Global Century Press style rules for Chinese names
Normally a Chinese surname (or family name) is composed of a single Chinese character (e.g. Zhao, Qian, Sun or Li), and occasionally two Chinese characters (e.g. Ouyang).
In common usage Chinese names are written surname first (typically shorter), followed by first names (typically longer because they are composed of two Chinese characters, e.g. Wang Laowu, sometimes with ‘-’ in the middle).
In practice, overseas Chinese always put their surnames last in accordance with English name order, e.g. Laowu Wang. Some Chinese first names are composed of a single character, e.g. Zhang San, or ZHANG San, in some cases.
In addition, some well-known names are based on conventional rules. Namely, they follow the order of Chinese names and do not capitalize surnames, such as: Fei Xiaotong, Zhang Yimeng.
In our publications, if you see a surname in front of first names you can assume that person is mainland Chinese. All Chinese names are written in pinyin form, which is not italicized, as is the case for names of places, e.g. Beijing or Shanghai.
There are exceptions, as individuals sometimes present their English names in their own way, which are acceptable.
