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Tuesday, 12 February 2008 11:01 |
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Chinese relatives
It may be interesting to know that, unlike western system, in
China, we have different appellation for different relatives in
a family. This is obviously good practice in order to tell who
we are referring to in a conversation though some people may
think otherwise!
Father"s side Mother"s side Father"s father zufù Mother"s father
wài zufù Father"s mother zumu Mother"s mother wài zumu Father"s
elder brother bófù Mother"s elder brother jiùfù Father"s younger
brother xu xu(uncle) Mother"s younger brother same as above
Father"s elder brother"s wife bómu Mother"s elder brother"s wife
jiùmu Father"s younger brother"s wife shunshen Mother"s younger
brother"s wife same as above Father"s elder and younger sister
gugu Mother"s elder and younger sister yímu Father"s sister"s
husband gufù Mother"s sister"s husband yífù Father"s brother"s
son tángge(elder)
tángdì(younger) Mother"s brother"s son biaoge(elder)
biadì (younger)
I am sure this table can be endless knowing that one can have as
big a family as possible. However, simply from the above, one
can imagine how complicated it works when calling someone in
your family in China. That is why it is not surprising that very
often one doesn"t know how to call someone when they meet in a
Chinese New Year family gathering. What you need to know is that
you always see this person every time you meet with your family
and you can eat together at the same table.
Very often these days as well that sometimes my mother refers to
someone about something in the family and she expects me to know
who she is talking about. Well, the case is that I can hardly
recall what this person looks like.....
In China, with the One-Child policy started over 2 decades ago,
I think this system may not be as commonly used as before.
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