The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-06-25
CHINESE NAMES ANALYzEp.
Significant to Those Who Are Fa-
miIiar With the Lanyuare


miliar With the Language,
We are reading just now of many Chi
nese districts, towns, and rivers. Many Of
these geographical names doubtless ap-
pear repellant and unpronounceable to ali
! except a few persons who are familiar with
them. But, says the New York Sum-" II
/ We had a better acquaintance with these
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
4 know at once that the City Near the Sea-
must apply to seaport. Yum no means
THE River of Transportation, and We
naturally infer that the waterway thus
designated must be commercially import
ant. Yum no. in 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 may be in
i
as many words as there are eyllables, for
all Chinese words are monosyllabic. II we
know the meaning Of even one Of the
words in a geographical name 1t helps to
convey definite idea. The words Ho and
Kiang, for example, both mean river"
and when we see them on map we know
they refer to a river or stream. Many Of
the names OF rivers. are descriptive Of
them; Hoang no. for example, means Vel
low River" Tsin kiang means Clear
River" Observe how definite is the idea
expressed in the name Of each OF the three
rivers which converge upon Canton. One
Of them is the 81 kIang, Oh West River"
another the Pc kiang, or North River"
the third is the Tung kiang, or East
River" The names of these rivers tell
the directions from which they come. Taey
help to simplify the study Of the geogra-
ply 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 no be au-e
it cuts its bed through yellow soil from
which it derives its color. The yellow flood
it pours into the sea colors that part of the
ocean yellow, and hence the Chinese call
the sea Hoang hal, or Yellow Sea-
The Chinese unite the words in a name
SO that they form one word, Just as we
write Newtown, Hartford. or Deerfield.
Sometimes we unite the words in Chinese
name and sometimes we separate them,
but there is no reason, for example, why
we should write T1en-Tsin when we do not
write Pe-Kin. Each of these names is
composed Of two words. Pc means north"
and Kin means the capital" or 1.-THE
kings household" and thus Pekin means
the northern capital. Tien means ''1leav-
emily" and Tsin means place." and thus
the name Of the largest city in northeast
China means heavenly place name it
has borne for many centuries. When
Marco Polo visited the city in the thir-
teenth century 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 as much information,
il We could translate them, as long SEN
tence might do. Hsnkow. for example. is
the name of very important city on the
fangtse kiang. There are only six letters
in the name, and yet any Chinese boy
would know from the two short words
composing it that it is the name of the
town standing at the "kow' or mouth of a
river named Han. The Han is the greatest
tributary Of the Yangtse 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 |
its waters with the Yangtse 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 its Importance. Some
writers say that the early Chinese be-
lieved 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 enormously translated the Blue |
River
Pekin has not always been the capital |
OF the Empire, but Nankin, q city far to |
the south, was long the seat of Govern
ment; and, as the name Pekin means
northern capital" so. the name Nankin
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' and "hien'' 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 1t more formidable to the
foreigner. Flu means the capital Of one
OF the departments into which a province
10 uiNlueu, III OlueT WOEuS, IL b Tue resi-
dence OF the official at the head of the
department. Hen signifies one of the dig
tricts into which department is divided,
and when attached to a place name means
that the official in charge OF the district
resides there 1t is better TO omit these
merely political designations. When We
have more intimate dealings with China
and better knowledge OF the people and
their country, We shall have uniformity
In the spelling OF China's- place names,
and know what these names mean; and
We shall see clearly that these names show
imaginative and descriptive
facility, and that they are really helpful
In the study Of Chinese geography.
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