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peter_teacher老师推荐阅读:大陆移民改名以图更香港化

时间:2009-11-25 05:49:02

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Chinese migrants change names to be 'more Hong Kong'

HONG KONG (AFP) - – An increasing number of mainland Chinese migrants to Hong Kong are changing the spelling of their surnames to avoid discrimination in the former British colony, a report said Monday.

Lawyer Raymond Tang told the daily South China Morning Post that his firm was seeing more mainland-born clients legally changing the romanised spelling of their name to appear more like local Hong Kong residents.

For example, some Putonghua-speaking mainland clients would ask to have "Zhu" changed to "Chu", and "Zeng" to "Tsang," he told the paper.

The romanisation of mainland Chinese and Hong Kong names is based on the pronunciation of Chinese characters in their respective languages -- the mainland dialect Putonghua, also known as Mandarin1, and Cantonese in Hong Kong.

"Some names in Putonghua pronunciation start with X or Z and many new migrants from the mainland want to change the spelling of their names to (local usage) in order to sound like a Hong Konger who grew up in the city," Tang told the newspaper.

"Some whose names are only two characters also want to change them to three, as names with two characters are more common on the mainland," he was quoted as saying.

Statistics from the Immigration Department showed there were a monthly average of 105 name-change applications in the first nine months of this year, higher than in the previous four years, the paper said.

Despite their geographical2 proximity3, the cultural and economic development of Hong Kong -- which was returned from British to Chinese rule in 1997 -- and mainland China are vastly different.

In the past, mainland Chinese visitors to Hong Kong often complained they were discriminated4 against and laughed at because of their accent and "cultural backwardness".

But the situation has started to change in recent years, as China becomes a strong backbone5 for Hong Kong's economic development.

Recent cases have seen Hong Kong people complain that some businesses, especially high-end retailers6, are focusing their attention on super-wealthy mainland Chinese customers instead of locally-born shoppers.

文章来源:口语陪练论坛


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1 Mandarin TorzdX     
n.中国官话,国语,满清官吏;adj.华丽辞藻的
参考例句:
  • Just over one billion people speak Mandarin as their native tongue.大约有十亿以上的人口以华语为母语。
  • Mandarin will be the new official language of the European Union.普通话会变成欧盟新的官方语言。
2 geographical Cgjxb     
adj.地理的;地区(性)的
参考例句:
  • The current survey will have a wider geographical spread.当前的调查将在更广泛的地域范围內进行。
  • These birds have a wide geographical distribution.这些鸟的地理分布很广。
3 proximity 5RsxM     
n.接近,邻近
参考例句:
  • Marriages in proximity of blood are forbidden by the law.法律规定禁止近亲结婚。
  • Their house is in close proximity to ours.他们的房子很接近我们的。
4 discriminated 94ae098f37db4e0c2240e83d29b5005a     
分别,辨别,区分( discriminate的过去式和过去分词 ); 歧视,有差别地对待
参考例句:
  • His great size discriminated him from his followers. 他的宽广身材使他不同于他的部下。
  • Should be a person that has second liver virus discriminated against? 一个患有乙肝病毒的人是不是就应该被人歧视?
5 backbone ty0z9B     
n.脊骨,脊柱,骨干;刚毅,骨气
参考例句:
  • The Chinese people have backbone.中国人民有骨气。
  • The backbone is an articulate structure.脊椎骨是一种关节相连的结构。
6 retailers 08ff8df43efeef1abfd3410ef6661c95     
零售商,零售店( retailer的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • High street retailers reported a marked increase in sales before Christmas. 商业街的零售商报告说圣诞节前销售量显著提高。
  • Retailers have a statutory duty to provide goods suitable for their purpose. 零售商有为他们提供符合要求的货品的法定义务。