Shilin_Guangji_Phagspa_Hundred_Family_Surnames

The ''Hundred Family Surnames'' (), commonly known as ''Bai Jia Xing'', also translated as ''Hundreds of Chinese Surnames'', is a classic Chinese text composed of common

Chinese surname Chinese surnames are used by Han Chinese and Sinicized ethnic groups in China, Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam, and among overseas Chinese communities around the world such as Singapore and Malaysia. Written Chinese names begin with surnames, unlik ...

s. An unknown author compiled the book during the

Song dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the res ...

(960–1279).K. S. Tom.

989 Year 989 ( CMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Emperor Basil II uses his contingent of 6,000 Varangians to help him defeat ...

(1989). Echoes from Old China: Life, Legends and Lore of the Middle Kingdom p. 12. University of Hawaii Press. . The book lists 507 surnames. Of these, 441 are single-character surnames and 66 are double-character surnames. About 800 names have been derived from the original ones. In the dynasties following the Song, the 13th-century '' Three Character Classic'', the ''Hundred Family Surnames'', and the 6th-century ''

Thousand Character Classic The ''Thousand Character Classic'' (), also known as the ''Thousand Character Text'', is a Chinese poem that has been used as a primer for teaching Chinese characters to children from the sixth century onward. It contains exactly one thousand ...

'' came to be known as ''San Bai Qian'' (Three, Hundred, Thousand), from the first character in their titles. They served as instructional books for children, becoming the almost universal introductory literary texts for students (almost exclusively boys) from elite backgrounds and even for a number of ordinary villagers. Each text was available in many versions, printed cheaply and available to all since they did not become superseded. When a student had memorized all three, he had a knowledge of roughly 2,000 characters. Since Chinese did not use an alphabet, this was an effective, though time-consuming, way of giving a crash course in character-recognition before going on to understanding texts and writing characters.

Form

The work is a rhyming poem in lines of eight characters. The surnames are not listed in order of commonality. According to Song dynasty scholar Wang Mingqing (王明清), the first four surnames listed represent the most important families in the empire at the time: *1st:

Zhao Zhao may refer to: * Zhao (surname) (赵), a Chinese surname ** commonly spelled Chao in Taiwan or up until the early 20th century in other regions ** Chiu, from the Cantonese pronunciation ** Cho (Korean surname), represent the Hanja 趙 (Chine ...

() is the surname of the

emperors. *2nd: Qian () is the surname of the kings of Wuyue. *3rd: Sun () is the surname of the queen

Sun Taizhen Queen Sun Taizhen (孫太真) (died 976)''Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms'', vol. 82. was the first wife of Qian Chu (King Zhongyi), the fifth and final king of Wuyue of the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. Background ...

of Wuyue king

Qian Chu Qian Chu (September 29, 929 – October 7, 988, courtesy name Wende), known as Qian Hongchu before 960, was the last king of Wuyue, reigning from 947 until 978 when he surrendered his kingdom to the Song dynasty. Life Qian Chu came to power aft ...

. *4th: Li () is the surname of the kings of Southern Tang. The next four, Zhou 周, Wu 吳, Zheng 鄭, and Wang 王, were the surnames of the other wives of

, the last king of Wuyue.

Complete text

This text is written in

Traditional Chinese A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays ...

. Note that several of these characters may link to the same article.

Prevalence in modern times

In 2013 th
Fuxi Institution
compiled a ranking of the 400 most common surnames in China.

Under 300th most common

According to the study, the following surnames are not among the 300 most common surnames: * Yōng 雍 – 339th * Píng 平 – 315th * Mǐ 米 – 316th * Zhàn 湛 – 369th

Under 400th most common

According to the study, the following surnames are not among the 400 most common surnames:

Yuan Yida Yuan Yida () is a researcher from the Institute of Genetic and Developmental Biology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is a leading researcherPeople's Daily OnlineChina has 4100 meaningful surnames January 13, 2006. on Chinese surnames in m ...

(袁义达), Qiu Jiaru, 邱家儒. 中国四百大姓. Beijing Book Co. Inc., 1 January 2013 * Bèi (贝/貝) * Shuǐ (水) * Wū (邬/鄔) * Háng (杭) * Zhú (竺) * Bǐng (邴) * Fú (扶) * Du Dǔ (堵) * Zǎi (宰) * Lì (郦/酈) * Xì (郤) * Pú (濮) * Shòu (寿/壽) * Tōng (通) * Jia (郏/郟) * Bié (别/別) * Chōng (充) * Xí (习/習) * Hóng (红/紅) * Huàn (宦) * Ài (艾) * Shèn (慎) * Yǔ (庾) * Zhōng (终/終) *

Jì Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, a ...

(暨) * Bù (步) * Hóng (弘) * Lù (禄/祿) * Shū (殳) * Wò (沃) * Wèi (蔚) * Yuè (越) * Kuí (夔) * Mù (牧) * Shè (厍/厙) * Zī (訾) * Kōng (空) * Kuí (隗) * Shān (山) * Wú (毋) * Niè (乜) * Yang (养/養) * Xū (须/須) * Xún (荀) * Sháo (韶) * Every two syllable name (except for Ōuyáng (欧阳/歐陽))

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External links

* in mandarin {{Confucian texts Chinese classic texts *Hundred Family Surnames Chinese children's books