Why aren't Lee Kuan Yew's grandchildren surnamed Li?

| Pay attention to "Singapore Eye" and enter "Travel" and "IELTS" for more information |

Recently, a young Singaporean named Li Shengwu became very famous in academic circles!

At the age of 33, he is now an assistant professor in the Department of Economics of Harvard University. Also won the 19 ACM Best Paper Award. Harvard University made a special announcement for him:

Speaking of Li Shengwu, you may be a little strange, but speaking of his grandfather Lee Kuan Yew, everyone knows!

Li Shengwu is the eldest son of Li Xianyang and the second son of Lee Kuan Yew. At Lee Kuan Yew's funeral, his gorgeous eulogy touched many people:

However, today we don't want to say how awesome he is, but simply want to see his name ~

His name is written in English: Li Shengwu. At first glance, is there anything wrong with it? It's pinyin But, have you noticed? Lee Kuan Yew's English spelling is: Lee Kuan Yew, while his father Li Xianyang's English spelling is: Lee Hsien Yang!

Why is his father and grandfather surnamed "Li" and his surname "Li"?

Don't worry, let's see his brothers and sisters. He has two younger brothers, Li Huanwu and Li Shaowu, both "Li" ~

(The one on the left in the above picture is Li Huanwu)

Then look at the names of the children of Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. The only granddaughter of Lee Hsien Loong and his ex-wife is Li, the eldest son.

Lee Hsien Loong and his second wife, He Jingsheng, also used Li's spelling as their surnames, namely and Li.

(Li Hongyi at Lee Kuan Yew's funeral)

It can be seen that the Li family changed to "Li" in the third generation. Even the spelling of the name is in accordance with Chinese Pinyin. And the spelling of their father's and grandfather's names is definitely not Chinese pinyin!

Li Xianyang's answer is: keep a low profile!

When educating children, Li Xianyang said that if someone asked them if they were related to Lee Kuan Yew, they could say that their surname was spelled "Lee" instead of "Lee". He also stipulated that children should not mention or show off their relationship with their grandfather at will.

(From left to right: Jing He, Mao Ting, Li, Lee Hsien Loong, Li Hongyi, Li, Li Xianyang, Lin Xuefen, Li Shengwu)

Of course, their family's desire to "keep a low profile" has obviously not been realized. After all, growing up in such a family, their names often appear in the media. Moreover, some children are excellent, such as Li Shengwu, who always wins an award or something.

So, now the whole world knows that the surname of the new generation of Li family is "Li" instead of "Li" ~

Seeing this, many people will be curious. They are all China's "Li" surnames. Why are there two spellings?

One saying "Lee" is based on the phonetic system "Wade Gile", which was founded by Wade, who served as the British ambassador to China at 187 1. Almost all foreigners transliterate Chinese into English ~

Although this system has never been truly recognized, China people who went to sea in the early days were "forced" to use this pinyin system to translate their names. For example, the surname "Guan" is spelled "Guan", and in the same way, "Li" becomes "Li".

(Lee is the most common in the United States, followed by Canada and Singapore. )

Another way of saying this is that the surname Li is a traditional British surname, which has nothing to do with the word "Li" in China. Therefore, in order to avoid communication difficulties, early Chinese immigrants with the surname of "Li" may spell the surname of "Li" regardless of dialect.

1955, China's "hanyu pinyin" system was born, and from then on "Li" was spelled as "Li".

Back in Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew launched the "Speak Chinese Campaign" from 1979, encouraging everyone to "speak more Chinese and less dialects". At that time, the goal was to replace dialects with Putonghua and make Putonghua the dialect of China people within five years.

At the same time, the government has taken some tough measures, including banning dialect TV dramas, advertisements, movies and broadcasts. Another hard measure is to popularize hanyu pinyin and advocate spelling names and places with hanyu pinyin.

However, the policy of spelling names and places in Chinese Pinyin failed because of the strong rebound of the people. The Singapore government realized that names and places have strong emotional factors for Singaporeans, and also have significance rooted in clan and history, so it did not continue to adhere to the policy of "hanyu pinyin".

However, it is obvious that the children of Lee Kuan Yew changed their surnames for the sake of "keeping a low profile" and also adhered to the policy of "Pinyin Chinese". From1Li Xiuqi, the eldest granddaughter born in 1980s, to Li Shaowu, the youngest post-1990s, they all use Chinese Pinyin.

Apart from the Li family, it is quite common for three generations of Singaporeans to have different surnames. During the British colonial period, the first generation of immigrants who just arrived in Singapore generally spelled their surnames directly with dialect pronunciation. For example, the Hakka surnamed Zhang will spell Zhang as Cheung in Hakka dialect.

By the second generation, Singapore has initially unified the standard translations of some surnames, or the victory of the minority obeying the majority. People surnamed Zhang mostly spell "Teo", but "Teo" is actually pronounced in Chaoshan dialect.

Later, because of the popularity of Chinese Pinyin, the younger generation will change their surnames to the spelling of Chinese Pinyin "Zhang". Therefore, although the three generations of grandparents and grandchildren are all surnamed Zhang, they really can't see that they are a family just by looking at English!

There are still many people in Singapore who are spelled according to their ancestors' spelling at birth. When they grew up and worked, they changed their names to hanyu pinyin for easier communication.

For example, Sun, the former president of China District, was originally spelled Soon Sher Rene, but later she changed her name to "Sun" in Chinese Pinyin. To tell the truth, her original spelling of her name was really powerless for people who didn't understand dialects. ......

Stephanie, the little pride of Singapore, also changed her name. Her original name is Sng Ee Tze, and after her debut, she changed her Chinese Pinyin to Stefanie, so that fans can call her better ~

Then the question is, how can you prove that your father is your father if you change your surname at will? I suddenly know why Chinese Singaporeans must write Chinese characters on their ID cards. ......

End—

Welcome to the Eye of Singapore.

Singapore's largest self-media platform