在传统的中国家庭文化中，同一祖先的几代后裔(descendants) 居住在一起，形成一个大家庭。这种自治(autonomous)家族制度是 中国传统社会的基本单位。中国的孩子们跟随他们父亲的姓。这和 西方文化是一样的。如今在中国，孩子跟父亲的姓或母亲的姓在法 律上都是合法的。除了那些因为结婚加入到家庭中的人以外，人们 的姓氏都是一样的。
In traditional Chinese family culture, descendants of several generations from the same ancestor lived together and formed a big fam¬ily system. This kind of autonomous family system was the basic unit of traditional Chinese society. Chinese children follow their father’s fam¬ily 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.