Ask Jot

Chosen Answer by rrm38

I find it comical that people here in the US are so outraged and ready to protest the cruel treatment of animals in China when the problem of animal cruelty and neglect is so out of hand in our own back yard. I don't see a big difference in the people of China eating a cat and someone in the US refusing veterinary care and throwing one in the streets to fend for itself. At least the ones in China have a shorter time of suffering. I'm not trying to minimize what's happening there. I find the practice both disturbing and sickening. I'm only trying to say that some of these activist groups are rather hypocritical. PETA especially. Their shelter has the highest kill rate in the nation. How are they any better than the butcher described in the article? They are a farce and do more harm than good for their supposed cause. http://www.petakillsanimals.com/

Chosen Answer by Ray

I'd think it depends on your gender. If you're a girl, I think you should definitely go for "Huang Yuan", since "yuan" sounds more feminine, whereas "Huang Ping" is rather gender mutual. Also, I think I can speak for a number of people that Huang Ping doesn't sound as good as Huang Yuan, whatever gender you are.

Chosen Answer by ChineseAOE

Here is the translation: The Cais are said to be the descendants of the 5th son of King Wen of the Zhou Dynasty (9th century BC – 256 BC), Ji Du. 姓蔡的人据说是周文王第5个儿子，姬度的后代， 周(公元前9世纪-公元前256年)。 Ji Du was awarded the title of marquis (hóu) of the State of Cai (centered on what is now Shangcai, Zhumadian, Henan, China), and he was known as Cai Shudu ("Uncle Cai"). 姬度被授予蔡国(蔡国在当今中国河南省驻马店的尚蔡) 的“侯”，他被称为蔡叔度 ("蔡叔")。 Together with Guan Shu and Huo Shu, they were known as the Three Guards 蔡叔度和管叔鲜，霍叔处一起，他们被称为三监。 When King Wu died, his son King Cheng was too young and his uncle, the Duke of Zhou, became regent. 周武王去世的时候，他的儿子周成王还太小，他的叔叔周公， 就成为了摄政王。 Seeing that the power of the Duke of Zhou was increasing, the Three Guards got jealous and rebelled against Zhou together with Wu Geng. 看到周公的权力增加，“三监”很嫉妒并且联合武庚一起 发动了叛乱。 The Duke of Zhou suppressed the rebellion, and Cai Shu was exiled. 周公镇压了叛乱，蔡叔被流放。 King Cheng reestablished Cai Shu’s son Wu as the Duke of Cai. 周成王以蔡叔的儿子胡为蔡公重建了蔡国。 Some 600 years later in the Warring States Period, the State of Chu conquered Cai in 447 BC and was itself conquered by the Qin state which, in turn, formed the Qin Empire, China's first empire. 大概六百年以后的战国时期，楚国在公元前447年灭了蔡国， 之后楚国被秦国征服，成为中国第一个封建王朝秦朝的一部分。 With the spread of family names to all social classes in the new empire, many people of the former state of Cai began to bear it as a surname. 随着蔡家族的分散在秦国社会的各个阶层， 很多之前的蔡国人开始把"蔡"作为自己的姓氏。 The Cais descendants have undertaken two major migrations. 蔡的子孙经历了两次重要的迁徙。 During the Huang Chao Rebellion (AD 875) at the end of the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907), the Cai clan migrated to Guangdong and Fujian provinces. 在唐(公元618年-907年)末的黄巢起义(公元875年)， 蔡族迁移到广东和福建。 Another later migration occurred when Ming Dynasty loyalist Koxinga moved military officials surnamed Cai and their families to Taiwan in the 17th century. 另一次发生在后来迁移发生在17世纪的明朝，郑成功将 姓蔡的军事官员及其家属到台湾。 As a result, the surname is far more common in these areas and in areas settled by their descendants (e.g., Southeast Asia) than in other parts of China. 因此，该姓在这些地区和他们的后裔定居的地区 (例如东南亚)比在中国其他地区更为普遍。 This is an article talks about Family name "Cai". I am a Chinese I know the history very well, so the names in Chinese and details of the translation is very acurate. By the way, are you a native Chinese speaker need help with English, or you need help in Chinese and you speak English? Just intersting. I hope it helps

Chosen Answer by Craftylass

In all my years in China, I've only occasionally had someone say, "call me by my "last name." When it does happen, it's usually a young guy. Kind of like, "My name is Bond. James Bond. Call me Bond. I usually address Chinese acquaintances by "Mr. Last Name" or "Respected Title Last Name" (Lao Wang, Xiao Wang, Wang Laoshi, Wang Shifu, etc.). As time goes on and the relationship becomes established, I will address him by his given name, Zhong Huang. However, if the name has only two characters, then I will always call him by his full name. I.e. Wang Zhong. Because family names are so common, it's helpful to say the full name as opposed to the family name only. My best friend in China has only a two character name and she always uses it . . . she never goes by just her given name character or even just her family name (Liu). It's always both. It's probably just a matter of personal preference for most people. Good luck!