Reply #87: Try China - the character for family name has "mother" as its root

[Snow]

from the same time period, the character for "beautiful" is comprised of "big" and "sheep". Without getting into any sheep jokes (yes, I once worked at a vet school) the combination suggests China was once a tribe of matriarchal sheep herders. Just guessing, I'd say nomadic societies tends towards matriarchy, and agricultural societies towards patriarchy ("so what about the ancient israelis," someone mutters from the back row. "they were matriarchal, but the men wrote the books later on," the professor replies facilely)