Game of the name turns serious
Source: Xinhua |
May 27, 2010, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
WHAT'S in a name? Well, quite a lot in China as more outspoken women emerge in the new millennium.
Chinese parents are deviating from the traditional paternal tradition and not always having children take the father's surname as mom puts the foot down.
A survey by Phoenix News Media-affiliated ifeng.com found about 80 percent of female respondents agreed with children taking their mother's surname. Not surprisingly, about 75 percent of male respondents opposed this idea.
Since the survey began on Tuesday, more than 20,000 people have responded.
In another survey posted by cd.qq.com, nearly 70 percent of respondents said they would consider giving the mother's surname to their children.
And, if a mother gave birth to twins, almost 65 percent of respondents said they would split the surnames.
A message posted by a mother said: "It would be fair to have one twin use my surname because I work as hard as my husband to earn money and raise the children. But he opposed this line of thought."
Hu Guangwei, deputy director of the Sociology Institute of the Sichuan Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, attributed the change to the rise in women's rights and open-mindedness among the new generation.
"A name is just a person's social label," he said. But for thousands of years, the surname has had many connotations relating to familial lineage, blood relationship and patriarchal clan rules.
Under the Marriage Law of China, a newborn may be given the surname of either the father or the mother.
Many parents choose to use double surnames or a combination of the surnames of both the father and mother, sometimes causing the child's name to be as long as four Chinese characters.
Most Chinese full names involve two to three characters, with the first one representing the family name.
A popular alternative is to keep the surname of the father and combine the mother's surname into the given name.
The first generation born under the one-child policy set up in the late 1970s have reached child-bearing age.
Hu said a "naming revolution" may be in the pipeline as opposing ideas about equality, modernity and patriarchy collided.
Chinese parents are deviating from the traditional paternal tradition and not always having children take the father's surname as mom puts the foot down.
A survey by Phoenix News Media-affiliated ifeng.com found about 80 percent of female respondents agreed with children taking their mother's surname. Not surprisingly, about 75 percent of male respondents opposed this idea.
Since the survey began on Tuesday, more than 20,000 people have responded.
In another survey posted by cd.qq.com, nearly 70 percent of respondents said they would consider giving the mother's surname to their children.
And, if a mother gave birth to twins, almost 65 percent of respondents said they would split the surnames.
A message posted by a mother said: "It would be fair to have one twin use my surname because I work as hard as my husband to earn money and raise the children. But he opposed this line of thought."
Hu Guangwei, deputy director of the Sociology Institute of the Sichuan Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, attributed the change to the rise in women's rights and open-mindedness among the new generation.
"A name is just a person's social label," he said. But for thousands of years, the surname has had many connotations relating to familial lineage, blood relationship and patriarchal clan rules.
Under the Marriage Law of China, a newborn may be given the surname of either the father or the mother.
Many parents choose to use double surnames or a combination of the surnames of both the father and mother, sometimes causing the child's name to be as long as four Chinese characters.
Most Chinese full names involve two to three characters, with the first one representing the family name.
A popular alternative is to keep the surname of the father and combine the mother's surname into the given name.
The first generation born under the one-child policy set up in the late 1970s have reached child-bearing age.
Hu said a "naming revolution" may be in the pipeline as opposing ideas about equality, modernity and patriarchy collided.
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