father named Zhou and mother named Zhu could choose to call their child either Zhou, Zhu, Zhouzhu or Zhuzhou, the report added.

Two-syllable family names seem almost un-Chinese to me. But who ever said the Chinese communist party cared for tradition, anyway?