Zhang (surname 章)

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For the more common surname 張/张, see Zhang (surname).

Zhāng is a Chinese surname. According to a 2013 study it was the 122-most common surname, shared by 1,570,000 people or 0.120% of the population, with the province with the most people being Zhejiang.[1] It is the 40th name on the Hundred Family Surnames poem.

The surname written 章 in Chữ Nôm is clearly distinguished and written as Trang or Chương.[citation needed] 章 was unlisted among the top 100 in either location. In 2015 it was reported 88th.[citation needed]

章 combines the characters 音 (yin, "sound", "(musical) note") and 十 (shi, "ten"). It originally meant "brilliant", "to display", "a distinctive mark"[2] and was used as the name of a fief, but as a common noun in modern use it means an "article" in a newspaper or magazine or a "chapter" in a book or law.

The surname 章 (Old Chinese: *taŋ[2]) originated from the legendary Yan Emperor, whose personal surname was Jiang (姜). On the establishment of the state of Qi, Jiang Ziya apportioned the land among his many descendants, including a one known as (鄣国). Some of the people of this state simplified the character and took 章 as their surname, particularly after it was annexed by Qi.[3] The Middle Chinese pronunciation of the name was Tsyang, the beginnings of what we now know to be the "Zhang" surname.[2]

It means ‘stamp, seal’ in Chinese.

Notable people[]

  • Zhang Binglin (章炳麟, 1868–1936), Chinese philologist, textual critic, and anti-Manchu revolutionary.
  • Zhang Zhong (章钟, born 1978), Chinese chess grandmaster who now plays for Singapore.
  • Zhang Hanzhi (章含之, 1935 – 2008) Chinese diplomat who was Mao Zedong's English teacher and U.S. President Richard Nixon's interpreter during his historic 1972 trip to China.
  • Zhang Ziyi (章子怡, born 1979), Chinese actress and model
  • Gordon G. Chang (章家敦, born 1951) American writer and attorney who wrote The Coming Collapse of China (2001)
  • Teresa Cheung Siu-wai, actress
  • Zhang Zetian (章泽天, born 1993), also known as Nancy Zhang, a Chinese businesswoman and investor who is the chief fashion adviser of the luxury business of JD.com
  • Yingying Zhang (章莹颖, 1990 – 2017) Chinese student who was murdered while studying in the US at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign

References[]

  1. ^ Yuan Yida (袁义达), , 邱家儒. 中国四百大姓. Beijing Book Co. Inc., 1 January 2013
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c Baxter, Wm. H. & Sagart, Laurent. "Baxter–Sagart Old Chinese Reconstruction". Archived from the original on April 25, 2012.  (1.93 MB), p. 162. 2011. Accessed 11 October 2011.
  3. ^ The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland
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