Names

Abstract

In this essay Fan Yusu offers a detailed analysis of her students’ names when she worked as a kindergarten teacher for migrant workers’ children. As the importance of “correct naming” has always been stressed in Chinese culture and society, Fan’s commentary on the signification of younger generations’ names reveal her critical reflections on the social stratification and urban-rural divide in contemporary China.

Notes

1 This is a line from the poem “Guanju” found in the Book of Songs about a young man seeking the attention from a beautiful girl. Plants’ and birds’ names (such as emu) frequently appear in the collection of poems.

2 This is probably referencing the Tang Poem “Snow on Lotus Mountain.”

3 Bai Juyi (722–846), also known Letian, was a Tang poet who often wrote poems about social ills.

4 This is a line from the “Song of Willow Branch” by Bai Juyi.

5 Wuxing or five elements refers to the five fundamental elements: mu (wood), huo (fire), tu (earth), jin (metal), shui (water). They were believed as the constituents of the universe in traditional Chinese culture.

6 The negligence of the earth element could indicate parents’ expectations for their children to thrive in the city rather than remain in the country.

7 Duanzhou inkstones are inkstones created from volcanic rock and have been popular among emperors, scholars, artisans, and visiting dignitaries since the Tang Dynasty; Luoyang embroidery has a history of over 2,000 years and the colorful patterns often include people, flowers, birds, and landscapes.

8 Yizu or “ant tribes” is the term given to the large number of college graduates who come from rural areas and work low-paying jobs, live in cramped spaces, and often experience little upward social mobility in the big cities.

9 Li Changping (b. 1963) is a renowned economist who has worked to improve the lives of farmers, in 2000 he wrote a letter to Premier Zhu Rongji about the conditions in rural China which caused an uproar. Liang Hong (b. 1973) is a professor of Chinese literature at Renmin University and writes about the lives of migrant workers.

10 Radicals are the building blocks of Chinese characters that indicate the meaning or sound of the characters.

11 This is a term used to describe the drifting population of migrant workers.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yusu Fan

Fan Yusu is a migrant worker from Hubei Province in central China. She went to Beijing as a migrant worker at various jobs including live-in nanny and substitute teacher, and later joined the Picun Literature Group. In 2017, her autobiographical essay “I Am Fan Yusu” went viral online, which had brought unprecedented public attention to the social group of domestic workers.

Grace Price

Grace Price is a first-year graduate student pursuing a master’s in Asian Studies at Georgetown University. She received her BA in East Asian Languages and Cultures and Global and International Studies from the University of Kansas.