# Looking for an academic word for Chinese banners you see during formal Chinese receptions/functions. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 5, 2020, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-academic-word-for-chinese-banners-you-see-during-formal-chinese-receptions-functions/847529 "2020-02-05T08:14:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2020, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-academic-word-for-chinese-banners-you-see-during-formal-chinese-receptions-functions/847529/1 "2020-02-05T08:14:23Z")
Hi I’m for a formal English academic word for Chinese banners (if there is one) you often see during formal Chinese receptions/functions (锦旗 (jǐn qí). They usually drape walls and express traditional Chinese beliefs/virtues. I look forward to your feedback. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2020, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-academic-word-for-chinese-banners-you-see-during-formal-chinese-receptions-functions/847529/2 "2020-02-06T06:53:53Z")
> [@davidmich](#): > > Hi > > I’m for a formal English academic word for Chinese banners (if there is one) you often see during formal Chinese receptions/functions (锦旗 (jǐn qí). They usually drape walls and express traditional Chinese beliefs/virtues. I look forward to your feedback. What makes you think there would be one English word for it? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2020, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-academic-word-for-chinese-banners-you-see-during-formal-chinese-receptions-functions/847529/3 "2020-02-06T10:11:49Z")
English does have a lot of words. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2020, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-academic-word-for-chinese-banners-you-see-during-formal-chinese-receptions-functions/847529/4 "2020-02-06T12:38:14Z")
Hundreds, if not thousands. ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2020, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-academic-word-for-chinese-banners-you-see-during-formal-chinese-receptions-functions/847529/5 "2020-02-06T13:07:14Z")
If you are referring to those large propaganda banners, the Chinese root word for those is Mandarin is xuanchuan. The direct translation is something like “to pass on, announce, provide”. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2020, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-academic-word-for-chinese-banners-you-see-during-formal-chinese-receptions-functions/847529/6 "2020-02-07T12:40:10Z")
Not an answer to the question, but I recently went to an exhibition of similar hangings, although they wern’t necesserarily xuanchuan (as above) as they were prototypes for patriotic quilt covers! [3 pictures here](https://www.flickr.com/photos/17270214@N05/48864655847) ---
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2020, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-academic-word-for-chinese-banners-you-see-during-formal-chinese-receptions-functions/847529/7 "2020-02-07T14:25:20Z")
> [@Dorjan](#): > > If you are referring to those large propaganda banners, the Chinese root word for those is Mandarin is xuanchuan. The direct translation is something like “to pass on, announce, provide”. I don’t believe xuanchuan is the correct word here as that implies propaganda. I’m really more interested in what are more innocuous types of banners that simply welcome guests with lots of innocuous/benign banners featuring well-worn sayings or proverbs etc. So (锦旗 (jǐn qí) is the correct word. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2020, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-academic-word-for-chinese-banners-you-see-during-formal-chinese-receptions-functions/847529/8 "2020-02-07T15:47:38Z")
When there isn’t a direct cultural equivalent, and hence no perfect translation, it’s common practice to simply adopt the word from the original language. In the earlier phase of adoption, such words are commonly italicized and supplemented with an approximate translation. An example of a word that’s probably in the intermediate phase is haiku; whereas I think words like yoga or origami are fully adopted and would not be italicized. Early adoption: > [@](#): > > She wrote a _haiku_ poem. Fully adopted: > [@](#): > > She wrote a haiku. I’d suggest following this practice here, since it’s a something with specific cultural significance not amenable to perfect translation that captures the full meaning. > [@](#): > > The schoolchildren held a _jinqi_ banner. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2020, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-academic-word-for-chinese-banners-you-see-during-formal-chinese-receptions-functions/847529/9 "2020-02-07T16:04:42Z")
Wikipedia calls them [“Big Letter Banners”:](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banner#Big_letter_banners_(China)) > [@](#): > > **Big letter banners (China)** > In China, it is common to find large red coloured banners, especially in schools, factories, government institutions and construction sites. Also called da zi bao (Chinese: 大字报; pinyin: dàzìbào; literally: ‘big-character reports’), these tend to be big and long, usually with red backgrounds and large Chinese characters. They tend to have motivational messages or industrial milestones on them. Historically, these big character posters (da zi bao) were used to convey messages during the cultural revolution, but their use changed after the country’s liberalization since 1979.[3] ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2020, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-academic-word-for-chinese-banners-you-see-during-formal-chinese-receptions-functions/847529/10 "2020-02-07T20:20:09Z")
> [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](#): > > Wikipedia calls them [“Big Letter Banners”:](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banner#Big_letter_banners_(China)) Like earlier reference to propaganda, 大字報 is a different word in Chinese than 錦旗 OP is asking about. They are somewhat similar things but the words aren’t synonyms in either in underlying character meaning (first means ‘big’+‘character’+‘report’, second ‘brocade’+‘banner’) or common meaning. The first, ‘dazibao’, is a big usually outdoor poster/banner, usually with a political or public exhortative or congratulatory slogan. A ‘jinqi’ is a small usually red silk banner usually hung indoors, usually with a proverbial Chinese saying or personal message. Dazibao I think qualifies as the ‘English’ word for the first one. And while I’ve never seen the second referred to in English as just ‘jinqi’, I have seen the somewhat redundant ‘jinqi banner’, besides ‘red silk banner’. ---
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2020, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-an-academic-word-for-chinese-banners-you-see-during-formal-chinese-receptions-functions/847529/11 "2020-02-08T17:08:53Z")
> [@Corry\_El](#): > > Like earlier reference to propaganda, 大字報 is a different word in Chinese than 錦旗 OP is asking about. They are somewhat similar things but the words aren’t synonyms in either in underlying character meaning (first means ‘big’+‘character’+‘report’, second ‘brocade’+‘banner’) or common meaning. The first, ‘dazibao’, is a big usually outdoor poster/banner, usually with a political or public exhortative or congratulatory slogan. A ‘jinqi’ is a small usually red silk banner usually hung indoors, usually with a proverbial Chinese saying or personal message. > > Dazibao I think qualifies as the ‘English’ word for the first one. And while I’ve never seen the second referred to in English as just ‘jinqi’, I have seen the somewhat redundant ‘jinqi banner’, besides ‘red silk banner’. In terms of the long banners I see that drape gala rooms, I think “héngfú” 横幅 is probably better.