Methods To Avoid Offence
There were three ways to avoid using a taboo character:
- Changing the character to another one which usually was a synonym or sounded like the character being avoided. For example, the Xuanwu Gate (玄武門：the Black Warrior Gate) of the Forbidden City was renamed as "Shenwu" (神武門：Gate of Divine Might) in order to avoid the Kangxi Emperor's name Xuanye (玄燁).
- Leaving the character as a blank.
- Omitting a stroke in the character, especially the final stroke.
Compare to the writing of G-d or L-rd in Judaism.
Read more about this topic: Naming Taboo
Famous quotes containing the words methods, avoid and/or offence:
“The philosopher is in advance of his age even in the outward form of his life. He is not fed, sheltered, clothed, warmed, like his contemporaries. How can a man be a philosopher and not maintain his vital heat by better methods than other men?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“If you look at the 150 years of modern China’s history since the Opium Wars, then you can’t avoid the conclusion that the last 15 years are the best 15 years in China’s modern history.”
—J. Stapleton Roy (b. 1935)
“It breedeth no small offence and scandal to see and consider upon the one part the curiosity and cost bestowed by all sorts of men upon their private houses; and on the other part the unclean and negligent order and spare keeping of the houses of prayer by permitting open decays and ruins of coverings of walls and windows, and by appointing unmeet and unseemly tables with foul cloths for the communion of the sacrament.”
—Elizabeth I (1533–1603)