| China dream or Chinese dream? Which sounds better? | |
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| Sep 4, 2013 03:46 |   |
 | On November 29, 2012, Xi Jinping and other central government leaders paid a visit to National Museum. There he made a very important speech. In his speech, he emphasizes “to realize national rejuvenation is the greatest Chinese/China dream to all Chinese people.” Suddenly, China/Chinese dream has become the most popular word that appears frequently in newspapers. What is China/Chinese Dream? To realize national rejuvenation. If you read some English sources, you will notice that 中国梦 is translated as China Dream (not Chinese Dream). Why can’t it be Chinese Dream? |
| Sep 22, 2013 22:55 | #1 |
| According to STUART Berg Flexner, the editor of Random House, Chinese was once a derogatory term used by the British soldiers during the Second World War. Chinese refers to “disorganization, noise and confusion”. A Chinese attack is a noisy, badly executed attack. A Chinese landing is a plane crash. Chinese restaurant syndrome is another term, which was popular in the USA in the 1960s. The Americans are very sensitive to MSG. Once they consume MSG in the Chinese restaurants, they feel dizzy, sweaty and even breathless. This symptom is described as Chinese restaurant syndrome. Later, FASEB (Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology) of the USA points out that Chinese restaurant syndrome is pejorative and inaccurate. It should be revised as “MSG (Monosodium Glutamate) Symptom Complex”. In fact, China was once a derogatory term too. Do you know the idiom “not a Chinaman’s chance”? It refers to “slight chance”. Chinaman refers to a Chinese or a person of Chinese descent, usually an offensive term. |
| Sep 23, 2013 15:29 | #2 |
| Dear BBQQ People tend to use words according to what they like. The word "China" has been used to refer to Zhong Guo long before the Second World War. Probably the root word is from Qin (that sounds like Chin). We in Malaysia call China as cheena and not chaina as pronounced by the westerners. The Arabs, due to its absence of the letter CH, call China as (al) Sin that probably refers to the Qin dynasty. Derogatory words are created by certain locality. Even the word Shanghai also has two meanings, one is the city in China, while another means kidnap, trick or intimidate. Even Thomas Walker Arnold (1864-1930) mentioned the word China in his famous book: the Preaching of Islam (pages 294-311) published in London by Constable & Co, in 1913. Wan |
| Sep 27, 2013 21:11 | #3 |
| Wan, You know more than me.  I used to believe that China is a derogatory word made by Japanese. During the second world war, they called us “支那", which is pronounced similarly like "China". PS: I know Shanghai has another meaning "kidnap" but I don't know its origin. |
| Oct 1, 2013 22:10 | #4 |
| Dear BBQQ, do you remember the Opium War that ended with the Treaty of nanking (Nanjing)? The aftermath, China has to accept foreign traders who were interested not only to take things from China but to colonise and put China under their control. All these foreigners are not governed under Chinese Laws. They have special concessions created by these super powers, namely, British, US, Germany and France. Some of these superpowers incited the Chinese to rebel against Qing thus caused Taiping Rebellion where later the Small Sword Society took over Shanghai. Funny thing is, the westerners were untouched. Kidnapping was common in Shanghai thus the word "shanghai" became another term used by the foreigners to mean kidnap. Wan |
| Oct 8, 2013 22:13 | #5 |
| Ok, thanks for sharing me the origin of Shanghai. But it's rarely used today, right? Kidnap is much more popular than Shanghai, I think. |
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