ospam (Jerome Bibuld) wrote in message ...
At the moment, I prefer "Aotearoa", because the indigenous population seems to
prefer the name in the liberation literature I have come across, because "New
Zealand" is an imposition of the imperialists AND because it is important, in
my mind, to let the WORLD know that there IS an Aotearoa, just as there is a
Zimbabwe (rather than "Rhodesia").

Dear Mr. Bibuld,

'Aotearoa' means 'the land of the long white cloud' in Maori.
In New Zealand today, some people who are not of Maori heritage have wondered
why their South Pacific homeland should be named after a European province.

I HAVE discussed politics at some length with two Chinese rather well known
in the chess world, but the question of "Zhongguo" (new to me now) never has
arisen.

'Zhongguo' (middle country) is the Chinese name for China, as written according
to the pinyin system of romanisation.

'We have lost the faculty of giving lovely names to things.
Names are everything.'
--Oscar Wilde (The Picture of Dorian Gray)

--Nick