Evening star., 1900-07-07
CHINESE NAMES,
Though They Seem Odd, They Have
Easily Explained Meanings.
From tho netrof rrhrro

Though They Seem Odd, They Have
Easily Explained Meanings.
From the Detroit Tribune.
We are reading just now Of many Chi
nese districta. towns and rivers. Many OF
these geographical names doubtless appear
repellant and unpronounceable to all ex-
cept a few persons who are familiar with
them. But If we had a 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 9TH
er countries.
suppose we had never heard of Shanghai
Tor example, but knew the meaning of the
Two words composing the name. We would
Know at once that the City Near the Sea-
must apply to seaport. Yun-ho means
The River of Transportation" and we
naturally infer that the waterway thus
designated must be commercially impor-
of the Grand canal, which plays so large
part in freight service of east China
However many syllables there may be in
Chinese place name, 1t is composed of as
many words as there are syllables, for all
Chinese words are monosyllabic. If we
know the meaning of even one of the words
in a geographical name 1t 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 Of rivers are descriptive Of them Hoang
kfang means Clear river" Observe how
definite is the idea expressed in the name
of each of the three rivers which converge
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.
INN ha CT ty1x 90
raphy of that part of China. When they
unite they form the Chu-kiang or Pearl
river" The Chinese named their largest
river in the north the Hoang-ho because 1t
cuts its bed through yellow soil from which
1t derives its color. The yellow flood 1t
pours Into the sea colors that part Of the
ocean yellow, and hence the Chinese call
the sea Hoang-hai, or Yellow sea-
The Chinese unite the words in a name
so that they form one word, just as we
write Newtown. Hartford or Deerfeld.
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 Peking. Each of these names is COM
posed of two words. Pc means north and
king means the capital" or 1.-The kings
household" and thus Peking means the
northern capital. Tfen means heavenly"
and Tsin means place." and thus the name
of the largest city in northwest China
means heavenly place"-a name 1t has
borne for many centuries. When Marco
Polo visited the city In the thirteenth CEN
tury he translated Its name into "Citta
Celeste
Many Chinese names we see in the news
papers and do not even attempt to pro-
nounce would give us much information
II we could translate them, as a long SEN
tence might do. Hankow, for example is
the name of very important city on the
Yang-tse-Kiang. There are only six letters
In the name, and yet any Chinese boy
would know from the two short words COM
posing 1t that 1t Is the name of the town
stadig at the "kow" or mouth of a
river named the Han. The Han Is the great
est tributary Of the Yang-tse- -Kiang, and
plays a most important part in the COM
mercial life of that teeming valley and the
giles its waters with the Yang-tse is Han
kow. 1. e., the town at the mouth Of the
Han.
The word Yang means ocean" tse means
which the Chinese applied ages ago to their
greatest river, shows that they did not
mean to depreciate Its Importance. Some
writer's say the early Chinese believed their
largest river contributed 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 its son. The name is often err
roneously translated the Blue river.
Pekin has not always been the capital
OF the empire. but Marking a city far to
the south. was long the seat of govern
ment. and. as the name Picking means
northern capital" the name Nanking
means southern capital" White river is
the meaning of Pei-ho, near whose mouth
are the forts just seized by the powers
In some books and maps we see the words
fu' or "hten' added to the names of many
towns. These words are not 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 depart
ments into which a province is divided-in
other words, 1t is the residence of the off,
cial at the head of the department. Hen
signifies one of the districts into which a
department is divided. and when attached
to place name means that the official in
charge of the district resides there. 1t is
better to omit these merely political desig-
nations.