Politically corrected names in Chinese?

[cranky laowai]

Different han: 漢 (Chinese) vs. 韓 (Korean).

The Chinese name 漢城 for Seoul means Han City, but the Han is from the name of the Han River 漢江 (in Korean: Hangang).

I know. Yet this was apparently too close for comfort for some Koreans. (What? Are Koreans ever irrational, touchy nationalists? ) At any rate, the Koreans asked for the change ... and they got it.

[Zla'od]

The han in hanguo represents an indigenous Korean word (not a Chinese loan-word--a character was assigned to fit the sound of an already-existing Korean word) which seems to have meant something like "luminous." It's a spiritual idea, possibly with shamanic overtones.

[the bear]

Note also that 朝鮮 is also widely used in a historical context to mean Korea or the Korean peninsula.

[Chris]

Note also that 朝鮮 is also widely used in a historical context to mean Korea or the Korean peninsula.

As well as its narrower meaning: the Joseon Dynasty.

[Quentin]

What is the politically correct word for black people in Chinese (white people, for that matter)? I know that hei-ren and bai-ren ain't it! A friend of mine told me that he found the Taiwanese term, o-lang (romanization?), for blacks offensive, but I don't know if that was just him getting sick of being referred to as "the black guy" or the term itself was offensive.

Yes, yes, I know - it's waiguoren for all of us, but sometimes they try to get a little more specific.

[Quentin]

Seriously, I want to know. Are there politically correct name for black or white people in Chinese? I'd figure several of the scholars here could answer me. There are none, they just call them báirén, hēirén, and kāfēisè-rén?

[Tempo Gain]

A friend of mine told me that he found the Taiwanese term, o-lang (romanization?), for blacks offensive, but I don't know if that was just him getting sick of being referred to as "the black guy" or the term itself was offensive.

I'm sure that's it. "o-lang" means "black person" in the same way "hei-ren" does.

[BAH]

There are many vegetable names that haven't been corrected but I don't hear anyone protesting

Tomato 番茄 fanqie - barbarian eggplant
Carrot 胡蘿蔔 huluobo - barbarian radish (turnip)
Pepper 胡椒 hujiao - barbarian (chili, bell) pepper
Onion 洋蔥 - yangcong - foreign scallion

etc.

others in this vein have / are being phased out naturally:

House - 洋房 - yangfang - foreign house. Still in use to denote a single family home or villa but used less now
Umbrella - 洋傘 - yangsan - foreign umbrella. Not really used anymore.