Why do Chinese Olympic athletes' uniforms say "China" rather than the Chinese character?

[Dennis Brennan]

The Russian Olympic athletes' uniforms say POCCNR (with the
N and R backwards, of course). Back in the USSR, the uniforms
used to say CCCP.

Why do athletes from the Peoples Republic of China wear uniforms
that say "CHINA," rather than the character or, at least,
Zhong-guo? I would think it would be a blow to their national
honor to wear a uniform stating their country in a language which
many of them probably don't even understand.

[Robert Timmermann]

Dennis Brennan (sp...@dolphin.upenn.edu) wrote:
: The Russian Olympic athletes' uniforms say POCCNR (with the

: N and R backwards, of course). Back in the USSR, the uniforms
: used to say CCCP.

That is because the country is RUSSIA, not the USSR.

: Why do athletes from the Peoples Republic of China wear uniforms

: that say "CHINA," rather than the character or, at least,
: Zhong-guo? I would think it would be a blow to their national
: honor to wear a uniform stating their country in a language which
: many of them probably don't even understand.

China, Japan, and Korea have almost always used Roman letters and Arabic
numerals on their uniforms for as long as I remember. I think they just
want everyone else in the world to recognize them better. I would assume
that China makes more sense to the rest of the world than Zhong-guo.
I doubt Japan would be sport Nihon on their uniforms also.
For publicity sake, wouldn't you rather have the rest of the world
recognize you if you are winning a lot of medals at the Olympics.
In Japanese baseball, the uniforms all have English words on them like
"Giants" and "Swallows" and Arabic numerals.

--

Bob Timmermann
South Pasadena, CA
Librarian in a large unnamed city on the West Coast

[Justin Hiltscher]

Robert Timmermann wrote:

> Dennis Brennan (sp...@dolphin.upenn.edu) wrote:
> : The Russian Olympic athletes' uniforms say POCCNR (with the
> : N and R backwards, of course). Back in the USSR, the uniforms
> : used to say CCCP.
> That is because the country is RUSSIA, not the USSR.
>
> : Why do athletes from the Peoples Republic of China wear uniforms
> : that say "CHINA," rather than the character or, at least,
> : Zhong-guo? I would think it would be a blow to their national
> : honor to wear a uniform stating their country in a language which
> : many of them probably don't even understand.
> China, Japan, and Korea have almost always used Roman letters and Arabic
> numerals on their uniforms for as long as I remember. I think they just
> want everyone else in the world to recognize them better. I would assume
> that China makes more sense to the rest of the world than Zhong-guo.
>

I'm not so certain. Like you said, the Soviet Union used CCCP, and
people seemed to understand, and make the translation just fine. Can't say
I have any clear idea why they chose not to, but that doesn't seem to hold
water with me.

Justin Hiltscher

[brob...@ix.netcom.com]

> > China, Japan, and Korea have almost always used Roman letters and Arabic
> > numerals on their uniforms for as long as I remember. I think they just
> > want everyone else in the world to recognize them better. I would assume
> > that China makes more sense to the rest of the world than Zhong-guo.
> >
>
> I'm not so certain. Like you said, the Soviet Union used CCCP, and
> people seemed to understand, and make the translation just fine. Can't say
> I have any clear idea why they chose not to, but that doesn't seem to hold
> water with me.
>

Well, consider the huge number of languages around the world that use
some variation of the Latin alphabet. Cyrillic is sufficiently
similar to Roman that RUSSIA or USSR in that alphabet is recognizable to
someone who speaks a Latin-letter language. Everyone knew what CCCP
meant. Whereas Chinese, Japanese, Korean et al., characters are
unfamiliar to most people in other countries. Likewise Anglicized
versions of their native names, spelled out in Latin characters.
How many people outside China know what Zhong-guo is?
I suspect these Asian teams use English names on their uniforms
for the simple reason that they recognize that that's the best way
to identify themselves to an international audience.

--
Read "Soap On A Rope" -
http://www.geocities.com/~soaponarope
As seen in "The Web" magazine, Feb. 1998!

[Amy Morrison]

I remember seeing on some newscast years ago that China strongly
encourages English as a second language. It was one of those reports on
the Chinese birth-control laws, and it showed a billboard, with a
picture of a smiling couple and little girl, and in english "You'd
better have one child only". And this couldn't be for the benefit of
non-Chinese, since the laws wouldn't apply to them.

--
Brain: "Diets don't work."
Pinky: "Not even if you call them 'A Whole New Way Of Eating'?"
Brain: "No."
~@~
Amy M. in Colorado Springs
http://members.tripod.com/~Fenchurch/index.html

[(Jose Diaz)(JRDelirious)]

On Sat, 21 Feb 1998 05:47:44 -0500, brob...@ix.netcom.com wrote:

>> > China, Japan, and Korea have almost always used Roman letters and Arabic
>> > numerals on their uniforms for as long as I remember. I think they just
>> > want everyone else in the world to recognize them better. I would assume
>> > that China makes more sense to the rest of the world than Zhong-guo.
>> >
>>
>> I'm not so certain. Like you said, the Soviet Union used CCCP, and
>> people seemed to understand, and make the translation just fine. Can't say
>> I have any clear idea why they chose not to, but that doesn't seem to hold
>> water with me.
>>
>
>Well, consider the huge number of languages around the world that use
>some variation of the Latin alphabet. Cyrillic is sufficiently
>similar to Roman that RUSSIA or USSR in that alphabet is recognizable to
>someone who speaks a Latin-letter language.

After thinking about it a while. Also, Moscow-TV wants footage of the
Motherland's (formerly, the Proletariat's) Heroic Sons and Daughters
stepping up to the championship podium with their "CCCP" or "ROSSIYA"
where the hometown crowd will see it very clearly.

>Everyone knew what CCCP
>meant.

Or found out quickly and often unpleasantly :-)

> Whereas Chinese, Japanese, Korean et al., characters are
>unfamiliar to most people in other countries. Likewise Anglicized
>versions of their native names, spelled out in Latin characters.
>How many people outside China know what Zhong-guo is?

Only students of things Chinese. While OTOH virtually the entire
western world calls the place some variation on Chin_ . Same thing
with the place that's Korea or Corea or something similar to the whole
world, but would be unrecognizable as Chosen or in Hangul.

Similarly with Nihon (when Westerners would be expecting "Nippon"), or
even worse, the kanji for [Sun][Birth].

> I suspect these Asian teams use English names on their uniforms
>for the simple reason that they recognize that that's the best way
>to identify themselves to an international audience.
>

And the point is to show themselves to the world.

[Edward Rice]

In article <34EEB0...@ix.netcom.com>,
brob...@ix.netcom.com wrote:

> I suspect these Asian teams use English names on their uniforms
> for the simple reason that they recognize that that's the best way
> to identify themselves to an international audience.

Roman lettering may also have more redundancy, making it much easier to
tell what is on a uniform even if a significant part of the lettering is
obscured. Try obscuring half a Chinese ideogram and having someone read
it.