Question
Asked by C.Foster from USA | Aug. 03, 2015 14:10
About:Chinese Names

Shanghainese 1930's British customes

My late husband was Chinese, whose family were originally from Shanghai.The family left China during the Japanese occupation and never returned. His family lived until the late 1930's in the then so-called British quarter of Shanghai and learned to speak English in the British style and followed some British customs also. Some family members called each other (family and friends) by using the first two initials of their anglicized version of their Chinese names. eg. Uncle Tien Soh was called Uncle TS and so on. Have you heard of this custom elsewhere? I believe it is an old upper class British tradition to use initials instead of a person's complete name. I don't believe this is the case any longer.

Answers (1)
Answered by Lee from China | Aug. 04, 2015 03:14
01Reply
Foster, I think this has something to do with this guy Thomas Francis Wade. He lived in China for 40 years and established Wade-Giles System to name Chinese people and cities. I think Tien Soh is the given name. However, Chinese people seldome name a person in this way. We usually call his/her family name instead. For example, my uncle's full name is Zhang Yunxi. When I meet him, I usually call Uncle Zhang.

In 1958, China published its own Pinyin System. Since then, we name a place or a person in Pinyin. Wade-Giles System is no longer used anymore.
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