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)