[HPforGrownups] the Chinese Cho

[Cai Hui]

No: HPFGUIDX 21052

Tabouli wrote:

> I also think there's a significant cultural difference between mainland Chinese
> families (you're from mainland China, right Hui?) and the overseas Chinese,
> particularly those living in Western countries (after all, China's changed a
> lot since most of the overseas Chinese left).  The ol' migrant fossilisation
> often means that migrants, especially those to a very different culture (e.g.
> US, Australia) have more old fashioned values: migrants often take with them
> the customs of the time when they left the motherland.  My mother's values are
> still pretty 1960s Malaysian Chinese, whereas my own visits to Malaysia and the
> international students from Malaysia I've met suggest a very different country.

You're right. I really don't know much about oversea Chinese
families.

What if the Chang family moved from Hong Kong to England during
the 80s though? They should be a lot more open-minded then.

And I can't remember if it's mentioned in the book whether Cho's
a pure-blood or a muggle-born? After all, there're a huge amount
of stories and folklores about magic arts and such in old China.
(My best friend still believes in ghost!) I'd like to imagine that Cho's
from a family full of powerful Chinese witches and wizards. Could
be fun since they wouldn't be using Latin-based spells!

> This is veering a bit OT into the dim fields of linguistics, but I've always
> assumed that Cho is overseas Chinese, not from China, as the romanisation for
> her name in hanyu pinyin (standard system in mainland China used for converting
> the sound of Chinese characters in Mandarin into the roman alphabet) would be
> Qiu Chang or Chou Chang (any comments, Hui??). 

Actually "Chang" would be "Zhang" in  standard pinyin. And if "Cho"
means "to surpass" it'd be "Chao." ^^;

I know. Pinyin looks weird to western people.

> As her family are presumably
> living in England, they could well be Hong Kong Chinese, prior to the return of
> Hong Kong to China in 1997, which would make them Cantonese speakers.  "Cho
> Chang" looks more like a romanised Cantonese name than a Mandarin name to me.

I agree. I guess I never thought much about it because I've never
seen a western book using pinyin for a Chinese character's name.
I never expect pinyin.

Hui




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