I think his comment was about popular cultural tradition, not law. Now, obviously, I don't know the details of Chinese cultural traditions, but the emphasis towards the male is true in many patriarchal societies.
Even in the West, it is usually the woman who changes her surname after marriage to the man's.
depend on which "West" you are talking about.
The Hispanic and Iberian part of the world usually merge Surname and will not simply takes the surname.
Say my father name is Estefan Sanchez Rodriguez Manlolo, where Rodriguez Manlolo is his surname, the first refer to his mother maiden name where the 2nd surname refer to his father surname.
Most Hispanic country would commonly have 4 or even 5 names, so does some part of Canada and some part of Europe
And increasingly, people do not takes the marriage name and hence today there are an option of
Ms. to choose from in any governmental from. Well.......as I said many time, we aren't living in 1700 anymore.......
Guess which famous actor was named
Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez at birth??
And what he was saying is not about Male Dominant Society, he is literally saying the ethnicity of a person is based on the male paternal side of the family. Male dominant society is one of the feature of Chinese society, this I agree. However, the ethnical (genetic) side of the story were never heard of.
The reason I put forward in law (or Nationality) is the base line for comparison of the definition of "Chinese"
In the past, you are an ethnic Chinese when both of your parent are ethnic Chinese (not just father side), you are Chinese if only you are a Chinese Blood but that was like 2-3000 years ago. Back then, they do not have the condition/requirement of
mixed race, once you do (of mixed race), then you are a seed of a foreigner. Because you would not look the same.
Down here is some good read, if you understand Chinese
http://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-hant/中国人#.E5.AE.9A.E7.BE.A9
http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/華人
If Chinese is too hard for you, you can try this if you want to know more
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhonghua_minzu#History
The term 華人 (Ethnic Chinese) coming from the term Great Chinese People (華夏人
.
Here is the Chinese Definition of 華人 in Chinese Dictionary
華夏人的简称。华夏人是以炎黄为始祖、祖居中国之地的民族之称,是文化认同的概念,也是一种血源认同的概念
When you translated them to Chinese, it said
Ethnic Chinese - short for Greater Chinese Ethnics, based on the Greatest Ancestor (炎黄 - Cannot translate this to English), the name is for any group that reside in Greater China, which is a confirmation of Cultural value (Of Chinese Culture), but also is a confirmation of Blood by definition.
Basically, people who reside in China, of Chinese blood (Descendant of 炎黄
, then it can be called Ethnic Chinese.
However, up until the point Ethnic Chinese reside in China left China because of the Qing Dynasty will not called themselves Ethnics Chinese anymore as the term "Ethnic Chinese" was twisted by the Qing - which is not the descendant of 炎黄 started call themselves Chinese. Hence those Original Ethnic Chinese who reside in China left for places like Singapore, Australia or America will call themselves 唐人 (Translation : Tong Dynasty Descendant) as a form of Protests
Hence when you go down to China town and you ask any Chinese what China town called in Chinese they will all answer 唐人街 (China town - from the word Tong Dynasty Descendant) but not華人街 - which literally mean Street of Ethnic Chinese.
It does not change until the Western Culture impact China after Qing Dynasty, the definition was expanded to non-Greater China ethnic (Not necessarily the son of 炎黄
or mixed race can also be called Chinese, if the ancestor were a Chinese Descendant.
And today, the definition of Chinese is even more lax. Basically you can call yourselves a Chinese if you look Chinese and have a Chinese name.
Antony Wong Chau-sang 黃秋生
Michelle Lee(Li) Jia Xan 李嘉欣
Michael Wong Man-tak 王敏德
While common Chinese consider the first 2 Chinese, the last one is not, but the fact is they are all of mixed race.
Antony Wong Chau-sang (Born Anthony Perry - British Father, HK Chinese Mother)
Michelle Lee(Li) Jia Xan (Born Michelle Monique Reis -Portugese Father, HK Chinese Mother)
Michael Wong Man-tak (Born Michael Fitzgerald Wong - HK father, Dutch/French Mother)
Ironically contrary to what Wholegrain say, the person with a HK Chinese Father is actually considered a foreigner to his fellow Chinese, Ironic, isn't it??
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Reis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Wong_(Hong_Kong_actor)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Wong_(actor)