Thursday, July 4, 2019

An index of Chinese surname distribution and its implications for population dynamics

by Jiawei Chen| Liujun Chen| Yan Liu| Xiaomeng Li| Yida Yuan| Yougui Wang

published in American Journal of Physical Anthropology (DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.23863)



Abstract

Objective:We propose an index to characterize the key feature of Chinese surname distributions and investigate its implications for population structure and dynamics. Materials and methods: The surname dataset was obtained from the National Citizen Identity Information Center, which contains 1.28 billion Chinese citizens enrolled in2007, excluding those of Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan. An index, the coverageratio of stretched exponential distribution (CRSED), is proposed based on the cross-over point of stretched exponential truncated power-law distribution, where thestretched exponential term and the power-law term contribute equally. We use mul-tidimensional scaling technique to demonstrate the dependence of the similarity ofone prefecture to the others on the CRSED.

Results:The CRSEDs of 362 prefectures exhibit an uneven distribution. The consistency of this index is evident by strong positive correlations of CRSEDs at the threeadministrative levels. This new index has a strong negative correlation with the pro-portion of the rare surnames. The prefectures with similar CRSEDs tend to adjoineach other on the administrative map, resulting in several distinct regions, each ofwhich shares similar terrain features or historical migrations. The prefectures withlower CRSEDs are more dissimilar to the other prefectures, while the ones withhigher CRSEDs are more similar to the others.

Discussion: The population dynamics of the prefectures with higher CRSEDs aremore likely dominated by migratory movements, the dominant evolutionary forces ofthe prefectures with lower CRSEDs can be attributed to drift and mutation.

KEYWORDS isonomy, migration, population dynamics, surname distance, surname distribution

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