Zhejiang orders Pinyin, numerals removed from business names

Xinhua is reporting that beginning in March 2007 the names of businesses in China’s Zhejiang Province must use no Hanyu Pinyin or numerals (Arabic numerals, most likely) and must have at least two Chinese characters.

This is reportedly the first time a local Chinese government has made this regulation. (But see also 911 restaurant?!.) Since this is a new regulation, it seems likely that it was created to counter an emerging practice. I expect we’ll hear soon of a crackdown against English in names, too.

Míngnián 3 yuè qǐ, fánshì zài Zhèjiāng de qǐyè jiù bùnéng zài shǐyòng yóu Hànyǔ Pīnyīn Zìmǔ huò shùzì zǔchéng de shānghào le, ér bìxū gǎiyòng yóu liǎng ge yǐshàng Hànzì zǔchéng de shānghào míngchēng.

Jù liǎojiě, zhè shì guónèi shǒu bù guānyú qǐyè shānghào guǎnlǐ hé bǎohù de dìfāngxìng fǎguī.

source: Shānghào yòng Hànzì bù shǎoyú liǎng ge (商号用汉字不少于两个), Xinhua, via Héběi qīngnián bào (河北青年报), December 2, 2006

related reading: Chinese man forbidden to use letter ‘D’ for son’s name, Pinyin News, November 5, 2005

Hong Kong’s pride in Putonghua

Pride in the Mandarin language (Putonghua) in Hong Kong has risen from 18 percent in 1996 to 34 percent today, according to the results of a survey of survey conducted in October by the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Center for Communications Research.

The center surveyed a total of 1,013 people about their feelings of pride associated with various Chinese things. A five-point scale was used to record the answers, with 1 representing a complete lack of feeling of pride and 5 representing an intense feeling of pride. (1 fēn dàibiǎo wánquán wú zìháo gǎnjué, 5 fēn dàibiǎo yǒu hǎo qiángliè jì zìháo gǎnjué / 1分代表完全無自豪感覺,5分代表有好強烈既自豪感覺).

Percentage of pride was calculated as the sum of the percentages of respondents giving 4 or 5 points when asked about their feeling of pride towards a certain icon.

Here is the breakdown for the recent survey question on Mandarin:
Where 1 is a complete lack of pride and 5 is very strong pride, the responses in 2006 were as follows: 1: 25.4%; 2: 9.1%; 3: 30.0%; 4: 17.6%; 5: 14.4%; don't know/no answer: 1.4%;

And here is how pride in Mandarin has changed over time:
1996 18.6%, 1997 21.3%, 1998 19.9%, 1999 28.0%, 2002 25.2%, 2006 34.0%

Of course, if a response of 4 or 5 indicates pride, it may well be that 1 or 2 indicates a lack thereof, in which case those without pride in Mandarin (34.5%) still outnumber those with pride in it (34.0%).

Unfortunately, related questions on pride in Cantonese and English were not asked, so we don’t know how feelings about Mandarin stack up against those for the two other important languages of Hong Kong.

On the other hand, the survey covered other areas, which may be useful for purposes of comparison:

Almost half (48 per cent) of those questioned said they felt proud of the national flag and anthem of China compared to 30 and 39 per cent of those questions in a survey in 1996, one year before the former British colony became part of China again.

More than 28 per cent admitted pride in the China’s People’s Liberation Army compared to 10 per cent in 1996….

However, pride in Hong Kong remained higher with respondents grading their love for their home city at 7.52 on a scale of 1 to 10, compared to an average of 6.49 for China and only 2.91 for the Communist Party.

The Great Wall elicited some of the most positive feedback with 73 per cent saying it made them feel proud while the Chinese mainland security officials came out as being one of the most unpopular things in China, evoking pride in only 6 per cent of those questioned. (DPA)

I’d like to thank those at the Center for Communications Research for providing me with the data on Putonghua and answering various questions.

additional resource: Proud To Be Chinese – But Hongkongers Still Love Their City More, DPA, November 2006

Gaoxiong (Kaohsiung) MRT

Looking through Hao’s photos (linked to in his comment on yesterday’s post) reminded me that the MRT system in Gaoxiong is at least partially open. Since Gaoxiong is in Tongyong land, and since the signage there mixes romanization and English, and since no tone marks are given, I thought I’d share with everyone these Hanyu Pinyin guides I just made.

Here are the stations of the Gaoxiong subway system as given in Hanyu Pinyin (with tone marks), Hanyu Pinyin and English, Chinese characters, and Tongyong Pinyin and English:

See also Hao’s photos of the KMRT.

I don’t know Gaoxiong well, having been there only once, so if I got the word parsing for any of the stations wrong, please let me know.

new book on language policy in Taiwan during the Japanese era

photo of the cover of the book discussed in this postWhile browsing at Eslite the other day I happened across a new book that sounds interesting: Tónghuà de tóngchuángyìmèng: Rìběn zhì shíqī Táiwān de yǔyán zhèngcè, jìndài huà yǔ rèntóng (同化的同床異夢: 日治時期臺灣的語言政策、近代化與認同), by Chen Pei-feng (Chén Péi-fēng / 陳培豐).

Although the book is written in Mandarin and has essentially no English, it has a strange but intriguing English title: The Different Intentions Behind the Semblance of “Douka”: The Language Policy, Modernization, and Identity in Taiwan during the Japan-Ruling Period. This doesn’t quite match the Mandarin.

I’d be interested in hearing from anyone who has read this.

signage snafus in Taizhong/Taichung/Taijung…

An observant reader, Sonarchic, sent in the top two photos below, both of which were taken in Taizhong (Taichung), Taiwan. The first one is especially interesting in that what would be written zhong in Hanyu Pinyin is here written two different ways: chung and zhueng.

sign with what is written Z-H-O-N-G in Hanyu Pinyin spelled here both C-H-U-N-G and Z-H-U-E-N-G

Here’s an older street sign.

sign with what is written Z-H-O-N-G in Hanyu Pinyin spelled here J-U-N-G (MPS2)

I’ve appended two photos I took myself in Taizhong about two years ago.

The first was taken on a highway near Taizhong. Since highways are under the central government’s jurisdiction, these signs are in Tongyong Pinyin.

sign with what is written Z-H-O-N-G in Hanyu Pinyin spelled here J-H-O-N-G (Tongyong Pinyin)

And here is a relatively new street sign with Taizhong itself. Note the use of Hanyu Pinyin, which, despite reports to the contrary, is not limited in Taiwan to Taipei City. I don’t know what “C1” refers to; I certainly hope it’s not a variant of Taipei’s idiotic nicknumbering system. Note also how any mention of the road’s sections (duan) are omitted from the romanization — very bad. Moreover, it has always seemed to me that Taizhong’s street signs suffer from too much information: just look at all those numbers. That can’t be good for readability.

sign with what is written Z-H-O-N-G in Hanyu Pinyin actually spelled Z-H-O-N-G

So, to wrap up, these signs in and near Taizhong, give us:

All that for a simple zhong (中).

‘write the fancy’, Taiwan tells foreigners

In line with yesterday’s remarks on the Taiwan government’s absurd approach to communicating with foreigners by putting up websites in poor English, here’s something from Taiwan’s National Police Agency, which is part of the Ministry of the Interior.

text reads 'What a Fancy Taiwan! Write the fancy. Win a camera!'

Do you think what the most unique part of Taiwan is? Except in Taiwan you will never see the following in the whole world, 101 Building, Gods of folk religion or aboriginal teenagers. If you are a foreigner living here, before November 30, 2006, please write an essay telling us what your coolest experience is in Taiwan and you might win a new digital camera.

In Forumosa’s thread on this, the poster “redwagon” has perhaps said it best:

image of Taiwan with four figures: a Taiwanese opera singer, an aboriginal teenage girl, a rice farmer, and a kung-fu guy

OMFG. Finally some of our tax money gets spent on something useful. Our entertainment.

If I didn’t know for a fact that it’s not possible to register a .gov.tw domain privately, I’d have thought it was a send up.

Or, maybe it’s a trap, in the ‘hundred flowers’ style. They aim to trick us to send our rants in, blinded by our lust for cheap digital cameras, and then deport us for not appreciating Taiwanese culture.

There’s still almost a week left in which to submit your own entry. A number of the more sarcastic entries remain, probably because those in charge of the site have no idea what’s going on.

source: What a Fancy Taiwan!, accessed November 24, 2006.

Taiwan’s “more amiable English services”

logo to promote Taiwan's English-language environment; an image of the island of Taiwan appears with a smile and a large A+, with a globe in the backgroundWith the end of the year approaching, it is once again time for Taiwan to tout the quality of the island’s English environment by putting together a “carnival” and tossing online a website in awkward English.

Perhaps word got back to the powers that be that the English in last year’s site was bad beyond belief, because this year’s site to promote English has largely left out use of that particular language! Much of the English that is there, while not so howlingly inept as that in last year’s site, is still awkward, clichéd bullshit. Here’s an example:

The Logo features close affiliation between the globe and the smiling Taiwan, symbolizing Taiwan’s linkage to the world. The expression of “English-friendly Environment” that circles the globe and the sign of “A+” on Taiwan fully convey the ideas of creating a quality and friendly internationalized environment, as well as broadening the scope of social participation. To advance Taiwan’s connection with the world, and provide better services to foreign friends who visit Taiwan, the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission of the Executive Yuan is going to use the Logo as the basis to design a emblem that identifies a quality English-friendly environment, which will be advertised and promoted through a certificating mechanism, in order to increase the number of popular locations that offer quality English services, so that foreign friends can not only easily identify those locations but also get access to more amiable English services.

One of the few parts of the site with any useful information is the page of “Important Achievements of Creating an English Living Environment.” Some of the things listed there even are important achievements. Nonetheless, Taiwan has many fundamental problems with its approach to English — and to romanization, too. One of the biggest of these problems is that English and romanization are treated as last-minute details of little importance.

I could go on and on about this; but it’s all too depressing.

source: 2006 English Carnival

story in Pinyin

Zhang Liqing has submitted another item written in Hanyu Pinyin. This time it’s a story, “Lā Tuǐ,”, by Táo Dàzú (Christopher L. Potter).

Here’s the opening:

Wǒ xiǎng gěi nǐ jiǎng yī ge zhēnshí d gùshi. Wǒ shíjiǔ suì d shíhou, Yuènán Zhànzhēng jiéshù bù jiǔ. Wǒ juédìng bù huí dàxué niànshū, yīnwei wǒ bù zhīdao wèishénme yào niànshū. Dìqiú hěn dà, měi gè rén dōu huì yǒu hǎo duō jīhuì. Qíshí shì wǒ bù zhīdao wǒ yào xué shénme zhuānyè huòzhě jiānglái zhǎo shénme gōngzuò. Zǒng’éryánzhī, wǒ bù zhīdao wǒ zhè yī bèizi yào zuò shénme. Nà gè shíhou wǒ xiǎng “bù zhīdao” shì hěn yánzhòng d wèntí. Yúshì wǒ juédìng táobì wǒ èr-niánjí d qiūjì xuéqī.

You can read the entire story on this site. Enjoy!