The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1900-09-11
CHINESE PLACE NAMES.
SIGNIFICANT TO THOSE WHO UN-
DERSTANO THE LANGUAGE.
tekin Is Northern CapiiaI-shanghai Sir
miles "City Near the SEN" and Yang
tse-Kiang Means"Father of the Ocean
-Tien-Tsin is the Heavenly Place.

NN many Chinese districts.
v v towns and rivers Many of
these geographical names
doubtless appear repellant and unpro-
hounceable 10 all except few persons
who are familiar with them. But. SAYS
the New York sun, if we had Il better
acquaintance with these names and
knew their meaning they would be
found to he full of interest. They are
often condensed descriptions of the
pace or feature to which they are APP
Piled. 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 apply TO n seaport. Yum no
means THE River of Transportation,
and we naturally infer that the water
way thus designated must he CONNER
clally important. Yum no. I'm fact. is
the Chinese name of the Grand Canal
which plays so large part in the
freight service of East China.
However many syllables there NAV
be in Chinese place name II is COM
posed of as many words as there are
syllables, for all Chinese words are
monosyllabic. If we know the mean
ing of even one of the words i'm n geo
graphical name it helps to convey n
definite idea. The words Ho and
hianS, for example, both mean river"
and when we see them on man we
know they refer TO n river or stream.
Many OF the names of rivers are de
scriptive of them: Hoang no. for exam
pie. means yellow River Tsln iiang
means Clear River" Observe how
definite is the idea expressed I'm the
name of each of the three rivers which
converge upon Canton. One of them is
the 81 liiang, or West River" another
the Pc kiang. or North River" the
third is the Tung kiang, or East Riv-
cr." The names of these rivers tells
the direction from which they come
They help TO simplify the study of the
geography 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 of the
Hoang no because ii 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 Chi
nese call the sea Hoang hal. or Yellow
Sea.
The Chinese unite the words in a
name so that they form one word lust
rs we write Newtown, Hartford or
Decrfield. Sometimes we unite the
words in Chinese name and some
times we separate them, but there is
no reason for example, why we should
write Tien-Tsin when we do not write
Pe-kin. Each of these names is com
posed of two words. Pc means north"
and Kin means "the capital" or the
kings household and thus Pckin
means the northern capital. Tien
means heavenly" and Tsin means
place and thus the name of the
largest city in Northeast China means
heavenly place"-a name it has borne
for many centuries. When Marco Polo
visited the city in the thirteenth cen
fury he translated its name into "Citta
Celeste"
Many Chinese names we see i'm the
newspapers and do not even ATTEMPT
to pronounce would give us as much
Information if we could translate
them, MS long sentence might do.
lIankow, for example, is the name of
Il very important city on the Yang tsc
kionS. There are only six letters i'm
the name. and yet any Chinese hoy
would know from the two short words
HnInnnGinu 10 a..
town standing at the "kow" or mouth
of river named Han. The Han is the
greatest tributary of the Yang tse
kiang, and plays most important part
ia the commercial life of that teeming
valley, and the city built ON the spot
where the Han minglcs its waters with
tie Yang tsc is Hankow, i. g., the town
ut the mouth of the Han.
The word Yang means ocean" tsc
means son" and the name Yang tec
kiang which the Chinese applied ages
ago 10 their greatest river shows that
they did not mean to deprcciatc it's m
pcrtance. Some writer's say that the
carly Chinese believed their largest
river contributed more water TO The
making of the ocean than any other
stream in the world and so III the
name of the river they conveyed the
idea that the ocean was its son. The
name is often enormously translated
the Blue River.
Pckin has not always been the CAPT
tai of the empire. but Nankin. n city
far 10 the south. was long the seat of
government, and. gs the name Pckiu
means northern capital" so the name
Rankin means Southern capital"
White River Is the meaning Of Pei
no. ncar whose mouth are the forts
just seized by the Powers.
I'm some books and maps we sec the
words "fu' or "hieu" added To- tho
names of many towns These words
lr' not q part Of the names. and some
Of the best aliases omit them. for they
icIEthcn the name aud mukc IL moro
formidable TO the foreigner Fu
mcoua the capital of one Of the depart
mcu's into which province is divided.
i'm other words V Is fhc residence Of
thc official at Che head of tho
department. llicr sigLifCs ono Of .hc
districts into which n department is
divided. and when attached 90 place
name means that the official i'm charge
Of the district resides there n is bet.
ter to- omit these merely political desig.