As modern-day China occupies a greater share of international interest with each day that passes, more and more questions arise about the world’s most populous nation. Will true democracy ever find its way to the mainland? Will China overtake the United States as the world’s most powerful nations? And most of all, are there more Wangs in China than Lis? While the answers to the first two may elude us for decades, the third question has finally been resolved. China’s Ministry of Public Security released the results of a survey that found that the 93 million mainland Chinese named Wang have the nation’s most popular surname. These findings run counter to a 2006 survey by the Chinese Academy of Sciences that claimed Li to be China’s most common name. The new study found that 7.25% of all mainland Chinese are Wangs while just 7.19% are Lis. The name Wang with an ‘a’, meaning king or royal, is the Mandarin version of the Cantonese name Wong, the more common spelling everywhere outside of mainland China. When it comes to Chinese surnames, there are very few. To be quite honest, I was surprised there weren’t more Wangs. It really does seem sometimes that every Chinese person I know has this name.

•AP: Wang Is China’s Most Popular Surname
•Wikipedia: List of Famous Wangs

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