When one hears the word banzai, most Westerners automatically think of the Japanese suicide fighters of the Kamikaze Tokubetsu Kogekitai on their Model Zero fighter aircrafts. But the word banzai is of Chinese origin, originally reserved solely to praise their emperor until the Qing dynasty was overthrown by the Republic of China.

As with many words of Chinese origin, it is universally found throughout the Sinosphere (Sinosphere is a word that I just invented here, referring to areas under heavy linguistic and cultural influences by the Chinese characters. Sort of an equivalent of what Japanese scholars refer to as the Kanji Bunka Ken, the Sinosphere spans from Japan to Vietnam, as well as Singapore and the Chinese ethnic groups of Malaysia). Because each Chinese character is sounded differently depending on locales, it is said differently but everyone who sees how it is written perceives the same meaning.

In Mandarin Chinese, banzai is wansui.  Indeed, on the wall of the Tian’anmen Square you can see two slogans next to the portrait of Mao Zedong: The People’s Republic of China Wansui; The Worldwide Solidarity Among People Wansui. It was around the late 19th century that the Japanese imported this word to praise the newly restored imperial rule by the Emperor Meiji. Originally they called it manzei (sounds too much like manzai, stand-up comedy), then banzei, then finally thought banzai sounded better.

万岁

In Korean wansui becomes manse. The national anthem of South Korea says, “Urinara Manse” (Our country manse). In North Korea the slogan is “Kim Jong Il janggun-nim manse”. Koreans began using the word manse during the Japanese imperial occupation, so it was imported through Japan.

만세

In Vietnam there are two versions: Muon Nam and Van Tue. The former is used more frequently, while the latter is the more accurate rendition of the Chinese word wansui as read in Vietnamese. The former is a native Vietnamese word that was once written with Chu Nom letters: gate+south for the sound, 10000+year for the meaning (see below).

In all cases it means 10000 years.  Until the end of the Qing dynasty, this was said in China only for the emperor. Others were “1000 years.”

As you may have already noticed, the letter wan 万 means 10000, but it’s not “ten thousand”. In the Sinosphere, numbers are read with digits grouped in four digits, instead of three. Hence 10000 is 1’0000 (1 wan), not 10,000 (10 thousand).

So 50000 is wu wan (5 wan) in Chinese, o man (5 man) in Korean, go man (5 man) in Japanese. Likewise, 1 million is actually 100 wan (100’0000).

Most American readers think of Mr. Miyagi in the movie Karate Kid when they talk of Okinawans, if not the U.S. military presence there since the 1940s.

Located between China and Japan, Ruchu Kuku, the Kingdom of Liuqiu (Ryukyu) 琉球國 — as Uchinaa, or Okinawa, 沖縄 was known — was vassal to both China’s Qing dynasty and Japan’s Satsuma domain. As such Uchinanchu — or Okinawans — had two names, one Chinese style (Karanaa, 唐名; literally the Tang Dynasty name) and the other Japanese (Yamatonnaa, 大和名). Their names were more Japanized after the Empire of Japan annexed Okinawa in 1872, having abolished feudal system and instituted a unitary state with prefectures (counties). Initially Okinawa was incorporated into the Kagoshima prefecture, then span off as the Okinawa prefecture. Since then a policy of assimilation began to destroy Okinawan cultures.

The Miyagis 宮城 in the Ryukyu Islands comprise the fourth most common family name. It is also pronounced Miyagusuku, Miyashiro and Nagusuku. Despite its similarily with the Miyagi prefecture in Northeast Japan the latter is not named after the Okinawan family.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okinawan_family_name

In todays English-language media, the head of the People’s Republic of China is called President. Yet, in Chinese the title is still “Zhuxi” 主席 or more formally “Guojia Zhuxi” 国家主席, same as Mao Zedong who was called a Chairman (of the State).

The official change of translation from chairman to president took place in 1982. This means that in history of the PRC there were two chairmen and four presidents.

The Chairmen 国家主席

1. MAO Zedong 1949-58 毛泽东
2. LIU Xiaoqi 1959-68 刘少奇

The Presidents 国家主席

1. LI Xiannian 1983-88 李先念
2. YANG Shangkun 1988-93 杨尚昆
3. JIANG Zemin 1993-2003  江泽民
4. HU  Jintao 2003- 胡锦涛

On Dec. 20 ten years ago, amid the worldwide anticipation of the new millennium and the impending (and did not materialize) Y2K Crisis, the Republic of Portugal returned its overseas province of Macau to the People’s Republic of China after centuries of Portuguese administration (since 1557).

Often eclipsed by the nearby Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Macau is a lot smaller than Hong Kong but is rich in historic heritage that dates back to the era of a great European exploration of the seven seas. The Portuguese rule on Macau is three times longer than the British lease of Hong Kong’s Kowloon and New Territory (99 years, exactly, which expired on June 30, 1997). This, in addition to the Roman Catholic tendency to intermarry local peoples, created a unique ethnic group called Macanese (土生葡人 Tusheng Puren, literally, locally-born Portuguese person). Unlike other non-Chinese ethnic groups in Hong Kong and Macau, they are considered eligible for Chinese citizenship (though not officially one of the recognized nationalities of the People’s Republic of China).

In general, people of Macau have a typical Portuguese name and Chinese (Cantonese) name. They are written out in the order of Portuguese given name, family name (usually in all caps) and Chinese name.

The first chief executive, for example, is Edmund HO Hau Wah 何厚鏵 (He Houhua) (whereas Ho is the surname), and the current and second chief executive is Fernando CHUI Sai On 崔世安 (Cui Shian, in Hanyu Pinyin).

Uncyclopedia is a parody of Wikipedia. It bills itself as the “content-free encyclopedia” and everything is a spoof of Wikipedia.

Like Wikipedia, Uncyclopedia comes in many languages, including three versions of Chinese (Putonghwa, Taiwan Putonghwa and Hong Kong/Macau Cantonese). The Chinese name for Uncyclopedia, by the way, is Weiji Baike. As those who can read the Chinese character can see, the first letter (wei) means “fake” or “lie.” This is a play on word of the Chinese Wikipedia, which is also called Weiji Baike, although the first letter (wei) is in a different tone.

Because in Chinese, each letters can have their own intrinsic meaning, and there are a number of different letters with identical or similar sounds but with very different meanings, substituting one letter for another that sounds like the former can be a great way to make fun of someone’s names.

For example in the Uncyclopedia, the founder of the People’s Republic of China, Mao Zedong 毛泽东 becomes Mao Zeidong 毛贼东 (the second letter 贼 means thief or gangster, and haizei 海贼 means a pirate, literally sea + thief). Likewise, Uncyclopedia calls the Communist Party of China (Zhongguo Gongchandang 中国共产党) the Zhongguo Gongcandang 中国共惨党, loosely translated, “Co-misery-ist Party of China.”

What are the lessons here? Grab a Chinese character dictionary such as the Xinhua Zidian 辛猾字典 (most major library in the U.S. has a copy of this, especially in a major university or a central library of a big town) and look for any letters that sound identical to a letter in your name, and also anything similar, that could be potentially offensive or funny.

Especially a prominent figure gets satirized this way. For example, if I were all of sudden a billionaire, a Chinese tabloid might turn my name 李彩云 into 李财云.

Current Chief Executive of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region: Sir Donald TSANG Yam-Kuen 曾荫权 Ceng Yinquan
Acting Chief Executive of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region: Henry TANG Ying-Yen 唐英年 Tang Yingnian
1st Chief Executive of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region: TUNG Chee-Hwa 董建华 Dong Jianhua
28th Governor of Hong Kong: Christopher Francis PATTEN 彭定康 Peng Dingkang
27th Governor of Hong Kong: Sir David WILSON 卫奕信 Wei Yixin
26th Governor of Hong Kong: Sir Edward YOUDE 尤德 You De
25th Governor of Hong Kong: Sir Murray MacLEHOSE 麦理浩 Mai Lihao
24th Governor of Hong Kong: Sir David Clive Crosbie TRENCH 戴麟趾 Dai Linzhi
23rd Governor of Hong Kong: Sir Robert Brown BLACK 柏立基 Bo Liji
22nd Governor of Hong Kong: Sir Alexander GRANTHAM 葛量洪 Ge Lianghong
21st Governor of Hong Kong: Sir Mark Aitchison YOUNG 杨慕琦 Yang Muqi
3rd Governor of Hong Kong (Japan): Lt Gen TANAKA Hisaichi 田中久一 Tianzhong Jiuyi
2nd Governor of Hong Kong (Japan): Lt Gen ISOGAI Rensuke 矶谷廉介 Jigu Lianjie
1st Governor of Hong Kong (Japan): Lt Gen SAKAI Takashi 酒井隆 Jiujing Long
21st Governor of Hong Kong: Sir Mark Aitchison YOUNG 杨慕琦 Yang Muqi
20th Governor of Hong Kong: Sir Geoffrey NORTHCOTE 罗富国 Luo Fuguo
19th Governor of Hong Kong: Sir Andrew CALDECOTT 郝德杰 Hao Dejie
18th Governor of Hong Kong: Sir William PEEL 贝璐 Bei Lu
17th Governor of Hong Kong: Sir Cecil CLEMENTI 金文泰 Jin Wentai
16th Governor of Hong Kong: Sir Reginald Edward STUBBS 司徒拔 Situ Ba
15th Governor of Hong Kong: Sir Francis MAY 梅含理 Mei Hanli
14th Governor of Hong Kong: Sir Frederick LUGARD 卢押 Lu Ya
13th Governor of Hong Kong: Sir Matthew NATHAN 弥敦 Mi Dun
12th Governor of Hong Kong: Sir Henry BLAKE 卜力 Bo Li

According to the Ministry of Public Security, there have been over 4000 babies named Aoyun 奥运(Olympics) between 1992 and the end of 2007.

It was 1992 when Beijing began its bid for hosting the 2000 Olympiad (lost to Sydney). In 2002, however the city won the 2008 games.

Needless to say, this will be one of those time-stamped names that will reveal one’s age when they are older.