Zhang (surname) in the context of "Lineage name"

Chinese surnames are used by Han Chinese and Sinicized ethnic groups in Greater China, Korea, Vietnam and among overseas Chinese communities around the world such as Singapore and Malaysia. Written Chinese names begin with surnames, unlike the Western tradition in which surnames are written last. Around 2,000 Han Chinese surnames are currently in use, but the great proportion of Han Chinese people use only a relatively small number of these surnames; 19 surnames are used by around half of the Han Chinese people, while 100 surnames are used by around 87% of the population. A report in 2019 gives the most common Chinese surnames as Wang and Li, each shared by over 100 million people in China. The remaining eight of the top ten most common Chinese surnames are Zhang, Liu, Chen, Yang, Huang, Zhao, Wu and Zhou.

Two distinct types of Chinese surnames existed in ancient China, namely xing (Chinese: 姓; pinyin: xìng) ancestral clan names and shi (Chinese: 氏; pinyin: shì) branch lineage names. Later, the two terms were used interchangeably, and in the present day, xing refers to the surname and shi may refer either the clan or maiden name. The two terms may also be used together as xingshi for family names or surnames. Most Chinese surnames (xing) in current use were originally shi. The earliest xing surname might be matrilinear, but Han Chinese family name has been exclusively patrilineal for a couple of millennia, passing from father to children. This system of patrilineal surnames is unusual in the world in its long period of continuity and depth of written history, and Chinese people may view their surnames as part of their shared kinship and Han Chinese identity. Women do not normally change their surnames upon marriage, except sometimes in places with more western influences such as Hong Kong. Traditionally Chinese surnames have been exogamous in that people tend to marry those with different surnames.

Zheng (simplified Chinese: 郑; traditional Chinese: 鄭; pinyin: Zhèng; Wade–Giles: Cheng, [ʈʂə́ŋ] ) is a Chinese surname. It is the 7th name on the Hundred Family Surnames poem. In 2006, Zheng ranked 21st in China's list of top 100 most common surnames. Zheng belongs to the second major group of ten surnames which makes up more than 10% of the Chinese population. Zheng was a major surname of the rich and powerful during China's Tang dynasty.

In Republic of China (Taiwan) and Hong Kong, the name is normally romanized as Cheng or Tcheng (occasionally romanized as Chang in Hong Kong although that variant is more commonly used for another Chinese name, Zhang). In Malaysia, Cheng is commonly romanized as Cheng, Cheang, Chang, Tay, Tee and Teh. It is spelled as Tay in Singapore, The in Indonesia, and Ty in Philippines, from the Hakka, Hokkien and Teochew pronunciation of the character. It is also romanized as Dang from Hokchew.

The Former Liang (Chinese: 前涼; pinyin: Qián Liáng; 301–376) was a dynastic state, and one of the Sixteen Kingdoms, in Chinese history. It was founded by Zhang Shi of the Han Chinese Zhang family. Its territories included present-day Gansu and parts of Ningxia, Shaanxi, Qinghai and Xinjiang.

All rulers of the Former Liang remained largely titularly under the court of the Eastern Jin dynasty as the Duke of Xiping except Zhang Zuo who proclaimed himself emperor (or king). However, at times the other Former Liang rulers also used the king title when imposed on them when they were forced to submit to their powerful neighbour states—initially the Former Zhao, then the Later Zhao, and finally the Former Qin. As the early rulers did not explicitly declare their independence, the official year of Former Liang's establishment is up to interpretation, but no earlier than 301, the year when Zhang Gui was appointed Inspector of Liang province. Historiographers gave the state the prefix of "Former" to distinguish it from the Di-led Later Liang that came after them, along with the other Liang states of the Sixteen Kingdoms, Southern Liang, Northern Liang and Western Liang.