Sunday, January 22, 2012
Monday, January 9, 2012
John Meade Huntsman
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| Image via Wikipedia |
Mandarin: 洪博培 Hong2 Bo2 Pei2
Cantonese: 洪博培 Hung4 Bok3 Pui4
Korean: 홍박배 Hong Bak Bae
Vietnamese: Hồng Bác Bồi
Japanese: 洪博培 (こう はくばい) Kou Hakubai
Friday, December 30, 2011
Asian power?
On my other blog I wrote a bit about my own experiences: http://www.amywillow.co.cc/2011/12/asian-power.html
Address change for the Sinosphere blog!
Starting today this site is located at http://sino.amywillow.co.cc. Don't worry, your RSS feed and everything else is automatically changed and redirected to the new location.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Special: Create your own Chinese name for $5
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| Image via Wikipedia |
Forget those automated "Chinese name generators"! They make you look like a fool. The author of the Sinosphere Blog and expert in East Asian linguistics is now at your service. Now for $5, I will come up with a great-sounding Chinese name for you, that brings good luck (or at least impressions).
Limited time offer, regular value $45.
Now on Fiverr.com: http://fiverr.com/524431
Friday, December 2, 2011
An interesting document I found
Admittedly, I have not been posting much lately here. I have been rather busy with school, as well as with #Occupy movement.
The other day, I found an interesting document in the Wikimedia Commons.
It is a flier from the Daegu District Court during the Japanese occupation of Korea. In 1939, the Ordinances 19 and 20 of the Governor-General of Chosen (Korea) instituted a series of policies now known as 創氏改名 창씨개명 (Soushi-Kaimei in Japanese, Changssi Gaemyeong in Korean). In modern history textbooks, this is briefly mentioned in a way that makes readers believe that every Korean was simply forced to renounce their Korean names and adopt a Japanese name (a classic example: 김영순 Kim Young-Sun renamed 金井英順 Kanai Hideyori) at gunpoint (or under threat of their children expelled from schools). The reality seems a little bit more complex.
In Japan, in prior to the Meiji restoration and its adaptation of many Western customs, most commoners did not have "last names." Only the samurais and the noblemen were permitted to have a surname (and to carry a sword). As Japan adopted the system of family registry, it required all Japanese nationals to create a family name. Unlike in Chinese and Korean customs, however, this Japanese family name functioned much like the Western last names: when a woman is married to a man, she would take her husband's last name, hence the entire nuclear family would be identified by the same family name (this is not the case in China or Korea).
In promulgating soushi-kaimei, the Governor-General's office recognized and created a distinction between 姓 and 氏. These two words are now used interchangeably for most parts, but the 1939 ordinances distinguished between these two (see the item 3 on the flier). Hence, contrary to popular misconception, the occupation government did not require one to change a Korean's surname/clan name (姓) but rather that stated that 姓 is not the same as the family name (氏) under Japanese family law, and thus a new 氏 must be created and inscribed into the family register, just as commoners in Japan had to in the past.
This became important as the Japanese family law required that a husband and a wife share the same family name. As the item 2 in this flier states, a woman named 윤정희 (Yun Jong Hee/Yoon Jeong-Hee) married to Mr. Kim would have her legal name automatically changed to 김정희 Kim Jong Hee, and in order to avoid resulting confusion it was recommended to designate a new family name instead.
Do not miss this good opportunity!
The deadline for filing a petition for a creation of family name is Aug. 10, after which you can no longer file. There is, however, no due date for name change petitions.
If you do not file by Aug. 10, the clan name of the head of household will automatically become the family name. For example, if the surname of the head of household is Kim, their family name will become Kim, and wife Yun Jong Hee will become Kim Jong Hee, following the family name of the household, and daughter Pak Nam Jak will become Kim Nam Jak, potentially creating confusions. As such, regrets may be avoided if you adopted a mainland [Japanese] style family name.
There is a popular conflation between family name and clan name, however, family name is a name of the household, whereas clan name indicates one's patrilineal pedigree, and as such these two are completely different in nature.
There is a popular misconception that an establishment of family name will result in loss of your clan name; your family registry will continue to note both your clan name and bon'gwan however.
There is also some misunderstanding that everyone who shares the same clan name and bon'gwan must establish a common family name; this is a big misconception -- as family names are to identify each household, it is reasonable to have different family names from household to household.
Some people think too much when picking a family name. Often spending too much time thinking over can get you lost in thinking, so it is ideal that you decide on this quickly.
If you have any more questions as the deadline approaches, contact your municipal hall or district court as soon as possible.
The District Court, Daegu
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C5%8Dshi-kaimei#Ordinances_No._19_and_20
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Sounds of trains
(A bit off-topic)
In some cities, public transport systems have come up with a way to brand themselves with a distinct set of sounds that their trains make.
Nagoya Railroad, Nagoya, Japan
Société des Transports de Montréal, Montréal, Québec
In some cities, public transport systems have come up with a way to brand themselves with a distinct set of sounds that their trains make.
Nagoya Railroad, Nagoya, Japan
Société des Transports de Montréal, Montréal, Québec
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