Compound Chinese surnames come from historical figures, ancient states; now fewer than 100 remain

While most Chinese people’s surnames are only one character long, there are also millions of people who have compound surnames which are considered rare and precious. You might have come across some Chinese celebrities with surnames more than one character, such as Taiwan-born actress and cellist Ouyang Nana, Hong Kong-American stand-up comedian and actor Jimmy O. Yang. In fact, these two celebrities have the same compound surname, Ouyang, which is currently China’s most used compound surname,...