With the development of social productive forces, the matriarchal clan system transited to the paternal clan system, and the clan system was gradually replaced by the class social system, and the methods and means of governing the country by giving land to the people appeared. The appearance of stone records the step of human history entering class society.
Surnames are mainly used to distinguish the descendants of different clans in the tribe and facilitate intermarriage between different clans. Therefore, the appearance of surnames marks the change from group marriage to consanguineous marriage.
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Related background:
Surnames are passed down from generation to generation, which is generally stable, while surnames change with the changes of feudal cities and official positions, so there will be several surnames in one's descendants or different surnames between father and son. Last name and first name together constitute a person's first name. "Surname, unified his ancestors from the exam; The surname is not divided by his descendants. " The surname is a racial number, and the surname is a branch of the surname. Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, surnames began to merge.
China's surname culture has a long history, especially the Han surname, and each caste contains its unique and rich cultural connotation. Moreover, every caste has its representative figures, and there is no distinction between poor, high, low, rich, expensive and cheap.
The inheritance of China people's surnames in history is continuous and stable. It reveals that in the historical process, the traces of consanguineous culture expressed by China people's surnames are basically consistent with the evolution of life genetic material, especially paternal genetic material.
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