Good Characters, Inc. Blog

Donald Tang is a bold man. His Chinese name says so: Tang Wei — Tang for the Tang dynasty, which ruled during China’s greatest period of strength and influence, and Wei meaning “big” or “great.” In China Donald Tang is Tang Wei, “strong, bold, great, and mighty.”

True to his name, Tang left his native country at 17 years of age with only $20 in his pocket and a dream in his heart. In the United States, he rose to become Senior Managing Director and member of the Board of Directors of Bear, Stearns & Co.; Chairman of Bear Stearns Asia; and Regional Director of Bear, Stearns & Co., West Coast. He serves on the boards of United Way of Greater Los and the RAND Corporation. He has won numerous awards.

What prompted this bold man to make such a daring move? To leave his family, his friends, and his land for what he called “another world.” The strength came from the 17-year-old’s love of a beautiful girl. That girl became his wife and that move became the first step on his path to financial success. In explaining the motivation behind his bold actions, Tang says, “Love empowers people to do wonderful things.”

Links:

• Driven by Love — From China to America
  How I launched a new life in the United States by resolving to follow a girl.
• Fortune Favors the Bold in Love and Immigration
• Donald Tang’s Biography
  Donald Tang, Senior Managing Director, Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc.
• A news article about Donald W. Tang in Chinese
  唐伟出任亚洲学会南加分会主席 2005 年年会下月举行, 将以美中关系为焦点

Lord Mayor of London David Brewer is well liked in China. He has visited the country 105 times, fostering economic cooperation between China and England. Brewer greets people in Chinese and has taken great care to master the proper pronunciation of many Chinese terms. Unlike most public officials, he is warm and friendly and very happy to talk with people, whether they are business leaders, government representatives, or journalists. On one occasion, while visiting Shanghai, he spoke fondly of Tsingtao beer and shared chocolates with reporters.

The mayor’s popularity in China is enhanced by his choice of an official Chinese name. His Chinese name is Bai Lewei. Brewer wisely did not simply have his name transliterated, but carefully selected characters that would communicate friendliness and strength. Bai means white. Le means joy, which matches the enthusiasm with which Brewer operates. Wei, meaning might, speaks of the power of his position and his abilities. His is a name with good meanings.

In choosing a good Chinese name, the Lord Mayor has created a positive impression of himself, his city, and his country among the people of China. He has demonstrated great respect for the Chinese people. They like him so well they have nicknamed him “Mr. China.”

Links:

• Shanghai to boost cooperation with the city of London 
• Official Profile: Lord Mayor - Alderman David Brewer
• Bai Lewei Shares Chocolates with Shanghai Reporters (Chinese)
  酷爱青啤的白乐威与记者共享巧克力

Developing a revolutionary concept, the first and still one of the biggest search engines of the Internet age, was easier than coming up with a name for that concept. Yahoo! founder Jerry Yang tried to explain to an audience in China where the name “Yahoo” came from.

His Chinese listeners probably knew nothing of the race of Yahoos English satirist Jonathan Swift created in his 18th-century novel Gulliver’s Travels. Swift’s Yahoos were a brutish people, almost ape-like, who lived very crudely without any sophisticated devices. Jerry Yang and Yahoo! co-founder David Filo sometimes referred to themselves as Yahoos, or simple guys with little knowledge of technology. 

To his Chinese audience, unfamiliar with the literary reference, Yang descried a Yahoo as a coarse, uncultured person. “Yahoo,” he said, sounds a little like “hoodlum,” which is a minor gangster. Yang said he had difficulty coming up with a name that was short and easy for people to remember. Finally he told himself that he would not sleep until he had just the right name. The name “Yahoo!” came to him, but he and Filo thought it sounded too uncouth. When they could not think of a better name, they settled on Yahoo! and it has been a household word for 11 years. Now, Yang says, choosing the name Yahoo! is one of the best decisions he has ever made.

Links:

• How they named companies
• The Name Game
• Jerry Yang explains how Yahoo was named (Chinese)
  杨致远解密雅虎取名 笑言 Yahoo 有点流氓

When does a business’s clever name become offensive? That may depend on where the business is located.

Take the restaurant Wu E Bu Zuo, for example. The name literally means “not-hungry-don’t-sit.” In other words, come and sit in this establishment when you are really hungry. The name is also a play on a Chinese idiom that sounds identical but is written with different characters. That Wu E Bu Zuo means, literally, “no-evil-don’t-do,” or “to stop at nothing in doing evil, to be as wicked as possible.” Many people in Taiwan, where a couple restaurants with this name are located, find the double meaning clever.

But in the city of Nanjing, formerly Nanking, a number of residents are complaining about the Wu E Bu Zuo restaurant close to Nanjing University. In that city a terrible incident took place during World War II. Japanese soldiers killed tens of thousands of innocent civilians in an atrocity known as “The Rape of Nanking.” In their city, people “stopped at nothing in doing evil,” acting “as wickedly as possible,” and the residents do not want that memory enshrined in the name of a restaurant. The local authorities are threatening to impose a penalty on the restaurant’s owners for using an inappropriate name. 

When choosing a name, remember the realtor’s formula for success: “Location, location, location!”

Links:

• A restaurant named “Wu E Bu Zuo” (Chinese)
  街谈: 小吃店起名“无饿不坐”
• Chinese officials say using inappropriate and unapproved names can be punished (Chinese)
  烧烤店起名“无饿不坐” 不规范用字重者可处罚
• Local residents complain “Wu E Bu Zuo” could mislead or be seen as encouraging students to commit crimes (Chinese) 
  小吃店起名“无饿不坐”被指有误导学生之嫌
• Wu E Bu Zuo Restaurant in Orchid Island, Taiwan (Chinese)
  “无饿不坐”兰屿风味餐专卖图
• Wu E Bu Zuo Restaurant in Lukang, Taiwan (Chinese)
  鹿港美食‧無餓不坐麵線糊

In a Chinese city, the sign “Zui Gao Fa Yuan” went up over the entrance to a beauty shop. The name means, literally, “drunken-high-hair-salon.” Sound clever? The authorities did not think so. The sound of the characters is identical to the word for supreme court, also Zui Gao Fa Yuan. A local official said the salon did not have the proper approval for the name. The authorities are investigating and are expected to order the owner to take the sign down.

Link:

• The drunken high hair salon (Chinese)
  巢湖一家发廊竟取名“醉高发院”

In Jinan, China, many parents are going to great lengths to find unique names for their children. In a city with a population of nearly 6 million, parents want their children to stand out. In addition, a number of adults are seeking new names for themselves, names that will set them apart from the crowd.

But selecting a distinctive name is difficult. When a name contains characters that are not common, people do not know how to pronounce the name or what the name means. This dilemma has created a booming business for naming companies. At least 20 new naming companies have sprung up in Jinan in the last four years. Their services are not cheap. They charge from RMB (Chinese currency) $198 ($22 US) to RMB $1200 ($150 US) for a personal name. The most popular package costs RMB $298 ($38 US), about one- or two-weeks salary for the average Chinese blue-collar worker. The more affluent can select a more elegant and luckier name for RMB $1200 ($150 US), about 2 weeks salary for many white-collar workers.

Each of the 20 or so naming companies in Jinan averages 1000 personal-naming customers a year. That means that 20,000 people take advantage of their services every year.

Links:

• 20,000 people take advantage of naming services every year in Jinan, China (Chinese) 
• Official Website of Jinan, China (Chinese)

Good stuff from Interbrand:

• The Best Chinese Brands 2006 - PDF
• The Best Chinese Brands 2006 - PDF (Chinese)

 
Visiting China, Hong Kong, or Taiwan? Do Chinese handle business cards the same way as Westerners? What is the proper way to exchange business cards with Chinese? Click on the above image to find out.

The new Japanese prince, the first male heir to the Chrysanthemum Throne to be born in four decades, on Tuesday was named Hisahito - meaning “virtuous, calm and everlasting,” the Imperial Household Agency announced.

After consulting with experts in Japanese and Chinese literature, Prince Akishino and his wife Kiko settled on a name for their days-old infant, the first male heir to the throne of Japan in 40 years. They rejected names of former emperors, selecting Hisahito. The name combines the characters meaning “everlasting, calm, and virtuous.” The young prince’s parents, and indeed all of Japan, hope his life and rule will be long, even-tempered, and full of virtue. The final character, hito, which means “virtuous person,” has by long tradition been a part of the name of nearly every emperor.

In addition to the name, Akishino chose a crest for his son. The crest bears a stylized image of a Japanese umbrella pine. The prince and princess hope their child will grow like the tree, tall, straight, and strong.

In a very brief (5-minute) but solemn ceremony, the baby’s name was written on special rice paper. According to centuries-old tradition, the name was penned with brush and ink. The paper, together with the infant’s personal crest, was placed in a wooden box next to his pillow.

After the ceremony, mother and son were resting peacefully. And the people of Japan were also resting, happy that a grandson had finally been born to the emperor.

Links:

• Imperial Household Agency of Japan
• Japanese prince is named Hisahito

After a thousand years, a Chinese clan was finally permitted to use its original family name.

Members of this small group of 16 Chinese families in Henan province in China were unhappy with the name they carried since the 10th century. That name is Gou. Gou means “careless” or “negligent.” It sounds the same as “dog.” It’s hard to get respect when you are called a dog.

The family name wasn’t always Gou. Originally it was Jing.

The word Jing means respect. It is a good character and has a good sound for a family name. However, the right side of the jing character looks similar to the fan character, which means “revolt” or “rebel.” In the late Tang dynasty, use of any name that was considered offensive by the imperial court could result in imprisonment or execution. A government official at that time with the family name Jing decided to remove any chance that he might be accused by political enemies of secretly planning to revolt. He removed the right component of the jing character, changing his name to Gou.

A thousand years later, in 2005, the Gou clan petitioned and was finally permitted by the Chinese government to change its name back to Jing.

In olden times, Chinese practiced bi hui, avoiding the use in one’s personal name of any character already used in the name of one’s elder. Bi hui is the reason Chinese people typically do not name their children after themselves or one of their elders.

The Chinese Year of the Dog will start on January 29, 2006.

First Posted: December 2005

Links:

• Dog is Now Respect
• Scratch the Dog Jokes: Fed up with their insult-inspiring name, a group of Chinese villagers set out to change it. Now they answer to ‘respect.’