Politics - with Chinese civilization

Opening

In Chinese, we say:

Mongol, 蒙古(Ménggǔ)

Korea, 朝鮮 (Cháoxiǎn)

Southern china,  閩南 (Mǐnnán)

Do you think these phrases have any political issues?  Yes, there is a huge political issue.  I would like to explain about this issue and would like you to know where the issue comes from. Once you know, you will have a better view in Chinese Civilization.

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So what is the issue? I said:

蒙古(Ménggǔ) meaning “ignorant and old” in Chinese character 

朝鮮 (Cháoxiǎn) meaning  “government and small ”

閩南  (Mǐnnán) meaning “insect”

Do you think it is right to call others in such a demean manner? More examples:

America is 美國 (Měiguó) meaning,  “the country of beauty”

Germany is 德國 (Déguó) meaning,  “the country of virtue”

China is  中華,( Zhōnghuá) meaning, “center and flourish”

In Japanese,  America is 米國 (Mǐ guó), which means “the country of rice”, why rice ? Americans eat bread!  Sorry, a political dispute raised, because of Chinese character…. This kind of political dispute never arises in English. America is America. Germany is Germany. They are just names corresponding to sounds without having meaning.

Another example is 一國兩制 (Yīguóliǎngzhì). Normally translated as “One country, two systems”. But “一國(Yīguó)” can be interpreted as:

“A country”

“One country”

“Single country”

“First country”

“United country”

一國兩制 (Yīguóliǎngzhì).  Does this mean, a country of two systems as Hong Kong claims? Or two systems controlled by one country, as China claims. This is the big political issue.

So, the question is why such political issues can easily arise in Chinese language?  This is because Chinese characters do not carry only “sound”. Characters are symbols, rich in images and meaning.  This power of the language works as the double-edged sword to open up the additional space of the intensive demand for politics over its interpretation.

How does the ancient Chinese cope with this issue?  Let me share some examples to describe certain aspect of Chinese Civilization.

1.  In ancient china, Chinese characters are not for everyone, but only for elites called 士大夫 (Shìdàfū).  These elites studied for the imperial examination and memorized many textbooks.   The elites can reference to the textbooks, recite the usage of each character to argue meaning over characters. Therefore, the elites can always win in arguments with non-elites.  

2.  The complexity of Chinese character results in the situation where only elites can write. This makes sure that the spread of ideas to be only one direction from the elites to the non-elites.  

3.   In English, you hear “Yoshi”. Once you learned phonetics, you can write down “Yoshi” by using alphabet. On the other hand, in Chinese, we need a “political authority” to determine which character should correspond to the new sound “Yoshi”.  We need to follow people, instead of following principle/rules in this way.

4. Cultures & values

Confucius insists the importance of loyalty.  

The list can continue, but the key point here is, Chinese Civilization is formed around how elites influence non-elites, without being known.

Closing

Let us get back to the question. Why the political issues arise in Chinese Civilization. This is because Chinese characters are symbols. Elites can determine which syllable, such as “Yī” to correspond to which symbol. Once symbols are given, such as “一”, we still can argue “一 (Yī)”means, one, single, first or what. In Chinese civilization, there is more space to be political.  And elites have privilege to determine which syllable to correspond to which symbol, and its interpretation. This can be compared to the political power of the religious authorities, by having privilege to interpret the bible.