Although there is the tradition of the ‘100 families’ in China, the number of Chinese surnames are a bit more than 4,000. But what is the most common surname in China taking into account that the population reached the billion mark in 1982?
Wang is the most common surname in mainland China and Chen or Chan the most common in Taiwan. Moreover, Zhang Wei is supposed to be the most common full name in mainland China.
Nowadays surnames do not change upon marriage and women in places with western influence such as Hong Kong may adopt their husband’s name.
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