Saherimos would count, as it comes from "saheric" - relative to the sahara desert :D

I don't see the harm in removing the "Guo" part - just Shengui would make it a lot more distinct. It still means "old turtle", the changes would be relatively minor and we'd distanciate ourselves from real languages more.

We changed things for less extravagant reasons before.

There's no reason to change anything, OP has got to be trollin'.

Jovi still brought up a good point that Subeta's culture doesn't need to borrow from real world languages; the Guo clearly brings nothing to the table. We don't need to add gratuitous chinese to point out that it's an asian-oriented land, and I feel it would be a good compromise.

Please let's not remove the Guo.

The problem I've always had with the name "Shengui Guo" is that it sounded too close to Neopets' "Shenkuu". If you remove the "Guo", this becomes even more true.

I otherwise do not agree with OP's original point, but it has been difficult for me to figure out how to put it into words. I think Satyr and Bug probably got the closest to my sentiment anyhow.

Hard disagree. I think it has a nice ring to it and rolls of the tongue, regardless of origin. Not to mention all the item and description changes that would need to take place to reflect the change.

Just not worth staff's time and energy when there are more important things to deal with. Like the wardrobe's 6th iteration (I think, i lost count).

It does bring something to the table: it's what makes the word "Shengui Guo" the name of a country instead of just some random phrase. I think that thinking "Guo" is extraneous here is because you don't understand how it functions in the Mandarin language. It is not an optional part of a country name; it's the character that makes a phrase into a valid country name. It's hard to find analogies in English, but it's a bit like how you can't shorten "football" into "foot" and still call the sport that.

Removing the "Guo" would not distance it from real languages more at all, because "Shengui" is still Mandarin. If the goal is to not have it be literal Mandarin anymore, it would need to be renamed entirely.

The thing is Shengui Guo isn't China, it's its own fictional thing, so why should it abide by the real world's grammar rules? That's the part that would make a bigger distinction to me.

But, I'm not going to pursue the subject any longer. Won't check this thread again, so I'd appreciate not being pung again.

By that logic, Delphi has to change too because it's the name of a town in Greece. And Shadowglen happens to be the name of some neighborhood in Texas, so guess that's gotta go too cause no real world connections allowed. =x

yo are you sure it's not you who's trolling? Lol. I swear down I'm embarrassed for people like you. It's like you get off on trying to be offensive. So sad.

That's the best you can come back with? For shame.

"Centropolis" uses "polis" which is a Greek word for city, so that's very congruent to "guo" meaning country in Mandarin.

"Veta" means "know" in Swedish and "vein" in Spanish. But that might be coincidence?

Just my personal opinion. Subeta lore says that the planet was settled by humans from Earth and the Book Nook has Earth language textbooks. We know that some humans from Bavaria went to Veta so it's logical to assume that other humans from different countries went to other parts of Subeta. Shengui Guo could have been named by settlers from China.

I... what?? I am not Chinese I'm Vietnamese - but I am sure Mandarin or Chinese people will definitely know the language better than you and I. And, maybe some same people appreciate you not... talking about China like that? I can be wrong it just sounds like you're saying it's as if genocide homophobia sexism etc is... exclusive to China when literally every country on this planet is guilty of horrible things. Like anyone can say horrible things ANY country has done. I just don't think you or I should say things when... we aren't the race? But dang just feels like you strongly dislike the country and have some vendetta against the place?

Thank you so much for educating us Jovi and for your input Satyr AND...

There are soooooo many aspects of Subeta (and most fantasy lands) that are European-centric fantasy, have tropes and concepts and words that are based in European folklore and direct from European culture. It is just not fair to say we can't have fantasy that is inspired by other places but be totally fine with anything that's European-leaning. Unless you're also ready to get rid of all the European castles, knights and armor, western style dragons, etc., then I think it's kinda unfair to say we can't have certain concepts inspired by IRL cultures and countries. We've got dozens and dozens of items based on various cultures around the world and many of them have words inspired by or blatantly using other languages.

It's always a good thing to try and balance cultural appropriation and problematic tropes, and I'm glad Subeta is a site that takes that kind of thing into consideration. The exotic oriental trope is definitely something to avoid, and course-correct for as time goes on. But I think your original post is significantly less concerned about possible "exotic oriental" tropes and more concerned about a very xenophobic anti-Chinese sentiment that is frankly, disturbing.

I'd love to see Afro-centric fantasy elements in Subeta or literally anywhere, and having more black NPCs from a fantasy place based around an Afro-centric culture would not in fact be racist. Do you also think Wakanda is racist? They literally had everything in your quote- the characters are all black (lol), animal print, traditional instruments and outfits, the whole deal. And it wasn't racist because it was celebrating various cultures (not just the stereotypes of those cultures), letting the people who belong to that culture take lead, and making fun fantasy and sci-fi versions of it, like we do with European-centric culture every day.

I'm also sure Subeta would do a better job than naming a country after a continent (seeing as all of Africa isn't one big country and you'd do better not to compare it as such).

Oh please, there's several dozen USA flag items on the site, start there why don't you.

Klaver is the German word for piano; is this minion promoting mass genocide because it uses a German word? Nope! We also have a ton of beer fest items from a beer fest holiday inspired by Octoberfest, and again, not promoting genocide.

So OP, I'd be willing to have more of a conversation about this if you could purge this xenophobia from yourself. I'm glad other people could share some actual cultural info to let everyone know just how off-base your argument is.

Maybe Shengui Guo might get renamed someday, and that would be fine, but I hope it's not for such disgusting reasons as yours.

Another Chinese person weighing in- Imagine calling England 'Eng'. lol.

Wow.

I don't 'hate China' and I am capable of separating a culture from its politics.

I wasn't trying to make some kind of xenophobic point by making this topic. Thank you all who put words in my mouth to decide I was. DARVO is an acronym for Deny, Attack, Reverse, Victim and Offender, it feels very apt to mention.

And a big thank you shout out goes to everyone who came here to post belittling and or bullying remarks, you've all made me feel so great!

I'm honestly genuinely sorry I ever posted this topic. I apologise for thinking this could have lead to an interesting discussion about cultural appropriation and sensitive portrayals of cultures in fantasy. Clearly I was wrong.

Nobody just decides to be xenophobic. We're informing you that the points you're making are indeed xenophobic despite your intentions. Consider that you don' seem to be doing a good job separating a culture from its politics from post . But points that actually have to do with appropriation and portrayals of culture in fantasy are definitely being discussed here.

Sorry you feel belittled. I have a strong personality, I know I can be abrasive. Please consider the points people have brought up about what you said instead of trying to deflect. Your words are hurtful and callous and xenophobic, and people aren't in the mood to hold your hand through it every time this happens. Good luck in the future. And feel free to chime in to convos about Shengui Guo getting renamed some time. Again, talking about cultural appropriation without the weird anti-Chinese sentiment you're bringing to the table is more than welcome.

Ok, love seeing all the Asian solidarity going on in this thread. <3

I'll just put in my 2c.

In general, the claim that Shengui Guo should have it's name changed because the name "sounds like the mandarin word for China" because "China is bad" is inherently xenophobic. As mentioned by many users, the part that is taken directly from mandarin simply means "country", and your claim that "Shengui" and "Zhong" sound anything similar is pretty.... racist....

We can't "cancel" a language that's spoken by billions of people because of the actions of the people that govern said country. You say you aren't intentionally being racist or saying xenophobic things but said it well, you are arguing that Chinese inspired parts of Subeta should be wiped from the website because of the actions of the CCP...

As for why "Guo" from Mandarin was used in the first place.. yeah well, Mandarin is spoken by billions of people so why not give them some representation? It is a bit lazy but oh well... as part as fantasy names go it's not bad.

I'm all for keeping the name as is.

Also, is Shengui also taken from Mandarin?? I know it's supposed to mean old turtle but from my old Chinese school classes I don't recall seeing pinyin like that.

PS. Also really liked 's posts in this thread. Well written!

It's inspired by /way/ more than just China, there's influence from a lot of different countries visible in Shengui Guo. Reducing China purely to all of its truly awful, CCP-caused parts just to say "we need to rename/re-theme this area" is... really questionable and xenophobic, too? It has a ton of genuinely beautiful culture, history and developments that go way back and eclipse the horrible parts. Like, I'm sure we could look at all of the different areas on Subeta, associate them with ANY real world country, and make the exact same argument. Do we need to rename/re-theme those areas too?

It's fine as it is. Similarity to real words doesn't mean it's literally the country that those words are from.

And, for the love of all things beautiful in this world, please don't say "I'm autistic and that's why I worded things in the troubling way I did/why I feel this way". I'm also autistic and it's not that deep + please don't use it as a defense for xenophobia.