"This is because in China, only bastard children lacked family names," explains Chen Chieh-hsien. After the founding of the Republic of China, many Manchus who were worried about being mistreated adopted monosyllabic surnames.
「因為在中國，只有私生子是沒有姓的」，陳捷先說，民國後，滿清遺族怕人家知道他們是滿人，會受人欺負，都改成了單音節的漢姓。