Baixing (Chinese: 百姓; pinyin: bǎixìng; lit. "hundred surnames") or lao baixing (老百姓; lit. "old hundred surnames") in Chinese means "ordinary folks", "the people", or "commoners." [1] The word Lao(Chinese:老) is used here as an adjective, which give it a warm and friendly touch.
Chinese family names are patrilineal, passed from father to children. Chinese women, after marriage, typically retain their birth surname. Historically, however, only Chinese men possessed xìng (姓) (family name), in addition to shì(氏); the women had only the latter, and took on their husband's xìng(姓) after marriage.
Contents |
Thousands of years ago, along the plain of the Yellow River, there lived large tribes called Hwangdi tribes (Chinese:黄帝族), Yandi tribes (Chinese:炎帝族), Yi tribes (Chinese:夷族) and Jiuli Tribe (Chinese:九黎族). After many years of tribal wars, the Hwangdi tribes, Yandi tribes and the Yi tribes formed an alliance which consisted of roughly 100 tribes, hence the origin of the 百姓(Pinyin:Baixing, translation:One hundred surnames). The three-tribe-alliance won the war over the Jiuli Tribe (Chinese:九黎族), and the war captives became slaves of the alliance, hence the origin of the term 黎民, who were the tribal people of Jiuli Tribe.
During the Western Zhou, Baixing came to mean Slaves owners and 黎民 their slaves. Over thousands of years of history, 百姓 Baixing and 黎民 Limin come to mean the same thing.