The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1900-07-21
CHINESE NAMES.
Though They Seem Odd, They Have
Easily Explained Meanings.

| We are reading just now of many
Chinese districts, towns and rivers.
Many of these geographical names
doubtless appear repellent and unpro-
| nounceable to all except few persons
who are familiar with them. But if we
had better acquaintance with these
| names and knew their meaning they
would be found to be full of interest.
They are often condensed descriptions
of the place or feature to which they
are applied They are far more instinct
with life than many geographical
names in other countries.
| Suppose we had never heard of
! Shanghai, for example, but knew the
meaning of the two words composing
| the name. We would know at once
| that the "City Near the Sea- must ap-
ply to sea port. Yun-ho means 1.-THE
River Of Transportation" and we nat
urally infer that the waterway thus de-
signated must be commercially import
ant Yun-ho, in fact, is the Chinese
name of the Grand canal, which plays
so large a part in the freight service of
! East China.
However many syllables there may
| d
posed of as many words as there are
| syllables, for all Chinese words are
monosyllables. If we knew the mean
ing Of even one of the words in geo.
| graphical name it helps to convey a
definite idea. The words no and kiang,
for example, both mean "river," and
| when we see them on map we know
| they refer to river or stream. Many
of the names of rivers or descriptive of
them. Hoang-ho, for example, means
yellow River" Tsin-kiang means
| "Clear river" Observe how definite
is the idea expressed in the name of
each of the three rivers which con-
verge upon Canton. One of them is
the Si-kiang, or West river" another
the Pe-kiang, or "North river" the
third is the Tung-kiang, or East
river The names of these rivers tell
| the direction from which they come.
They help to simplify the study of geo.
graphy of that part of China. When
they unite they form the the Chu-
| kiang, or 'Pearl river" The Chinese
| named their largest river in the north
| the HOang-hO because it cuts it's bed
| through yellow soil, from which it de-
| rives it's color. The yellow flood it
| pours into the sea colors that part of
the ocean yellow, and hence the Chin
csc call the sea Hoang-hai, or Yellow
sea.
The Chinese unite the words in
name so that they form one word, just
as we write Newton, Hartford, or Deer
field. Sometimes we unite the words
| in Chinese name and sometimes we
| separate them, but there is no reason,
| for example, why we should write
| Tien-Tsin when we do not write Pc
| King. Each of these names is COM
posed of two words Pc means north
and king means 1.-The capital" or 1.-The
Kings household and thus Picking
means the northern capital. Tien
means heavenly and Tsin means
place." and thus the name of the
largest city in Northwest China means
Heavenly place''-a name it has borne
| visited the city in the thirteenth cen
fury he translated it names into "Citta
| Celeste
Many Chimes names we see in the
| newspapers and do not even attempt
to pronounce would give US as much
information, if we could translate them
as long sentence might do. Hankow,
for example, is the name of very inn
portant city on the Yang tse-K iang.
There are only six letters in the name,
and yet any Chinese boy would know
from the two short words comporing it
| that it is the name of the town stand
ing at the "kow' or mouth of a river
named the Han. The Han is the great
est tributary of the -Kiang,
and plays most important part in the
commercial life of that teeming valley,
and the city built on the spot where the
Han mingles it's waters with the Yang
e-Kiang is Hankow-i. e., the town at
| the mouth of the han.
The word Yang means "ocean," tse
means son." and the name Yang-tse-
Kiang, which the Chinese applied ages
ago to their greatest river shows that
they did not mean to depreciate it's i'm
portance. Some writer's say the early
IChinese believed their largest river con-
tributed more water to the making of
the ocean than any other stream in
the world, and so, in the name of the
river, they conveyed the idea that the
ocean was it's son. The name is often
enormously translated the Blue river.
Pekin has not always been the CAPT.
tai of the empire, but Marking, city
far to the south, was long the seat of
government, and, as the name Pekin
means northern capital" so the name
Marking means 'southern capital.
) white river" is the meaning of Pei
no, near whose mouth are the forts
seized by the powers
In some books and maps we see the
words "fu" or "hein' added to the
names of many towns. These words are
not a part of the names, and some OF
the best aliases omit them, for they
lengthen the name and make it more
formidable to the foreigner. Flu means
the capital of one of the departments
into which a province is divided-ir
other words, it is the residence of the
official at the head of the department
Hen signifies one of the districts into
which a department is divided, an6
. when attached to a place name means