TCcookie Posted August 20, 2004 at 10:41 PM Report Share Posted August 20, 2004 at 10:41 PM A couple nights ago my mind was racing, and for some reason I thought of the PRC's name: 中华人民共和国, and I made a realization. Now, my Chinese skills aren't that great, but wouldn't this be better translated as Chinese People's Republic rather than People's Republic of China? This may seem like a silly thing, but I found it fascinating for the insight it potentially gives on Chinese ideas of race and nationality. Can anyone enlighten me? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TitTauGong Posted August 21, 2004 at 04:06 PM Report Share Posted August 21, 2004 at 04:06 PM This may seem like a silly thing, but I found it fascinating for the insight it potentially gives on Chinese ideas of race and nationality. not really. that's the English name. Chinese people use the Chinese language to describe their ideas of race and nationality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCcookie Posted August 29, 2004 at 12:31 AM Author Report Share Posted August 29, 2004 at 12:31 AM Thank you for dismissing my curiosity and negating my sense of excitement and interest. No one has to talk about issues I alluded to, but someone could at least humor me and answer the question I directly asked. Goodness, some inaugural "serious" message.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claw Posted August 29, 2004 at 01:04 AM Report Share Posted August 29, 2004 at 01:04 AM I don't think ideas of race or nationality have anything to do with it. It's just a matter of language differences in the case of the Chinese name and historical reasons in the case of the English name. In the Chinese name, 共和国 must come last, because it serves as the noun in the name. Regarding the English name, the country was always called China even before the existence of the PRC; so to call it the Chinese People's Republic would be strange. So, the only way to keep China in the name is to put it at the end, thus the People's Republic of China. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TCcookie Posted August 29, 2004 at 11:53 PM Author Report Share Posted August 29, 2004 at 11:53 PM Ah, okay. Thank you. I'm not terribly far in my Chinese studies, so I am rather ignorant of naming conventions and certainly of a lot of syntactical issues. So I gues ＂中华＂ ａｎｄ ＂人民＂ ｂｏｔｈ ｓｅｐａｒａｔｅｌｙ ｍｏｄｉｆｙ ＂共和国，＂，ｔｈｅｎ？ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claw Posted August 30, 2004 at 01:20 AM Report Share Posted August 30, 2004 at 01:20 AM Yes... take a look at this page: http://hk.geocities.com/michael_33hk/new_page_flagflag.htm You'll see that almost all country names that start with "Republic of" end with 共和國 or sometimes 民國. Likewise, kingdoms end with 王國. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Altair Posted August 30, 2004 at 11:18 PM Report Share Posted August 30, 2004 at 11:18 PM Could the problem be that there are two ways to parse 中华人民共和国. If you understand it as (中华 人民) (共和 国), then the phrase would mean "the Republic of the Chinese People." If you understand it as (中华) (人民 共和国), I think it would mean: "the People's Republic that is Chinese." I think the same ambiguity exists in English. "People's Republic of China" can mean either "the Chinese 'People's-Republic'" or "The 'Chinese People's' Republic." By the way, isn't the idea of a "people's republic" a communist term of art? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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