Wang has overtaken Li as the most common surname in China,
according to figures released by the Ministry of Public Security
(MPS).
In the largest ever survey of its kind, based on data from the
national household registration system which covers almost all of
China's citizens, 7.25 out of every 100 Chinese people had the
family name of Wang.
Li is second with 7.19 percent of the total population sharing
the name and Zhang is third with 6.83 percent.
The top 100 most common surnames account for 84.77 percent of
Chinese population, the MPS figures show.
The new findings have refreshed the ranking order of Chinese
family names set last year by the Chinese Academy of Sciences
(CAS).
The CAS figures, based on a survey of 296 million people
across1,110 counties and cities, showed that China's most common
surname was "Li", accounting for 7.4 percent of the population
sample.
(Xinhua News Agency April 25, 2007)