Posted by Lishi on October 23, 2001 at 21:00:04:
In Reply to: Why do people from China have only 2 names? posted by lee on September 25, 2001 at 18:11:59:
: I noticed many people from China have only 2 names (ie celebrities like Gong Li, Lai Ming, Wong Fei, Zhao Wei...and so on). But outside of China, I don't know any Chinese people with only 2 names. Why is that? Is it because of the one child policy?
No, the name of a child has nothing to do with the one child policy. There are plenty of people in China who have three characters in their name. Actually, the majority of people in China have three characters, so you are wrong to assume that people in China only have "two names." People can name their children whatever they want to and sometimes it is simpler just to have two characters in a name. Shorter names take less time and energy to write and say.