BEIJING, September 19 (RIA Novosti) - Wang is the most popular surname among residents of the Chinese capital, closely followed by Zhang, the Beijing Daily said Wednesday.
Surnames cause real problems for China, as the country, with a population of 1.3 billion, has only 1,600 surnames in use. Further exacerbating the situation, 100 surnames are shared by 85% of the population.
According to the national statistics service, 7.25% of all Chinese have Wang as their surname. The second place belongs to Li with 7.19%. Zhang is the third most popular nationally, with 6.83%.
In comparison, only around 1% of the U.S. population has the surname Smith, by far the most popular surname.
