Why is it that among so many Chinese surnames, the top three surnames are Wang, Li, Zhang?

China's history is very focused on the family name, since ancient times, there is a "line does not change the name of the sitting and not change the name" of the proverb, in our Chinese culture is very focused on the origin of the family name, so far, we see the same family name is still more intimate, after all, five hundred years ago is a family, there are a lot of family names in China's history, according to incomplete statistics, there are more than five thousand family names. statistics, there are about five thousand surnames. And within these surnames there are of course some that are relatively small in number.

The ruler's surname is known as the state surname, such as the Tang Dynasty, Li is the state surname of the Tang Dynasty. However, there was a special case in the Tang Dynasty, where a female emperor, Wu Zetian, appeared midway through the Tang Dynasty. However, Li Longji assumed the throne after Wu Zetian abdicated, and the emperors that followed were still surnamed Li.

The Li Clan lived in the eastern part of Henan from the end of the Shang Dynasty to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty for two hundred years. Western Han Dynasty, Li has a move to the realm of present-day Shandong, about since the beginning of the Eastern Han Dynasty, there are Li clansmen have migrated to the Southwest, distributed in the area of Sichuan, Yunnan, some of which are integrated into the white, Miao, Zhuang, Yi, Manchu, Hui, Tujia, Naxi and other ethnic groups. Wei Jin and North and South Dynasties, Li has been the country's big name, the Central Plains of Cui, Lu, Li, Zheng and known as the four famous families, but before the Tang is mainly in the north development.

The Tang Dynasty was the heyday of China's feudal society, and the Li Clan, as a national surname, was the most prominent. In the Tang Dynasty, there were three major migrations of the Li Clan to the south: one was in the early Tang Dynasty, some of the Li Clan migrated to the south, and some of the Li Clan in Henan Province accompanied the father and son of Chen Zheng and Chen Yuanguang to Fujian Province to open up Zhangzhou in the reign of Emperor Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty. The second time was during the "An Shi Rebellion", when many descendants of the Li Clan moved to the south. The third is the Five Dynasties, because of the turmoil, the Li family has moved to Fujian, Putian, Jinjiang and other places to settle.

Li's migration to overseas, began in the early Ming Dynasty, to the Ryukyus are Fujian people, the Ryukyus sent to the Ming and Qing Dynasty, there are many people surnamed Li, are all from Fujian migrated to the Ryukyus Chinese. In Chinese history, the Li family name is known as the emperor and king of more than 60 people, has established a Dacheng, Xiliang, Liang, Wu, Wei, Tang, Chu, after the Tang, South Tang, Dashu, Xixia and Dashun and other regimes.

The Wang surname is also the most populous in China, and there are three main sources that make up the Han Wang surname: the Zi surname, the Ji surname and the Gui surname. In the pre-Qin, Han and Jin dynasties, the Wang surname has been mainly active in North China, and developed very rapidly. Especially through the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Sui and Tang Dynasty, the Wang family enjoyed glory, and the population developed rapidly. During the Song Dynasty, there were about 5.9 million people with the Wang surname, accounting for about 7.7% of the national population, and it was the first big surname in the Song Dynasty. During the Ming Dynasty, there were about 6.2 million people with the Wang surname, accounting for about 6.7% of the national population, and it remained the top surname. The contemporary distribution of the Wang surname in the country shows more in the north and less in the south. The people with the Wang surname make up about 7.17% of the total population, with a total population of about 90 million.

The Chinese believe in heaven, and believe that there is a Jade Emperor in the sky, and the Jade Emperor's surname on earth was Zhang before he ascended to the heavenly palace to become a god. That is why the surname Zhang has been honored by people since ancient times. According to a survey, in China alone, there are more than 90 million people with Zhang as their family name, and people of the Zhang family name are also very talented in art, having produced a very talented painter, that is, Zhang Zeduan, the author of "Qingming Shanghe Tu" (The Riverside at Qingming Festival).

Some dynasties had great respect for the surname Liu even though their rulers were not surnamed Liu. A number of scholars have questioned the identity of Liu Bei's royal descendants, but in fact, it is completely unnecessary, because at the end of the Han Dynasty there were more than 10,000 royal descendants like Liu Bei, and the value of their identity is not great. The reason why the identity of Liu Bei's royal descendants is very famous is because Liu Che, Emperor Xian of Han Dynasty, personally worshipped him as his royal uncle, otherwise, such royal descendants would really be a handful.

There are 10 surnames with a total population of more than 20 million people, in order: Wang, Li, Zhang, Liu, Chen, Yang, Huang, Zhao, Wu, Zhou; surnames with a population of fewer than 20 million people, 10 million people, there are 12 surnames, in order: Xu, Sun, Ma, Zhu, Hu, Guo, He, Gao, Lin, Luo, Zheng, Liang.

China is a multi-ethnic country, the origin of the family name like a long scroll of history, vast and magnificent and colorful. The origin of each family name has hundreds or even thousands of years of history, the origin of each family name has a long flavor, the origin of each family name is so unique and unique, they are the important part of the Chinese family name culture, but also an important part of the traditional Chinese culture, as a part of the Chinese nation, it is our responsibility to learn to pass on and carry forward this unique section of the culture.