横滨的停车场 上礼拜我去横滨了。在横滨里有很大的China Town. China Town 用汉语怎么说？ 我最喜欢这个停车场。大楼有中国式屋顶很有意思。你知道那个数什么意思吗？ 如果你一天停车的话，要1800日圆。贵吗？

Kobinata Reiko

横滨的停车场上礼拜我去横滨了。在横滨里有很大的China Town. China Town 用汉语怎么说？我最喜欢这个停车场。大楼有中国式屋顶很有意思。你知道那个数什么意思吗？如果你一天停车的话，要1800日圆。贵吗？

Apr 24, 2014 3:13 AM

横滨的停车场

上个礼拜, 我去到横滨了。在横滨里有很大的唐人街China Town. China Town 用汉语怎么说？
我最喜欢这[个]停车场。大楼上有的中国式屋顶檐很有意思。你知道停车费的个数目是什么意思吗？
如果你一天要停车一天的话，就要1800日圆。贵吗？

唐人街 is Cantonese for Chinatown. This is because the first one was built in the US during the 1800s when the railroads were done. Chinese were not allowed to live anywhere then because of racist policies. They were only able to live in certain areas, usually the areas not desired by the whites. Most of the Chinese came from Canton. As time passes, the Chinese become more sophisticated and opened restaurants etc. Soon it became a tourist attraction for the whites who started to discover how delicious Chinese food is. Now in the Monterey Park areas of LA (the 2nd Chinatown) have become ritzy places.

Now that there are more non-Cantonese Chinese migrated and want to live there, they have different names for their dialects. So they started to call 中國城 - China City. No American Chinese would want to use this term. Its smacks of disloyalty - a city belonging to China (which is good for the Chinese Mainlanders). 唐人街 has no such connotation because it means "street belonging to the people of the Tang Dynasty and this dynasty no longer exists)

中華街 is not suitable since it also carries too much of linkage to Taiwan's Nationalist Government. You know the rest. No need to elaborate.

Actually, the term Chinatown is a derogatory term. It comes from the same word as Chinaman! However, due to its usage or the lack of it, it's original meaning is now forgotten. It is like Chinese calling a Japanese, a 倭人 (a shorty). A euphemistic term is 瀛洲人. 瀛洲 is an immortal island in the Eastern Ocean.

April 24, 2014