Respect Long Overdue
Some villagers in Tangzhuang, Dengfeng City, Henan Province, long suffered from frequent ridicules and slights. The reason? Their surname, “Gou,” pronounces exactly like the Chinese word for “dog.” Just imagine the opportunities this offers those terrible kids at school who are always out there looking for some cheap laughs. In fact, young women in the area were often reluctant to marry into a Gou family if they could help it.
Finally the villagers had enough. They got together and petitioned the local government: they wanted to change their surname.
Officials at the local population registration office hesitated; Chinese law does not allow people to change their surnames freely.
Genealogists came to the rescue. According to them, over a thousand years before our own time, ancestors of the Gou folks were actually named Jing. Unfortunately for them, China’s emperor at the time, one terrible man who led a short-lived dynasty, was called Shi Jingtang. To show his deference to the emperor, a government official named Jing ridded part of the character that was his surname and adopted what remained of the word, which unfortunately pronounced Gou.
Having learned the history behind the name of Gou – everything in China has history – local officials approved the Gou clan’s request to change their surname to Jing.
Jing means “respect.”
Back to China Notes and News
|
