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In terms of Chinese names, my observation is that in English media, if your name is printed as "first_name last_name" then you haven't made it yet. But if you are somebody, your name will appear as "last_name first_name". E.g. Xi Jinping, Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping. When was the last time you heard "Ming Yao the former Rockets center"?

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All four of the people you used as examples were born in the Mainland and had always used that order. Do you have any examples of people switching from Firstname Lastname to Lastname Firstname after "making it"?

It's not about switching your name after you've made it. It's about western media taking the effort to print your name in the correct order because you've made it.

Jack Ma seems like a counter example.

That's because Jack is an English name he chose to be widely known by. If he had kept his given name as a primary form of address we'd probably see him colloquially referred to as "Ma" or "Ma Yun".

Not really a good counter example as "Jack Ma" is his English name (i.e. not his legal name, not the one printed on his passport. more like a nickname that can be easily remembered by westerners).

If you google his legal Chinese name, you will find that it's never "Yun Ma" in English media. Instead it's always "Ma Yun"...because he is a big shot.

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