Kinship Appellation In China

Chinese people reside in their nationality，reflecting a language of complicated kinship appellation．The bloodline is taken very seriously．According to statistics collected by our teacher in mandarin hanbridge online lesson，there are more than 230 words in Chinese regarding family appellation．In modern Chinese，there are just over 60 names，dating back three generations．Following the collapse off feudalism，many titles of hierarchy also vanished．In modern Chinese hanbridge class online，the rifles of appellation have been greatly simplified，but we still can see an obvious correlation to the ancestors’ language of hierarchy．

   

The great-grandfather is called old grandfather，and great-great grandfather being old-old grandfather)．Regarding the younger generation，there is ‘‘grandson’’ and “granddaughter,’’ adding “double” before the title expresses each generation as in double grand daughter，and double-double granddaughter．With respect to peers，the difference in age is extremely emphasized．In one’s own family, there are the titles

“older brother”，‘‘younger brother”, “older sister’’ and “younger sister”，so as not to confuse status and rank titles such as father’s older brother，father’s younger brother, sister-in-law, and brother-in-law, indicate one’s rank in the hierarchy. Our hanbridge mandarin of kinship appellation is completely different in English speaking countries，and the titles of siblings and other relatives are the same regardless of age difference．

   

Many more forms of address exist to refer to distant relatives，and distinguish clan bloodlines．These appellations have the particular characteristics．One’s title of rank corresponds to the mother or father’s side of the family，showing strict distinction. For example，according to our hanbridge Chinese lessons, the parents of the father are called zu3 fu4 and zu3 mu3(paternal grandfather and paternal grandmother)，while the parents of the mother are called maternal grandfather and maternal grandmother．The brothers of the father are respectfully called bo2 bo2 and shu1 shu1 (father’s older brother and father’s younger brother). Uncles on the other’s side of the family are all called jiu4 jiu4 (maternal uncle)，the order is denoted by adding a character to the beginning of the title as in big uncle (jiu4)，second uncle(er4 jiu4)，or small uncle (xiao3 jiu4) meaning brother-in-law，literally．In modern society the importance of ancestral relations has grown weaker，yet the extremely complex honorific language of the past has not completely dissolved. In villages located in vast areas of China，the diverse titles of nobility are still in rise．

Source: 

http://chineselanguage.bloggets.net/kinship-appellation-in-china/