What is the origin of the term "Big 6"?

[sonw1991]

My parents are cantonese speakers and they immigrated to Canada in 1987. I was born in Canada four years later, so I'm pretty much clueless about many advance Chinese words or sayings/sentences. So basically, whenever my parents talk and they refer to China, they call it "Big 6" or "Dai 6". Does anyone here know where exactly this term comes from? From what I know, I prefer to call China "Zhong Guo" rather than "dai 6" like my parents.

Where did this term come from?

[Hanlink]

Your parents are referring to China as 大陸. It would be incorrect to say that it means "Big 6", although the first character does mean big and the second character is the long form for 6 or 六. However, the meaning of 大陸 together is mainland or continent, with 陸 here coming from 陸地 (dry land) rather than the number 6. It is a very common way to refer to China, particularly by people who live in Hong Kong or Taiwan.

[skylee]

What an interesting question.

[SChinFChin]

Folks in my parents generation always refer to the Mainland with the polite term "Mainland", or 大陸. The other term is 中共, or Communist China.

If I ever refer to the Mainland as "Zhong Guo", to folks of my parent's generation, I'll be called a "communist" or worst. The official US government policy on China is "there are TWO China's". So, if you refer to "Zhong Guo", which one are you talking about, the Mainland or Taiwan??

To my parents, the "Mainland" is NOT the real "Zhong Guo", Taiwan is. To the US government, the Mainland, is ONE of the TWO China's, and you'll have to specify which.

More precisely, you should call it "Zhong Guo Da Lu". You would be 100% correct, and not get anyone upset.

Edited January 23, 2009 at 02:37 PM by SChinFChin

[BrandeX]

in our house "大陆人" is usually used when making insults, I wouldn't say it always is used with positive connotations.

[adrianlondon]

Some Taiwanese friends of mine refer to mainlanders (usually when saying something sarcastic or slightly rude) as "a-liu". I've no idea what characters represent that, and my Taiwanese friends also have no idea of the etymology.

I knew that 大陆 was one way of referring to mainlanders, but the fact that 陆 can be pronounced as "liu" might be a hint. Anyone know?

[vampire]

a liu is a hokkien/taiwanese term, usually it's "a liu ah", 阿陆仔

[peekay]

The official US government policy on China is "there are TWO China's". So, if you refer to "Zhong Guo", which one are you talking about, the Mainland or Taiwan??

No, the US government policy is a variant of the "One China" policy. In 1979 the US Government recognized the PRC as the sole government of China, that there is only one China, and that Taiwan is "part of" China. The US explicitly opposes an independent Taiwan,

However, the US also opposes either side from taking "unilateral" action to change the status quo (whether via diplomatic or military means.) Thus Taiwan's status is considered "undermined" by the US government.

In the US, "Zhong Guo" colloquially refers to mainland China, not Taiwan.

[roddy]

Could we stick to the discussion of linguistic terms please.

[Hofmann]

六 and 陸 are homophonous in Cantonese.

[adrianlondon]

Thanks for that, Vampire. But what does 阿陆仔 mean? Or, more to the point, as it means "mainland China", why does it mean that?

[imron]

as it means "mainland China", why does it mean that?

I believe it means mainland Chinese. Only slightly different, but still important.

阿陆 - think of it like 老外 with 阿 serving the role of 老 (more or less), and 陆 (i.e. the mainland) as the place of origin instead of 外.

仔 is commonly used to refer to the offspring of animals.

[adrianlondon]

Sorry, you're right, it does mean the people. Thanks for your explanation! I'm going to explain this to my Taiwanese partner who, for someone who is obviously fluent in Mandarin and also speaks some Taiwanese, should really have known this ;)

[vampire]

I am not very sure, I guess the etymonlogy may be 大陆人-->大陆仔-->阿陆仔

仔 is a suffix, means small

阿 is often used when referring to someone's name

and this is a hokkien term don't confuse with mandarin

the usage of 仔/阿 is also very common in other southeast dialects, like cantonese and teochew

六 and 陸 are homophonous in Cantonese.

this is what makes the OP's question interesting, or maybe cute:lol:

[anon6969]

I always understood 大陆 simply to mean "Mainland", as in "Mainland China".

I noticed it's use in Taiwan.

In the UK we talk about "Mainland Europe", but I am not sure, would the Chinese translation be 欧洲大陆 ?

[Hofmann]

Somehow I thought it might be a funny name for Simplified Chinese (as opposed to Big5).

[Lu]

I don't know whether 阿陆仔 is derogatory, but I'm pretty sure 仔 in itself is not. It's similar to 阿, except behind a name instead of in front. Someone surnamed 张 could be 张仔 (Tiunn-a) to his friends. When used for people, 仔 has nothing to do with the offspring of animals.

大陆 means mainland, but since China is a major factor to Taiwan, in Taiwan the term usually refers to Mainland China.

[liuzhou]

In the UK we talk about "Mainland Europe"

Do we?

We usuallly talk about "The Continent" as if it doesn't include us.

"I'm travelling in the continent", etc.

The Chinese has a similar connotation.

[adrianlondon]

We usuallly talk about "The Continent" as if it doesn't include us.

Do we?

I always use the term mainland Europe.

[Hofmann]

Heh...I just found that 六 can be pronounced lu4, as in 六安縣