Chinese Village With Untypable Name: A Rose By Any Other Name…
Under pressure from China’s implaccable bureaucracy, the family name of some 200 villagers in Shandong province in eastern China must be changed, as the character is so rare it cannot be typed.
Most Chinese share about 100 family names. These include: Wang, Chen, Li and Liu. Some others, like Tong and Cun, sometimes occur, but they are very rare. The problematic surname in this particular case is Shan.
The villagers were fine when important documents like identity cards and driving licenses could be written out by hand. Due to the fact that now the surname must be printed from a computer, the unusual name does not exist in standard word processing programs.
“Nobody wants to do it, but under the circumstances we have no choice… It causes a lot of problems when people see the surname on old documents and new documents is not the same,” villager, Xian Xuexin told the press.
Since 2003, children born in the village have been registered with the family name Xian, rather than Shan. This has caused some concern among the older generation concerning the loss of tradition and heritage.
“All Chinese family names are worthy of being protected as part of the country’s cultural heritage. They embody so much history. If they are changed, the history of a people will be lost,” said Zhang Shuyan, a researcher and language expert at China’s education ministry.
Online debates have been furious and heated, with most forums supporting the rights of the villagers to retain their name. Language has long been a touchy subject in China, with early Communists seeking to replace the complicated script with a simpler alphabet and others considering such action sheer blasphemy.
What’s in a name?
Well, apparently everything!
What do YOU think about this?
(Link)
By MDeeDubroff on 24-09-2010
