tōng 通

Migration and Distribution (Lack of information) The Tong surname is not listed among the top 100 surnames in the Hundred Family Surnames on the Chinese mainland or in Taiwan. During the Qin and Han dynasties, there was an official position called "Chehou", which was a very high - ranking position. At that time, there was a scholar from Shangcai (around present - day Shangcai County, Henan Province) who was conferred the title of Chehou. His descendants took this as an honor and adopted the official title as their surname, calling themselves the Che clan. Later, during the Western Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu of Han was named Liu Che. In order to avoid using the same character as the emperor's name, the descendants of the Che clan changed their surname to "Tong" (because in ancient times, "che" and "tong" had the same meaning). This has been passed down through generations, forming the present - day Tong surname. The prominent families of the Tong surname lived in Xihe (present - day Lishi County, Shanxi Province).