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The Chinese Names

In ancient China, not all of the people enjoy the last name, given name, surname, and word, since their entitlement bear an intimate relationship with the person’s identity, social status, the family origin and occupation, there is some similarity between the Chinese names and English naming systems, which may probably be discovered by foreign students who are interested in Chinese culture and are waiting to learn Chinese in China.

For people to study Mandarin in China’s further reference, the last name in the Chinese naming system indicates the mark of the family origin, which is the product of the matriarchal society.

Here is an example to be shared with those who’d like to study Chinese in China, the last name “Jiang” was explained in the book Analytical Dictionary of Chinese Characters in this way, since patron of agriculture Shennong resided in the Jiang waters, therefore, the “Jiang” had been used as a last name. The surname is the development of name, which are the symbols demonstrating the branches of name, and maybe also well-known by friends who’d like to learn Chinese in China as the symbol in the differentiation of the male’s identity and social status.

The modern Chinese last names are mostly the inheritance of the ancient ones, which takes up a majority of it, and the situation of the oneness of the last name and surname was formed after the Qin Dynasty, and it is also well-known for foreign students expecting to study Chinese in China that there seems to be no distinctions between the last names and surnames nowadays in Chinese names.

In the modern novels in vernacular Chinese, especially in the martial arts fictions, it must be made clear for students to study Mandarin in China that when a man needs to clarify his open, responsible and aboveboard personalities, he would usually say that “I would admit what I did as a man, since I will not change my last name and surnames in any case”. What’s also worth noticing for friends to learn Chinese in China is that the Chinese people attach particular importance to their last names and surnames, which was probably under the influence of the Confucianism, since the changing of the family name would indicate the changing of the ancestors, which would bring great humiliations to an individual.

During the Pre-Qin Dynasty, the common people did not have given name and word, only the nobilities had the privilege to have both of them, the novelty in the Chinese names is quite worth exploring for readers to study Chinese in China.

Here is an interesting story for readers who’d like to study Mandarin in China: it is recorded in the Book of Rites that a baby will be named by his father when he is three month old, and when participating in the ceremony marking a man at the coming age of twenty, he would be able to have his hair gathered into a knot and wear crown, what’s more, the guests would give the given name for him during the ceremony, thus he got his full name.

However, it must be made clear for people who are interested in Chinese names and would like to learn Chinese in China that after the Han Dynasties, all the literati would be able to have both given name and word regardless of their low social origin, and it is noteworthy that all the common people regardless of their social strata are able to nominate themselves without any restrictions.

What’s also noteworthy for friends to study Chinese in China is that the word is a derivate from the given name in Chinese names, there is an intimate relationship between the two, and when people express their ideas or thoughts, others would be able to tell the word through the given name, vice versa, and when the name are written out, a tinge of optical fantasy would be attached, which vividly indicates the meaning contact between them.

However, the people who’d like to study Mandarin in China must also be wildered at the complex ancient Chinese names. Well, most of the Chinese people since the modern period have only got the given name without the words except for some literati taking delight in doing so. According to a sample survey carried out by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the most frequently used Chinese names includes, Li, Wang, Zhang, Liu and Chen, etc. with a total population of 0.35 billion.

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