I was in Chinatown, Boston a few days ago to have lunch, and to see if I could make some cultural comparisons between overseas China and the real China that I have already spent a year in. Fortunately, there was no spitting in Chinatown, and the food was reasonably authentic (though, definitely more influenced by Cantonese and Hong Kong cuisine). I ordered some 鱼香肉丝 (yu xiang rou si), (蘑菇青菜) mo gu qing cai, and the more Americanized, crab ragoon. The yu xiang rou si was similar to how it is prepared in China, although the sauce was spicy and not of the fish-fragrant variety I am used to having in mainland China.
Chinatown, Boston, MA
I was a little bummed I did not have much of a chance to talk Mandarin, because so many of the Chinese in Chinatown-Boston speak Cantonese. Though some are conversant in Mandarin and I was able to get some quick Mandarin-speaking practice in.
As I was walking around Chinatown, I started to wonder, how would I actually say Chinatown in Chinese. My first guess was the literal translation: just take China 中国 and town 乡, and voila, you have Chinatown. But, language isn’t often this simple and part of me believed it could be translated into something completely different.
And sure enough it is. Chinatown can be correctly translated as 唐人街。唐＝Tang Dynasty 人= people 街= street. For a little background: the Tang dynasty is China’s most prosperous dynasty and this time period is something that Chinese people are very proud of. Like anyone leaving their home country and entering a new land, we are all like mini-ambassadors. Wanting to represent the best of China, Chinese immigrants called themselves 唐人 or the Tang people. So 唐人街 Táng rén jiē means the streets of the Tang people.
I have also seen the variant 中国成, though that might be more common in some places than others.
Good post, Tom and appreciate the insight you give on much of the China life. Hope by the time you read this, you are getting settled in to Xiamen. Welcome back!
Jake, in the Shanghai airport right now, ready to go to Xiamen. Looking forward to this year… thanks for the comment. We’ll keep in touch.
I was taught 唐人街 in Chinese class in Taiwan, but the Chinatown arch in Liverpool, UK says 中國城, as GAC says I think both are acceptable just depends where you are.
Hi. Found your blog through Twitter. Very interesting it is.
In Malaysia, the local Chinese call their Chinatown, a.k.a. Petaling Street, 唐人街, too. But lately the use of the term 中國城 is getting more commonplace in this part of the world, too, especially for new “Chinese-inspired” establishments/buildings.
If not mistaken, I think the earliest of the Chinese immigrants, be they in North America, Southeast Asia, or Europe, mostly were of Cantonese descent. I myself am no exception — I can trace my roots back to Taishan, Guangdong (廣東台山). (I’m a third-generation Malaysian-Chinese who spent about three years in Minnesota.)
Just wondering, you do know that Mandarin and Cantonese are not mutually interchangeable? Even within these two dialects (the North and the South), there are variants. For instance, Taishanese speak a somewhat different form of Cantonese, which doesn’t sound like the standard Cantonese (as heard in Guangzhou and Hong Kong).
Yah I do know how different Cantonese and Mandarin are. Really amazing. You’re right, the immigrants were mostly of Cantonese decent, and that’s why so much of Chinatown in the U.S. speaks cantonese. Do you happen to know why it was the Cantonese speaking regions that sent so many immigrants? Maybe just the close proximity to the coast?
Hi, Tom. So sorry about the uber-late reply. Been caught up with work and lack of sleep.
Anyway, to your question, because of its proximity to the coast, Guangdong became the first (province) in China to open its door to the West, especially during the late Qing Dynasty. Actually, outside influences could already be found sporadically across Guangdong, Fujian, and even the now-Taiwan during the Ming Dynasty. The Old China used to have this “closed-door policy (閉關政策),” because it regarded itself as the Middle Kingdom of the world. In fact, the Chinese descendants here in Southeast Asia usually are Cantonese, Hokkien (Fujianese), Hainanese 海南, Hakka 客家, Teochew (Chaozhou) 潮州, and Guangxi-an(?) 廣西. Lately I bumped into this new colleague of mine who can trace his roots back to Shandong, which is VERY rare. Even with his family name, it’s considered rare. You can hardly find descendants of Northern Chinese in Southeast Asia.
Haha! Not that they were sent, the immigrants could have voluntarily “sold” themselves as coolies (苦力) in search of greater earnings elsewhere for their families back in China. My great grandparents migrated to Southeast Asia in the early 20th century in search of better job prospects and more income. (Because of the British, too, I suppose? The Brits ruled Malaysia then.) To this day, my family still keeps contacts of the other (distant) relatives back in Taishan, Guangdong. This is a rare case in overseas Chinese communities; many have lost touch with those back in China.
Anyhow, keep up with the great job on this blog. I’ll try to catch up with reading the thoughts and adventures shared here whenever time allows. Your Chinese experience here actually has reminded me of the Sino Summer study abroad program back at the college I used to study while in Minnesota. My own American friends have been influenced by me; they are now in Thailand as ESL teachers, and are trying to travel as much as they can while still here (including coming over to Malaysia!). The difference about them with you is the part of the world they are seeing isn’t China. Haha!
P.S. I thought Twitter is blocked in China? A colleague who is now in Tangxia, Guangdong, just told me about that, too. The funny thing is, I can still see you tweet from China. How’s that so?
Thanks for the explanation. Twitter is blocked in China but you can get around it by using a VPN which allows you to connect to anywhere in the world, hence allowing you to use any sites that are blocked in China.
Maybe you can take a look at a book, “Chinatown Family ” written by Yutang Lin(林語堂)~