Rare Chinese

Chinese Surnames Used To Be Very Complicated

China is an ancient land with many cultures and a diverse history. Many Westerners might think that the only thing different about Chinese surnames is that the family name comes before the given name. Actually, it is a relatively new practice for commoners to be allowed any surname at all.

Cumbersome rules were imposed when commoners were permitted to take family names. Quite a few elite Chinese names were allowed only to those of high birth or current power. For centuries, only the blue-bloods of the currently reigning houses could give themselves what were called “xing” — royal names. The prevailing warlord might reward the family of a village chieftain by allowing their clan to attach a xing to their given Chinese names. Over the centuries sub-surnames came into being as well. They were called “shi” and denoted seniority, rank and importance.

The most commonly occurring Chinese family names today are written with a single Chinese character. Many double-character family names were simplified during the Cultural Revolution and by the Communist government, however about 20 have survived into modern times, including Sima, Zhuge and Situ. Even more rare are surnames with three characters or more, such as Aixinjueluo, which was the surname of the Qing dynasty’s Manchurian royal family.

Expressing Chinese surnames in English or other Western languages raises a number of transliteration issues, not the least of which is pronunciation. The surname Zheng is occasionally pronounced in English as Chang, Cheng, Chung, Tsang, Zeng and Zheng. While more than 14,000 surnames are on record, thousands have become extinct, the result of a family having no heir to perpetuate their name.

In the 1980s, almost 500 distinct family names were in use in Beijing. Today, among the most commonplace are Li, Wang, Zhou, Zhang, Zhu and Zhao. Wang is shared by 9 percent of northern Chinese. Chen is prevalent in the former British enclave of Hong Kong, formerly Portuguese Macao and what was Japanese-occupied Formosa, today’s Taiwan. Li is commonplace along the Yangtze River’s major crossing points. Fong, which is only the 47th most commonplace on the mainland, is prevalent in San Francisco’s Chinatown.

Surnames were also a matter of negotiation upon occasion. A nobleman from Taiwan, Chang Yuan-zih of the Liao family, wed the daughter of another nobleman, Liao San-Jiou-Lang, who lacked sons. As part of the marriage tradition agreement between the two prominent families, the groom agreed to be called Liao during his lifetime, but Chang after his death. The offspring from the marriage were to use the surname Liao Liao (and today are referred to as the “double Liaos.”)

After marriage, most Chinese women take their husband’s family name. However, just as elsewhere in the world, growing numbers of Chinese wives keep their birth surname.

In China romianzation of names is done following Pinyin. However elsewhere example in Malaysia and Singapore, the standard is less stringent. The name Lin for example may be spelt as Lim, Lam or Lum. And the beautiful name Mei as May, Meei or Bee. There are many dialects and since the name is written as heard, you end up with different versions for the same name

Rare Chinese Liu semi-auto military rifle. A National Firearms Museum Treasure Gun.