Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-04-17
''PEK|NG" OR ''PEKIk"
A Battle for the Final g"
Successful at Last.
A NOTABLE CAMPAIGN
MISS E. r. SCIDMORE AND THE
BOARD OF GEOGRAPHIC NAMES.
A Decision Against the "g" in 1897
Reversed at Recent
Meeting. 4.s
A NOTABLE CAMPAIGN

Meeting. a.
The United States board OF geographic
names at it's last regular meeting decided
that Picking was the correct form In En-
glish to indicate the northern capital of
China. Picking had always been spelled
with ''g'' from the first treaties of 1888
and 1860 down to February g. 1897, when
the board of geographic names voted TO
shorten it to the Cantonese dialect sound,
'Pekin." The decision attracted. no COM
ment or attention until during the summer
of 1900 the Boxer outbreak and the siege
of the Picking legations gave the govern
ment bureaus more occasion to use the
word than ever before. The War Depart
ment scrupulously followed the boards de-
cision. and the government printing office
was rigorous in clipping the "g' from
D. Picking wherever it occurred, so that the
whole flood of public documents, reports,
correspondence and maps relating to af-
fairs in North China is marked with the
Cantonese name. Even the tombstone or
Captain O'Reilly at Arlington is covered
with the abbreviated "Pekin.'
A Fight for the &C."
Miss E. r. Scidmore, who has spent
long time in the far east, has conducted
campaign against the board for the re-
establishment of "Peking,' and, falling to
secure hearing to argue the case mass
of testimony was presented in written form
to prove the right of the 'g. Her first
formal letter to the board asking why and
when "Pekin" was adopted as the official
spelling was answered by the secretary,
who said that he had voted for 'Pekin'
because 1t was shorter because about all
the references consulted indicated either
md "a consulted
Chinaman about the Boxer trouble in that
big city in northern China and heard him
call it Pekin.' No trace Of < sound
was heard"
Miss Scidmore then marshaled all the
English-speaking sinologues. living and
dead, to prove that Picking" was the only
correct and possible TRANSPORTATION or me
Chinese characters standing for northern
capital" Not of them permitted the
use of 'Pekin." Sir Thomas Wade author
of dictionary and method for English stu.
dents of Chinese, while British minister at
Picking. received a report from a suborui-
nate addressed to him at '.Pekin' the
great scholar returned it indorsed: Her
majesty does not maintain a legation IN
any city of that name" Another authority
quoted was Dr. S. Wells Williams, the emf
nent American sinologue and diplomat, au-
thor of a Chinese dictionary. who said IN
his cyclopaedic work, THE Middle King
DOM This word should not be written
Pellin. 1t is pronounced Fetching by the
citizens and by most OF the people north
of the great river.
Sir Robert Hart, inspector general of the
Chinese customs service, himself a most
critical sinologue, has always used the
form Picking in all the correspondence
accounts and publications of that service,
and the cancelling dies of the Chinese post
office at the capital are Picking
Other Authorities.
Consul Playfair in his standard gazetteer
or list of Chinese place names gives 'Peich-
ing or Peking' as the transliteration. The
text books and dictionaries of Giles. Nor
rison, Bullock Legge and Wade all give
Picking"
At the meeting of the international orien-
tai congress at Hamburg last September
Miss Scidmore passed paper to the lead
ing Chinese scholars asking how the cap
ital of north China should be spelled in En-
glish publications. and all those learned
ones wrote Picking" Among them We're
DR.. H, A. Giles, professor of Chinese at
Cambridge, England; DR.. F. Hrth, profess
sor of Chinese at Columbia University, New
York: NJ. Henri Cordier of the French
Academy and College de France, Paris;
Arthur Diosy of London, DR.. o. Francke of
Dresden and others.
Prof Robert X. Douglass, Chinese cura-
tor of the British Museum and professor of
Chinese at Kings College London, wrote
to Miss Scidmore: II quite agree with you
that Picking ought to be spelt with final
g. The g is plainly sounded and the
whole word so pronounced has the meaning
canoe and is altogether meaningless in this
connecticut
Special Commissioner Rockhill would not
permit the g to be dropped from his
Picking in the government printing of his
official report, and sent Miss Scidmore a long
letter which expressed his mind not only
about Picking" but as to other decisions
of the board. There can be no doubt in
the mind of any person who has ever heard
the name pronounced by Chinaman-
save Cantonese-that it should be written
Mr.
Is extraordinarily careful to give a correct
transcription to some native sounds Thus
II writes Singan Flu, Habana and Seoul
1t is pity the same care was not exer-
cised throughout it's work" and Mr. Rock
Hill cited long list of contradictory and
inconsistent spelling adopted by the board
Mr. +. ID. Cheshire, eminent sinologue
for many years Chinese secretary of the
United States legation in Picking, was equally
positive. Permit me-" he wrote Ito say
most emphatically that the official and only
recognized form l know is Picking In the
original text (Chinese) the g is distinctly
pronounced-in the northern mandarin or
official language Fetching and the southern
mandarin, Picking. The latter form was no
doubt originally used by the sinologues as
approaching nearest to an adequate repre-
sentation or the spoken sound in the official
dialect most extensively known; namely,
the southern mandarin. Pekin is the Cam
tonese pronunciation, and in no wise off,
cial, any more than the Swallow, Annoy or
Foochow pronunciation would be regarded
opinion spell the name for the capital Of
China without the g
The Sc" Wins.
Miss Scdmore's communication was sent
TO the board previous to its regular meeting
In December. Throughout the winter the
board considered the evidence for Picking "
1t appears that there was none for -"Pekin. -
The board finally brought the subject to a
vote and reversing its decision of Febru-
airy. 1897. puts the government In line with
the worlds best usage again. The War De-
partment is now somewhat embarrassed by
thls, since Its connection with the expedi-
ton to China involved a mass of printed
reports and maps, in which the most i'm
portant names were misspeled according
TO the latest decision. The board was or
ganiZed in 1880 to secure uniform usage in
regard TO geographic names and orthogra-
ply throughout the executive departments
of the government and all unsettled cues
tons were to be referred to it,
FORMULATION OF RULES.