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  4. <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>Background Notes: About Chinese</title><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.79.2"/><link rel="home" href="index.xhtml" title="Standard Chinese"/><link rel="up" href="pr03.xhtml" title="Introduction"/><link rel="prev" href="pr03.xhtml" title="Introduction"/><link rel="next" href="ch01.xhtml" title="Chapter 1. Module 1: Orientation"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">Background Notes: About Chinese</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="pr03.xhtml">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">Introduction</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="ch01.xhtml">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><div class="section"><div class="titlepage"><div><div><h2 class="title" style="clear: both"><a id="d5e246"/>Background Notes: About Chinese</h2></div></div></div><p><span class="bold"><strong>The Chinese Languages</strong></span></p><p> We find it perfectly natural to talk about a language called "Chinese." We say,
    5. 

  5.                 for example, that the people of China speak different dialects of Chinese, and that
    6. 

  6.                 Confucius wrote in an ancient form of Chinese. On the other hand, we would never
    7. 

  7.                 think of saying that the people of Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal speak dialects
    8. 

  8.                 of one language, and that Julius Caesar wrote in an ancient form of that language.
    9. 

  9.                 But the facts are almost exactly parallel.</p><p>Therefore, in terms of what we think of as a language when closer to home,
    10. 

  10.                 "Chinese" is not one language, but a family of languages. The language of Confucius
    11. 

  11.                 is partway up the trunk of the family tree. Like Latin, it lived on as a literary
    12. 

  12.                 language long after its death as a spoken language in popular use. The seven modern
    13. 

  13.                 languages of China, traditionally known as the "dialects," are the branches of the
    14. 

  14.                 tree. They share as strong a family resemblance as do Italian, French, Spanish, and
    15. 

  15.                 Portuguese, and are about as different from one another. </p><p>The predominant language of China is now known as <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Pŭtōnghuà</em></span>, or "Standard Chinese"
    16. 

  16.                 (literally "the common speech"). The more traditional term, still used in Taiwan, is
    17. 

  17.                     <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Guóyŭ</em></span>, or "Mandarin"
    18. 

  18.                 (literally "the national language"). Standard Chinese is spoken natively by almost
    19. 

  19.                 two-thirds of the population of China and throughout the greater part of the
    20. 

  20.                 country. </p><p>The term "Standard Chinese" is often used more narrowly to refer to the true
    21. 

  21.                 national language which is emerging. This language, which is already the language of
    22. 

  22.                 all national broadcasting, is based primarily on the Peking dialect, but takes in
    23. 

  23.                 elements from other dialects of Standard Chinese and even from other Chinese
    24. 

  24.                 languages. Like many national languages, it is more widely understood than spoken,
    25. 

  25.                 and is often spoken with some concessions to local speech, particularly in
    26. 

  26.                 pronunciation. </p><p>The Chinese languages and their dialects differ far more in pronunciation than in
    27. 

  27.                 grammar and vocabulary. What distinguishes Standard Chinese most from the other
    28. 

  28.                 Chinese languages, for example, is that it has the fewest tones and the fewest final
    29. 

  29.                 consonants. </p><p>The remaining six Chinese languages, spoken by approximately a quarter of the
    30. 

  30.                 population of China, are tightly grouped in the southeast, below the Yangtze River.
    31. 

  31.                 The six are: the Wu group (<span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Wú</em></span>), which includes the "Shanghai dialect"; Hunanese
    32. 

  32.                     (<span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Xiāng</em></span>); the "Kiangsi
    33. 

  33.                 dialect" (<span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Gàn</em></span>); Cantonese
    34. 

  34.                     (<span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Yuè</em></span>), the language of
    35. 

  35.                     <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Guăngdōng</em></span>, widely
    36. 

  36.                 spoken in Chinese communities in the United States; Fukienese (<span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Mĭn</em></span>), a variant of which is spoken by
    37. 

  37.                 a majority on Taiwan and hence called Taiwanese; and Hakka (<span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Kèjiā</em></span>), spoken in a belt above the
    38. 

  38.                 Cantonese area, as well as by a minority on Taiwan. Cantonese, Fukienese, and Hakka
    39. 

  39.                 are also widely spoken throughout Southeast Asia. </p><p>There are minority ethnic groups in China who speak non-Chinese languages. Some of
    40. 

  40.                 these, such as Tibetan, are distantly related to the Chinese languages. Others, such
    41. 

  41.                 as Mongolian, are entirely unrelated. </p><p><span class="bold"><strong>Some Characteristics of Chinese</strong></span>
    42. 

  42.             </p><p>To us, perhaps the roost striking feature of spoken Chinese is the use of
    43. 

  43.                 variation in tone ("tones" to distinguish the different meanings of syllables which
    44. 

  44.                 would otherwise sound alike. All languages, and Chinese is no exception, make use of
    45. 

  45.                 sentence intonation to indicate how whole sentences are to be understood. In
    46. 

  46.                 English, for example, the rising pattern in "He’s gone?" tells us that the sentence
    47. 

  47.                 is meant as a question. The Chinese tones, however, are quite a different matter.
    48. 

  48.                 They belong to individual syllables, not to the sentence as a whole. An inherent
    49. 

  49.                 part of each Standard Chinese syllable is one of four distinctive tones. The tone
    50. 

  50.                 does just as much to distinguish the syllable as do the consonants and vowels. For
    51. 

  51.                 example, the only difference between the verb "to buy," <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">mǎi</em></span> and the verb "to sell,"
    52. 

  52.                     <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">mài</em></span>, is the Low tone
    53. 

  53.                     (<span xml:lang="cmn-Hani" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Hani" class="foreignphrase"> ̆</em></span>) and the Falling tone
    54. 

  54.                     (<span xml:lang="cmn-Hani" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Hani" class="foreignphrase">`</em></span>). And yet these words are
    55. 

  55.                 Just as distinguishable as our words "buy" and "guy," or "buy" and "boy." Apart from
    56. 

  56.                 the tones, the sound system of Standard Chinese is no more different from English
    57. 

  57.                 than French is. </p><p>Word formation in Standard Chinese is relatively simple. For one thing, there are
    58. 

  58.                 no conjugations such as are found in many European languages. Chinese verbs have
    59. 

  59.                 fewer forms than English verbs, and nowhere near as many irregularities. Chinese
    60. 

  60.                 grammar relies heavily on word order, and often the word order is the same as in
    61. 

  61.                 English. For these reasons Chinese is not as difficult for Americans to learn to
    62. 

  62.                 speak as one might think. </p><p>It is often said that Chinese is a monosyllabic language. This notion contains a
    63. 

  63.                 good deal of truth. It has been found that, on the average, every other word in
    64. 

  64.                 ordinary conversation is a single-syllable word. Moreover, although most words in
    65. 

  65.                 the dictionary have two syllables, and some have more, these words can almost always
    66. 

  66.                 be broken down into single-syllable units of meaning, many of which can stand alone
    67. 

  67.                 as words. </p><p><span class="bold"><strong>Written Chinese</strong></span>
    68. 

  68.             </p><p>Most languages with which we are familiar are written with an alphabet. The
    69. 

  69.                 letters may be different from ours, as in the Greek alphabet, but the principle is
    70. 

  70.                 the same: one letter for each consonant or vowel sound, more or less. Chinese,
    71. 

  71.                 however, is written with "characters" which stand for whole syllables -- in fact,
    72. 

  72.                 for whole syllables with particular meanings. Although there are only about thirteen
    73. 

  73.                 hundred phonetically distinct syllables in standard Chinese, there are several
    74. 

  74.                 thousand Chinese characters in everyday use, essentially one for each
    75. 

  75.                 single-syllable unit of meaning. This means that many words have the same
    76. 

  76.                 pronunciation but are written with different characters, as <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">tiān</em></span>, "sky," <span xml:lang="cmn-Hani" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Hani" class="foreignphrase">天</em></span>, and <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">tiān</em></span>, "to add," "to increase,"
    77. 

  77.                     <span xml:lang="cmn-Hani" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Hani" class="foreignphrase">添</em></span>. Chinese characters are
    78. 

  78.                 often referred to as "ideographs" which suggests that they stand directly for ideas.
    79. 

  79.                 But this is misleading. It is better to think of them as standing for the meaningful
    80. 

  80.                 syllables of the spoken language. </p><p>Minimal literacy in Chinese calls for knowing about a thousand characters. These
    81. 

  81.                 thousand characters, in combination, give a reading vocabulary of several thousand
    82. 

  82.                 words. Full literacy calls for knowing some three thousand characters. In order to
    83. 

  83.                 reduce the amount of time needed to learn characters, there has been a vast
    84. 

  84.                 extension in the People's Republic of China (PRC) of the principle of character
    85. 

  85.                 simplification, which has reduced the average number of strokes per character by
    86. 

  86.                 half. </p><p>During the past century, various systems have been proposed for representing the
    87. 

  87.                 sounds of Chinese with letters of the Roman alphabet. One of these romanizations,
    88. 

  88.                     <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Hànyŭ</em></span>
    89. 

  89.                 <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Pīnyīn</em></span> (literally "Chinese
    90. 

  90.                 Language Spelling," generally called "Pinyin" in English), has been adopted
    91. 

  91.                 officially in the PRC, with the short-term goal of teaching all students the
    92. 

  92.                 Standard Chinese pronunciation of characters. A long-range goal is the use of Pinyin
    93. 

  93.                 for written communication throughout the country. This is not possible, of course,
    94. 

  94.                 until speakers across the nation have uniform pronunciations of Standard Chinese.
    95. 

  95.                 For the time being, characters, which represent meaning, not pronunciation, are
    96. 

  96.                 still the most widely accepted way of communicating in writing. </p><p>Pinyin uses all of the letters in our alphabet except "<span class="bold"><strong>v</strong></span>," and adds the letter "<span class="bold"><strong>ü</strong></span>." The
    97. 

  97.                 spellings of some of the consonant sounds are rather arbitrary from our point of
    98. 

  98.                 view, but for every consonant sound there is only one letter or one combination of
    99. 

  99.                 letters, and vice versa. You will find that each vowel letter can stand for
    100. 

  100.                 different vowel sounds, depending on what letters precede or follow it in the
    101. 

  101.                 syllable. The four tones are indicated by accent marks over the vowels, and the
    102. 

  102.                 Neutral tone by the absence of an accent mark: </p><p>High: <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">mā</em></span>
    103. 

  103.             </p><p>Falling: <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">mà</em></span>
    104. 

  104.             </p><p>Rising: <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">má</em></span>
    105. 

  105.             </p><p>Neutral: <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">ma</em></span>
    106. 

  106.             </p><p>Low: <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">mǎ</em></span>
    107. 

  107.             </p><p>One reason often given for the retention of characters is that they can be read,
    108. 

  108.                 with the local pronunciation, by speakers of all the Chinese languages. Probably a
    109. 

  109.                 stronger reason for retaining them is that the characters help keep alive
    110. 

  110.                 distinctions of meaning between words, and connections of meaning between words,
    111. 

  111.                 which are fading in the spoken language. On the other hand, a Cantonese could learn
    112. 

  112.                 to speak Standard Chinese, and read it alphabetically, at least as easily as he can
    113. 

  113.                 learn several thousand characters. </p><p>Pinyin is used throughout this course to provide a simple written representation
    114. 

  114.                 of pronunciation. The characters, which are chiefly responsible for the reputation
    115. 

  115.                 of Chinese as a difficult language, are taught separately. </p><p><span class="bold"><strong>BACKGROUND NOTES: ABOUT CHINESE CHARACTERS</strong></span>
    116. 

  116.             </p><p>Each Chinese character is written as a fixed sequence of strokes. There are very
    117. 

  117.                 few basic types of strokes, each with its own prescribed direction, length, and
    118. 

  118.                 contour. The dynamics of these strokes as written with a brush, the classical
    119. 

  119.                 writing instrument, show up clearly even in printed characters. You can tell from
    120. 

  120.                 the varying thickness of the stroke how the brush met the paper, how it swooped, and
    121. 

  121.                 how it lifted; these effects are largely lost in characters written with a
    122. 

  122.                 ball-point pen. </p><p>The sequence of strokes is of particular importance. Let's take the character for
    123. 

  123.                 "mouth," pronounced <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">kǒu</em></span>.
    124. 

  124.                 Here it is as normally written, with the order and directions of the strokes
    125. 

  125.                 indicated.</p><div class="figure"><a id="d5e306"/><p class="title"><strong>Figure 2. Strokes order</strong></p><div class="figure-contents"><div class="mediaobject" align="center"><img src="../../FSI-Chinese-MOD1-Textbook/Images/0021-FSI-StandardChinese-Module01ORN-StudentText-4.png" align="middle" alt="Strokes order"/></div></div></div><br class="figure-break"/><p>If the character is written rapidly, in "running-style writing," one stroke glides
    126. 

  126.                 into the next, like this. </p><div class="figure"><a id="d5e312"/><p class="title"><strong>Figure 3. Running style writing </strong></p><div class="figure-contents"><div class="mediaobject" align="center"><img src="../../FSI-Chinese-MOD1-Textbook/Images/0021-FSI-StandardChinese-Module01ORN-StudentText-11.png" align="middle" alt="Running style writing"/></div></div></div><br class="figure-break"/><p>If the strokes were written in any but the proper order, quite different
    127. 

  127.                 distortions would take place as each stroke reflected the last and anticipated the
    128. 

  128.                 next, and the character would be illegible.</p><p>The earliest surviving Chinese characters, inscribed on the Shang Dynasty "oracle
    129. 

  129.                 bones" of about 1500 B.C. , already included characters that vent beyond simple
    130. 

  130.                 pictorial representation. There are some characters in use today which are
    131. 

  131.                 pictorial, like the character for "mouth." There are also some which are directly
    132. 

  132.                 symbolic, like our Roman numerals I, II, and III. (The characters for these numbers
    133. 

  133.                 — the first numbers you learn in this course — are like the Roman numerals turned on
    134. 

  134.                 their sides.) There are some which are indirectly symbolic, like our Arabic numerals
    135. 

  135.                 1,2, and 3. But the most common type of character is complex, consisting of two
    136. 

  136.                 parts: a "phonetic," which suggests the pronunciation, and a "radical," which
    137. 

  137.                 broadly characterizes the meaning. Let's take the following character as an example. </p><div class="figure"><a id="d5e319"/><p class="title"><strong>Figure 4. Running style writing </strong></p><div class="figure-contents"><div class="mediaobject" align="center"><img src="../../FSI-Chinese-MOD1-Textbook/Images/0021-FSI-StandardChinese-Module01ORN-StudentText-5.png" align="middle" alt="Running style writing"/></div></div></div><br class="figure-break"/><p>This character means "ocean" and is pronounced <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">yáng</em></span>. The left side of the character,
    138. 

  138.                 the three short strokes, is an abbreviation of a character which means "water" and
    139. 

  139.                 is pronounced <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">shuĭ</em></span>. This
    140. 

  140.                 is the "radical." It has been borrowed only for its meaning, "water." The right side
    141. 

  141.                 of the character above is a character which means "sheep" and is pronounced yang.
    142. 

  142.                 This is the "phonetic." It has been borrowed only for its sound value,
    143. 

  143.                     <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">yáng</em></span>. A speaker of
    144. 

  144.                 Chinese encountering the above character for the first time could probably figure
    145. 

  145.                 out that the only Chinese word that sounds like <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">yáng</em></span> and means something like
    146. 

  146.                 "water," is the word <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">yáng</em></span>
    147. 

  147.                 meaning "ocean," We, as speakers of English, might not be able to figure it out.
    148. 

  148.                 Moreover, phonetics and radicals seldom work as neatly as in this example. But we
    149. 

  149.                 can still learn to make good use of these hints at sound and sense. </p><p>Many dictionaries classify characters in terms of the radicals. According to one
    150. 

  150.                 of the two dictionary systems used, there are 176 radicals; in the other system,
    151. 

  151.                 there are 2l4. There are over a thousand phonetics.</p><p>Chinese has traditionally been written vertically, from top to bottom of the page,
    152. 

  152.                 starting on the right-hand side, with the pages bound so that the first page is
    153. 

  153.                 where we would expect the last page to be. Nowadays, however, many Chinese
    154. 

  154.                 publications paginate like Western publications, and the characters are written
    155. 

  155.                 horizontally, from left to right.</p><p><span class="bold"><strong>BACKGROUND NOTES: ABOUT CHINESE PERSONAL NAMES AND TITLES
    156. 

  156.                 </strong></span></p><p>A Chinese personal name consists of two parts: a surname and a given name. There
    157. 

  157.                 is no middle name. The order is the reverse of ours: surname first, given name last. </p><p>The most common pattern for Chinese names is a single-syllable surname followed by
    158. 

  158.                 a two-syllable given name:<a href="#ftn.d5e336" class="footnote" id="d5e336"><sup class="footnote">[2]</sup></a></p><p><span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Máo Zédōng</em></span> (Mao
    159. 

  159.                 Tse-tung)</p><p><span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Zhōu Enlái</em></span> (Chou
    160. 

  160.                 En-lai)</p><p><span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Jiǎng Jièshí</em></span> (Chiang
    161. 

  161.                 Kai-shek)</p><p><span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Sòng Qìnglíng</em></span> (Soong
    162. 

  162.                 Ch'ing-ling --- Mme Sun Yat-sen)</p><p><span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Sòng Mĕilíng</em></span> (Soong
    163. 

  163.                 Mei-ling--Mme Chiang Kai-shek)</p><p>It is not uncommon, however, for the given name to consist of a single
    164. 

  164.                 syllable:</p><p><span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Zhŭ Dĕ</em></span> (Chu Teh) </p><p><span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Lín Biāo</em></span> (Lin Piao) </p><p><span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Hú Shì</em></span> (Hu Shih) </p><p><span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Jiang Qĭng</em></span> (Chiang
    165. 

  165.                 Ch'ing—Mme Mao Tse-tung) </p><p>There are a few two-syllable surnames. </p><p>These are usually followed by single-syllable given names: </p><p><span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Sīmă Guāng</em></span> (Ssu-ma
    166. 

  166.                 Kuang) </p><p><span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Ōuyáng Xiū</em></span> (Ou-yang
    167. 

  167.                 Hsiu) </p><p><span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Zhūgĕ Liàng</em></span> (Chu-ke
    168. 

  168.                 Liang) </p><p>But two-syllable surnames may also be followed by two-syllable given names:</p><p><span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Sīmă Xiāngrú</em></span> (Ssu-ma
    169. 

  169.                 Hsiang-ju) </p><p>An exhaustive list of Chinese surnames includes several hundred written with a
    170. 

  170.                 single character and several dozen written with two characters. Some single-syllable
    171. 

  171.                 surnames sound exactly alike although written with different characters, and to
    172. 

  172.                 distinguish them, the Chinese nay occasionally have to describe the character or
    173. 

  173.                 "write" it with a finger on the palm of a hand. But the surnames that you are likely
    174. 

  174.                 to encounter are fever than a hundred, and a handful of these are so common that
    175. 

  175.                 they account for a good majority of China’s population. </p><p>Given names, as opposed to surnames, are not restricted to a limited list of
    176. 

  176.                 characters, Men's names are often but not always distinguishable from women's; the
    177. 

  177.                 difference, however, usually lies in the meaning of the characters and so is not
    178. 

  178.                 readily apparent to the beginning student with a limited knowledge of
    179. 

  179.                 characters.</p><p>Outside the People's Republic the traditional system of titles is still in use.
    180. 

  180.                 These titles closely parallel our own "Mr.," "Mrs.," and "Miss." Notice, however,
    181. 

  181.                 that all Chinese titles follow the name — either the full name or the surname alone
    182. 

  182.                 — rather than preceding it.</p><p>The title "Mr." is <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Xiānsheng</em></span>. </p><p><span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Mă Xiānsheng</em></span>
    183. 

  183.             </p><p><span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Mă Mínglĭ Xiānsheng</em></span>
    184. 

  184.             </p><p>The title "Mrs." is <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Tàitai</em></span>. It follows the husband's full name or surname alone. </p><p><span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Mă Tàitai</em></span>
    185. 

  185.             </p><p><span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Mă Mínglĭ Tàitai</em></span>
    186. 

  186.             </p><p>The title "Miss" is <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Xiăojiĕ</em></span>. The Ma family's grown daughter, <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Défēn</em></span>, would be</p><p><span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Mă Xiăojiĕ</em></span></p><p><span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Mă Défēn Xiăojiĕ</em></span>
    187. 

  187.             </p><p>Even traditionally, outside the People's Republic, a married woman does not take
    188. 

  188.                 her husband's name in the same sense as in our culture. If Miss Fang <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Băolán</em></span> marries Mr. <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Ma Mínglĭ</em></span>, she becomes Mrs,
    189. 

  189.                     <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Mă Mínglĭ</em></span>, but at the
    190. 

  190.                 same time she remains <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Fāng
    191. 

  191.                     Băolán</em></span>, She does not become <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Mă Băolán</em></span>; there is no equivalent of
    192. 

  192.                 "Mrs. Mary Smith." She may, however, add her husband's surname to her own full name
    193. 

  193.                 and refer to herself as <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Mă Fāng
    194. 

  194.                     Băolán</em></span>. At work she is quite likely to continue as Miss
    195. 

  195.                     <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Fāng</em></span>. </p><p>These customs regarding names are still observed by many Chinese today in various
    196. 

  196.                 parts of the world. The titles carry certain connotations, however, when used in the
    197. 

  197.                 PRC today: <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Tàitai</em></span> should
    198. 

  198.                 not be used because it designates that woman as a member of the leisure class.
    199. 

  199.                     <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Xiăojiĕ</em></span> should not be
    200. 

  200.                 used because it carries the connotation of being from a rich family. </p><p>In the People's Republic, the title "Comrade," <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Tóngzhì</em></span> is used in place of the
    201. 

  201.                 titles <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Xiānsheng</em></span>,
    202. 

  202.                     <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Tàitai</em></span>, and
    203. 

  203.                     <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Xiăojiĕ</em></span>.
    204. 

  204.                     <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Mă Mínglĭ</em></span> would
    205. 

  205.                 be:</p><p><span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Mă Tóngzhì</em></span></p><p><span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Mă Mínglĭ Tóngzhì</em></span></p><p>The title "Comrade" is applied to all, regardless of sex or marital status. A
    206. 

  206.                 married woman does not take her husband's name in any sense. <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Mă Mínglĭ</em></span>' s wife would be: </p><p><span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Fāng Tóngzhì</em></span>
    207. 

  207.             </p><p><span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Fāng Băolán
    208. 

  208.                 Tóngzhì</em></span></p><p>Children may be given either the mother's or the father's surname at birth. In
    209. 

  209.                 some families one child has the father's surname, and another child has the mother's
    210. 

  210.                 surname. <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Mă Mínglĭ</em></span>'s and
    211. 

  211.                     <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Fāng Băolán</em></span>'s grown
    212. 

  212.                 daughter could be </p><p><span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Mă Tŏngzhì </em></span></p><p><span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Mă Dĕfēn Tóngzhì</em></span>
    213. 

  213.             </p><p>Their grown son could be </p><p><span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Fāng Tóngzhì</em></span></p><p><span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Fāng Zìqiáng
    214. 

  214.                 Tóngzhì</em></span></p><p>Both in the PRC and elsewhere, of course, there are official titles and titles of
    215. 

  215.                 respect in addition to the common titles we have discussed here. Several of these
    216. 

  216.                 will be introduced later in the course. </p><p>The question of adapting foreign names to Chinese calls for special consideration.
    217. 

  217.                 In the People's Republic the policy is to assign Chinese phonetic equivalents to
    218. 

  218.                 foreign names. These approximations are often not as close phonetically as they
    219. 

  219.                 might be, since the choice of appropriate written characters may bring in
    220. 

  220.                 non-phonetic considerations. (An attempt is usually made when transliterating to use
    221. 

  221.                 characters with attractive meanings.) For the most part, the resulting names do not
    222. 

  222.                 at all resemble Chinese names. For example, the official version of "David Anderson"
    223. 

  223.                 is <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Dàiwĕi Āndésēn</em></span>. </p><p>An older approach, still in use outside the PRC, is to construct a valid Chinese
    224. 

  224.                 name that suggests the foreign name phonetically. For example, "David Anderson"
    225. 

  225.                 might be <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">An Dàwèi</em></span>. </p><p>Sometimes, when a foreign surname has the same meaning as a Chinese surname,
    226. 

  226.                 semantic suggestiveness is chosen over phonetic suggestiveness. For example,
    227. 

  227.                     <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Wáng</em></span>, a common Chinese
    228. 

  228.                 surname, means "king," so "Daniel King" might be rendered <span xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase"><em xml:lang="cmn-Latn-pinyin" class="foreignphrase">Wáng Dànián</em></span>. </p><p>Students in this course will be given both the official PRC phonetic equivalents
    229. 

  229.                 of their names and Chinese-style names.<span class="emphasis"><em/></span></p><div class="footnotes"><br/><hr style="width:100; text-align:left;margin-left: 0"/><div id="ftn.d5e336" class="footnote"><p><a href="#d5e336" class="para"><sup class="para">[2] </sup></a>The first version of each example is in the Pinyin system of romanization.
    230. 

  230.                         The second parenthesized version is the conventional, or anglicized,
    231. 

  231.                         spelling.</p></div></div></div><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="pr03.xhtml">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="pr03.xhtml">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="ch01.xhtml">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">Introduction </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="index.xhtml">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> Chapter 1. Module 1: Orientation</td></tr></table></div></body></html>
    232.