The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-07-02
.AMES OF CHINESE.
tswHDER THE GLOBE TRoTTER, BUT
ARE CLEAR TO THE NATIVES.
btsrting with 'sIiik Name" Soon Aftsr
Birth. the Chinese Go Through String
J az Appeilations-- The Women Defrsudsd
a Their Fair share OF Names.


sf Appeilstions The Women Defrsudsd
Il Their Fair share OF Names.
Among many puzzles which help TO be-
wilder a foreigner who has newly arrived
m China not the least diflcult 20 solve II
that of Chinese names II ono innocently
hsks q native what his name is, tho an
l<swer received Is ain autobiograrhical
Ykketch In the course Of which It's hero pre-
sents himself under variety Of appells-
tions, and much probing Of the question
rs necessary before one can arrive at q toll
erably clear idea Of the subject
i All children are given a ju ming, or
2'milk name," when they are few weeks
fold. This is conferred upon them with a
kcertain degree of ceremony. After the
birth Of son among well to do people
ythe parents spread feast TO which all
hmale relatives and intimate friends are in
Ivited. When the company Is assembled,
lthe father carries the child into the room
and Announces the name decided upon Ev-
cry one who attends the entertainment Il
the bearer of present, and on leaving re-
ceives In return an ornamental box con-
tanning a slice Of roast pork, q custom
lbringing to mind the rather moro refined
French one Of giving each guest at chris
dtening a box OF bonbons. The mother does
mot appear at table, but passes the day In
tchin-chinning Ito "chin-chin' is to greet,
Ito propitate, etc. the gods on the baby's
behalf. During the evening In order 20
warn of evil spirits, numbers Of fireorack-
iefs are exploded. 1t Is not considered nee
cssary to give feast when daughter is
born, nor are the congratulations Of friends
Expected Children's "milk names" are
always fanciful and pretty, but that the
EVIL eye may be averted these are often
dropped and the little ones called by some
Iopprobrious nickname, such a. pig, bug.
hog flea, etc.
When a boys education begins, a ahu
1ming. or "book name," IL assumed. He IL
kaken by his father to the school which
lhas been chosen, where the father and
teacher unite in kowtowing before the
memorial tablets of Confucius and other
Ieages-some of these tablets always hang
lon the walls Of schoolrooms-and In be-
seeching them to look favorably upon the
Had. The shu ming consists Of two char
iBoters which have some auspicious and ap-
propriate meaning, such names as Intel
pigent Scholar, Entering Virtue, Rapid
Progress, ETC., being frequently selected.
When a man marries, he adopts yet an
other name called tsz (style). This Is some
times composed of o combination OF his
L \
commonly brand new for the occasion. II
he obtains literary degree or occupies an
ofiicial position, he receives kwan ming,
Vor official name" II he IL tradesman,
f1he takes q hac, or "shop name" tits usual
J flor the hao to contain some allusion either
60 the personalxppSs-rance or to the occu-
patton of the shopkoeper. This custom
accounts for the ridiculous signs which
amuse "globe trotters' as they stroll along
the Queens road in Hong Kong or wan
der into the Honkew Of Shanghai, the
isigns In these streets being written in Eng
llish. Strictly speaking the hao belongs
more to the shop than TO the shopman, but
At is always used by foreigners as II IL were
u personal name and not infrequently by
THE Chinese also. The case Is, however,
VERY much the same as IL q stranger In
IParis were to talk about "Mr Louvre"
or "Mr Bon Marche" 1t might be- sup
/ posed that the supply of names enumerat-
ed would satisfy any reasonable man, and
that he could die, in this respect, content
with fate, but not SO. A Chinaman leaves
strict injunctions with regard to the final
one, which is bestowed on him only after
death. Under it viii his virtues lie emu
merated on the ancestral tablet, and under
At he will be worshiped by successive gen.
erations of descendants
~ Woman, who is in China defrauded Of
most Of her rights, naturally is net allow
ed her fair share Of names. She Is called
by her ju ming until her marriage, when
her family name becomes her given name,
and she adopts In its place the cognomen
OF her husbands clan. Thus, according
60 the Chinese custom, II Miss Rose Brown
married Mr.. Robinson, she would discard
the Rose and call herself Robinson
Brown, the family name always being
placed first.
womens names are in conversation COM
monty abbreviated to one character, to
which an A Is pre1xcd, as A-loh, A-cum,
etc In Annoy and it's neighborhood this
practice Is reversed, the A being placed
after the character while In many prov
inces Of the empire the custom is entirely
unknown. A stranger Is astonished on
finding that men and women are frequent
ly called by the Same names, and still
more surprised when he discovers that In
the Chinese language no words exist which
correspond To our Christian names-that
Is to say, there is none used solely for this
purpose as we use Henry, James, Mary,
etc. They are simply chosen with refer
ence to their meaning, which causes what
difference there is between the names of
The sexes. These arc, as has been re-
marked, often. alike, but again there arc
certain terms which are only applied to
men, and vice versa Thus while "A Lily"
/ IA Flower" and "Emulating the Moon"
are favorite names for girls they arc not
considered suitable to the sterner sex.
All foreign traslesmen who establish
themselves In tho country take "hao"
and all foreign merchants "hong" name,
the famous firm of Jardine, Matheson e.
Co. being known as "Eno;" that of But
terfleld a. Swire as "Taku." Even truv-
elers are generally inspired with desire
TO have ivory boxes, pocket handkerchiefs
and other articles marked with their name
In Chinese. This fancy enables the willy
Celestial TO play many sly joke on the
hated fan kwei" foreign deviD. Charac-
tcrs which approach the foreign name in
sound are offered to him, but IL Is u pccul-
iarity of the language that although many
of Its characters have almost exactly the