Ethnic Groups in Chinese History - English Names

English Names

The names of various ethnic groups encountered in Chinese history can be rendered into English either by transliteration or translation. Transliteration attempts to render the proper name of an ethnic or social group by rendering the Chinese word as designated in Chinese characters into English as designated by use of the English alphabet. In some cases authors prefer to render the terms designating these various groups as proper nouns, in other cases all of these various names in Chinese may be translated into English as generic barbarians. This practice involves the translation of numerous Chinese language terms into English as barbarians or "barbarians": sometimes of one type or another; such as, Northern Barbarians or Southern Barbarians, or "Northern Barbarians" or "Southern 'Barbarians'".

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