There were not many matriarchal tribes in ancient China，in other words,there were not many different xing,therefore only a small number of toda/s xing (surnames) were passed down from pure ancient xing. Based on The Spring and Autumn Annals，Gu Yanwu sorted out 22 ancient Surnames；and by studying ancient Chinese documents,Zhang Taiyan and other scholars found another 59 ancient Surnames. Altogether no more than 81 Surnames.

  在中国古代没有许多母系氏族部落，换句话说，没有很多不同的姓，所以仅有少数姓是从纯粹的古姓传下来的。基于春秋时期，顾炎武整理出22个古老的姓;通过研究中国古代文献，章太炎和其他学者发现了另外59个古老的姓氏。总共不超过81个姓氏。