More than 4 million Chinese citizens, among the 1.3 billion total population, share one of the four seasons as their surname, government data disclosed on Monday.

More than 4.25 million Chinese share the same surname -- "Xia," which literally means "Summer," according to the data released by the National Citizen Identity Information Center under the Ministry of Public Security.

"Xia" is the most common surname of the four seasons in China, the center said.

East China's Jiangsu Province alone registers over 450,000 people with the family name "Xia." And many of them are also distributed over six provinces including Anhui, Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan, Zhejiang and Henan.

The Chinese mainland registers more than 28,000 citizens with the surname "Chun" or "Spring," more than 20,000 with the surname "Qiu" or "Autumn," and over 15,000 surnamed "Dong" or "Winter," data from the center showed.

And in the meantime, more than 13,000 Chinese citizens were found to share the same given name -- "Chunjie," which literally means "Spring festival," a traditional Chinese holiday when people celebrate the beginning of the Lunar New Year and enjoy family reunions. It falls on Feb. 7 this year. 

(Xinhua News Agency January 15, 2008)