In traditional Chinese family culture, descendants of several generations from the same ancestor lived together and formed a big family system. This kind of autonomous family system was the basic unit of traditional Chinese society. Chinese children follow their father's family name. This is the same as western culture. Nowadays in China it is legally fine for a child to follow either father’s family name or mother's family name. Within each family system, of course people except those who joined this family system through marriage all have the same family name.

　　譯文：在傳統(tǒng)的中國家庭文化中，同一祖先的幾代后裔(descendants)居住在一起，形成一個大家庭。這種自治(autonomous)家族制度是中國傳統(tǒng)社會的基本單位。中國的孩子們跟隨他們父親的姓。這和西方文化是一樣的。如今在中國，孩子跟父親的姓或母親的姓在法律上都是合法的。除了那些因為結婚加入到家庭中的人以外，人們的姓氏都是一樣的。