These ladies are Queens
‘Second only to men’ is my name: more Chinese women ditch sexist names from boy-seeking parents amid feminist awakening
Women in China are legally changing their names amid a wider awareness of gender issues and loosened restrictionsThey had names which reflect a parental desire for boys — Zhaodi: ‘beckon to younger brother’, Yingdi: ‘welcome younger brother’
“After an entire week, I finally succeeded in changing my name with the authorities. Let the stars shine in the coming years — It’s never too late!” wrote 20-year-old Chen Xingwan in celebration on her social media account.
For the past two decades, the young Chinese woman has been officially called Chen Yanan instead — ya meaning “only second to” and nan meaning “men”.
According to her father, who gave her the name, it means “a boy is coming after this baby”, while her mother, who had no say in the matter, interpreted it as “you are no worse than a boy”.
Sharing her new identity document on Xiaohongshu, China’s equivalent of Instagram, the university student from eastern China’s Anhui province said she hoped it would end a long period of self-doubt and start a new chapter in her life.
Chen is just one of many Chinese women who want to change the sexist names their parents gave them to reflect a preference for sons.
The trend has gained momentum over the past year amid a wider feminist awakening and loosened restrictions on legal name-changing for adults in mainland China.
At the start of last year, China enforced its first Civil Code allowing adults to choose their own names, as long as the words used are, “not against fundamental social values”.
Due to the traditional preference for a male heir in Chinese society, girls names which convey a family’s wishes for a boy were popular both before and during the one-child policy.
The policy, which wasn’t completely abandoned until 2015, limited all urban couples to one child, while those in the countryside were allowed a second chance if their first child was a girl.
This resulted in many parents giving their newborn daughters names such as Yanan: “second only to men”, Zhaodi: “beckon to younger brother”, Yingdi: “welcome younger brother” and Aidi: “love younger brother”.
Another is Sheng-nan which means “better than men”. This is usually interpreted as “despite the fact that you are a girl, you are better than a boy”, which is based on the sexist presumption that men are normally superior to women.
According to the Ministry of Public Security, of female citizens bearing the three most common family names in mainland China — Wang, Li, and Zhang — almost 32,000 are named “second only to men”.
More than 13,000 women with these family names are called “beckon to younger brother”.
“Since childhood, all my teachers would ask me the same questions when seeing my name for the first time; ‘Did your father want a boy? Do you have a younger brother?’,” said Chen .
Her younger brother came three years after her and was given the name Yongkuan, “It is a very normal name that won’t bring any trouble to him,” she said.
Chen, however, said she suffered significant social stigma because of her name.
Her classmates gave her nasty nicknames associated with the word men, such as “men’s room”, she said.
“I’ve hated my name since I was young. When I was asked to introduce myself, I was always unwilling to say my name,” she said.
“For some people, their names are just a symbol and may not play an important role in their daily life. But for many others, they may have been hurt because of their names. There could be some bad outcomes psychologically,” Chen said.
Many women in mainland China share Chen’s sentiments and have posted about their name-changing experiences with photos of their new ID cards attached online.
They include 22-year-old Zhang Yingdi from Tianjin who became Zhang Yuge, and a 24-year-old Lin Aidi from Guangdong province in southern China, who herself Lin Lisha.
Huang Chunyu, a retired professor in Chinese culture and history, said a person’s given name often conveys the giver’s expectations and understanding of what constitutes a good life.
“
After the era of the one-child policy, women became more independent and confident. They refuse to be subordinate to men and believe they are as good as, or even better than men,” he said, adding, “so this trend is a true reflection of social development.”
University student Chen said she was happy that her parents’ attitude had changed over time.
They were supportive when she told them she wanted to have a new name, she said.
“As they grow older, they are not as rigid as before. They not only agreed with my decision, but even helped me pick my new name,” she said.
630 notes
·
View notes
𝐃𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐝𝐞
⤷ gender neutral, ambiguous race, and any size reader. Requests are open, thank you for reading!
a/n: I made a quiz ‘Which Son Is Your Old Man’, so you can find out once and for all who you would be best suited to!
Warnings: swears, mentions of violence, smoking, drugs
ᴹᵃˢᵗᵉʳˡᶤˢᵗ
𝐉𝐚𝐱 𝐓𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫
・Yes, he does spend a lot of time doing club business. But it also means he’s home randomly throughout the day.
・His speciality is making breakfast; eggs, bacon, toast, french toast, waffles etc
・Yes, he did develop the skill from all the one night stands he’s had...
・But hey, at least now you’re the one that reaps the reward!
・Doesn’t snore in his sleep, but does toss and turn a lot
・Sometimes he has really really bad nightmares. He doesn’t want to wake you up, so he goes and has a smoke outside
・Really loves chewing on ice cubes. When you get McDonalds, he’ll eat everyone’s ice from their drinks (obviously after their done with it)
・When you’re feeling down; physically or mentally, he’ll read to you. Jax bought you a new edition of your favourite book for your birthday and he’s so used to holding it in his hands by now.
・Really likes when you light candles when he gets home, he prefers them over the overhead lighting
・Doesn’t like loud sudden noises - definitely has undiagnosed PTSD. He’s gotten really good at hiding it, but some days - when he has really long showers, you know it’s a bad day
𝐎𝐩𝐢𝐞 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐧
・When he isn’t doing things for the club, he loves to work in ‘the shed’.
・He has a lot of projects going on - making garden beds for Gemma’s events,
・Opie usually ends up trekking dust, shredded timber and so on throughout the house. You make him have a shower as soon as he’s finished working outside.
・But you can’t lie, he does create some beautiful things.
・He made a dining room table - and the detailing was so amazing you nearly teared up
・Opie is great at painting as well, honestly, he’s just good at general renovations. Somehow he knows how to do stuff around the house - unclogging drains, fixing pipes, changing lightbulbs, stopping leaks etc
・Opie’s like your own handy man!
・Secretly a cat person. Don’t get him wrong, he doesn’t mind dogs. They’re great, but cats are so unpredictable - without the risk. He finds them so interesting.
・Loves Disney movies, especially the cartoon version of Robin Hood. You’ll find him humming the song about Robin and Little John
・Likes that he towers of you and will put things out of your reach just to rile you up
𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐛𝐬 𝐓𝐞𝐥��𝐨𝐫𝐝
・Actively cleans up after himself and you.
・Really likes a clean home, and he’s lived on his own for a long time, so he knows how to run a house
・He also grew up around a lot of women, so he knows how to cook some great meals
・Chibs was also whipped into shape by these women, so that’s why it’s ingrained in him...
・Knows a lot of Scottish drinking songs, and he always sings them when he’s had a few too much to drink
・And his voice is actually quite lovely
・He also sings in the shower
・A loud gruff Scottish man singing in your shower always brightens your day
・Automatically turns the kettle on when he gets home (and will make tea for two, knowing exactly how you like it)
・Not a lot of random visitors, he likes to keep business and his home life separate. Even though the club is his life, he likes having his own space
𝐇𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐋𝐨𝐰𝐦𝐚𝐧
・Many, many takeout and movie nights
・Especially when he’s been gone on club business
・Does the washing and folding for both your clothes. It was his main job when he lived at home too.
・Also mows the lawn without a shirt on, so that’s...a fun sight to see (he likes showing off in front of you)
・Loves the movie Avatar; would definitely go into a deep dive of how it all works and how they created it.
・Would die if you showed interest in it as well. You bought him a book about the characters and he spent a whole afternoon reading it
・Surprises everyone with how much he loves books
・A man of few words, he actually has really profound things to say. Some of it can be really poetic...
・Likes having his shoulders rubbed, and in return, he massages your feet
・Is really good at looking after you when you’re sick. He has a lot of homemade recipes; soups, oldwives tricks etc. (Except the term ‘oldwives tricks’ shouldn’t be overlooked. A lot of their
𝐓𝐢𝐠 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫
・Rescue dogs galore
・Tig hates seeing any animal hurt, but he has a special place in his heart for dogs
・Big fucking snorer, and is out as soon as his head hits the pillow
・Hates cooking but doesn’t mind doing the dishes - yeah he’s fucked up that way
・So you handle the food; he’ll get the groceries, but for the love of god he cannot make a proper grown up dish
・In return, he doesn’t mind doing the vaccuuming and mopping (he would so dress up in a maid’s outfit and do it)
・Whenever he wakes up in the middle of the night, he goes into the loungeroom to watch cartoons - like popeye
・Cried while watching Titanic btw
・Oh and has a stash of different types of drugs. Nothing too hardcore though.
・He also makes you have an unregistered firearm so you can protect yourself
・Also loves comic books. He’s a DC kinda guy...yes, his favourite character is Joker
627 notes
·
View notes