The name Vatican City in Chinese / Japanese...

バチカン市國 is the Japanese title for Vatican City.

Note: Because this selection contains some special Japanese Katakana characters, it should be written by a Japanese calligrapher.

梵蒂岡城 is the Chinese name for Vatican City, the capital of the Holy See.

This is the Vatican in Japanese Katakana.

Note: Because this title is entirely Japanese Katakana, it should be written by a Japanese calligrapher.

This is a common transliteration to Mandarin Chinese for the name Kaili.

It's also the name of Kaili city in Guizhou province.

I named my first daughter Kaili after visiting Kaili city and finding very friendly people there. I think this is a great English-Chinese baby name, as it is pronounceable in both languages, and the name works as a given name in both languages as well.

This is the Japanese name for the city of Madrid, Spain.

中山 is the name of the city Zhongshan, located in Guangdong Province.

This is the Chinese name for the city of Sydney, Australia, capital of New South Wales.

米蘭 is the transliteration to Mandarin Chinese for the Latin name Milan.

This also happens to be the Chinese name for the city Milan or Milano in Italy.

米蘭 are only used for their phonetic properties but this would mean “rice orchid.” But any Chinese person will know that you are talking about either the Italian city or a person named Milan (and will not take the literal meaning).

Though technically, you are supposed to use Katakana instead of Kanji, this also sounds like Milan in Japanese. The pronunciation was borrowed from Chinese when Japan borrowed Chinese characters in the 5th century.

神戸 is a Japanese surname and city name that is also the title of the famous Kobe beef.

通卡瓦 is the name Tonkawa as in the native American tribe and city within Oklahoma in Chinese.

トンカ is the name Tonkawa as in the native American tribe and city within Oklahoma in Japanese Katakana.

Note: Because this title is entirely Japanese Katakana, it should be written by a Japanese calligrapher.

This is the Japanese Katakana (phonetic Japanese) for the name and city, Milan.

Note: Because this title is entirely Japanese Katakana, it should be written by a Japanese calligrapher.

This is the Japanese surname Kawazu.

In Chinese it is Hejin, a small city in Yuncheng county of Shanxi province.

埃努古 is the name Enugu, which is also the name of a city in Nigeria.

This is a transliteration to Mandarin Chinese for the name Simo.

This may also refer to the city of Simo, Finland.

薩馬拉 is the name Samara in Mandarin Chinese.

This may refer to the city of Samara, Russia.

This is the title for Kyōto city

Kyōto is arguably, the cultural capital of Japan.

This is the Japanese Katakana (phonetic Japanese) for the name and city, Milano.

This version is more the Italian pronunciation with the “o” rather than just the English Milan.

Note: Because this title is entirely Japanese Katakana, it should be written by a Japanese calligrapher.

This is a Japanese name that romanizes as Koga.

There is a city and many famous Japanese people who share this name.

Note: This is not the only name in Japanese that romanizes as Koga.

陽朔 is Yangshuo, a famous place not far from Guilin (桂林), Guangxi.

Yangshuo is your destination after a trip down the Li River from Guilin city.

This Japanese name romanizes as Kawasaki.

These are the same Kanji used for the motorcycle manufacturer, the surname, and a city in Japan. Other than Kawasaki, as a surname, this can also be romanized/pronounced as Yamazaki or Hanedabouru. Some also write Kawazaki instead of Kawasaki.

In Chinese, this will be read as a Japanese surname/place-name. Some in China will also be familiar with Kawazaki motorcycles.

エヌーグー is the name Enugu in Japanese Katakana (phonetic Japanese).

This is also how to write the city name Enugu, Nigeria.

Note: Because this title is entirely Japanese Katakana, it should be written by a Japanese calligrapher.

伊丹 is a common way to transliterate the name Idan into Mandarin Chinese.

Idan is a common name in Israel, where there is also a city by the same name.

聖地 can be titled or translated in a lot of different ways: sacred ground, the Holy Land, Holy city, sacred place, Holy ground, or shrine.

I have seen all of these English translations used when coming from Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.

米蘭 is the Chinese name for Milano or Milan, the city in Italy.

This is also good if your name is Milan, and you want a wall scroll of your name in Mandarin Chinese.

紐約 is how to write New York in Chinese.

紐約 is also the old way New York was written in Japanese.

Just as with English, this may refer to the city or the state of New York.

香取 is a Japanese name that romanizes as Katori.

This could refer to the ship by this name that served in the Japanese Navy until sunk by the USS Iowa in 1944. This can also be a person's name in Japan, or refer to the new city of Katori (香取市) in Chiba prefecture of Japan.

泰山 is Tarzan (a fictional character reared by apes in the jungle) in Mandarin Chinese.

The meaning of 泰山 is large mountain.

泰山 can also represent Taishan township in New Taipei City, Taiwan.

This can also be Mt. Taishan (or Tai Shan) in Shandong, the eastern sacred mountain of China.

In Japanese, this can be the surname Yasuyama or that same Mt. Taishan in China.

泰興 is the name Tyshing or Taixing in Chinese.

This can be the name of Taixing City in Taizhou (泰州), Jiangsu Province in China. There is at least one major corporation using the Tyshing and 泰興 names.

The meaning would most commonly translate as “peaceful feeling,” and with this good meaning can also be a given name in China. 泰興 can also be a given name in Japan where it's romanized as Yasuoki.

孔子 is how to write the name of the great sage, known in the West as Confucius.

His real name is Kongzi (The name Confucius is a westernized version of his name - his family name is Kong, and “zi” was added as a title of distinction).

He lived some 2500 years ago in Qufu, a town in modern-day Shandong Province of Northern China (about 6 hours south of Beijing by bus). He was a consort to Emperors, and after his death, the impact of his philosophies still served to advise emperors, officials, and common people for generations.

Also during these thousands of years, the Kong family remained powerful in China, and the Kong estate was much like the Vatican in Rome. The Kong estate existed as if on sovereign ground with its own small garrison of guards and the privileges of a kingdom within an empire.

This was true up until the time the Kong family had to flee to Taiwan in 1949 when the Red Army took victory over the Nationalists during the Revolution. The home of Confucius was later razed and all statues were defaced or stolen during the Cultural Revolution. Finally, after years of smearing his name and image, it is once again okay to celebrate the teachings of Confucius in mainland China.

Known as Khổng Tử in Vietnamese.

聖經 is how to write Bible in Chinese.

The first character means Holy, sacred, saint, or sage.
The second character means sacred book or scripture.

Each Sunday morning, if you are near a Catholic or Protestant Church, you will see plenty of Chinese people carrying their Bibles. Virtually every large or medium city in China has at least one Christian church. Beijing has about 14 Christian churches of Catholic and various Protestant denominations. That number doubles if you count all the church services that are for foreigners only and doubles again if you count all of the underground Christian Churches. Many Embassies (Canadian, Italian, French, etc.) offer Protestant and Catholic services. However, the U.S. Embassy is the most unfriendly in all of China, offering no such religious services, regularly denying entry, and kicking out Americans and others, whether or not they have official business.

See Also:  Christian | Disciple

太極拳 is the famous Taoist meditation and martial art exercise. The direct translation of these characters would be something like “grand ultimate fist,” but that does not quite hit the mark for what this title really means.

An early-morning walk through any city in China near a park or an open area will yield a view of Chinese people practicing this ancient technique.

A typical scene is an old man of no less than 80 years on this earth, with a wispy white beard and perhaps a sword in one hand. He makes slow moves that are impossibly smooth. He is steady-footed and always in balance. For him, time is meaningless and proper form, and technique is far more important than speed.

For the younger generation, faster moves may look impressive and seem smooth to the casual observer. But more discipline and mental strength are needed to create perfectly smooth moves in virtual slow motion.

Note: There are two ways to Romanize these Chinese characters, as seen in the title above. The pronunciation and actual characters are the same in Chinese. If you really used English sounds/words to pronounce this, it would be something like “tie jee chew-on” (make the “chew-on” one flowing syllable).

During the Tang Dynasty, a man named Jia Dao (born in the year 779), a well-studied scholar and poet, went to the capital to take the imperial examination.

One day as he rides a donkey through the city streets, a poem begins to form in his mind. A portion of the poem comes into his head like this:

“The bird sits on the tree branch near a pond,
A monk approaches and knocks at the gate...”

At the same time, he wondered if the word “push” would be better than “knock” in his poem.

As he rides down the street, he imagines the monk pushing or knocking. Soon he finds himself making motions of pushing and shaking a fist in a knocking motion as he debates which word to use. He is quite a sight as he makes his way down the street on his donkey with hands and fists flying about as the internal debate continues.

As he amuses people along the street, he becomes completely lost in his thoughts and does not see the mayor's procession coming in the opposite direction. Jia Bao is blocking the way for the procession to continue down the road, and the mayor's guards immediately decide to remove Jia Bao by force. Jia Bao, not realizing that he was in the way, apologizes, explains his poetic dilemma and awaits his punishment for blocking the mayor's way.

The mayor, Han Yu, a scholar and author of prose himself, finds himself intrigued by Jia Dao's poem and problem. Han Yu gets off his horse and addresses Jia Bao, stating, “I think knock is better.” The relieved Jia Bao raises his head and is invited by the mayor to join the procession, and are seen riding off together down the street, exchanging their ideas and love of poetry.

In modern Chinese, this 反復推敲 idiom is used when someone is trying to decide which word to use in their writing or when struggling to decide between two things when neither seems to have a downside.

This poem was written almost 1200 years ago during the Tang dynasty.

It depicts traveling up a place known as Cold Mountain, where some hearty people have built their homes. The traveler is overwhelmed by the beauty of the turning leaves of the maple forest that surrounds him just as night overtakes the day, and darkness prevails. His heart implores him to stop, and take in all of the beauty around him.

First, before you get to the full translation, I must tell you that Chinese poetry is a lot different than what we have in the west. Chinese words simply don't rhyme in the same way that English or other western languages do. Chinese poetry depends on rhythm and a certain beat of repeated numbers of characters.

I have done my best to translate this poem keeping a certain feel of the original poet. But some of the original beauty of the poem in its original Chinese will be lost in translation.

Far away on Cold Mountain, a stone path leads upwards.
Among white clouds, people's homes reside.
Stopping my carriage I must, as to admire the maple forest at nights fall.
In awe of autumn leaves showing more red than even flowers of early spring.

Hopefully, this poem will remind you to stop, and “take it all in” as you travel through life.
The poet's name is “Du Mu” in Chinese that is: .
The title of the poem, “Mountain Travels” is:
You can have the title, poet's name, and even “Tang Dynasty” written as an inscription on your custom wall scroll if you like.

More about the poet:

Dumu lived from 803-852 AD and was a leading Chinese poet during the later part of the Tang dynasty.
He was born in Chang'an, a city in central China and the former capital of the ancient Chinese empire in 221-206 BC. In present-day China, his birthplace is currently known as Xi'an, the home of the Terracotta Soldiers.

He was awarded his Jinshi degree (an exam administered by the emperor's court which leads to becoming an official of the court) at the age of 25 and went on to hold many official positions over the years. However, he never achieved a high rank, apparently because of some disputes between various factions, and his family's criticism of the government. His last post in the court was his appointment to the office of Secretariat Drafter.

During his life, he wrote scores of narrative poems, as well as a commentary on the Art of War and many letters of advice to high officials.

His poems were often very realistic and often depicted everyday life. He wrote poems about everything, from drinking beer in a tavern to weepy poems about lost love.

The thing that strikes you most is the fact even after 1200 years, not much has changed about the beauty of nature, toils, and troubles of love and beer drinking.