Students will select a given Chinese name from a list and learn the meaning of the name as well as how to write it in Chinese characters. Background Information A name is an important thing to have. People use it to communicate. It identifies a specific person among many persons. Some people like their names, others would prefer to change them and sometimes do.
People often have a special 'nickname' and use it during their lifetime.
Different parts of the world look at names in different ways. In parts of Africa, people are named for the day of the week on which they are born, the position in the family, or someone whom the family wishes to honor. Even the order of first and last name differs in various parts of the world. In China, names are chosen not only because they are part of a family tradition, but because of the meaning of the characters. Given names are especially important in China because there are significantly fewer surnames there than there are in the United States.