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The first step in decoding Chinese place names is to learn the four
directions.
These are:
| DIRECTIONS | ||
|---|---|---|
| north bei | ||
| west xi* | central zhong# | east dong |
| south nan |
The names of geographic features are:
| GEOGRAPHIC FEATURES | |
|---|---|
| he* | old broad river |
| jiang | young river which flows through a gorge |
| hu | lake(s) |
| shan | mountain(s) |
| hai | ocean, sea |
| guang | expanse(s) |
| men | gate, gorge |
| chuan | stream(s) |
| shulin | forest |
| dao | island |
*The word for river, he, has the pronunciation huh.
The names of colors and numbers are:
| COLORS | |
|---|---|
| bai | white |
| hong | red |
| hei | black |
| huang | yellow |
| huide | gray |
| lan | blue |
| lu | green |
| NUMBERS | |
|---|---|
| yi | one |
| er | two |
| san | three |
| si | four |
| wu | five |
| liu | six |
| qi | seven |
| ba | eight |
| jiu | nine |
| shi | ten |
Some names for administrative entities and for attributes are:
|
ADMINISTRATIVE ENTITIES |
|
|---|---|
| jing | national capital |
| sheng | province |
| zhou | provincial capital |
| shih | municipality |
| zun | village |
| ATTRIBUTES | |
|---|---|
| an | peaceful |
| chang | long |
| lao | old |
| ning | peaceful |
| qing* | clear |
| yun | cloudy |
| zhe | crooked winding |
| xin | new |
From this abbreviated vocabulary we see that Beijing is bei-jing, northern capital and Nanjing is southern capital. The Huang He (hwang huh) is the yellow river. More examples are given below. A word of caution; there are numerous meanings for the same spelling. For example, the Hong of Hong Kong is not the word for red.
The Wade-Giles system is almost guaranteed to
be mispronounced by anyone who is not a Mandarin speaker. For example,
in the Wade-Giles system the sounds of the English letters b and p are
represented as p and p ', respectively. Here is the correspondence:
| SOUNDS OF LETTERS | ||
|---|---|---|
| WADE-GILES | PINYIN | ENGLISH |
| p | b | b |
| p' | p | p |
| t | d | d |
| t' | t | t |
| k | g | g |
| k' | k | k |
| ch | zh,j | j |
| ch' | q | ch |
| hs | x | sh |
| ts', tz' | c | ts |
| ts, tz | z | ds |
The Chinese dish written as kung pao chicken in American Chinese restaurants should be pronounced gungbao chicken. Likewise kung fu is really gung fu. Similarly t'ai chi is really tai ji. The capital of Taiwan, Taipei, should be pronounced as Taibei. The Wade-Giles spelling for Beijing is Peking but the pronunciation of Peking was never peh-king except in the West. In the Wade-Giles system the pronunciation of Peking is the same as pinyin Beijing.
| DIRECTIONS in Wade-Giles | ||
|---|---|---|
| north pei | ||
| west hsi | central chung | east tung |
| south nan |
Here are some translations of place-names. Some of these could have been
determined from the preceding vocabulary; others require additional
knowledge.
| NATIONAL AND PROVINCIAL NAMES | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| PINYIN | WADE-GILES | ORGIN OF NAME | WESTERN NAME |
| Zhonghua | Chung-hua | "central kingdom" | China |
| Anhui | An-hui | "beautiful peace" | Anhwei |
| Fujian | Fu-chien | "happy establishment" | Fukien |
| Gansu | Kan-su | cities of Kan-chou and Su-chou | Kansu |
| Guangdong | Kuang-tung | "eastern expanses" | Kwangtung (Canton) |
| Guangxi | Kuang-hsi | "western expanses" | Kwangsi |
| Guizhou | Kuei-chou | Kweichow | |
| Hainan | Hai-nan | "south of the sea" | Hainan |
| Hebei | Ho-pei | "north of the (Yellow) river" | Hopeh |
| Heilongjiang | Hei-lung-chiang | "black dragon river" | Amur River |
| Henan | Ho-nan | "south of the (Yellow) river" | Honan |
| Hubei | Hu-pei | "north of the lakes | Hupeh |
| Hunan | Hu-nan | "south of the lakes" | Hunan |
| Jiangsu | Chiang-su | district of Chiang-ning and Su-chou prefectures | Kiangsu |
| Jiangxi | Chiang-hsi | "west of the (Yangtse*) river" | Kiangsi |
| Jilin | Chilin | named after city of Jilin, "fortunate forest" |
Kirin |
| Liaoning | Liao-ning | Liao River | Liaoning |
| Neimenggu | Nei-meng-ku | Inner Mongolia | |
| Ningxia | Ning-hsia | "peaceful Hsia people" | Ningsia |
| Shaanxi | Shaan-hsi | "west of the passes" | Shensi |
| Shandong | Shan-tung | "eastern mountains" | Shantung |
| Shanxi | Shan-hsi | "western mountains" | Shansi |
| Sichuan | Ssu-ch'uan | "four streams" | Szechwan |
| Xinjiang | Hsi-chiang | "new borders" | Sinkiang |
| Xizang | Hsi-tsang | "western reserve" | Tibet |
| Yunnan | Yun-nan | "cloudy south" | Yunnan |
| Zhejiang | Che-chiang | "crooked/winding river" | Chekiang |
Some city names:
| CITY NAMES | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| PINYIN | WADE-GILES | ORIGIN OF NAME | Western Name |
| Beijing | Peiching | "northern capital" | Peking* |
| Nanjing | Nanking | "southern capital" | |
| Chóngqing | Ch'ung ch'ing | "double happiness" formerly Chungking "central capital" | Chungking |
| Guangzhou | Kwang Chou | "provincial capital" of Guangdong | Canton |
| Shanghai | Shanghai | "onto the sea" | |
| Wuhan | Wu-han | merger of three cities | Wuhan |
| Taibei | Taipei | north Taiwan | |
| Tainan | Tainan | south Taiwan | |
| Chengdu | Cheng-tu | "happy place" | |
| Xian | Hsi An | "western peace" | Sian |
| Qangan | Ch'ang-an | "everlasting peace" | Changan |
| Shenyang** | Shen Yang | "spirit of the sun" (sunny north side of river) | |
| Haerhbin | Harbin | "your happy river landing" | Harbin |
| Lanzhou | Lan Chou | "blue orchid flower city" |
| NAMES OF URBAN FEATURES | ||
|---|---|---|
| FEATURE | PINYIN | WADE-GILES |
| Temple | Si | Ssu |
| Gate | Men | Men |
| Street | Lu | Lu |
| RIVER NAMES | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| PINYIN | WADE-GILES | ORIGIN OF NAME | Western Name |
| Changjiang | Chang Chiang | "long river" | Yangtse* |
| Huanghe | Huang Ho | "yellow river" | Yellow River |
| Zhujiang | Chu Chiang | "pearl river" | Pearl River |
| Fuchunjiang | Fu-ch'un Chiang | "river of abundant spring" |
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