The order of the three parts of a Chinese name (family name first and personal name last) shows the crucial importance attached to the family in relation to the individual.

In traditional Chinese society, the family was the most important building block, socially, economically, and politically. The family functioned as a living organism with an identity and spirit that went beyond the individuals forming it.

More important than being an individual, a boy was the son of his parents, the descendant of his ancestors, and the future father of his children.

(Bron: My Chinese Roots, Huihan Lie, 2015)