Last night, my girlfriend was talking about Ang Lee the producer, but she said, “Lee Ang” since her native tongue is Chinese and that’s what she’s used to calling him. Earlier, when I watched the Daily Show, I realized, when Jon Stewart said “Mr. Hu,” that Hu was his surname.
So, in English, we say Hu Jintao, yet we also say Ang Lee, Yoko Ono, etc. Why is this? Am I missing something?
If I’m not mistaken, the Chinese generally put the family name (our “surname”) first. When in Western societies, where the family name is second, Chinese will often reverse the order so as to comply with local custom (and not gtet their family namde mistaken for their personal name). The problem is that both usages occur, and there’s no easy way to distinguish between trhem if you’re unfamiliar with Chinese names.
Back in grad school, we had a post doc who went by both Chung-wei Long and Long Chung-wei. My advisor used both forms interchangeably. So there’s no consistency
in general, although any organizatioon might strictly adopt only one. I can see why, in diplomatic circles, they’d want to adhere to Chinese usage and put the “Hu” first.
I’m pretty sure it’s becasue Lee Ang wanted to be known as Ang Lee.
I think you’ll find that politicians or government officials are usually given the courtesy of keeping their normal name order. It would be kind of an insult to do othewise. Private citizens, especially those trying to make their way in a western country, often adopt the local convention so as to avoid confusion.
Often Chinese and Korean businessmen will go by something like C. K. Lee or K. J. Choi, using initials for their two familiar names. Japanese will generrally just say “I am Yamamoto”, omitting their familiar name altogether-- which is what they’d say in Japanese.
Like all names, it’s ultimately the preference of the person named. Ang Lee prefers that format. Hu Jintao prefers that format. Li Gong goes both ways. Michelle Krusiec prefers that format (though uses Yang Ya-Huei in Taiwan).
All I know about Mr. Hu is that he wrote The Book Of Love, and he Let The Dogs Out.
Same deal with Hungarian, and the typical confusion ensues. Surnames go first, followed by given name, which should be reversed when the person is referred to in English. So Zoltán Kodály in English is Kodály Zoltán in Hungary.
In the case of Ang Lee, he’s studied in the US for quite some time, so it was a given he’d end up using Ang Lee for the western press, just like how any American student from China will eventually get used to having to write down their given names first and whatnot. He became famous in Taiwan before in America, so he’s established in China as Lee Ang. People like Hu Jintao and Zhang Ziyi were established and became well known in China before ever setting foot in America. Recently, Zhang Ziyi’s been asking to be called Ziyi Zhang in the western press.
Sometimes, though, Asian celebrities will mimic the western style cuz it’s sooooo coool… :dubious:
Actually, I believe he also put the Bomp in the Bomp Bah Bomp Bah Bomp.