>It's possible to have a single given name rather than the more typical
>two-word deal. So 'Chun Li' is a plausible full name, with 'Chun' as
>the surname and 'Li' as the sole given name. Or vice-versa. It'd just
>be somewhat rare. Well! That would certainly be the simplest way to handle it. :)
>Honestly, this is one of those things that a non-speaker can just
>relax and let slide. Lots of rules, yes, but there's also exceptions
>to each. My own name combines two entirely different Romanisation
>systems in one linguistic trainwreck. It's pretty hard to go wrong
>when even Chinese parents themselves don't worry about the details.
That's good to know. I don't know why, but I've always had kind of a hang-up about the characters I work with having proper names, and Capcom's often a lot more casual about it, particularly in the old days. Almost nobody in Street Fighter II has a fully specified grown-up name, which is why I had to arbitrarily give Zangief a first name (and indeed a middle name, those being of particular importance to Russians, but since he hasn't reappeared yet I haven't had a chance to use it).
Another odd thing about the games' handling of Chun-Li's identity is her specified nationality. She appears, based on various out-of-game materials, to be from Hong Kong, but in the games she's always shown with the flag of the PRC. I realize the distinction could be argued to be academic now, but it certainly wasn't when Street Fighter II came out.
Mind you, I suppose in WL she could be both. If her father was Chan Ka-kui, her mother might well have been Yang Chien-hua (particularly since Inspector Chan's previous girlfriend seems - prudently, I should say, given what happened to her in the first three films - to have dumped him after Police Story 3).
OK, Police Story 3 didn't happen long enough ago for that to work, but it's an amusing image, anyway. :)
--G.
"Just leave it in Hong Kong until 1997..."
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Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.