Good Characters, Inc. Blog

Among the Chinese there is much confusion about the most appropriate word for panda. Both Mao Xiong and Xiong Mao are commonly used. The character Mao means cat. Xiong (pronounced shee-ong) is a bear. Since the giant panda is a mammal classified in the bear family. Mao Xiong, literally a cat-looking bear (cat bear), is more appropriate than Xiong Mao, bear-looking cat (bear cat).

Links:

• Giant Panda From Wikipedia
  The giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca “black-and-white cat-foot”) is a mammal classified in the bear family, Ursidae, native to central and southern China.
• The correct name for Xiong Mao is Mao Xiong (Chinese)
  熊猫的正确名字应是猫熊

When someone belongs to two countries, who gets to name her? That is precisely the question Atlanta, Georgia zoo officials had September 6 when a panda cub was born there to two pandas on loan to the zoo from the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in China. Although the animals are on long-term loan, China actually owns all the pandas, even the ones born in America. Of the four other pandas born in U.S. zoos, one name was chosen by Chinese officials, another was given by the American zoo, and two were selected by online voters from a list of names suggested by the zoo and China.

The name selected by Chinese officials, Hua Mei, means “China USA.” The American-selected name, Mei Sheng,  means “Born in the USA.” The two names given by the public are Su Lin, “A little bit of something very cute,” and Tai Shan, “Peaceful mountain.”

The newest panda’s father, Yang Yang, was originally called Jiu Jiu. He was renamed by three organizations in the Netherlands that “adopted” him. His name means “little sea.”

The cub’s mother, Lun Lun, was called Hua Hua until she was adopted by Taiwanese rock star Su Huilun. He gave her the name Lun Lun, from his own name. Names that are repeated, such as Jiu Jiu, Yang Yang, Hua Hua, and Lun Lun, are expressions of affection in China, much like JFK’s name for his son, John John.

The zoo officials can delay the decision until December 15. The zoo will follow the Chinese custom of holding a naming ceremony 100 days after the cub’s birth.

Link:

• China’s link to panda cub frames timetable, options

National Zoo’s Baby Panda Named Tai Shan

The National Zoo’s panda is not even a year old, but he is already a father-in-law. His name, Tai Shan, has a number of meanings, and one is the address for one’s wife’s father.

Tai Shan is used to refer to Mount Tai, a mountain in Shandong Province. The prime minister Zhang Shui began the practice of having the new ruler, upon becoming emperor, ascend the mountain to offer sacrifices. When the prime minister’s son-in-law rose politically, others scoffed that the emperor promoted him only because of Zhang Shui’s institution of the ritual on Tai Shan. Thus taishan became a derisive term for father-in-law.

Maybe the zookeepers had something else in mind for the baby panda. Tai Shan is also the transliteration for the name Tarzan.

Tai Shan is also the name of Good Characters’ president Andy Chuang’s home town in Taipei Taiwan.

Links:

• Panda Cub’s Birthday Present: A Name
  “Tai Shan,” Winning Choice of Online Voters, A Symbolic Nod to U.S.-China Friendship. (Washington Post)
• You can track the little cub’s progress on the zoo’s Panda Video Cam (Discovery)
• The Right Address: Father-in-law is Called Taishan (Shanghai Star)