The Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend?

The political and ethnic landscape of Caucasus is very complex. On a world map, you see only three countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. But there are also three other "countries" with limited recognition. The map at the lower left is a political map, while the map at the lower right is an ethnic map.


When I read about how the international community responded to these self-declared "countries", I remembered the old proverb "The enemy of my enemy is my friend". But because the relationship is too complicated, too many parties are involved, I decided to make a recognition/non-recognition graph to help myself understand.

From the graph above, we learn:

• There is no single "principle" that applies to all cases. "Self-determination" and "respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity" are both nice words. But they contradict each other. Any party in the graph that has a blue line and purple line coming out of it is not consistent.
• While the saying "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" is usually true, nothing is black and white, just like interpersonal relationship. Because the U.S. and Turkey are among the first to recognize Kosovo, I put them on the left. Northern Cyprus is basically a Turkey-made product, so it is on the left as well. But the U.S. is in a good relation with Cyprus too. Also, there was a rumor that Turkey and Russia would trade recognition of Northern Cyprus with recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. This rumor is denied. But if true, then there would be no clear boundary between the left and the right in this graph.

I do not pretend to be an expert on the politics in Caucasus. The graph is an oversimplified representation. I'm sure the reality is much more intricate than that. As for "countries" with limited recognition, the graph has yet to include Somaliland, Western Sahara, and Palestine. This is merely a product of my interest in making diagram.

Comparison of news between Mainland and Taiwan

I like to look at politics with a symmetrical perspective; I also like to observe media behavior. So why don't I combine the two and share what I observe from news from Mainland China and in Taiwan.

	People's Republic	Republic
We see this everyday	Some minister-level official signed an agreement with his/her counterpart. Our leaders are busy.	Key found in drink, dog jumped off a building, automatic doors of a convenient store slammed on customer, disputes between restaurants and consumers (news with no journalistic values)
International news	Israel is bombarding Palestine again. Civilian death toll has reached X. (But never mention how many civilians Hamas has killed.)	Did Beyoncé mime when she performed at the U.S. presidential inauguration?
Political alignment	align with The Party	TVBS, CTI, China Times, Era, ETTV, UDN, and the China Post obviously pro-Pan-Blue FTV, SET, the Liberty Times, and Taipei Times obviously pro-Pan-Green
Workers and farmers	now produce much more, thanks to xyz program from the government	are protesting on Ketagalan Boulevard
College/grad students	innovate new techonlogy	are protesting on Ketagalan Boulevard
Bad habits die hard	like to educate viewers so and so land has been Chinese territory since antiquity	like to speculate the emotion of the person being reported. Must use literary 4-worded idioms.
Female anchor's voice	low	sharp
Languages	Mandarin, dialects of Han Chinese, Mongolian, Uyghur, Tibetan, Zhuang, English, Spanish, Russian, French, Arabic, Korea, Japanese, and Portuguese	Mandarin, Taiwanese, Hakka, English
English news	Propaganda to native English speakers	English learning material. Sometimes they speak very slowly.

If I were to describe the two positively, then I'd have to say that Mainland news have broader vision, while Taiwanese news enjoy higher press freedom.

Last but not least, let's enjoy 2 new clips

Olympics, Politics, and the true nature of Pan-Blue and Pan-Green

The Olympics is a sports event? Of course not. The Olympics must be politicized. It would be foolish for politicians to not fully capitalize an event that happens only once every 4 years. In 1936, Nazi Germany used the Game to showcase their National Socialism. In response, the Soviet Union, Spain, and some individual Jewish Americans boycotted the Game. In the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, the student movement flew a black-dove-shaped kite in protest of the Tlatelolco massacre, two African Americans raised their fists in black gloves during the medal ceremony for the civil right movement, and Czechoslovakian athlete Věra Čáslavská turned her head down while the Soviet Anthem was played, in protest of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia to suppress the Prague Spring. In the 1980 Moscow Olympics, the United States led her allies to boycott the Game in protest of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The Soviet Union led her allies to retaliate in 1984. The most peculiar of all is the 1976 Montreal Olympics. Almost all African countries boycotted the Game because the IOC refused to ban New Zealand, whose rugby team had been touring South Africa, a country that had the apartheid policy.

In 2012, there are at least 4 incidents about flags

		The civil war is still on-going. A report in May hinted that the Syrian athletes may bear the neutral Olympics five-ring flag. But it turned out that they still used the existing flag.
		The ship has sailed, but forces of the old faction still try to stop the athletes from bearing the new flag by kidnapping the president of the Olympics Committee of their country.
		I believe it's an honest mistake
		Same old same old

For the very last item, the debate is getting really old. In the article "Political Symmetry", I have pointed out that on the subject of the Flag of Republic of China, Pan-Green likes to criticize Pan-Blue for "loving to use them for the most part, but would compromise in an international setting or when encountering the Communist", and inversely Pan-Blue would criticize Pan-Green for "normally not using them, except in an international setting or when encountering the Communist". Because of this symmetry, both sides get to say what they say in an infinite loop. Such infinite loop is not without precedence, to say the least.

What I'm trying to say is not "Because this is so cliché, so stop talking about it". It would sound like I'm trying to avoid a certain topic. I'd like to offer an alternative perspective, something that the Facebook populace has not said. I'd like to reveal the true faces of Pan-Green and Pan-Blue.

Chen Shui-bian visited New York in 2003

Everyone knows that the Pan-Green never liked symbols or icons related to the "Republic of China" or the Flag that is "Blue Sky, White Sun, and a Wholly Red Earth". On the contrary, they prefer symbols and icons that is green in principle, or with the outline of Taiwan. Such claim can be seen from the picture to the right where "overseas Taiwanese" welcomed Chen Shui-bian in New York. The only problem is that factions of Pan-Green have not agreed on a single flag that is commonly recognizable and satisfy the desirable traits. So the second best option is the Blue-White-and-Red Flag of Republic of China, which is a commonly recognizable icon for Taiwan. They would stop using the Flag when it cannot be used as a weapon against Pan-Blue, because they don't like the Flag fundamentally, much like the HK-ers using the Flag in 7-1 Rallies as a mere instrument against the Beijing government (see picture). Pan-Green and Pan-Blue supporters alike must acknowledge this fact about Pan-Green.

On the other hand, the KMT has a recurring pattern of making compromises in its hundred-year history.

• To overthrow the Qing Dynasty, they made an alliance with Triad, which later became an criminal organization.
• To maintain a republic system in the early republic days, they gave the presidency to Yuan Shikai.
• To fight the Beiyang warlords, they joined forces with the Chinese communists and the Soviet Union, making the so-called First United Front.
• To united the north and the south, they made a pact with Zhang Xueliang. After the Unification of 1928, Zhang had significant autonomy in the northeast and the north.
• To fight the Japanese during the Second World War, they joined forces with the communists again, forming the so-called Second United Front.
• In the later years of the Second World War, they traded Mongolian independence with the Soviet Union, in exchange for Xinjiang not getting independence.
• In 1981, they negotiated with the International Olympics Committee so that athletes could participate in the Olympics and other international games, with the name "Chinese Taipei".

It goes without saying that any compromise consists of cost and benefit. In the said compromises, whether the benefit outweighs the cost is up for debate. But the debates would be out of the scope of this article. Regardless, Pan-Green and Pan-Blue folks must realize the compromising nature of the Pan-Blue. Pan-Green folks must not only see the cost, and Pan-Blue folks must not only see the benefit.

It sucks to be Pan-Blue because compromising policies are hard for political marketing.

News ticker in Taiwan

New channels in Taiwan always come with new tickers. They come in vertical format and horizontal; they tell you weather, lotto numbers, stock prices, exchange rates, minor news, reminders like "Watch the grand finale on channel XY", and how many points has Chien-Ming Wang Jeremy Lin got.


Alright, jokes aside, amongst these seemingly standardized things, you can still find differences across the world, and the subtle variations are shreds of evidence that reveal the different state of minds. The Chinese Wikipedia actually has an article about news screen!

Mock Taiwanese news screen	Mock Japanese news screen
Mock Mainland-Chinese news screen	Mock HK news screen
Mock American news screen

Root cause analysis of the differences between Mainland Chinese and Taiwanese Chinese

Anyone who speaks Chinese understands there exist differences between the Chinese used in Mainland China and in Taiwan. Examples include

• Mainland uses simplified characters; Taiwan uses traditional characters
• Mainland uses Hanyu Pinyin, a Chinese Romanization scheme, as the standard for teaching Chinese and denoting pronunciation in dictionaries; Taiwan uses Bopomofo (ㄅㄆㄇㄈ)
• For metric length units, Mainland uses "米, 釐米, 毫米"; Taiwan uses "公尺, 公分, 公釐"
• Mainland uses Gregorian calendar; Taiwan uses the Minguo calendar (although Gregorian is becoming ever more common)
• For Western movie names, Mainland often translates literally; Taiwan often adds its own interpretation, e.g. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is known as "加勒比海盜：黑珍珠號的詛咒" in Mainland; and "神鬼奇航：鬼盜船魔咒" in Taiwan, I, Robot is known as "我，機械人"; and "機械公敵" in Taiwan
• For technology terms, Mainland also translates verbatim; while Taiwan usually uses words that are more literary, e.g. "computer" is translated as "計算機" in Mainland; and "電腦" in Taiwan (although many Mainlander are used to "電腦" too), "mobile phone" is translated as "移動電話" in Mainland; and "行動電話" in Taiwan
• The quotation mark is different too. Mainland uses “”; Taiwan uses「」 (Most people probably don't notice this)

Upon reading the first bullet point, old-guard Kuomintang would immediately raise the banner of "The communist is the destroyer of traditional Chinese culture" and use the same rhetoric to explain the rest of the bullet points. But do you really think that Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, and their fellows thought "we are the bad guys, so we must destroy traditional Chinese culture. To destroy traditional Chinese culture, we must do this, this, and that". Of course not. To find the root causes of these differences, one must start from the different ideologies of the two sides.

During the martial law period, the Republic of China reiterated itself as "the Chinese people", "the legitimate representation of the Chinese culture", and "the guardian of traditional values". Such ideology culminated during the Chinese Cultural Renaissance, started in 1966 in response to Cultural Revolution in the People's Republic. Because of this, Taiwan continued to use traditional characters and Bopomofo, created in the early years of the Republic. Taiwan uses "公尺, 公寸, 公分, 公釐" for metric length units because "尺, 寸, 分, 釐" were length units used in ancient China. The Minguo calendar is system similar to calendar era used in imperial age. And literary words are usually used to translate foreign terms.

On the other side, the People's Republic of China emphasized itself as the "New China", where new systems must be established, and remnants from the imperial age must be removed. In addition, Marxism downplays the distinction between races, and ultimately seeks to establish a world without racial boundaries and political borders. Under these principles, Mainland uses simplified Chinese and Hanyu Pinyin because they are "new". Mainland uses Gregorian calendar so that they have the same standard as (most of) the rest of the world, therefore removing the distinction between countries, and also moving away from a construct inherited from the imperial age. Using “” as the quotation marks is the same thing. As for metric length units in Mainland, the word "meter" was first translated phonetically as "米", then prefixed with words that represent 1/10, 1/100, 1/1000, namely "分, 釐, 毫", to construct "米, 釐米, 毫米". Such construction follows the same pattern as the origin of the metric system because "centi" means 1/100 and "milli" means 1/1000. By doing so, they adhere to the principle that the world is one big family and racial distinction should be deemphasized in Marxism.

If we only look at the intents of the two ideologies, both seem positive. So some people might say it is natural to have regional variants of the same language. No variant is better than others. However, there are still a lot of people looking at this subject with "good v.s. bad" in mind. So I feel that I must present my take on this. If we really have to evaluate the differences on a scale of "good or bad", how should we do it?

To criticize something, one must fully understand it first. One must not accept or reject something wholesale because of ideology. Every item must be evaluated separately, with science and logic. I personally think that Bopomofo is more suitable as a tool for teaching Chinese as the first language, while Hanyu Pinyin is more suitable for transliterating Chinese words with Roman letters (e.g. names on passport, or to export concepts of Chinese origin, such as Bagua). The detail reasoning of that probably warrants another full length article (Chinese only). I also think that Mainland's translation of the word "Islam", "伊斯蘭教", is better than the Taiwanese version, "回教" (the religion of Hui) because the Hui people are just a small part of the Muslims. The Gregorian calendar is better than the Minguo calendar. Imagine every country and regime has its own calendar system, isn't that very inconvenient and quite pointless. There's a reason someone invented the metric system. As for movie titles, I personally can't stand the Taiwanese practice of adding their own interpretation. How is "I, Robot" related to "公敵" (enemy of the state) in any way? Translations that are too literal or too colloquial are probably unsuitable for a cultural products in the Chinese world either. Slight modification is acceptable. For example, "Speed" (1994) is translated as "生死時速" (lit. per hour speed of life and death) in Mainland. At least the notion of "speed" is preserved. There is no way to rationalize the Taiwanese counterpart: "捍衛戰警" (lit. defending police). Last but not least, for computer and mobile phone, I think the Taiwanese version, "電腦" and "行動電話" are better because "計算機" can be confused with arithmetic-only calculator. Although "移動" and "行動" both mean "mobile", "移動" sounds more like a verb, while "行動" sounds more like an adjective. So "行動" is better.

Therefore, one must first fully understand the root cause, examine each item individually, and not have ideological prejudice.

Food Safety

There was this one time when I was grocery shopping and I saw many ingredients on a package. I wasn’t sure which ones are good and which ones are bad. So I decided to collect a few, do a quick look up, and share the results with everyone.

Just because something is approved by the government doesn’t mean it’s completely harmless. The fact that “it may cause xyz” doesn’t necessarily means it’s a big deal. The effects on human listed below are mostly copied from Wikipedia, without further verification. So take this with a grain of salt. The more common ones are listed in bold.

Chinese	English	E number	Effects on human	Found in
抑霉唑	Enilconazole, a.k.a. imazalil, chloramizole		Causes cancer according to California's Proposition 65	Exterior of oranges
噻苯達唑, 噻苯咪唑, 噻苯唑	Tiabendazole, a.k.a. thiabendazole, TBZ	E233	High dosage may cause liver and intestine disorder, also cures lead poisoning or mercury poisoning	Exterior of oranges
Probably 苯基酚鈉	Sodium-o-phenylphenate		Causes cancer according to California's Proposition 65	Exterior of oranges
麩胺酸單鈉, a.k.a. 味精, 谷氨酸鈉, 穀氨酸單鈉	Monosodium glutamate, a.k.a. MSG	E621	Disputed, approved in the EU.	Lee Kum Kee chili bean sauce, instant noodles, many other products
肌苷酸二鈉	Disodium inosinate, a.k.a. disodium 5'-inosinate	E631	No harm found so far, approved in the EU.	Lee Kum Kee chili bean sauce, chips, instant noodles, snacks
鳥苷酸二鈉	Disodium guanylate, a.k.a. disodium 5'-guanylate	E627	Bad for children under 12 weeks, those with asthma or gout, approved in the EU.	Lee Kum Kee chili bean sauce, instant noodles, snacks, packaged soup
菸鹼酸, a.k.a. 菸酸, 維生素B3, 維生素PP	Niacin, a.k.a. vitamin B3, vitamin PP		Bad if in excess or shortage	Wonton and dumpling wraps
硫胺, a.k.a. 維生素B1	Thiamine, a.k.a. vitamin B1		Bad if in excess or shortage	Wonton and dumpling wraps
核黃素, a.k.a. 維生素B2	Riboflavin, a.k.a. vitamin B2	E101	Deficiency leads to cracks at the corners of the mouth (angular cheilitis). Excessive dosage taken orally is probably not toxic. Approved by the EU and the US.	Wonton and dumpling wraps, instant noodles
葉酸, a.k.a. 維生素B9	Folic acid, a.k.a. vitamin B9		Good for pregnant women	Wonton and dumpling wraps
丙酸鈉	Sodium propionate, a.k.a. sodium propanoate	E281	Unknown, approved in the EU.	Wonton and dumpling wraps, bakery products
苯甲酸鈉	Sodium benzoate	E211	When combined with vitamin C, it forms benzene, a known carcinogen, but approved by the EU.	Wonton and dumpling wraps, soft drinks
檸檬酸	Citric acid	E330	Unknown, approved in the EU.	Wonton and dumpling wraps, Hsin Tung Yang soy bean paste
半胱胺酸	Cysteine	E920	Has antitoxic property, approved in the EU.	Wonton and dumpling wraps
二氧化矽	Silicon dioxide	E551	May cause silicosis, bronchitis or cancer if inhaled. May cause dementia if drunk with water, approved in the EU.	Indomie Mi goreng
瓜爾豆膠, a.k.a. 瓜爾膠	Guar gum	E412	Wikipedia has unreferenced list of effects, approved in the EU.	Indomie Mi goreng, Nissin Demae Itcho (出前一丁) XO sauce seafood flavor
生育酚（可表現維生素E活性）	Tocopherol, a.k.a. TCP (has vitamin E activity)	E306-309	Beneficial for the most part, approved in the EU.	Indomie Mi goreng, Demae Itcho XO sauce seafood flavor
三聚磷酸鈉	Sodium triphosphate, a.k.a. STP, sodium tripolyphosphate, TPP	E451	Healthy with moderate amount, approved in the EU.	Demae Itcho XO sauce seafood flavor
磷酸鈉鹽（包括磷酸一氫鈉, 磷酸二氫鈉, 磷酸鈉）	Sodium phosphates（包括monosodium phosphate, disodium phosphate, trisodium phosphate）	E339	Probably not good for kidneys, approved in the EU.	Demae Itcho XO sauce seafood flavor, Pocky
六偏磷酸鈉	Sodium hexametaphosphate, a.k.a. SHMP		Unknown	Demae Itcho XO sauce seafood flavor
海藻酸	Alginic acid, a.k.a. algin, alginate	E400	Unknown, approved in the EU.	Demae Itcho XO sauce seafood flavor
抗壞血酸棕櫚酸酯（油溶性維生素C）	Ascorbyl palmitate (fat-soluble vitamin C)	E304	Approved in the EU, the US, Australia, and New Zealand	Demae Itcho XO sauce seafood flavor
山梨酸鉀	Potassium sorbate	E202	No harm found so far, but has irritant property. Approved in the EU.	Sriracha sauce
亞硫酸氫鈉	Sodium bisulfite	E222	Approved in the EU	Sriracha sauce
黃原膠	Xanthan gum	E415	Excessive amount may cause diarrhea. May trigger allergic response to those allergic to corn, gluten, soy, or milk, approved in the EU.	Sriracha sauce
乳酸	Lactic acid	E270, E472b	Approved in the EU, the US, Australia, and New Zealand	Hsin Tung Yang soy bean paste
麥芽糊精	Maltodextrin		Unknown	Instant noodles and package noodles
紅40（人工色素）	Red 40, a.k.a.. Allura Red AC	E129	May lead to hyperactivity in children. Approved in the EU and US, banned in Switzerland.	M&M, snacks with saturated colors (both sweet and savory), red colored flu syrup
黃色5號（人工色素）, a.k.a.. 檸檬黃	Yellow 5, a.k.a. Tartrazine	E102	May lead to hyperactivity and reduced intelligence in children. Banned in Norway, was banned in Austria and Germany, until overturned by EU. Approved in the US. Many organizations call for bans of Yellow 5.	M&M, snacks with saturated colors (both sweet and savory)
黃色6號（人工色素）	Yellow 6, a.k.a. Sunset Yellow FCF	E110	May lead to hyperactivity in children. Banned in Norway and Finland. Approved in the EU but reduced safe dosage in 2011. Approved in the US.	M&M, snacks with saturated colors (both sweet and savory)
藍色1號（人工色素）	Blue 1, a.k.a. Brilliant Blue FCF	E133	Was banned in many European counties. National Institutes of Health in the US claims it does not lead to hyperactivity in children.	M&M, snacks with saturated colors
藍色2號（人工色素）	Blue 2, a.k.a. Indigo carmine	E132	Harmful if inhaled	M&M, M&M, snacks with saturated colors

Tocopherol (has vitamin E activity) and ascorbyl palmitate (fat-soluble vitamin C) are sometimes labeled as “preservative”. But it’s not as scary as the name “preservative”. Compounds with names that look like something in a chemistry textbook aren’t necessarily bad. Some are good, but some are bad too. “All natural” isn’t always good either, such as drinking liquid lard directly.

Oranges are coated with enilconazole, tiabendazole, and sodium-o-phenylphenate

Lee Kum Kee chili bean sauce contains MSG, disodium inosinate, and disodium guanylate

Wonton and dumpling wraps contain sodium benzoate

Indomie Mi goreng contain silicon dioxide, MSG, disodium inosinate, and disodium guanylate

Nissin Demae Itcho (出前一丁) XO sauce seafood flavor contains sodium phosphates and MSG

Tainan Yi Mien (dried noodles) has outer package and inner package contradicting each other. And some of the translation is wrong

Some Japanese noodle seasoning contains disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate

Sriracha sauce xanthan gum

Hsin Tung Yang soy bean paste

Some Korean packaged noodles. I am too lazy too look up the outrageously many number of ingredients.

Pocky contains sodium phosphates

M&M contains red 40, yellow 5, yellow 6, blue 1, and blue 2

NyQuil syrup contains red 40

The myth about speaking English

In urban Taiwan, there’s been an increasing trend in the belief that being able to converse in English to a foreigners on a street is cool, and being unable to do so is uncool. If I had to speak to a white person, a black person, or an Indian looking person in Taiwan, I would first try in Chinese. Only when the other party doesn’t understand me, I’d try English. I have two reasons

1. In the United States, people speak English to me. They won’t attempt in Chinese or Japanese just because I look like an East Asian. In France, people speak French to me. In Japan, people speak Japanese to me. So why must I speak English in Taiwan when speaking to foreigners? Chinese is the language of the land here, in other words, they bear the burden of speaking Chinese more than I bear the burden of speaking English. Therefore, Chinese has precedence over English. Conversely, if I were to work in the States, I’d speak English at work, even to those whose mother tongue is Chinese, when alone.


2. If I were to automatically speak English to strangers of a certain demographics (say white people), the implication of such action is that these people are unable or unwilling to immigrate to Taiwan. In these days, district offices, township offices, and public schools in Taiwan offer activities to immigrant spouses of foreign origin. Most of the activities involve language learning. By doing so, it means the society accepts them, and has faith in their ability to integrate with the society. But if I were to skip over Chinese for strangers of a certain demographics, it implies that these people cannot be immigrants. Such subconscious assumptions, may it be that our society doesn’t accept them, or these people are unable or unwilling to immigrate, are not good.

Make no mistake, I do not oppose learning English. In fact, I encourage anyone to learn any language. That said, I must impart my personal experience of English learning. During the process, I witnessed how a dominating language slowly erodes a weak language. There was a time when I was active on Wikipedia. At the time I chose the English Wikipedia because editing the English Wikipedia makes the most impact. While doing that, I met editors around the world whose native language isn’t English. But they all joined the English Wikipedia for similar reasons, that was to maximize their contributions, or the Wikipedias in their languages were not mature enough. For these reasons, the English Wikipedia has become the largest, and is still growing at the fastest speed.

English is not the only language that benefits from being dominant. During the course of history, Chinese has also made other languages extinct. Soon after the Xianbei people established the Northern Wei Dynasty, they started sinicizing themselves. The Manchurians did the same after the founding of the Qing Dynasty. Now the Xianbei language is extinct, fewer than 100 can speak Manchu. The Han people never forced them to sinicize because the Xianbei and the Manchurians were in power at the time. They voluntarily did so. From this example, we can see how a dominating language rolls like a snowball.

I have made some Indian friends in the States. They told me that in India, some schools choose English as the medium of instruction, some choose Hindi, while some choose the local state language. I’m not sure which kind of school did my Indian friends attend, but I know many of them do not speak their mother tongues fluidly. They have to pause and think when I ask if they know how to say simple words like “math” or “taxi”. Most of the time, they communicate in English on Facebook, with occasional use of Romanized Hindi. I also happen to know many people whose native language is Chinese, who went to high schools or colleges in the States. They, too, often use English only on Facebook.

I encourage everyone to learn English. But I must remind everyone, the more you learn, the more responsibility you have to protect your native language.

Further reading: "我的孩子不會講中文" (My kid does not speak Chinese) by 張湘君 ISBN: 9867894219

Multilingualism in the Greater China Region

Although Han Chinese constitute as much as 92% of the total population, cultural exchanges between different ethnic groups are common through out the history, within today's political borders or otherwise. Linguistic influences in both directions are also widespread. Even some Han Chinese don't know that the modern word for "brother" (哥) is borrowed in the Tang Dynasty from the Xianbei language, which is of Mongolic. There is a Chinese idiom that roughly translates to "With great diversity comes greatness" (有容乃大).

Below you will find public signs that are written in many different languages, starting from the Northeast region, then counter-clockwise

Korean in Yanji City, Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, Jilin Province

延吉市實驗中學 = 연길시 실험 중학 = Yanji Experimental Middle School

東北亞喜宴 = 동북아 희연 = Northeast Asian Wedding Banquet

Russian in Fuyuan County, Jiamusi City, Heilongjiang Province (where Russia is just across the river)

五金家電商場 = Амур бытовая техника --> Home appliances of Amur River

With some English

Russian in Aihui District, Heihe City, Heilongjiang Province (where Russia is just across the river)

РЕСТОРАН "ПУТИН" --> RESTAURANT "PUTIN"

Mongolian in Mongolian script and Russian in Manzhouli City, Hulunbuir City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (where Russia is 5 km away in minimum distance)

電器維修 = ремонт магнитафонов --> Tape recorde repair

(магнитафонов is a typo, should be магнитофонов)

Manchu, Han Chinese, Tibetan, and Mongolian in Mongolian script at the Pavilion of Ten Thousand Happinesses, Yonghe Temple, Dongcheng District, Beijing Municipality



Introduction in Japanese, Korean, and Russian at Juyongguan, Changping District, Beijing Municipality

居庸関長城のご紹介 = 거용관 장성 소개 = Краткие сведения о Стене Цзюйюнгуань = Introduction of Juyongguan

With some English

Mongolian in Mongolian script, Mongolian in Cyrillic alphabet, and British English in Erenhot City, Xilin Gol League, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region

華聯商城 = ХУА ЛИАНЬ ХУДАЛДААНЫ ТӨВ = HUA LIAN COMMERCIAL CENTRE

Mongolian in Mongolian script in Hohhot City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region

With some English

Kazakh and Uyghur in Tacheng City, Tacheng Prefecture, Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang Autonomous Region

I cannot tell if the text above "中國農民銀行" (Agricultural Bank of China) is Kazakh in Arabic script or Uyghur. With some English.

Uyghur at the Id Kah Mosque, Kashgar City, Kashgar Prefecture, Xinjiang Autonomous Region (not far from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan)

With some English

Uyghur and Sarikoli in Tashkurgan Tajik Autonomous County, Kashgar Prefecture, Xinjiang Autonomous Region (where Tajikistan is 19 km away in minimum distance)

With some British English

Tibetan in Chengguan District, Lhasa City, Tibet Autonomous Region

有一些英語

Arabic, Tibetan, and Han Chinese in Chengguan District, Lhasa City, Tibet Autonomous Region



Tai Nüa, Tai Lü, and Jingpho in Jiegao Townships, Ruili City, Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province (where Myanmar is just across the street)

I cannot tell if the text is Tai Nüa or Burmese

I cannot tell if the text is Tai Nüa or Burmese

Tai Lü in Jinghong City, Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province

With some English

Tai Lü and Lao in Mohan, Mengla County, Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province

With some English

Vietnamese in Dongxing City, Fangchenggang City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region

異國特產批發 = Bán buôn đặc sản nước ngoài

Russian and Korean in Tianya Town, Sanya City, Hainan Province



Portuguese, Japanese, and English in Macau Special Administrative Region



British English in Kowloon City District, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

土瓜灣體育館 = To Kwa Wan Sports Centre

British English in Nanzih District, Kaohsiung City, Republic of China

高雄市楠梓國民小學 = Nan-Tzu Primary School, Kaohsiung

American English and French in Minxiong Township, Chiayi County, Republic of China

嘉義縣表演藝術中心 = Chiayi Performing Arts Center
法國春天藝術節 = Printemps, Français de Chiayi --> Spring, French of Chiayi

American English in Lugu Township, Nantou County

遊客中心 = Visitor Center

Romanization and Katakana at Din Tai Fung, Hsinchu City, Republic of China

鼎泰豐 = DIN TAI FUNG = ディンタイフォン

With some English. The Katakana "ディンタイフォン" merely denotes the pronunciations. In regular Japanese text, the name is still written as Chinese characters "鼎泰豊".

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In addition to multilingualism in the Greater China Region, the language of Han Chinese is also widely accepted and used throughout the world.

Russian and Chinese in Zabaykalsk, Zabaykalsky Krai, Russia (where the border is 2 km away in minimum distance)



Mongolian in Cyrillic script, English, and simplified Chinese in Zamyn-Üüd, Dornogovi Province, Mongolia (where the border is 4 km away in minimum distance)



British English and Chinese in the City of Westminster, Greater London, England, the United Kingdom



Simplified Chinese and Burmese in Kokang (First Special Region), Shan State, Myanmar (where the border is 6 km away in minimum distance)

Chinese is the primary language at this place, which is politically and militarily unstable.

Thai, English, traditional Chinese, and Burmese in Mae Sai District, Chiang Rai Province, Thailand (where Myanmar is just across the river the Chinese border is 119 km away in minimum distance)



Malay, traditional Chinese, English, and Tamil on Penang Island, Penang State, Malaysia



Malay, traditional Chinese, English, and Japanese on Penang Island, Penang State, Malaysia



English, simplified Chinese, Malay, and Tamil in Singapore

Note that it is common in Singapore to mix traditional and simplified Chinese for everyday use. This example contains only traditional Chinese.

Lao and simplified Chinese in Boten, Luang Namtha Province, Laos (where the border is 1 km away in minimum distance)



Indonesian, two Englishes??, simplified Chinese, and French in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia



Vietnamese, simplified Chinese, and English in Lao Cai City, Lao Cai Province, Vietnam (where China is just across the river)



Vietnamese, traditional and simplified Chinese in Móng Cái, Quảng Ninh Province, Vietnam (where China is just across the river)

Note that traditional and simplified Chinese coexist on the same object

American English, Chinese, Japanese, Korea, Spanish, Filipino, Vietnamese in Bell, California, the United States of America



Traditional Chinese and American English in possibly Richmond, Virginia, the United States of America



Canadian English and traditional Chinese in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada

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With the sheer number of Chinese, some mistakes are inevitable.

Possibly in Tainan City, Republic of China

台南海鮮 (Tainan Seafood) = Platform South Sea Fresh

Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province

餐廳 (Restaurant) = Translate server error