The Saga of Ding Wenjiang, early Chinese scientist, Part one, naming China's first geologist and the traditional way of choosing a fortuitous name
Plus Kamala Harris's Chinese names, the 2012 Shanghai Calling film featuring my friend Bill Marcus (RIP), and more
Greetings,
My sincere thanks for returning again this week. For those who wonder, as I have mentioned, several years ago, I proudly earned a Master’s Degree in the field of East Asian Studies from Cornell University. This was a good experience, and I learned a whole lot more than I had expected before attending. Honestly, I was a bit cocky and had a low opinion of formal education when I applied, but my experiences there turned both of these things around quickly, mostly through good example and by seeing just how much professors such as Sherman Cochran and Magnus Fiskesjo had mastered in their own studies. I was thrilled when they became my master’s thesis advisors.
My master’s thesis was called “Chinese and Western Interaction Surrounding the Preparations for the Peking Man Digs of the 1920s.” (no ninjas involved) It focused on the early history of paleontology in China and how the various individuals and organizations involved interacted to accomplish this goal.
If you’d like you may access it here: Cornell e-commons: Chinese and Western Interactions Surrounding the Preparations for the Peking Man Digs of the 1920s
About 2009, I started a project to turn it into a popular history for an educated audience of lay people. The project never quite gelled and flowed for me, and I set it aside and never returned (until today) but I hope to share parts of it here. (For those who wonder, this is a modified segment of chapter three, which focused on Ding Wenjiang, a fascinating, yet little known historical figure.
But as for other projects, I have been published again at JEMS.com, the EMS and ambulance website, this time on burn treatment. (I attended a fascinating day-long program on burns and burn treatment at the FDNY Search and Rescue Conference in New York City at one of the top burn centers.) Again, if you wish, you may read it here: JEMS.Com - Understanding the Essentials of Burn Care I am currntly working on a few interelated articles on mental health self care, improving resilience, and reducing suicides among first responders for that publication. Interesting and important topic, as suicide deaths among first responders generally happen at a higher rate than line of duty deaths. (perhaps one should say “other line of duty deaths?” It’s a subject of debate.)
Fortunately, one great thing about studying the Peking Man digs and the history of paleontology in China and East Asia is (spoilers) no suicides. And there’s minimal violence, starvation and famine, plague, torture, political persecution, or other heavy doses of ugliness, especially when compared to many subjects in Chinese history. Seriously, if you are going to study history in an intensive way, consider if your specific subject of study is something that you wish to spend hours on every day for a long period of time or if you will be carrying around too much traumatizing material in your head. My two cents. Something to think about. I lucked out. Meanwhile, enjoy.
I have included my random news round up this week as well. Feel free to check out the links.
Peace.
Ding Wenjiang (丁文江 ) , Diplomat and China's first Western trained geologist. Parting 1 - His Name, astrology and traditional Chinese naming customs, and How History has Record his name.
Ding Wenjiang 丁文江
Personal details: Born 20 March 1887
Taixing County, Jiangsu, China, Qing Dynasty ( 1644-1911 )
Died 5 January 1936 (aged 48)
Changsha, Hunan, Republic of China ( 1911-1949 )
Political party Independent
Spouse Shi Jiuyuan
Education University of Glasgow,
Graduated from Zoology and Geology in 1911
Occupation: Essayist Geologist Writer
(source: Ding Wenjiang - Wikipedia )
Early in the twentieth century, soon after the founding of the Republic of China, a man named Ding Wenjiang, became head of an organization called the China Geological Survey. This organization studied China's mineral resources. It also organized and supervised the digs for Peking Man. Ding Wenjiang was China's first foreign trained geologist.
While simple statements of historical facts, mundane on their surface, they become fascinating if one digs deeper.
What was the Republic of China? How was it different from the government before it or for that matter the government that came after it? What was the China Geological Survey? What did it do? How did an organization with the word “geology” in its name become the organizer of a paleontological dig? After all, paleontology is a separate science from geology.
And how did this man happen to become China’s first foreign trained geologist? While at first glance, that might seen like a rather uninteresting subjects, again, if one digs deeper, these are fascinating subjects.
Probably the best place to start is with the question of who was Ding Wenjiang?
As we look at the events in his life, and see how an idealistic young man born in traditional China and who had once been expected to follow the path his ancestors ahd followed for centuries, but who was transformed into an intellectual who embraced Western science as a path to reform for his nation and people, a fascinating but true story unfolds.
And ss we see how his life unfolded, the picture of the world he lived in should become clearer.
One place to begin with trying to understand Ding Wenjiang and his society is by looking carefully at his name. Details like profession and historical accomplishments will follow, but his name, and the traditions and conventions that surround it will provide ample hints of the fluid and ever-changing society in which he lived. Names are rooted in culture and tradition as well as hopes and expectations for the future, and a lot can be learned from where they came from and how they were chosen.
Ding Wenjiang's family name was “Ding.” His given name, according to modern historians, was “Wenjiang.” As was customary in Chinese culture as well as the nations that had been influenced by its civilization, the family name came first. This custom continues in Asia today.
If one looks at a series of references to Ding Wenjiang or his contemporaries, it's easy to notice that the spelling of Chinese names of the time can be wildly inconsistent. (I wrote about this a few weeks ago. See Chinese spelling and Romanization of the Chinese Language )
For instance, Johann Gunnar Andersson, a Swedish collaborator of Ding's, wrote his name as “Ting” and referred to him as “V.K. Ting” with the family name in the Western position and the initials “V.K.” used instead of “W.J.” Other Chinese people of this time also show a great variety in spelling and pronunciation of their name. It was a time when things were in transition and while a need to write Chinese words using the Roman alphabet had developed, a systematized way of doing so had not yet been developed.
Of course, in China, Chinese names and words are not usually written in Roman letters. Instead, they are normally written in Chinese characters. Therefore when “Ding Wenjiang” was growing up, his name was actually written as “ 丁文江.“
When Ding Wenjiang was born in 1887, there was no widely accepted systematic means to write the sounds of Chinese characters with Roman letters. Spelling with Roman letters was an afterthought, a crude attempt using a foreign system of writing to give only a partial idea of the relevant sounds of the language, and therefore when done was usually improvised on the spot as needed.
Additionally Chinese characters could contain elements and overcome obstacles that Roman letters could not. For instance, to pronounce a Chinese word correctly it's necessary to use the proper pitch as word meaning is often dependent on whether or not the pitch of the vowels rises, falls or dips. These are referred to as “tonal patterns” or “tones” and are an essential yet unavoidable feature of not just Chinese but many languages in the world. Although the characters don't actually have a code to specify which tone pattern is used to pronounce them, to someone familiar with the Chinese characters and language, by choosing or recognizing the proper character, one also recognizes the proper tone and therefore knows not just its meaning but also its pronunciation, tone and all.
The exact form of a Chinese character is often, but not always, connected to its pronunciation (some characters have more than one correct pronunciation even within a single dialect, depending on meaning and context). This is because thecharacters are also largely ideographic in nature and not necessarily fixed on phonetics. Which, historically, has been quite important. In different parts of China, there are dialects that differ so much that in other parts of the world, they would be considered different languages. Although there were widely differing pronunciation differences, through using ideographic characters instead of phonetic symbols, the Chinese writing system easily overcame these dialectical differences. Thus, although Ding Wenjiang would write his name in the same way using the same characters throughout China or anywhere else where readers of Chinese might live, pronunciation could vary.
For instance in some areas, the “Jiang” in “Ding Wenjiang” would be pronounced as “Kiang” which explains why Ding's friend Andersson used a “K” as one of his initials instead of a “J.” The “Wen” ( 文 ) would most likely have been pronounced as “vun.” [i]
When Ding Wenjiang, or for that matter his foreign friends such as Johann Gunnar Andersson, wrote his name in Western letters, they did so using the pronunciation of the Wu dialect or the Shanghai region. Mandarin was not yet a recognized national language among most people.
And the three carefully chosen characters hinted at much else too. Ding was born on April 13, 1887 in the remote town of Huang-chiao in Jiangsu Province to the north of Shanghai. He was the second of four sons, and his parents were of the gentry class, educated and concerned with education for their children and involved on the periphery of local governance and affairs. If they followed the custom of the time, they chose his name and its characters according to a complex procedure that dated back centuries. [ii]
Last week I wrote a bit about how the Chinese traditionally viewed the cosmos. ( see: Mostly Asian History: An Introduction to Traditional Chinese Concepts about how the Cosmos Functions ) One aspect that I wrote about is that traditionally and continuing today. Chinese culture believed that there were several patterns of correlation that affected or explained or illustrated how things interacted with each other. And when a person’s date and time of birth was analyzed using the Chinese calendar one could determine the patterns of these correlating relationshis at the time of birth. These were believed to influence how he or she would best interact with the world and universe around them or where and how they might expect problems if the forces had been aligned with each other in an unhealthy or unlucky way. (And, yes, I am describing Chinese astrology.)
This procedure often began with the careful calculation of the exact time of birth using the traditional Chinese calendar. Under this complex and unwieldly system, time was divided into complex combinations of multiple cycles of twelve and ten. Often referred to in English as the “twelve stems” and the “ten branches,” this system had been in use for centuries and is still in use today for many purposes including calculation of special events and to determine the lunar new year (I called the system unwieldly. Some might note that the date of the lunar new year, a.k.a. “Chinese New Year,” shifts each year and that when Chinese first encountered Western calendrics in the sixteenth century they were quite impressed and learned everything they could about the Western way of making calendars.) After calculation of the exact time of birth, an eight character “horoscope” would be determined that would show the exact year, month, day and hour of the person's birth (with two characters for each, resulting in eight characters.) These “eight characters” functioned like a horoscope within Chinese traditional cosmology and were believed to indicate where weakness might lie in this person's relationship with the energies of the universe. (Again, sources are hard to find, but wikipedia has a page. See: Four Pillars of Destiny - Wikipedia Four Pillars of Destiny -Wikipedia . And if one questions my expertise if I am sending you to Wikipedia, please remember that I knew enough to check if wikipedia had a page on “the eight characters” or 八字 in the first place. Notice that the page uses obscure Asian sources please.)
If a person, through the nature of their eight character “Chinese horoscope,” appeared to be out of synchronization with the energies of the universe, being born at a time when it looked they were destined for poor health or poor fortune, then one way to balance things and work for a better synchronization and better fortune for the person could be through carefully choosing the right name with the right characters for the newly born person. Since the characters also correlated with the same patterns and energies and forces, then one could provide them with a better chance of success in life by choosing a name that would give them a more harmonious relationship with the world around them when used in conjunction with their time of birth and the eight characters that had been used to properly record it.
Determining the energies and aspects of the name were complex. (in fact, virtually everything in traditional China was complex, so why should its astrological and fortune telling systems be any less complex?) However, by assessing the component of a character, its sound or the number of brush strokes used to draw it, a skilled fortune teller could determine which ideographic characters when combined with the eight characters that indicate a person's birth, would ensure them the most likelihood of good fortune and success in life. [iii]
This was the nature of giving names in the society and social level where Ding Wenjiang, China's first modern geologist, was born. Although there does not seem to be any record of how much effort was put into choosing the characters of his name based on this system, it would have been normal for his parents to have chosen his name using this system in the hope of ensuring good fortune. Even today this system is used by many for exactly that purpose.
To clarify, my purpose in spending time on this way of choosing names in traditional China is just to illustrate the complexity of the civilization and society that he was born into, and the depth of its traditions and heritage. I am doing this because with a man who decided to leave his native culture and civilization, sojourn to another culture, gain the wisdom of the second Western culture and civilization, and then return home to his native culture and civilization with the intent of using Western civilization to help his people and homeland.
But back to Ding Wenjiang and his name. In Ding Wenjiang's case three characters were chosen for his name: 丁文江
The first, 丁, was his surname, “Ding.” The name was said to date back three thousand years[iv] and his family undoubtedly had complex charts that showed his relationship with the relatively well known “Duke of Ding” of this time.
The second character of his name, 文, “Wen.” It means “refined”
The third character of his name, 江, “Jiang” meant “river.” Many Chinese names refer to natural objects so “river” was an appropriate name, but it also may have referred to his home province of “Jiangsu.”
So we have now introduced 丁文江 aka “Ding Wenjiang,” aka “Ting Wenjiang” aka “V.K. Ting,”a fascinating man who did everything he could to help his nation and his people through learning and applying science and, at great personal risk at a young age, became China’s first Western educated geologist.
Next week, or if not then soon in the future, I wish to share that story.
And the Weekly News Round Up and Links of Interest
Kamala Harris and her Chinese Names
While I have been trying to avoid US politics and mentioning “the T guy” as much as possible, I will admit I am excited by Kamala Harris’s entry into the race and especially at hearing Tim Walz, governor of Minnesota, speak of this nation, this election, and our shared hopes, dreams, and plans for the future. I believe the USA is a great nation with great ideals and when it follows those ideals and intelligently seeks its potential, great things happen. Having lived in Asia for over 6 years of my life, it’s not a bad place to be, mind you, but I can honestly say I live now in the USA, my home country, by choice. The USA has been a great country for a long time and has never really stopped being one, and I have to wonder what’s up with these people who deny that for whatever reason and then call themselves patriots?
Which reminds me, feel free to buy my book on Trump: Scams from the Great Beyond --The Presidential Edition: A Skeptical Look at Our 45th President Using the Tools of a Paranormal Debunker and Historian
As I have said before, if you consider US China relations to be important, vote for someone who respects the rule of law, is not easily swayed by flattery, gifts, and special favors, and who considers strong, stable relationships with our allies in the region to be important. Identify that candidate and vote for them.
‘Nuff said.
Secondly, having spent so much time on Ding Wenjiang’s name, let’s look at Kamala Harris’s Chinese name.
First, Kamala Harris has been given a nickname by the Chinese internet social media trolls. Like most such things it’s not the most flattering and focused on her loud laugh. (OTOH, when is the last time anyone saw Donald Trump laugh at something that was not mean spirited?)
Her nickname is 哈哈姐 which means “laughing big sister” and I think that’s great:
see:
书剑舞- 23-9-9 20:07 发布于 波兰 来自 微博视频号
Which is described as:
23-9-9 20:07
发布于 波兰
来自 微博视频号
美副总统哈哈姐哈里斯(Kamala Harris)今天在自家举办了一场派对,庆祝嘻哈音乐诞生 50 周年。[笑而不语][笑而不语] 呆湾呱呱叫的微博视频
Hide translation
Translation from the Internet
“US Vice President Haha Sister Harris (Kamala Harris) held a party in her home today to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the birth of hip-hop music.[笑而不语][笑而不语]呆湾呱呱叫的微博视频”
Or
More Chinese internet
For English, reporting see CNN’s report on the Chinese social reaction to Kamala Harris entering the race:
Video: See why Chinese social media is comparing Lisa Simpson and Kamala Harris | CNN Politics
But she does have a “real” Chinese name.
https://www.tiktok.com/discover/sister-haha-kamala
If one goes to Wikipedia, then finds the Chinese language version of the Kamala Harris wikipedia page, hits auto-translate to English on your browser, you get something like this (and, yes, it is slightly garbled):
”Origin of Chinese name
Her Chinese name "He Jinli" ( 賀錦麗 ) was given by Su Xifen , the father of San Francisco City Women's Committee Su Rongli , when she was running for San Francisco County District Attorney in 2003. This marked the beginning of non-Chinese candidates for local elected officials in San Francisco. It is the first time for people to take Chinese names. (Note from Pete, I think it’s clear here that what they mean is “This is the first time a non-Chinese candidate in San Francisco took a Chinese name.” ) He Jinli once expressed that she did not like the word "丽" because she hoped to win with wisdom rather than appearance, but Su Rongli explained that "jin" takes into account "丽" and means "successful intricate beauty", just like brocade or brocade Usually, her own name "Su Rongli" contains the character "丽", so He Jinli happily accepted it. From then on, whenever Harris went to the Chinese community to campaign for votes, she would introduce herself as "I am Harris" ( 我是賀錦麗 ) [42] [8] . However, there is no unified name for her in the Chinese-speaking community, and mainland Chinese media generally call her "Kamala Harris" ( 卡瑪拉·哈里斯 -note, this is an attempt to write “Kamala Harris” with Chinese characters or “Kǎ mǎ lā·hālǐ sī” ) instead of "He Jinli" [43] [44] . Taiwanese media generally refer to her as "He Jinli" ( 賀錦麗 ) . [45] [46]”
Shanghai Calling and Bill Marcus
Just for fun, while writing this and trying to find the Wu dialect / Shanghai dialect pronunciation of Ding Wenjiang’s name I found myself missing my friend Bill Marcus who passed aways shortly before the pandemic of natural causes. He had spent over 10 years in Shanghai teaching English and working as a radio journalist and had a bit part in a couple movies that were filmed in Asia. Shanghai Calling, this 2012 low budget film, features him as one of the two New York City lawyers, the one on the left, (even though his parts were all filmed in Shanghai) and he has a couple fine lines where he yells at the protagonist about how he better straighten out the messes he caused or his career is over.
“Fix this or I will make sure this stink follows you for the rest of your career!” -that’s my friend Bill (RIP)!! Isn’t that cool?
Is it a great movie? No, but it’s fun —honestly a lot more fun if you know someone in it — and it does contain a lot of cliches about what it’s like to live in Shanghai as a non-Chinese speaking foreign ex-pat.
Bill, by the way, spoke very good Shanghai dialect Chinese and I found myself wishing I could have just called him and gotten the answer fast instead of hunting down 19th C language texts written by missionaries.
The Evil Mayor Alice Guo is still not being seen
For an update on this story ( just google “Mayor Alice Guo” ) it does appear confirmed that a non-Filipino citizen from China using false ID was elected as mayor of a town in the Philipines and used this position to facilitate running an on-going criminal enterprise that enslaved Filipinos, Chinese, and other nationalities and forced them to scam innocent people of their savings under threat of torture and even death.
She is still not seen but the authorities say they are quite certain she has not left the Philipines (I honestly do not understand how they claim to know this) but she has issued a couple statements from hiding about how the whole thing is a misunderstanding and how terrible it is that everyone is mistreating her this way and she regrets ever running for office in the first place.
Remember, please feel free to share this publication. I’d like to increase readership, Thanks
[i] Edkins, Joseph. “ A Grammar Of Colloquial Chinese, As Exhibited In The Shanghai Dialect” Shanghai, China: Presbyterian Missionary Press. 1868. Accessed at https://www.gutenberg.org/files/62128/62128-h/62128-h.htm on August 3, 2024
[ii] Furth, Charlotte. “Ting Wen-chiang, Science and China’s New Culture.” Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. 1970.
[iii] For an introduction to this topic, see Lip, Evelyn. “Choosing Auspicious Chinese Names.” Singapore: Times Books International, 1988.
[iv] Ding Surname, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ding_%28surname%29 on December 31, 2009.