It arose as an impartial method of categorization of the order in which names appear in official documentation or in ceremonial procedure without any line of hierarchy.
In official setting, the number of strokes in a person's surname determines where a name should be placed and the list order.
Surnames "Ding" and "Wang" (written simply in the Chinese language with two and four strokes, respectively, "丁", "王") for example, are simple surnames that usually appear on the front of lists, while surnames such as "Dai" and "Wei" ("戴", "魏", both written with 17 strokes) often appear on the bottom of lists.
Although this ordering method is widely used, its most prominent use is in the ordering of important official bodies, including the members of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, the members of the National People's Congress, and the members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
The parade of nations at the 2008 Beijing Olympics used a similar ordering method.