NUMBER AND CHANGES OF PERSONAL NAMES.
The personal names of the Chinese are written contrariwise to our own, the sing, or surname, coming first, then the ming, or given name, and then the complimentary title; as Liang Wăntai siensăng, where Liang, or ‘Millet,’ is the family name, Wăntai, or ‘Terrace of Letters,’ the given name, and siensăng, Mr. (i.e., Master), or ‘Teacher.’ A few of the surnames are double, as Sz’ma Tsien, where Sz’ma is the family name and Tsien the official title. A curious idea prevails among the people of Canton, that foreigners have no surname, which, as Pliny thought of the inhabitants of Mt. Atlas, they regard as one of the proofs of their barbarism; perhaps this notion came by inference from the fact that the Manchus write only their given name, as Kíshen, Kíying, Ílípu, etc. When writing Chinese names in translations and elsewhere, some attention should be paid to these particulars; the names of Chinese persons and places are constantly appearing in print under forms as singular as would be Williamhenryharrison, Rich-Ard-Ox-Ford, or Phila Delphia-city in English. The name being in a different language, and its true nature unknown to most of those who write it, accounts for the misarrangement.
In Canton and its vicinity the names of people are abbreviated in conversation to one character, and an A prefixed to it;—as Tsinteh, called A-teh or A-tsin. In Amoy the A is placed after, as Chin-a; in the northern provinces no such usage is known. Some families, perhaps in imitation of the imperial precedent, distinguish their members from others in the clan by adopting a constant character for the first one in the ming, or given name; thus a family of brothers will be named Lin Tung-pei, Lin Tung-fung, Lin Tung-peh, where the word Tung distinguishes this sept of the clan Lin from all others. There are no characters exclusively appropriated to proper names or different sexes, as George, Agnes, etc., all being chosen out of the language with reference to their meanings. Consequently, a name is sometimes felt to be incongruous, as Naomi, when saluted on her return to Bethlehem, felt its inappropriateness to her altered condition, and suggested a change to Mara. Puns on names and sobriquets are common, from the constant contrast of the sounds of the characters with circumstances suggesting a comparison or a play upon their meanings; sly jokes are also played when writing the names of foreigners, by choosing such characters as will make a ridiculous meaning when read according to their sense and not their sound.
When a man marries he adopts a third name, called tsz’, or ‘style,’ by which he is usually known through life; this is either entirely new or combined from previous names. When a girl is married her family name becomes her given name, and the given name is disused, her husband’s name becoming her family name. Thus Wa Salah married to Wei San-wei drops the Salah, and is called Wei Wa shí, i.e., Mrs. Wei [born of the clan] Wa, though her husband or near relatives sometimes retain it as a trivial address. A man is frequently known by another compellation, called pieh tsz’, or ‘second style,’ which the public do not presume to employ. When a young man is successful in attaining a degree, or enters an office, he takes a title called kwan ming, or ‘official name,’ by which he is known to government. The members or heads of licensed mercantile companies each have an official name, which is entered in their permit, from whence it is called among foreigners their chop name. Each of the heads of the co-hong formerly licensed to trade with foreigners at Canton had such an official name. Besides these various names, old men of fifty, shopkeepers, and others take a hao, or ‘designation;’ tradesmen use it on their signboards as the name of their shop, and not unfrequently receive it as their personal appellation. Of this nature are the appellations of the tradesmen who deal with foreigners, as Cutshing, Chanlung, Linchong, etc., which are none of them the names of the shopmen, but the designation of the shop. It is the usual way in Canton for foreigners to go into a shop and ask “Is Mr. Wanglik in?” which would be almost like one in New York inquiring if Mr. Alhambra or Mr. Atlantic-House was at home, though it does not sound quite so ridiculous to a Chinese. The names taken by shopkeepers allude to trade or its prospects, such as Mutual Advantage, Obedient Profit, Extensive Harmony, Rising Goodness, Great Completeness, etc.; the names of the partners as such are not employed to form the firm. Besides this use of the hao, it is also employed as a brand upon goods; the terms Hoyuen, Kinghing, Yuenkí, meaning ‘Harmonious Springs,’ ‘Cheering Prospects,’ ‘Fountain’s Memorial,’ etc., are applied to particular parcels of tea, silk, or other goods, just as brands are placed on lots of wine, flour, or pork. This is called tsz’-hao, or ‘mark-designation,’ but foreigners call both it and the goods it denotes a chop.
When a man dies he receives another and last, though not necessarily a new name in the hall of ancestors; upon emperors and empresses are bestowed new ones, as Benevolent, Pious, Discreet, etc., by which they are worshipped and referred to in history, as that designation which is most likely to be permanent.
CEREMONIAL OBEISANCE AT COURT.
In their common intercourse the Chinese are not more formal than is considered to be well-bred in Europe; it is on extraordinary or official occasions that they observe the precise etiquette for which they are famous. The proper mode of behavior toward all classes is perhaps more carefully inculcated upon youth than it is in the west, and habit renders easy what custom demands. The ceremonial obeisance of a court or a levee, or the salutations proper for a festival, are not carried into the everyday intercourse of life; for as one chief end of the formalities prescribed for such times is to teach due subordination among persons of different rank, they are in a measure laid aside with the robes which suggested them. True politeness, exhibited in an unaffected regard for the feelings of others, cannot, we know, be taught by rules; but a great degree of urbanity and kindness is everywhere shown, whether owing to the naturally placable disposition of the people or to the effects of their early instruction in the forms of politeness. Whether in the crowded and narrow thoroughfares, the village green, the market, the jostling ferry, or the thronged procession—wherever the people are assembled promiscuously, good humor and courtesy are observable; and when altercations do arise wounds or serious injuries seldom ensue, although from the furious clamor one would imagine that half the crowd were in danger of their lives.
Chinese ceremonial requires superiors to be honored according to their station and age, and equals to depreciate themselves while lauding those they address. The Emperor, considering himself as the representative of divine power, exacts the same prostration which is paid the gods; and the ceremonies which are performed in his presence partake, therefore, of a religious character, and are not merely particular forms of etiquette, which may be altered according to circumstances. There are eight gradations of obeisance, commencing with “the lowest form of respect, called kung shao, which is merely joining the hands and raising them before the breast. The next is tso yih, bowing low with the hands thus joined. The third is ta tsien, bending the knee as if about to kneel; and kwei, an actual kneeling, is the fourth. The fifth is ko tao (kotow), kneeling and striking the head on the ground, which when thrice repeated makes the sixth, called san kao, or ‘thrice knocking.’ The seventh is the luh kao, or kneeling and knocking the head thrice upon the ground, then standing upright and again kneeling and knocking the head three times more. The climax is closed by the san kwei kiu kao, or thrice kneeling and nine times knocking the head. Some of the gods of China are entitled to the san kao, others to the luh kao, while the Emperor and Heaven are worshipped by the last. The family now on the throne consider this last form as expressing in the strongest manner the submission and homage of one state to another.”[377] The extreme submission which the Emperor demands is partaken by and transferred to his officers of every grade in a greater or less degree; the observance of these forms is deemed, therefore, of great importance, and a refusal to render them is considered to be nearly equivalent to a rejection of their authority.
Minute regulations for the times and modes of official intercourse are made and promulgated by the Board of Rites, and to learn and practise them is one indispensable part of official duty. In court the master of ceremonies stands in a conspicuous place, and with a loud voice commands the courtiers to rise and kneel, stand or march, just as an orderly sergeant directs the drill of recruits. The same attention to the ritual is observed in their mutual intercourse, for however much an inferior may desire to dispense with the ceremony, his superior will not fail to exact it. In the salutations of entrée and exit among officers these forms are particularly conspicuous, but when well acquainted with each other, and in moments of conviviality, they are in a great measure laid aside; but the juxtaposition of art and nature among them, at one moment laughing and joking, and the next bowing and kneeling to each other as if they had never met, sometimes produces amusing scenes to a foreigner. The entire ignorance and disregard of these forms by foreigners unacquainted with the code leaves a worse impression upon the natives at times, who ascribe such rudeness to hauteur and contempt.
ETIQUETTE OF FORMAL VISITING.