Guest Author - Caroline Baker
Family is an important part of Chinese culture. It is very important to understand the relationships between you and another person as it often determines what level of respect and honor you should pay.
In Chinese culture, calling someone a grandmother or grandfather is a sign of respect. Unlike the Western world that is hung up on the idea that getting old is a negative thing; age comes with honor in the Chinese culture.
For traditional Chinese families, the grandparents would literally run the family. Prior to the communist revolution in the mid-1900's, it was common for several generations of families to be living together. At the head of those families is often the eldest son of the oldest generation. Sons would remain within the home and daughters would go to their husband’s family's home.
Thus, the grandfather of the family would be referred to as gong gong and the grandmother as po po. The grandparents on the mother's side would be the "foreign" or external counterpart. So for grandfather it would be wai gong and grandmother would be wai po.
Because of local traditions, there are some variations on the terminology used for grandparents. For example, grandfather could also be ye ye or zu fu. Grandmother could be nai nai or zu mu. Generally, it does hold true that regardless of what variation you use, one terminology is geared more towards the family on the father's side and another the mother's. Often the terminology used are set in early childhood and thus tend towards those with repetition for ease of learning like "nana" would be for Western cultures.
In addition, older people of your community would also be given the honor to be called your grandmother or grandfather. Growing up Chinese, every elder I meet I was introduced to as "this is your grandmother" or "this is your grandfather". As such, there is a strong focus that family extends beyond just blood relations.
