Zhao is a Chinese-language surname. The name is first in the Hundred Family Surnames – the traditional list of all Chinese surnames – because it was the emperor's surname of the Song dynasty (960–1279) when the list was compiled. The first line of the poem is 趙錢孫李 (Zhao, Qian, Sun, Li). Zhao may be romanized as "Chiu" from the Cantonese pronunciation, and is romanized in Taiwan and Hong Kong as "Chao" in the Wade–Giles system. It is cognate with the Vietnamese family name "Triệu" and with the Korean family name most commonly romanized as "Cho" (조). The romanization is shared with the much rarer family name Zhào (兆).

Evolution of the Zhao clan

Modern culture

In Lu Xun's novel The True Story of Ah Q, Ah Q said he belonged to the same clan as Mr. Zhao, who was an honored landlord of the village. Mr. Zhao was very angry. He slapped Ah Q's face and said, 'How could you be named Zhao!—Do you think you are worthy of the name Zhao? ' Since 2015 or earlier, in the Chinese internet, Zhao became the intimation of the Chinese Communist Party and the ' State of Zhao ' became the intimation of China. Similarly, ' The Zhao Family ' refers to the dignitaries of China, and "The Zhao's Army" refers to the People's Liberation Army. 'How could you be named Zhao! ' is popular to satirize the people who are humble but pretend to be powerful. In 2016, the blog writer Program Think set up a GitHub project named Zhao. The project collects the relationships among more than 700 people in over 130 families including Xi Jinping, the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, and many other high level government officials of the Chinese Communist Party. The Cyberspace Administration of China requested GitHub to remove the project. Error status code 451 would be reached if the connection request to the project is from China.

Prominent people with the family name

Historical figures

Modern figures