August 26th, 2009
Interesting Chinese Name Culture
According to the records of the One Hundred Family Names (a book about the Chinese surnames which was written in the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty), there are 408 monosyllabic surnames and 30 hyphenated surnames in China. Mostly, Chinese address each other by their names. Take a girl whose full name is Li Hui Lan. People address her Li Hui Lan, Hui Lan, A Lan, or Xiao Lan, new Rocket Chinese even some (those who are elder than she or of the same age) may call her Xiao Li. If a man whose full name is Huang Yue Po, people address his full name or Yue Po, or Lao Huang(usually those who are younger than he or of the same age), or Xiao Huang.